OK, so if you have to commute to Canary Wharf, where could you live?

[chocolatequeen]

Don´t want to live in Central London box with the littlies, want a decent sized house with garden so I can stand at kitchen window in pinny and wave gaily at DH as he potters off for a hard day in The City.

Can anyone point me in the general direction of the burbs....

Always recommend where I live - Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring. Hemel is 28 minutes from main train station to Euston.

Lots of lovely countryside and great schools

My house is on market, fancy a 3 bed detached for £275,000 ?

Bexleyheath and surrounding areas, train to Lewisham or Greenwich, hop on the DLR, bob's yer uncle.

Bromley, Brockley (nr Lewisham)

Some parts of Brockley and Catford are not bad and certainly a lot cheaper that nearby Greenwich and Blackheath.

Hilly Fields in Brockley is pretty nice.

It is nice! We had a flyer in the book bag tonight about the Brockley Fair or something. There will be a surf simulator!!??

Chocolatequeen , I have that question too. I'd been looking in Surrey, around Caterham, or Richmond (the prices are silly there, but it is nice, and hey, he works in CW!) Will look at Essex tho, could be a winner

Skibump - Wimbledon muight be a fraction cheaper than Richmond, shorter commute and no noisy airplanes over.

I'd love to know how you could commute from Cambridge to Canary Wharf in an hour! Fastest train to Kings X is 47 mins and Kings X nowhere near Canary Wharf. Cambridge to L'pool St takes at least 1 hr 15 mins and then you still have to get to DLR to get to Docklands.

Anywhere on the Jubilee line or within a short change from the Jubilee. Get a tube map and follow it out of town.

friend of mine's husband works in Canary wharf and they live in Horsham, West Sussex, it is 1 hour train journey one way, they have two children, 10 and 12. They've been here 5 years now and love it. Affordable, lots of space, large house and active sport clubs.

SpacePuppy - maybe the train journey is only 1 hour but it will be much more when you add the tube time and walk to the station. DH worked in CW for a couple of years and it took him 1 hour or more from Wimbledon.

Another vote for Essex - one of the towns on the Clacton/Harwich line, but beyond Chelmsford (Hatfield Peverel, Witham, Kelvedon) so you get a seat on the way in.

NO way could you do Cambridge to CW in under an hour - It takes dh 1h30 door to door from our village one stop down from Cambridge to Liverpool street. Now if your dh was prepared to drive it would be a different matter.

My top tip for commuting is to minimise the cross London journey - tubes/buses and changes can double the train time. So for CW look into essex stations that go to Stratford as that is a do-able walk if the DLR is down. Or stay in town and go to Blackheath/Greenwich

Can anyone tell me what Buckhurst Hill, Woodford Green are like for schools?

The ones I know:

Churchfields infants/juniors state school - excellent, probably will get in if live in woodford green area, maybe not b'hurst hill.

Woodford Prep - 4 to 11 private (but not through the roof, under £2K per term). also known as the red school. high demand and excellent.

Forest School (snaresbrook ) - good 4-18
St. Aubyns - Woodford Green - okay to good 4-not 18. Maybe 11?
Chigwell - excellent 7-18
Bancrofts - excellent 7-18
Trinty (must be Catholic) - Secondary. good

Woodford County High - girl's grammar, state, outstanding 98% A-C but takes 1 out of every ten kids. Equivalent boys' school is Ilford Prep, similar results, similarly competitive.

Sorry don't know more about hte state schools, there are other good ones in B'Hill but I'm not familiar enough. Will try to find out.

Thanks Genidef

chocolate -what about greenwich/blackheath -can get the dlr from there to canary wharft

i am from Those Parts. chingford and highams park is oodles cheaper, but on rail not tube and is still london. woodford state schools fine, dunno buckhurst hill. two waitroses to choose between though!

glad to hear about waitrose

CristinaTheAstonishing, thx for the tip, we'll be moving to Wimbledon in the next few weeks. Now to try the magic of mumsnet once more...any good tips re what is going on for a SAHM with a small toddler

My SIL used to commute to Canary Wharf from Newbury. Lovely town, big enough for decent shopping, restaurants etc and small enough for decent ish house prices. Most houses in Newbury are about 10-15 minutes from the station. The commute would take about 60-90 minutes and is fairly direct (Paddington.)

I know lots of folks who commute to Canary Wharf - we are on a trainline out of Waterloo (NW Surrey - Reading Line) - they pick up the Jubilee Line in Waterloo.