[Also posted this in Property before I realised there are local groups!]
I love living in London, though admit that while there are loads of positives for kids (and, selfishly, for me as I adore the city warts and all!), there are a lot of negatives too: the quality of air, overall quality of life as everyone works such long hours, local stabbings/murders as the norm, local crackheads as the norm etc...
My husband has a killer commute - 1.5 hours each way - into Hertfordshire, and we're thinking it might be time to consider moving out, and getting a better quality of life in a lot of areas as a result. He doesn't see enough of London to have an affiliation to it anymore, and would move tomorrow if we could. Knowing this it's time for me to suck it up and accept the time is nigh and moving is the right thing to consider sob. His new commute would only be a 15/20 minute drive each way, so a big difference, and he'd see so much more of the kids/me.
Our twins start school in reception this September, so if we leave in the next year/two we'd be looking to join a school retrospectively, but, challengingly, with two in the same class (or year, if two-form).
Our house budget will be about £800/850k. My question is, which areas, with that kind of budget, would be good for us to consider? They need to have close proximity to good schools (by all accounts the schools are generally good, and some better, versus schools around us which are generally good or not!). Thinking ahead, if we wanted our twins to go to the single-sex secondary schools, they're boy/girl twins, so we'd need to be in an area that worked for both the boys' and girls' school. I know hard to think that far ahead, but sensible not to discount it either as the house we'd move to would - we hope - be our final purchase.
I freelance, and do go into London so proximity to the train station is key too, ideally walkable.
We're planning on using the next few months to research, pay a few visits etc, and check out the feel of different areas, but would love some initial pointers from people who know the area!
Oh, and just to mention, I don't think villages outside would be an option. Grew up in a village in another country, so have had that (often claustrophobic!) experience and having done London for so long, don't think I can compromise that much!