Relocation advice: Your thoughts please

[relocate2Where]

Hello all,

We have been living in Brentwood, Essex for just over an year now.
We are now considering moving to somewhere else (where, is the big question, of course),
I would be grateful for any suggestions/tips/advice/places to avoid ...

Thanks a lot

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1. The key trigger for moving is that it is hard to get value-for-money in Brentwood, as it is in the London commuter belt.
   DH works in Basildon, Essex and am SAHM at the moment; So, proximity to London is not a criteria at the moment. We pay 950 for a
   tiny two bed flat and even pushing the budget upto 1250 doesn't take you too far.

2. We are looking for 3 bed accomodation in a decent, safe locality, not too far from town/city centre. To rent,
   initially and may be buy in the long run

3. Want a wider choice of activities/play school for DD, who is 19 months now. In particular, looking for Montessori/Steiner
   type of schools to start her off, when she turns 2.

4. In terms of places, DH is happy to commute upto 40 mins; he travels away a lot for work anyways.
   THe places we are considering: Cambridge, St Albans, Bishops Strotford;
   Equally, we are also considering places like Guildford, ...

I know, I know, ..

It is just this thing of wanting to give up the nomadic life that we have been living and have some semi-permanency or some semblance of that :-)

We have lived in Cambridge and BS, in the past. And as such, like Cambridge better. But, that was from the eyes of a student and not as a parent.
So, would love to hear parent's views on Cambridge as about
any other places that you can think of and/or have experience of

I wou.d think Guildford etc. would be far more expensive. If you wanted to come this way then maybe look at Winchester (but still probably too expensive). Do you need to get into London? If not then Suffolk or much further from London eg. Leicestershire, would give you far more for your money.

Wouldn't it be a nightmare to get from Guildford to Essex?

Surrey is also commuter belt! And property prices equally high and therefore less for your money. If you want better value for money you would have to move further away from London. Try working out a maximum commute your DH would be prepared to undertake and look at what falls within that radius. When you are taking good transport links into account this will always be something that will affect house prices (ie make houses worth more/ more expensive) so there is always that balance to be struck.

Have a look at www.commutefrom.com/ to work out best places in the distance. It's really helpful.