£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?

Lancashire - just over 2hours by train, your money will go a long way - £250k buys a nice 4 bed detached with gardens in a good area. Lovely villages, coast within driving distance, countryside on your doorstep and easy distance for Manchester and Liverpool for city shopping.

Warwick or leamington spa. Fantastic shopping, good transport links and very good schools

I'm in Tamworth - 85 mins from Euston - yes it's full of new builds and executive estates but the surrounding area - lots of pretty villages and towns - might be worth a look

You could go as far as Lincolnshire particularly around Boston (75 minutes into Kings Cross) and Spalding 90minutes if memory serves me right.

It all depends on where in London you need to be.
I think the Rightmove Where Can I Live facility is great but does miss places

Honeybourne or Moreton in Marsh, but you won't get much for 400k in Moreton. Leamington Spa is also nice but I don't know if that train line runs directly to London.

Villages around Grantham. Lots of character properties at good prices and Grantham is on the mainline, an hour out of KX.

Stowmarket (Suffolk) and Diss (Norfolk) - both are in mainline train to Liverpool Street and have some pretty villages around them. For Diss I'd look at Palgrave, Mellis, Scole and Eye.

Saffron Walden/Thaxted

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

South Cambridgeshire may well be but once you get up to north Cambridgeshire or into Lincolnshire then definitely well within your price range and lots of nice little villages. Here are some with large gardens in non-estate locations:-

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/84857662#/

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/97703828#/

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/81653788#/

Also have a look at Suffolk and north Essex. The coast can get a bit expensive but it's cheaper inland. Here's an example of what you get for £400k in and around Colchester:-

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/65577636#/

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87160846#/

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/74733054#/

Deeping and Thorpe Road as above are v nice!

Southdowns, Hampshire, Dorset, Suffolk, Somerset or Herefordshire would be my choices....sorry not help at all. New Forest villages would be ideal but not much for your money.

You could get a veritable mansion for £400,000 around the Darlington area, which has direct trains to London that take around 2hrs 20 mins. It's a nice market town with some beautiful period properties that's close to places like Durham and the Dales.

Oxfordshire - lovely villages and trains into London 1 hour or just over.

Wow. The two Suffolk properties are beautiful!

Bexhil in Sussex?

Bit bonkers, but lovely big bedrooms!

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/95957078#/

Amazing suggestions, thank you. I'm definitely veering towards Suffolk / Colchester but will take a look at some of the suggestions further out as well. Peterborough and surrounds could be a good bet as it's on a direct Thameslink into London Bridge and the south coast.

I'd love to go to Derbyshire / Lancashire etc but might be pushing it a bit on distance maybe, will definitely explore though as I know we could get something lovely for the money,

Derbyshire /Lancashire would be pushing the commute!
Darlington to London can take 3/3.5 hours. Even nearer 4 hours on some services.

Re Suffolk, I know stowmarket has a direct train to Liverpool Street so maybe places along that line?

Bury St Edmunds is LOVELY and will give you everything you want

The areas to the west of Bristol are lovely if you like the coast. We paid £369 for a 3/4 bed recently, walking distance to everything, some older houses that fit your remit though, the villages are more quirky but not many shops. We are getting a station in 3 years time reducing the time to London considerably (currently we drive to Bristol parkway 25 mins away)

Would veer towards Suffolk rather than north Essex (a lot of which is pretty deprived - no offence meant - just going on health stats)... loads of really lovely villages and still underpriced in comparison to distance to London - where exactly would depend on how close you wanted to be to a mainline station / how long you wanted to travel. Woodbridge is gorgeous and has a good link to Ipswich (mainline) but expensive - there are villages outside Ipswich which you get decent bang for your buck but you’d have to drive to Ipswich station.

Just depends what is most important to you. Good luck hunting!

Market Harborough is the southern tip of Leicestershire and direct trains into London take an hour, lots of nice villages around the area. The town itself is good too, you would get something nice for your budget:

Stamford in southern Lincolnshire is also lovely. Maybe Uppingham too
There are lots of nice villages in Northamptonshire but the town's themselves are a bit, erm something to avoid - kettering, Corby, Rothwell etc.

Quorn in Leicestershire supposed to be nice

You can get from Preston to London on the West Coast Mainline in 2hr 17 mins.

I’m in Cambridgeshire. Ely is our closest train station - trains direct to Kings Cross in about 1hr 20m, or you can change at Cambridge and pick up the Liverpool St line if that is more suitable.

The further you go into the Fens the cheaper it is, but be warned it can be very bleak at this time of year and there are some minor roads that are almost constantly flooded through the winter.