to wonder if there are ANY houses for sale within commuting distance of London for a reasonable price?!

[MrsMcgee]

Someone come and help us find somewhere to live!
We are currently in Oxford which is 2 hours each way, my poor DH certainly cant do it long term and we want to move closer in.

The trouble is, everywhere within what is a reasonable commuting time and a nice area is about half a million for your average family home!

We are currently looking at Chelmsford, Ashford (kent) and are starting to think about Reading. We would love other suggestions of places we have missed!

We have a budget of about 325,000 and want a 4 bed ideally. Somewhere with fairly good schools and a few ducks to feed :o the closer the better. Am I a bit pie in the sky?!

given for best suggestion! :o

Thanks everyone, thats really good advice.
eicosapentaenoic: that website has been really useful thanks.

Out of interest - does anyone know where in South west London is particularly bad / good for heathrow flight paths? From what I can gather you need to stay south of about surbiton to be completely sure? How much of a problem is it if you are near flight paths?

:) thank you again

Actually... used to live in Surbiton, so happy, adored it. Flight paths no prob, drive me mad in Richmond. Fantastic train service Surbiton or Kingston, A3 nippy for fast escape to coast, airports. Reasonable drive into S London if nec. Check out famous Kingston school catchment areas, great uni, great hosp. Best thing for me, suburban convenience with country living - huge Hampton Court Palace estate and Bushy Park on your doorstep. For fun, it would even be possible to get a boat to Westminster (2h+). Haven't looked at prices in a while...

Yateley/Farnborough/Frimley area and then 40 mins to Waterloo from Farnborough main.

Or Sandhurst and go Sandhurst to Reading then to Paddington in 50 mins.

I think anywhere that is actually SW London - as opposed to commuterland - is affected by Heathrow flight paths.