To ask you to find me a house?

[Findmeahovelnearlondon]

Okay, DH & I have £350k. We need a 3 bedroom house near a good, mixed-gender, comprehensive secondary. We both work in London. Where should we move, wise Mumsnetters? Where?

Probably AIBU to think such an oasis even exists...

We're Berkshire on the main great western line and you can pick up.a 3 bed for about that. Schools generally v good and less than.an.hour to.central London.

Thanks lastnight. Am open to moving in any direction. Any particular schools to suggest so I can narrow the search?

Not sure which station/s you and your DH need to get in to, but if Euston is any good then Leighton Buzzard/Linslade could be a good option. You would get a lot for your money and it's a nice market town with a lot going on.
Cedars has always got good GCSE results and Vandyke has been improving a lot recently.
Some examples of what you could get within a 10 minute walk of the station and in good school catchments:
Modern 4 bed detached
Quite nice

Those are very nice homes indeed, huddyblell. Will look up the schools - thanks.

Honestly DH & I are pretty much ready to trek across the city to work at this point. We're past caring. We just want some space and for the kids to be educated to a decent standard. If we could stay in London or suburbs, we would. But moving a bit out also fine.

Bromley schools are generally good but the single sex ones are just that little bit better. It has a few grammar schools like St. Olaves for boys. The schools to investigate are Ravenbourne; the Ravens Wood and Darrick Wood. Have a look at the link below:

www.bromley.gov.uk/directory/5/secondary_schools_in_bromley

Trains from Bromley South & surrounding areas go to Victoria, Charing Cross, St. Pancras so London is accessible in 25 mins.

You will be able to get a 3 bed home for that in Billericay (35 mins commute from Liverpool Street) or a 4 bed home in Rayleigh (another 10 minutes further out along the same line). Both towns have a couple of decent secondary schools to choose from and you will also be within catchment for the grammars in Chelmsford (from Billericay) and Southend (from Rayleigh) if that's of any interest.

Bromley is zone 5 I think

Has to be a comp and not a grammar.

I thank you both for the advice. We've looked at Bromley and would happily move there, but haven't been able to find a house in budget. Must admit was concentrating on Langley and Hayes and Darrick Wood, so hadn't looked around Ravens Wood & Ravenbourne. We have a mixed gender pack of DC and sadly most homes are only close enough to get the DC into one school.

Never even heard of Billericay - thanks MrsCakes! Will check it out.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^225&maxPrice=350000&minBedrooms=3&primaryDisplayPropertyType=semidetachedhouses&radius=3.0&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying

Bromley & surrounding areas.

We're around the Henley/twyford/Wokingham area (though most London commuters use the fast Paddington line rather than Waterloo). I hear that Piggot school is very good across the board - there are a number of grammars so they tend to skim off the very best but standards are generally good. The Holt is good for girls but you're after mixed comp. Out of interest, is there a particular reason you're specifically looking for that? BBC website should give you a good overview of schools in the area l.

P.S. commute from stations immediately either side of reading is probably similar to Langley and Hayes as you get the fast trains.

Kings Cross to Cambridge line is pretty fast. You could look there?

We just bought a new home last month. It was so lovely. It was all spoilt today though when I came home from a baby class to find we had been broken into. Know I want to move again. (I am awake now because I can't sleep in a bedroom which only hours before was being ransacked by scum. DH is snoring beside me. So unfair).

RabbitingOn That's awful! So sorry. Talk to the police to see how you can increase security, so you'll be comfortable again in your home. I've had that happen to (NOT in a brand new house) so I sympathise.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! Raisah we began looking in Bromley about a month ago but thus far have had no luck. For the most part the house needs to be no more than a mile from the school, and that's tough to find. We will keep trying there.

Lastnight you're right about commuting times - it's more commuting cost that worries me! But will check out Reading. Never heard of Piggot, will research. Thank you.

I'm after a mixed comp because I have children of mixed genders, and at least in London if your house is not parked on top of a good school, you won't get a place. For the most part, houses tend to be near enough to one school only. Langley in Bromley is an exception as boys and girls schools are right next door. I have no problem with single sex schooling in abstract.