So..we may be moving - where is good for home edders, commutable to Canary Wharf?

[pooter]

That's it. At the moment my DH works away from home most of the week, and we miss him. If we moved closer to London we could be together every day. The thought of uprooting the family and moving somewhere else is pretty daunting, and as we Home educate our 6yr old son and will HE our 3 yr old daughter, I need to know there's a friendly network to plug into, or I will be very lonely! Does anyone want to recommend their area? Or warn me off?

You could check out the Isle of Dogs. I used to live there when the DC were pre-school and in early primary. The biggest problem with the area is lack of a decent secondary, but that won't bother you. And it's walking distance to CW. Also worth considering is Greenwich and the area near Victoria Park, I would bet my bottom dollar the both of those areas would have HE groups.

Thanks Tantrums, its all a bit built up for me - i can see sheep from my window at the moment - SHEEP!! and I dont want to give that up. I will settle for fields! We did actually go house hunting around there a couple of years ago - before this ill fated move, but i really didnt take to being so enclosed within a city.

A lot will depend on your budget really. We are in NW London and there are a lot of home educators. If you are o the jubilee line, you can easily get to canary wharf. Alternatively go east. London has sooooo many home ed groups that I don't think you can go wrong with location really.

Depends what you call commutable. We're down in Chichester on the south coast - people do commute up to London - and have two amazing groups. However, we've also been members in the past of a lovely, thriving, Surrey group when we spent a lot of time in Guildford. That's much nearer and lots of people commute. If you want London, I know someone who is part of a South London group I can direct you to.

We have lots of fields. The cows keep us awake at night as they moo without stopping! DH commutes to Gatwick each day - I can't do towns.

There are sheep on the Isle of Dogs! Check out Mudchute City Farm - it's massive!

Hallo

I commute to Canary Wharf - only one day a week though (although DH goes to central London five days a week). We're in Faversham, Kent, which is fab for DD (6) and DS (3). But we don't HE. I have seen posts from happy HE-ers on local parenting forums though.

Hmm, the coast was just a dream, but maybe I should check out train times before I write it off( although I do actually want to see DH sometimes!). I will investigate Guildford, especially as my sil suggested we'd like it there too. Thanks musicposy.

Wiifitmama, the problem is I don't want to live in london, which is a right bugger seen as that's the only place DH can work. Ideally we'd live on the coast but close enough for a ten minute drive into a largish town, and a magic carpet available for DH. (and easy to get to the midlands). It's impossible isn't it.

I think I looked at faversham, oldest cat, and it looked lovely but it's soooo far away from my parents in the midlands I didn't pursue it.

I have this same dilemma every couple of years, and I wish I could sort myself out once and for all!

Thank you for all your help :-)

We live in Tower Hamlets and home educate - the area around Victoria park is really worth looking at as you can be close to the canal, Vic Park and Mile End park as well as numerous other small parks. East London home ed is developing, come and be part of it!

Thanks chocolate crispies, for the invite :-) I will take another look on rightmove now.

Guildford is good, lots of home-ed groups about there. The trains are pretty fast and frequent to Waterloo and you can be in the countryside with a short drive (or a short walk if you live in the right area of the town), I used to be able to walk one way to the shops and the other way to the hills.

There are loads of places to visit that are great for the DC's (and nice and empty during term time). If you fancy googling any: Alice Holt forest. Frensham ponds. Brockets farm. Fishers farm. Wisley gardens. Loads of NT places, Winkworth, Devils punch bowl. Buster ancient farm. Tilford rural life center. Haslemere museum...and of course you can go up to London on the train nice and quickly.

I've no idea on the Home Ed stuff but Essex might work for countryside that is commutable to the Wharf. You can commute in and change at Stratford without it being too onerous. Anywhere from the Epping Forest area out into the countryside might work for you.