If I love York and Exeter - where should I move to in the SE

[BromleyBR1nightbus]

Just that really. I am a quiet bookish mum with a small family.

We love places like Truro, Exeter, York and Durham. I love history, space, a river, books, character blaaaa blah blah

We need to move back to the South East for work and be within 1.5hours train journey from Liverpool St, London.

The last time we lived IN London we lived in the skyscraper - Ontario Tower. Which is was amazing and fun at the time. But I'm now older with young children and I don't think I can face being too near the City.

Definitely no closer than Bromley! (Although I love Bromley!)

Budget £450k which I know is low for the area ...

St Albans will be out of op’s price rising. If you hope across the border into Bedfordshire, prices are generally cheaper.

is Hitchin worth considering?

Windsor

I don't know Essex, but you could look at places like Farnham in Surrey or Petersfield in Hampshire (not sure about house prices, Farnham is more expensive than where I live but Petersfield might be a bit cheaper) if you don't need to go into London every day, get the Waterloo & City line to Bank to get you towards Liverpool St.

Guildford is really nice but very expensive. Reigate might be worth a look but probably also very expensive. Other than Guildford which should be a city and is city sized, the other places I have suggested are much smaller than York or Exeter.

Salisbury is worth a look - it is cheaper than Winchester. I really like it. But rail fares will be expensive.

Not pretty but Reading might be worth a look as it is on the Elizabeth Line.

We commute into Waterloo and DH works near Liverpool St but he only goes in once or twice a week at most since covid.

Oh I've just seen your budget - forget Farnham. Petersfield might be do-able.

Might be worth having a look at Alton as well though it's a slow line to London.

Essex is probably worth a proper look as it is the right side of London and prices are probably lower than in Surrey/Hampshire.

I had a look at Rightmove and see what you mean about the long leases for the over 60s.

Hitchin or baldock

Towns not cities but St Albans is far too expensive.

Hitchin is bigger and has more clubs etc

Are Norwich and Lincoln too far?

I think Hitchin might stretch the budget slightly as well? I don't think St Albans would be do-able.

Your family/wish list sounds quite similar to ours OP, except we have just the one child. We’re currently in a London suburb but looking at potentially moving out a bit and have considered quite a few of the places suggested by pps. We love bookshops and rivers too!

Reading your post Hertford immediately sprang to mind - it hasn’t quite got that cultured university/cathedral city vibe but it does have characterful old buildings, rivers, a fairly decent high street (lots of redevelopment going on) and good schools. We were actually there last weekend, walking along the river and playing with DD in the lovely playground on the common.

Ware, just down the road, is similar and cheaper, but visiting recently I found the high street felt a bit bleak - lots of closed shops and cafes and a bit shabby looking. Might have just been the time we visited, but it felt a bit sad and down at heel.

We love Cambridge, but that and St Albans (which I’m not keen on) would be way out of your budget (and ours!). Saffron Walden is definitely worth a look, although it’s that bit further out and lacking a station in town it feels more remote from London than Hertford/Ware (depends if you see that as a good thing!) The secondary school there is amazing though.

Hitchin seems to be another go-to option for a family friendly town, but we haven’t explored that one yet!

Winchester is another good call, but it’s pricey.

Thanks everyone!

I've just applied for a job that's £25,000 more than what I expected. DH is thinking that maybe being on the inside of the M25 is a smart move because his salary will also go up. His company pay an extra £15,000 for London Weighting.

We have a lot to think about.

Thanks for all the suggestions :)

Oh my goodness @TempsPerdu - thank you for writing this! I'm not keen on St Albans either but I can't work out why!

My friend lives in Hitchin so I'm going to bombard him with questions. 😊

I think it all depends on where my job will be. It's quite intense and I need to unwind when I leave work and not be stuck in congestion, battling to get home each night. This is what caused me to burnout twice before. Gives me heart palpitations thinking about it! (I'm an architect)

I don’t think you’d get much to suit your budget in Hertford.

The Royston/Buntingford area is cheaper.

Cambridge ti is all your boxes and easy access to London:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127134197#/media?id=media0&channel=RES_BUY

@spring149 I LOVE that house!!

Putting in a vote for Oxford and surrounding areas - just under an hour to London on the train and a direct coach route 24 hours a day. Expensive though and it does get v busy with tourists!

Are Norfolk and Suffolk too far? Housing cheaper than Cambridge and St Albans so you have to weigh up cheaper housing and longer commute or more expensive area but shorter commute.

I second Norwich which has already been mentioned and Sudbury. Woodbridge is also lovely. Lots of people do the London commute from Norwich and the Suffolk towns. The trains aren't bad. If you were considering over this way, the fast train into London passes through Norwich, Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich (which I would rule out) and then into Essex so Manningtree, Colchester etc. all might be worth a look even if it's just to help you figure out what exactly you do want and whether you'd rather pay more for housing and spend less time travelling.

I've lived in Hertford OP, it ticks a lot of your boxes but on a small scale- we had a 2 bed cottage in Bengeo with a basement conversion too. We moved to St Albans as H found it dull as ditchwater- but we were younger then and he likes bigger places. It's def worth a look and easy for Liverpool st, Bengeo was 5 minutes walk to station too for us

@Crikeyalmighty funny you mention size!! DH and I have just been talking about this and we would consider a 2 bed.

As long as there was scope to extend / go up. Since I'm an architect, it wouldn't be the worst thing. 😂

I live in Faversham. Lovely independent shops including a bookshop. Lots of history, it has a creek with creek side shops and restaurants etc. Not far from Kent coastal towns - Whitstable is lovely! Very good transport links (M2 and a highspeed train up to st Pancras). Property prices not too bad, much cheaper than Canterbury which is 9 miles away. 10 or so years ago canterbury was lovely but there's been a bit of a decline, it's also very expensive.

Meant to say also, Fav has a swimming pool with an indoor and outdoor pool.

This is the bit we lived in OP- I see this has a cellar too - lovely kitchen on this!

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85927280#/?channel=RES_BUY

@Crikeyalmighty oh my goodness, that house is just so cute. I can see immediately how to remedy the upstairs layout. And it wouldn't be too difficult to do! 😍

I also just looked at Faversham. And found a property I absolutely love!!

I think downsizing to 2 bed is the way forwards....

Thanks everyone.

Yes Favershams not bad and very handy for Canterbury- we lived in Canterbury for 9 years .

I think you are right OP, consider 2 bedders as well with room to extend but often more into budget. Our 2 bedder was much roomier in living areas than many 3 bedders and will probably get you a nicer area!

Someone mentioned Lewes, but prices have shot up recently. You'd struggle to find a decent family home there on your budget, I'm afraid. It's really competitive because so few affordable houses come up for sale.

Totally agree with this. It has lots on your want list. Canterbury is student hell. Three universities and so many students lets. You could buy a lovely house and end up with lots of student neighbours.

Canterbury! I lived there as a student and it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous city. I’d move back if I could afford it.