Commuting from Marlow to central London?

[RollingRedHills]

Does anyone have experience of this? DH and I are considering moving to Marlow but my one concern is will I be able to commute easily enough to collect DC from nursery etc. Would be working in Soho so would need to get to and from Oxford Circus every day. Is the commute too much? I would have to work until 5.30pm and start work at 9am.

On the train? Why don’t you look up the train timetables and then add extra time in for delays/walking etc.

And we definitely can’t answer if we don’t know what time the nursery opens.

Obviously train timetables will give you the basic info, but I think the OP might be looking for personal experience of whether that line is often delayed, how it fares in winter, is the service provider affected by frequent industrial action etc.

Yes train times give the basic info but I don't find them particularly reflective of real life. I was hoping someone may come along who has personal experience of it and can say how they found it, and if the line had a lot of delays etc.

Most nurseries close at 6 or 6.30 at the latest. Soho to Marlow in an hour - not sure if that's even possible, and that's if your work is right next to the tube and you live right next to the station!

Why don't you do a trial run of the journey?

I think it would be very, very difficult and I used to live in Marlow, the train line is affectionately known as the donkey line ... you would need to get to Maidenhead each morning and then take the main line to London, then the Tube. Frequent cancellations.

(Having said that Marlow is a great place to live but I only had a 20 minute drive to work .... but even that could be nearly an hour in rush hour).

Schools going to be your issue not nursery as you can pick that anywhere.
Marlow is lovely, but long term two commuters is going to be tricky. A child minder may be more flexible and on going could help with school.

Yes think we will have to do a trial run, it's DH who wants to live there really and I love it too but I suspect the commute is not practical.

Why Marlow? I get that it is a very pretty town with lots of restaurants etc but it's so busy. I live about 7 miles away and love popping over for a lovely meal or walk by the river but would never consider living there. If you want a pretty South Bucks town with good commuter links to London Amersham is probably a better bet......or Beaconsfield if you fancy living in a town of new build, oversized McMansions.

We used to live in Marlow and my husband used to commute into Paddington. It's do-able depending on nursery hours of course. The journey often messed up with the connection at Maidenhead. There was sometimes a problem with the last leg of the journey and he would end up getting a taxi.

It's a faffy commute to Oxford Circus - 2 or 3 trains and then tube. You may spend a fortune on taxis/nursery fines. What time does the nursery shut. Seems unlikely you'd make it if you finish at 5.30. Is a nanny a possibility for you?

Have a look on Citymapper

Or why not look at Maidenhead? Easy to get to Marlow when you want and then you've got a direct line into town. I think it's going to be 20mins Maidenhead to Tottenham Court Rd when/if Crossrail is up and running...

The new Crossrail Elizabeth line will go through Maidenhead so hopefully that will help at that end.

Marlow is lovely, nice village feel.

When I worked in Soho I lived in Surrey. The overground train was from Waterloo which is not too far from Piccadilly Circus.

Your nursery would need to be open until 7pm for this to work, maybe later, and ideally near the station.
How about Cookham? Those saved minutes on the train might make the

difference

We lived in Marlow for a year. Loved the town but it is very busy with traffic. We ended up buying in Wendover near Amersham, as the London commute from Marlow was a nightmare! You get the donkey line to Maidenhead and change onto the mainline to Paddington. Depending on the morning train you also need to change at Bourne End. Going in was fairly smooth as lots of Paddington trains from Maidenhead. But coming home was often a nightmare. If your train leaves Paddington a few minutes late and you miss the donkey line connection you're sitting for ages in Maidenhead killing time. It could sometimes take well over 2 hours to get home from London Bridge if the connection was missed (which happened about once a week). The donkey line can also flood in the winter as it's so close to the Thames. Honestly it's not a nice commute if you're doing it every day. But we did enjoy Marlow. Absolutely love Wendover though, we're never moving!

Just re-read your working hours. Literally not possible with nursery times!! We did it before children and that was stressful enough. You literally couldn't work 9-5.30 in Soho and use a nursery in Marlow. You'd need at least 2 hours clear either side and that's when it all runs smoothly!

You'd need a childminder or nanny who'd be willing to do long days...

A friend does it from High Wycombe. Key difference is that they have family there, and rely on them heavily for any emergency issue to do with the children. Her work is very inflexible though, even though technically she could work anywhere. Depends how flexible your work would be if you had to dash off, and if your DH has flexibility either. You’ll need flexibility with work if you don’t have family there, because I’m not sure you’d always get back in time.

If you need to commute to C London, don't move anywhere that doesn't have a DIRECT train into London.

Because of the change at Maidenhead, the commute is more complicated than elsewhere in the area. If you were open to other similar locations (but not on the river), Beaconsfield and Amersham are lovely and have a direct link to London Marylebone, and Oxford Circus is doable in an hour.

Note: the Waitrose in Marlow is closing 😩

Note: the Waitrose in Marlow is closing 😩

Discussion over then.