Affordable, family-friendly commuting town near London

[giovanabrei]

Hi everyone
I'm new here and I hope I picked the right thread!
I'm moving to England in a couple of months, as my husband got a job in London. We are Brazilians currently living in Japan and we don't really know London except as tourists.
Our idea is to live in a commuting town approximately 1h from central London, where we hope we can rent a 3-bed house with a little more space for the kids. We have a 2yo boy and another bun in the oven.
I'm really worried we could miss out on something critical during our research and end up in a trap for not knowing the city secrets...
I'm also worried about some news about a "London exodus" and prices going through the roof in commuting towns...
Husband will work from home 3 days a week, so commuting costs will be reduced, yet not negligible. Any advice on this? AIBU? :-)

Haywards Heath?

1500 a week or 1500 a month? It's a massive difference @giovanabrei!

You will likely be better off living in an outer zone of London and cycling to the office, you won't get much on the budget close to a station in a commuter town, so you'll need to cycle that (as you won't be able to park at the station without more expense) so you might aswell just cycle the whole thing.

You'll get a lot more property and not that much different environment really.

St Albans?

Stevenage definitely has nice parts - secondary schools are a bit of an issue if you are not Catholic though.

Welwyn Garden City is nicer but generally more expensive, although there are cheaper areas as well. Letchworth is nice and fairly affordable I think? Hitchin, Ware and Hertford are lovely but probably not what I would call 'affordable'.

Bishop's Stortford?

There are places further out that you might get what you want.
You could drive to a tube station and commute from there.
I drive to South ruislip and park (£5) then commute to central London which is approx £9 a day.

You could look across the Elizabeth line and see if that will serve you. Villages like Burnham aren't bad, taplow too. Although I don't know what the rental is like.

You could look closer to the end of the Piccadilly or met lines. A few colleagues commute from there.

I used to park at Beaconsfield (£8+) and a daily ticket was £20+ and then tube too.

St Albans is definitely not affordable!

Reading is on the London Waterloo line and Paddington line, and also Crossrail (Elizabeth line)

Leighton Buzzard ticks your boxes I think. 28mins train into Euston, good schools and still affordable.

I live in Berkshire and rent here is £1400 for a small 3 bed.

@kissmelittleass

Stevenage is an upcoming town with loads of new developments in nice areas, loads of Londoners have moved there due to rising prices obviously in London. 25 minutes on train to kings cross, 27-30 miles car drive into London traffic depending of course! Lots of greenery , affordable housing compared to London so very appealing!

Stevenage?!!! Er, nope. And before you assume, I know it very well. Avoid, OP.

This area of Bedford is lovely, near the river and parks, nice little shops nearby. Walk to station. About an hour direct train to Blackfriars. Probably less than £400 for 2 days a week commute per month

OP you really need to clarify if you mean £1500 a month or a week.

Take a look on Rightmove to get an idea of rental prices for the various areas.
No idea if they would be in budget but Bexley/Bexleyheath/Bromley/Bickley/Petts Wood/Sidcup perhaps?

@Barton10

I live in Berkshire and rent here is £1400 for a small 3 bed.

I'm only getting £1250 for mine, want to move?

My brother was in a similar situation and made the mistake of moving to Harlow because he was left with little option.

Don’t do it.

Although even Harlow might have gone up in price too.

You could try Chelmsford in Essex. 30 mins by train to Liverpool Street. Great primary and secondary schools. Lots of parks and green space.

It would be great if you could have a look at some of the areas before settling on one. Lots are quite different in character but not without merit.
I agree with those who say maybe try living in London first and you could then settle on a decent area outside London that is a good fit for your family.

Depending on how long you want the commute, banbury is 55 mins from London via train, straight into Marylebone and £1000 rent pcm would get you a nice 3 bed semi with garden

You’d get a 2 bed maisonette with garden in Petts Wood (a leafy part of the Borough of Bromley) for £1.200 which has direct trains to Blackfriars (plus Cannon Street, London Bridge and more). A peak single ticket is just under £5 using Oyster as it is zone 5.

OP I don’t know if you are aware of Council Tax, it can be anything from £150 to £250 pm depending on size of property and the rates for that particular local authority. On top of this water can be £25 to £45pm depending on if it is on a water meter or fixed rate, then you have your utility bills on top, I mention it as I know some countries include all bills in their rental rates but it isn’t the norm in the U.K. sorry if I am mentioning something you already know but if you didn’t I don’t want it to come as a shock.

OP, try Hayward’s Heath or Horsham (both in Sussex) - direct commute to Blackfriars and big enough that you should find affordable renting options, and good schools/groups for you to join.

Your budget is very tight though.

Don’t live in Crawley.

St. Neots and Huntingdon are nice and have fast train connections to London. I wouldn't recommend Stevenage town (having lived there before), but some of the surrounding villages are lovely and it has some good local amenities - (nearly?) all trains on the Great Northeastern Rail Line stop there, big hospital, an excellent (Catholic) secondary school, leisure park, Knebworth House, water splash park.

You will struggle to find a nice 3 bed to live in a good area with that budget, yet alone affording commuting costs as well. Unless that is your weekly budget?

It might be worth reconsidering your move, or altering your expectations.

I don't know it well but Ashford might fit your bill and seems fairly cheap?

Haywards Heath or Crawley would be my suggestion for that commute, nice and quick and both family friendly towns. Crawley has a fairly bad reputation but its a nice diverse mix of cultures with lots of green spaces, I like it.