Commuter towns/places close to London

[lunepremiere79]

Not a AIBU, but posting here for traffic. Thinking of moving from the suburbs of London to somewhere within about 1 to 1.5 hour commute (by train) to London. Not fussed which direction - just somewhere that's got a few things going on the high street, doesn't have to be a village or too rural, though easy access to nature/parks would be great. Where would you move?

@TheNameTheWebsiteForgot

All the places names in Hertfordshire are less than 30 minutes into central London

Yes. If you are the Fat Controller and you have a flat above the country station and your work is at the mainline London station then you only need 30 minutes to commute.

But if you are NOT the Fat Controller living in job related accommodation and need to commute from your village house to city offices then it may be considerably longer.

Epping. The Central line terminates there. Bustling high street with independent and chain shops, lots of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops.

Change trains at Stratford to the Jubilee Line or DLR to Canary Wharf.

Epping Forest surrounding the town plus Coopersale Common, Thornwood Common and North Weald Common and open countryside beyond.

Harpenden
Bishop stortford
Stansted
Saffron Walden/ Audley end
Ware
At Albans
Cambridge

This is what you could get where I live. Ten minutes to the station and an hour into London Bridge.

St Georges Close, Brampton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE28
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108009113

Woking
Farnborough
Guildford

Guildford
Epsom, since it hasn't been mentioned. One of my friends commuted in to Canary Wharf pretty easily from there.

Bath is about an hour and a half from Paddington by train (if you can get a direct one).

Id look at Crowthorne, Bracknell, Binfield, Wokingham. You'll get loads for your money there (4-5 bed detached with decent size garden) all decent high street or town centres (lots of renovation happening). Very close to nature and lots of community outside space.

Bracknell is cheaper by a long way, worse schools but best for outdoor space. Crowthorne nicer houses and better school but more expensive. Wokingham is somewhere in the middle of the two.

Ashford in Kent is on a fast line, bloody expensive rail tickets but 35 mins commute then a walk or two tubes to Canary What. Ashford is on the edge of stunning Kent county side.

I will be honest though, all these commutes sound hideous

Where I would move in your shoes would in part depend on whether or not it is a 5 day a week commute long term or less.

The other thing to consider is the frequency of the train service and the reliability. An hour in theory may not be in practice.

Lots of sprawling countryside for miles around here, and lots of little train stations to take you into Waterloo in 45 mins. We’re near Guildford and are surrounded by fields for miles, but 5 min walk to station, 10 minutes into Guildford where there is every amenity i can think of. Love it here!

@Meatshake

Id look at Crowthorne, Bracknell, Binfield, Wokingham. You'll get loads for your money there (4-5 bed detached with decent size garden) all decent high street or town centres (lots of renovation happening). Very close to nature and lots of community outside space.

Bracknell is cheaper by a long way, worse schools but best for outdoor space. Crowthorne nicer houses and better school but more expensive. Wokingham is somewhere in the middle of the two.

I used to live in Wokingham. That area was claustrophobic when I moved from it 25 years ago. I went back recently to see a friend and felt as if I couldn’t breathe. You can tell how stressful a place is by the way people drive.

Are there job opportunities for your type of work outside London? Could you move somewhere less focused on London to the outskirts of one of the other UK cities ?

Burgess Hill.

An hour direct to London Bridge, and two stops to Canary Wharf.

Less than half an hour to Brighton.

Great for the South Downs.

Great for Gatwick.

Having said that, any tube into Canary Wharf in the mornings may be swift once you get on the train, but getting on a train at all can take a while.

@MrsMoastyToasty

Are there job opportunities for your type of work outside London? Could you move somewhere less focused on London to the outskirts of one of the other UK cities ?

Probably not, my husband and I both work in Canary Wharf and will both be commuting about 2 days a week on average, so unfortunately tied to the commute for awhile.

Thanks all! Lots to think about - it's such a mine field, but at least we now have a starting point.