Commuter town London

[durdledoo]

My husband had been doing a big old commute 3 x a week to London (5 hour round trip!) for several years now and has enjoyed being able to be at home more during lockdown.
We are toying with the idea of moving closer; currently based in Dorset and love being by the sea and countryside here so it's a lot to give up.
Just wanted to know if there's anywhere people have lived or live within an hour of London that they'd recommend?
We had a dog and two lovely girls. Budget of about 550k.
Looked at Chelmsford, tunbridge wells, tonbridge, Sevenoaks etc but just wanted to hear of maybe some suggestions we may not have been able to find on Google and some first hand experience!
Thanks in advance everyone

How near the sea do you want to be?

Brighton is the place that springs to mind - trains can be rammed though, but do-able especially if you don't have to do it every day!

Or Rochester/Gillingham? Nomfirst habd experience, but I've known people who have done that journey, and they weren't griping as much as commuters on SWTrains!

Thank you @SquirmOfEels for replying!
We've never considered Brighton and have had a little look on Rightmove. Seem right er a little more space in Gillingham. We have a lot of space here so giving it up seems difficult.
You've given us food for thought for sure. He'd only need to be in the office 2/3 days a week :)