Do idyllic places to live still exist in and around London?

[Kerfluffle]

I was just reminiscing with a friend and we are not really sure it does anymore. She was raised in Leatherhead where you can apparently still leave your front door open during the day (if you want to!) without anything happening.

It needs to tick these boxes:
Little/no antisocial behaviour and low crime rate. Safe for teenagers to walk home in the dark
Excellent nearby hospital with high staff retention/satisfaction
Lot of green spaces and community centres
Some form of transport link into c. London (even if it is a couple of buses per day)
Affluent population (I know - but I am looking for an ideal!)

Thanks.
There does not seem to be much for sale in Dulwich Village right now. Is it very small?
I was also wondering if Teddington has supermarkets. I have been there a few times a decade ago and as much as I love the posh indie shops (and have a Gail's sourdough habit), I do value the regular shops more on a day to day basis!

I don't think you'll ever find a part of nice London that doesn't have crime as where there's money there's opportunistic crime.

I agree with this, and I'd extend it to most of the SE of England. Having lived in London I don't think most people down there fully appreciate how low in crime many areas can be, the difference is so huge.

Teddington: affluent, leafy, good schools, low crime, good transport links, great high street, the river, Bushy Park.

Yep, there are supermarkets in Teddington: Sainsburys, M&S Food, Co-op, Tesco, Budgens. And only a short drive to others.

Depends on what idyllic means to you. I'd never leave the area I live in. Its a diverse melting pot which gives my children the kind of village and community I uabe always wanted for them. They don't feel othered. I have friends from all over the world and we go for fancy coffees, cheap wine and do our nails in cheap and cheerful places. I am around the corner from a university hospital. Our street looked after pur elders during covid. I get to the office in 30minutes. I mean, its gritty, run down, crime I'm sure its high. But it is idyllic to me and mine.

I've lived in Teddington for nearly thirty years, wouldn't move anywhere else.

Is that one of the East London villages by any chance?

So funny. Idyllic means different things to different people. You couldn't pay me to live in Herne Hill. Give me Sydenham or Forest Hill any day.

I lived in Wimbledon village for a while and that was lovely. Not sure about leaving your front door open, but I happily got the bus home and walked in the dark to my house. Lovely common, loads of nice shops and cafes, easy transport into London and then you have Wimbledon down the hill for the supermarkets and normal shops.
I think there’s a hospital there (I’m not sure as never needed one) and not sure about provisions for older people.

I agree Wimbledon village is lovely. But there is no hospital there AFAIK. Unless you mean St. George's which is in nearby Tooting?

I don't think that exists anywhere. You could live in a not so great part of London and have nothing bad happen. You could live in an affluent neighbourhood outside London and be burgled three times (a friend lives just outside Welwyn Garden City and this has happened to her, plus her neighbours were vandalised).

We live in one of the river roads in North Kingston and it's (almost what you describe). Ham might fit the bill. It's (much) quieter than Kingston but only one mile away along the towpath. Ex neighbours moved there and absolutely love it. It's half way between Kingston and Richmond. Peace and quiet and widlife/owls/badgers/kingfishers

It sounds lovely and was recommended to me when I was pregnant with DS. We visited Kingston as complete outsiders, had a meal at the shopping mall and never got any feel for the actual area. I can see that the prices are also fair around there. I rely a lot on international supermarkets so would I need to travel into Wimbledon for those?

There’s a great Asian supermarket and a reasonable Turkish one. What sort of international are you after?

Depends what you mean by close to London. I live in Goring (on Thames) and I think it is pretty idyllic while still being convenient rather than remote. Trains to Paddington are 45-50 minutes.

That would pretty much cover it. I mainly like to buy rice, spices, chilies and herbs in large quantities!

I'm in the Chilterns, ticks all of your boxes OP. We are very settled here, absolutely love it.

Wimbledon ticks most of your boxes .
its green, safe, good transport links to London , good schools, affluent , large detached houses with gardens / pools,
good healthy outdoor living with the benefits of being close to london
close to a number of hospitals and has its own private hospital
plus it doesn’t have the traffic of Barnes and the plane noise of Richmond

@TortugaRumCakeQueen

Can I ask where you are?

I was thinking of moving to Scotland for a quieter life and your location sounds amazing :)

Not a london suburb but not too far out- Hove is pretty des res (Brighton has a huge hospital)
forest row? Though not sure on the hospital, May be Brighton or london hospitals closest.

Kerfluffle. It's Ham, rather than Richmond I'm recommending. International supermarkets...there is one on Richmond Road Ham and a couple beside John Lewis in Kingston. Most supermarkets have international food, so I'm not sure what you are really looking for. Richmond has Wholefoods.

@Aquivers Yes I recommend Ham too- it's adjacent to north kingston@Kerfluffle - so there's nothing you can't get a mile or so in each direction- kingston one way, Richmond the other and has its own small High st- with a really great 'old school' greasy spoon cafe too plus duck pond and village green !!

I left my door wide open all day. Nothing happened. Bishop's Stortford

@Kerfluffle

We live in East Dulwich and agree that Dulwich Village ticks a lot of the things you are after. It has a Gail's and there's another opening in East Dulwich too. We love it and are regularly in Dulwich Village - real sense of community, so many green spaces, very walkable. We hardly use our car anymore. Very family friendly. There are also nice propeties in East Dulwich but they tend to be smaller and less spread out than the Dulwich Village ones.

It sounds lovely! There seems to be more on the market in E Dulwich. I have heard that places like Surbiton and even parts of Kingston do not 'feel' like London but I have not heard that about Dulwich.

I suppose that I want to achieve everything on my list without letting go of London's transport facilities and that definite London identity. I don't want to feel that I am in the 'burbs or commuterland. I don't want to change the way I cook because I cannot buy many ingredients. I want my DCs to still maintain a diverse friendship group.