Moving to a different part of London

[Uhohmummy]

Currently live in a small terraced house with 3 DC in a vibrant (edgy) part of London. Pros are great community, diverse, short commute, good primary school. But... secondaries not great around here and I really want to be in a less urban environment. We’ve always planned to move out of London to somewhere greener and DH would commute in. My ideal is to live rurally but we have no links to anywhere in the south east. I’m also worried about the long daily commute for DH and lack of things to do for teens.
WIBU to move to a totally different part of London and start again with schools/friends? It seems like most people who move away move out of London so would a move within London be worth it? I don’t like the areas near where we are now so it would be a completely different area (we’re currently in north London and would probably go south east or south west). Our budget is good so we can afford one of the nicer parts of London.

Sure it would be worth it. We moved from a small Z2 terrace in an "urban" area to a much bigger semi in Z4 in a different quadrant of London. We love it here, there are great green space and secondaries and it's much easier to get out of London while still having all the London advantages. But we've never wanted rural and still don't. They'll carry me out of this city in a long box.

Thanks bunglebee. Were your children already in school when you moved? Did you find it easy to make friends in your new area?

Oohhh I’m interested in this but the opposite to you, I’m in se London and there is lots of crime and gangs around here it’s a really rough area and I wouldn’t want my kids to go secondary school around here so I would really like to move to a different side of London , don’t think I could actually leave London completely

Move further east. Good connections into London and more space for your money

I think it's the obvious solution - keep the benefits of London, but ditch the problem schools.

Do you mean east London goblet, or Essex? I don’t think either would be right for us as family are in the south west.

For precise advice you need to be more specific about location and budget.

Beckenham/Bromley GoGetsALife?

Doesnt it depend on your budget and want you mean by less urban. For example, to me Muswell Hill has all you seem to want but perhaps it's too urban for you. Or somewhere like Herne Hill but again thats probably too urban - also what do you mean by good secondaries. State or private? League tables or feel?

We are planning on moving for secondaries but only ten mins by car from where we are now. My impression is that people who move for secondaries do tend to struggle finding friends though kids are usually fine. But thats just my friends' experience

We moved before the DC were in school OP. But lots of kids have moved into my area/school during primary and settled fine. I don't think changing schools is too much of an issue for primary.