Where in the UK meets this criteria?

[indigox]

Currently in Edinburgh. Need to be closer to London for bfs job. I've only ever lived in the north west of England and Edinburgh so really have no idea about the south, and there's only so much Google can tell you

Looking for something that meets this criteria:

• 2 hours max from London via train - but this train journey cant be extortionately expensive (difficult I know), ideally no more than £250 a month for 2 days in the office weekly (ruled out way too many i shortlisted myself)
• Close to a main airport (30-45mins car journey)
• Large 3 bedroom house with garden for £1600 pcm or less
• A town/city that actually has something to do during evenings/weekends and cafes/bars/restaurants, I don't want travelling into London to be the only way we can do stuff especially if its reaching our max 2hr desired commute.
• Good secondary schools (DS needs extra support)
• Near countryside but not "rural", I don't want to have to drive everywhere for a basic shop trip and so on

Then all the generic safe, low crime rate etc.
We have family in the north west so ideally an easy rail connection there but this isn't a big deal as we can always just connect via London.

Some places I'd looked at and thought may be suitable were Swindon, Newmarket and Royal Lemington Spa but other than them meeting the commute, and rental prices I don't know much about these places and train prices are SO high 😖.

I think you can have the access to London OR the low cost. Not both. Mutually exclusive.

Guildford? Quite a bit of Surrey would meet your criteria actually.

Cambridgeshire? Close to stansted, not sure how much commuting would equate to. There are lots of places just outside of Cambridgeshire that meet your criteria, or Cambridge itself.

My towns train station is 2 hours exactly to London, and if you book in advance and do a long day to come back super off peak, £33 return. Its 30 min for us to Birmingham airport, rentals are less than your budget, and close enough to Birmingham to do things. Only downside is that although there are great restaurants, not a great deal of night life. So have a look in the Pershore/ Evesham area

Roughly what area of London does he need to get to as crossing London can add a lot of time into the commute.

West Sussex Crawley for example Cheapest parts of Brighton Hastings

Look somewhere north east of Birmingham. Convenient for Birmingham airport and East Midlands airport. Good rail links into London and not too far from your family.

Absolutely none of these suggestions will be less than £250/month to commute to central London. Guildford alone is about &450/month - imagine it's more from Cambridgeshire.

Personally I think you need to reconsider your list OP.

Market harborough

A lot of the NW is only 2 hours from London by train these days, and may hit the spot with rental prices and family connections. I don’t know about prices though.

Haywards Heath? Not sure about rental costs but will be cheaper than London suburbs. Nice countryside location and town with train link.

Try the Nuneaton area as it has direct train links to london and be, plus on the motorway network. Close to Birmingham for fancy shops and fosse park Leicester for standard shops. Train fares aren't cheap £87 last time I did peak fare going (waited for off peak to return)

Birmingham area? Anywhere on the east coast mainline south of York will also come in under two hours.

Wokingham? Though train fares and rent may be higher than your list.

Southampton? Winchester? Hampshire. Not sure on train costs

I wouldn’t recommend swindon 🫣

Not sure what you mean by a “main airport”, do you mean Gatwick/Heathrow or would a regional one do? Bristol is just under 2 hours from Paddington by train.

Which station in London do you need to get to?
The 2hour commute would bring you as far west from Paddington as Bristol but houses are hideously expensive, either to buy or rent. I'm not sure how much the travel costs would be.

Peterborough ticks everything except train prices (but I think you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere that ticks the rent and the train ticket box). Has a bad rep but lots of lovely villages and can get to King's Cross in 45 mins.

Salisbury/Southampton area would be good?

Southampton has a small airport and from Salisbury you’re about an hour and a half from both Bristol and London. The train from Southampton to London is slightly less.

Stevenage/Hitchin/Letchworth.

Yes OP, where in London? It could make 1.5 hour difference!

You would be hard pressed to find a 3 bed semi with large garden to rent on your budget in anywhere within 2 hours of London!

Maybe Bedfordshire - Leighton Buzzard, Flitwick, Milton Keynes areas all with easy access to London and not far from Luton and 50-60 mins to Stanstead. Not sure if they'd fit with rental costs but probably cheaper than Herts / Surrey / Cambs.

Lichfield or Tamworth. About 1hr 10mins on the train into Euston. Can’t comment on the cost of the journey, but the rental should be easily achievable within your budget. Close to Birmingham airport.

Saffron Walden (train station Audley End) but likely slightly above in price.