Name this town please!

[whereishome]

Good sized market town;
Nice countryside but near large town/city;
Excellent primary schools, stretching;
Some choice of private schools;
Able to walk to school instead of drive;
Pretty town, aesthetically pleasing;
Refined feel to the area;
1 and a half hours commute to London.

Can anyone help me name this town? Or does it not exist? Thank you!

Woodbridge in Suffolk

I second Faversham in Kent!

Winchester. Not cheap though!

Diss, nearish to Norwich. Direct train into London. Possibly a bit small and I know nothing about schools there but probably worth a look.

Peters field, Alresford, King's Worthy or 99% of the villages on outskirts of Winchester.

Slightly further afield but East Dorset wouldn't be far off either; Tisbury & Gillingham areas.

This is a great thread

depends which bit of london you want to access and how big a town you want

can recommend oxford ( and surrounds), cambridge and bath all of which i have lived in

am personally tossing up between sevenoaks and oxford/thame area, so following the thread with interest

good luck

Sounds like Henley to me!

Evening! Spent the night listing everyone's suggestions. Tomorrow night will see the task of pinning these places on the map. Just for your interest:
You have given me 90 places so far; places that got 5 or more votes were:
Tonbridge Wells - 6 votes;
St Albans - 5 votes;
Thame - 5 votes;
Winchester - 8 votes;
Stamford - 4 votes;
Sevenoaks - 5 votes;
Lymington - 5 votes;

Places that people really showed an enthusiasm for in their replies were Thame, Stamford and Lymington/Brockenhurst and Sywell village.

I am totally spoilt for choice so will start looking at schools, google earth, location. Places I find myself curious about are Saffron Walden (3 votes), Thame, Stamford, Bury st Edmunds, Horsham and Lymington/Brockenhurst.

Please keep posting and I will keep you up to date with my findings - just in case anyone out there cares! Hmm - where is home indeed

I'll third Faversham, Dh commutes to the city from here and we love it, very lovely community feel and all the things you describe in the OP...

cambridge is great,

Another vote for T Wells, and keep going South East as far as Cranbrook, Headcorn, Frittenden (excellent primary school) etc... still only an hour on the train - from the Ashford high speed you can do it in 30 mins BUT they are villages!! - Headcorn has a good selection of shops though, and very pretty (and not too expensive). Avoid anywhere in Medway.

We have friends in Saffron Walden. It's vair vair expensive nice.

I like Saffron Walden and would have looked at moving there but it didn't have a public swimming pool close by and the train station is at Audley End which is 2 miles outside the town.

Also like St Albans.

I would like to live in Hertford, its a much smaller town but easy access to london.

Can I give another vote for hungerford to get it on your list?! The network of mums there is great. Or so I've heard. Good local schools and private schools not far in any direction should you go down that route!

Another vote for Wiltshire, Corsham/Chippenham or Bradford on Avon

Moodykat, I was umming and aahing about Hungerford. It's on the list now thanks to you. Be strange if I end up living there now!

Saffron Walden does have a public swimming pool, Bruffin. Agree the location of the station is a bit of a pain though!

Hertford
Hitchin
St Albans
Baldock

Another vote for Sevenoaks here. Or even the nearby village of Borough Green.
Both places have train stations with direct routes to London Victoria with journey time of about 45min- 1hour.

I live in a neighbouring town to Sevenoaks. I don't know why so many people are recommending it. Its very expensive and it only has one secondary (Knole academy) you have to commute to all the others (grammars and church schools) Save Sevenoaks school, the private secondaries only cater for girls and you're pushed to get a seat on the trains in the rush hour. However, if you have megabucks and can afford the school fees for Sevenoaks school its fine.

I live in Horsham, we have good secondary schools as well & 50mins to Victoria or 1hr London Bridge. I am biased as have lived here for 31 years & previously in a local village, although did secondary ed in Guildford. The private schools are all outside the town, but not really any bad primary schools with several oversubscribed because of reputation rather than catchment. Just been voted as 5th best place to live in the country!

I agree with Petersfield or Winchester, I live quite close to both and personally they are not for me as I like the seaside however they pretty much meet all requirements on your list!