Nice places to live within an hour commute of London

[Jadey16]

Hi everyone

My dh Has been offered a job in Central London, we currently live in the south west and own a 4 bed semi detached house with lots of off road parking, in London a similar house is worth 500k if not more. I’ve looked on rightmove at so many areas and they are all so expensive. Personally I don’t think we can afford to do it, is there anywhere within an hour commute of London that has houses around 280k or less in a nice area? Happy to downsize to a 3 bed with off road parking, safe and decent schools.The new job isn’t paid that well for the first couple of years, but after that he will earn well and it comes with great future prospects so we really want to go for it, but I can’t see how it would be possible. Any one want to prove me wrong?

Thanks

Have a look at Leighton Buzzard. Decent schools etc
35 mins to Euston

Look at the midlands, Market Harborough, Corby and Kettering for example all have train stations about an hour to St Pancras. You'd get a house easily for that budget.

As other posters have said, I would look very carefully about the length of the train journey vs overall length of journey. An hour on the train to London could easily double if you have to travel in London and with train delays etc.

Have a look at Ashford (Kent). It's much further out then other places, but if you take the high speed line it only takes 38 minutes into Kings Cross.

It is far, far cheaper than other alternatives within an hour of London, except the most from looking places. I can see some decent looking houses within your budget in a 3 mile radius of the station. Nice village nearby.

Schools are meant to be good and the countryside is very beautiful. The town centre is nothing to write home about, but Canterbury and other nice towns are nearby.

The major consideration is commuting costs - an annual season ticket is about 7.7k. This may rule it out for you.

we currently live in the south west and own a 4 bed semi detached house with lots of off road parking, in London a similar house is worth 500k if not more

A lot more. My 2-bed London flat cost £500k

You could look at Stevenage (not very nice but the old town is quite nice and great for commuting) or look at some smaller towns in herts/beds with train stations. As pp said you could look at 2 beds you can extend. You can also get a help to buy loan from the govt on new builds, 40% inside london and 20% outside.

Medway towns -Rochester, Higham, Chatham, Strood, Gravesend? Not t sure about the commuting costs though. Trains go to London Bridge, Waterloo and Charing Cross with connections to Canary Wharf and Victoria. Might take you over an hour though with home to station travel.

You can pick up a nice two bed flat in the Sidcup/Bromley/Orpington area for £280 but that might be too much of a downsize for you? Schools good in those areas also.

Where in London is the job? Somewhere like northampton you could get a house for 280k in the town centre, fast trains to Euston are 45 mins ish but he would need to be working in that area or the commute (with tube) will take much longer. I think you will struggle to get anything in Bromley, Sevenoaks, Chislehurst, Sidcup as pps have mentioned for that budget.

Postcodes DA15, DA16, BR5 and BR6 if looking on Rightmove.

also worth looking in Enfield Lock, Waltham Cross which are on the edge of north east london aren't the nicest areas but near some lovely green spaces like lee valley

or failing any of the above, get a boat!

I don’t want to put too much on here as have family on mumsnet but the job is 4 days on/4 days off, in those 4 days he can sleep where he works, so he won’t actually be doing the commute that often, ideally around an hour would be nice incase of emergency or if it was a birthday, so he could pop back when he’s off shift.

We live in a quiet rural town which is beautiful and have a 5 and 7 year old, so I do know how much of a change it would be, this also worries me. On the other hand, naff all goes on here, everyone knows your business and unless it’s lovely weather there’s is absolutely nothing to do, pay is low, job prospects for teenagers are poor and I’m bored to tears! But it is very safe for the kids and obviously that’s comes first.

I have looked at Market Harborough and can see quite a few in our budget so that’s interesting thank you, will look further. I got 500k from just doing a rightmove search within 40 miles of London, didn’t mean they were in London itself.

You’d easily get something in the budget in Peterborough which is about 45 minutes to King’s Cross.
Longthorpe and Orton Longville are nice, as is Werrington village and Hampton.

I wouldn’t think Market Harborough is an hour though. A slowish train to Bedford would be that or more. In your position with the stay-over option your DH has I’d stay put for now.

Havant area ... its a little bit longer but its fast train,to Waterloo ,
(avoid Leigh Park,) Drayton , Farlington, Bedhampton ,Waterlooville ok ( Purbrook, Clanfield / Horndean more expensive) but a drive to Havant or Petersfield station .

Look at Medway, it's on the high speed but slightly cheaper compared with other parts of Kent. Chatham, Rochester, gravesend way.

Obviously the other choice is to stay put as he can sleep at work, but it is 5 hours away from where we live, he says he doesn’t mind doing that twice a week. Or maybe move up the line a couple of hours so that journey wouldn’t be so bad.

You might get something suitable in Aylesbury / Tring area? There are some excellent schools in Bucks, but we still have grammars, so getting a place is not easy.

I would be cautious about Medway. It has some of the worst rated schools in the country, and the local authority has been rated inadequate for education, children and youth services.

At least with Havant (near Portsmouth) area you are still near the sea and the Downs ..

You'd get a house in Portsmouth also, but Havant area is nice IMO

If you want more going on, I'd move to Bristol/outskirts. Reasonable commute to London and you wouldn't be in the sticks

I agree with previous posters, you really need to look at which London mainline station is best for work location, and work back from there.

Try not to have more than one change, be it train, tube, bus, car, whatever. Those are what can really slow your journey down if there are any delays. The best commutes imo are when you can walk at either end with the train in the middle.
Look at the actual train times - do they coincide well with start and end of shifts? No good if you have to wait for 40 minutes at the end of the day because you just missed the train, or set off at the crack of dawn because the later train will mean you're 10 minutes late for work!

If the pay is less good the first two years, I would consider renting, and letting out your existing house. You can try out an area and see how the commute works with a bit less risk. And you might be able to afford something a bit bigger if you buy after his salary increases.

No way would you find anything in Aylesbury/Tring for 280k. A decent 4-bed semi with driveway etc would more like 400k, and that's if you compromised and lived in a less nice area.

Op - I would stay put. Your quality of life will be much higher.

Chesham / Aylesbury

A previous poster suggested DA16..... can you help me look for a house?! Our budget is £350k and that won't get us anything decent in a safe area of DA16!!