£400k budget, 2-3 hours from London - AIBU to ask where you would live?

[HensInTheSkirtingBoard]

DP and I currently live on the Surrey / London borders and want to move.

We have a budget of approx £400k (although could be stretched a little for the perfect place) and I will need to be in London for work, max once a week, so needs to be commutable within around 2.5 hours on the train.

Minimum 3 beds, good size garden for chickens, bees and veg (yes I know it's a cliche )

No new builds or 'executive' estates (sorry). Quirky is fine.

Would like to be within walking distance of a village at least (don't want to have to get in the car if we run out of milk) and ideally somewhere that has a bit of a 'community' feel - pub, cafe, etc.

No school-age kids so we don't need to worry about catchments.

Where would you move to in our situation?

And yes I know Rightmove has a search facility but I value the wisdom and experience of MNers

I’d look at Northamptonshire, decent direct train line into London and I think your budget will get you what you’re after

North Bedfordshire great links into London and a £400k budget would get you a reasonable 3 bedroom house

I was going to say Northamptonshire too...I have friends who live in a lovely village there, they have made great friends, lovely pubs, proper village feel and it's on the canal so have a lovely little marina too

Canterbury or one of the surrounding villages is nice.

There’s some lovely villages around Bath/Bristol and the train to London is under 1.5 hours (1 hour if you get the fast train from bristol).
Also look in smaller towns around Somerset and Wiltshire like Bradford on Avon, Frome and Chippenham - they have their own train stations.

Northamptonshire is lovely but make sure you're in one of the villages in reach of an alternative 'city centre' (whether that's Wellingborough, Market Harborough, Milton Keynes, Rushden Lakes etc) because the town centre is awful.

The schools are pretty crap too, with the exception of NSB.

Villages in Cheshire near to Manchester or Stoke all on good train routes
Glossop and greenfield with station connect to ma Chester for train

That's useful about Northants - we've got family there but I'd never really liked it tbh , maybe worth taking another look.

We don't need schools - ds is at university.

I quite fancy Cambridgeshire / the fens but it's probably out of our price range?

@LilyE1234

There’s some lovely villages around Bath/Bristol and the train to London is under 1.5 hours (1 hour if you get the fast train from bristol). Also look in smaller towns around Somerset and Wiltshire like Bradford on Avon, Frome and Chippenham - they have their own train stations.

I’d second this.

Lots of nice villages and towns in Hampshire. Direct train from Winchester to Waterloo is about 1 hour. But 400k wouldnt get you much in Winchester itself. Maybe a bit further out like Bishops Waltham, Romsey or Chandlers Ford

Derbyshire could be worth a look, 90 minute train to London and you'll get a lot of house for the money. A town called Belper has won all sorts of awards for their high street

The Suffolk coast, for sure.

Cardiff

Bath. You might struggle to find a large garden, but there’s some lovely villages around that are a tiny bit cheaper.

Norfolk

Absolutely Suffolk.

Direct trains to London that take 1 hour

@WeeWelshWoman

Cardiff

Shhh, don't tell anyone. The house prices are creeping up enough as it is!

Wiltshire. 400k will go quite a way here. Not ideal daily commuting country but once a week wouldn't be an issue. A village outside one of the towns with a station would fit the bill.

Stamford is beautiful if you're thinking Cambs area, technically Lincolnshire I think. Or Oundle?

Cardiff

Central Bedfordshire is underrated IMO and well worth a look for your budget. Right next door to both Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire but without the price tag. You can get to Cambridge easily in approx 30 mins, and there are good / fast transport links to London. And Northamptonshire isn't too far away to visit your family (about an hour)

I love Suffolk - what areas would people recommend?

eg this is a lovely house www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/72152823#/

@HensInTheSkirtingBoard

That's useful about Northants - we've got family there but I'd never really liked it tbh , maybe worth taking another look.

We don't need schools - ds is at university.

I quite fancy Cambridgeshire / the fens but it's probably out of our price range?

It’s where I live. It’s perfectly possible on your budget. Especially the north of the county. This is nice and under budget.

March Road, Friday Bridge, Wisbech
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-86437285.html

I'd second the Fens, other than Cambridge probably affordable.