My husband and I both work from home. We moved back from the US 20 months ago and have been living in my parents' house in London ever since, looking for a place to live out of the city. We have a four year old daughter who starts reception in September (YIKES) and twin 8 month olds. We need to get out of my parents' house before we drive them entirely mad, and we need to find a school that will take our daughter now we've missed all the deadlines. (We did apply here in London but would prefer not to stay if we can.)
We're looking for a small town where we can have a house with a sizeable garden, and our daughter (and then the twins) can go to a good local school. In the US we lived in a lovely walkable town with a great sense of community and lots of independent shops and restaurants, and we've been trying in vain to find somewhere that replicates that.
Because we work from home, we've had the luxury of looking in all kinds of places, but it has also paralysed us -- I have no idea if we're being too picky or just looking in the wrong places, but we cannot find the right spot. We're looking west and north of London as my parents are in West London and we'd like to be vaguely accessible to them. I also need to be in London for meetings twice a week or so, so we can't be too far away and I'd like train access if possible. But I realise we are going to have to compromise on something!
We like Thame a lot but haven't managed to find a house there. We've also looked in Haslemere, all round Oxford, and in some villages in south Oxfordshire. Whenever we find a nice town, we can't find a house that has anything other than a tiny garden. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for any advice.