To think there must be somewhere lovely and unpretentious within commuting distance of London?

[Willthisdoo]

Is it possible to find somewhere to the southwest or west of London that’s still within commuting distance (and has a station) but is also very close to the countryside, not too full of over privileged people, somewhat diverse, has reasonable(ish) rents and house prices, and is also appealing and attractive as a town/village? Does such a place actually exist?? Or is this just a pipe dream?

Pipe dream unless you think a commute of a couple of hours each way is fine

Bedfordshire or Northamptonshire... about 1 hour by train to central London.

Not quite the area you asked for but....

Leighton Buzzard (well , the surrounding villages, I'm in one)

High Wycombe and the surrounding villages

You need to be more specific. What is a reasonable rent? That could mean different things to different people.

Woking or fleet?

They exist all right but how rich are you?

Letchworth (north herts)...

But what is your budget??

How far are you prepared to go?

Well, we’re paying £1750 a month for a pokey three bed terrace () so anything cheaper than that for more space would be vaguely reasonable.

DH will have to commute daily - max 1hr 30min from London terminals I guess.

Towns and villages in/around Swindon, i.e. Cirencester/Marlborough.

Swindon itself isn’t as bad as some would have you believe and will be < 50mins from Paddington when the electrification of the train line is complete later this year.

To caveat... Swindon town centre isn’t nice at all, but some of the suburbs are lovely and tick the other boxes on your list.

£1750 a month for a pokey three bed terrace (shock)

That would get you a large 4/5 detached.

Chippenham. Expensive commute. Not pretentious but on the M4 corridor.

Whereabouts are you now?

Worthing.
Absolutely love it there. Lovely community, right next to the sea but easy drive of full on countryside. 3 stations (east, West and worthing itself). Close to brighton and chichester too.

Twyford?
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E25243&minBedrooms=3&maxPrice=1400&radius=0.5

Which mainline station is closest to his office? That part of the commute could add 45 mins on if not thought through.

I hate when people say “move to X it’s only an hour on the train from Waterloo” that is if you work next door to Waterloo. Because if you work in Marylebone it’s a different story. Going to and from the town’s station to get a train that is never there to fight the other workers in kings X/Waterloo/Paddington to get on another 20-30 min commute on the tube, it’s not worth it. I know because I’ve done it. That hour train to London becomes a 2 hour nightmare each way, door to door.
I’d go to outter London zones but within m25. Think south like Catford or Worcester park or isleworth or even further like Croydon. Still fairly affordable compared to Richmond and it’s ilk.

Where abouts in London?

I live in Oxfordshire, DH gets train to Marylebone from Bicester, which is 45 mins.

It's beautiful here, would highly recommend it.

Egham
A pocket of reasonable house prices between pricey Ascot and Windsor, and on a fast-ish line to Waterloo

Staines - proper shopping street, markets twice a week, on the river and genuinely a nice place. (Next door to Egham)

35 minutes to Waterloo as well.