Where can we move to that is family friendly, an hours commute to London?

[stropicana]

Thats it really kind M'Netters.

We are moving somewhere near London. Needs to be no more than an hour to central London, family friendly, reasonable priced housing, good schools, would like village location - not asking for much.

Ideally would like a new build so we can try and part exchange.

I doubt you'll find reasonably priced housing, family friendly and good schools that close to London. Where I live (West Sussex) I'm about 45 minutes from London Victoria or London Bridge, we have great schools and it's a lovely town but houses are expensive. You could go for Crawley where houses are cheaper but the schools aren't so good and it's not as family friendly.

South Oxon and Berkshire, especially the villages around Pangbourne. Lovely. 40 min to central London, fabulous schools (outstanding junior and senior), markets, lots to do easy to commute.

The following site can be a useful indicator of commute times though its not totally accurate by any means

www.commutefrom.com/

We're looking at Surrey (Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames, Cobham, Oxshott, Guildford) and Kent (Sevenoaks, Tonbridge) since my DH requires London Bridge or London Waterloo to make the additional tube journey as short as possible. DH hates the tube! DH's aim is no more than 70 mins door-to-door.

Hayes/Keston/Farnborough have nice villages nearby but commutable if you drive. Trains start at Orpington or Hayes so no worries about seats. They're slow stopping trains but 45 mins from Orpington to Victoria/charing cross is great.

Places likes petts wood/Hayes/west wickham are not villages but countryside isn't far, house prices are ok (to me, I live closer in so different expectations). Good schools too.

Parts of Bromley which are not in the town, towards the green belt have some new builds - stuff bring built now. Bromley has loads of fast trains (20 mins) to Victoria. You'll need to drive to the station if you live further out in places with a rural feel.

Wow. Thanks for the great responses.

St Albans is nice but expensive, Harpenden in nicer but even more expensive but Luton is nastier but much cheaper.

I have lived, worked or gone to school in all three (years ago now!)

I'm another Colchester fan, we live a 10 min walk from the train station, trains are 50 mins for fast, 60 for ones that stop at several places. Straight into Liverpool Street, absolutely loads of trains all the time going in both directions. Season ticket is about £4K a year. Lots of new builds in the town.

Bishop's Stortford? Ace schools.

Good advice earlier on re. working out actual commute time door-door, not just the train time. Makes a huge difference. I think Essex is the best value, but schools maybe not as good as other areas (would need to check them out). Also the price of train tickets is EXHORBITANT. If you live cycling distance into central London you can save a lot of money.

My parents live 40min train ride out of London and it house prices are more expensive than where I live (10 min from Liverpool St)! Have a look at Wanstead (East London/ Essex) or Buckhurst Hill (nice schools, but still on tube).

Sorry, to clarify, not train prices in Essex that are exhorbitant, just in general. We stayed at my parents for a couple of months and it was around 20quid a day (5 years ago).

Definitely start from the other end. Where is the target location in London, if you know. Limit journey to one tube line and about 5 stops to a mainline station if it isn't already near a mainline station. This will be min. 20 minutes, more likely 30. Then start looking out along the rail lines for places you like the sound of and checking the times, and bear in mind you/your OH need time to walk to the station and if driving the commuter belt stations have car parks a mile long. Season tickets get expensive with distance even if it's a quick journey.

Useful map

Don't wish to put a damper on it but I used to commute from Zone 2 and it took most of an hour, door to desk! But at least I had the option of cycling!

You will find somewhere I'm sure but it could be pricy if it's a village with a station and a regular London service . You can see why people end up in places like Bexley Heath (suburbs!).

Wider connections map

Godalming. It's lovely here. 45 mins to Waterloo. But nowhere in a real hour's commute is reasonably priced. And definitely take the total travel time into account.

Potters Bar in Hertfordshire has good schools and nice properties but not great on shops etc. Hertford lovely but property v expensive. Enfield or Barnet could be options in Greater London, good schools but not many new builds that aren't flats.

Also, to mention, Colchester has excellent schools, both junior and senior and quite a few of them. Great shopping, nice town. Oddly enough although my train takes 50 minutes, I can get into work quicker than friends who live on the fringes of London.

Brentwood. Quite a nice town. I know someone there with a good 3-bedroom 1920s semi with CH., garage and small garden. The house is probably priced lower (£320k) than it would be if it looked smart. This chap looks after the house - everything works - but it's full of junk and he has no idea of decor. So a buyer who could see past that would get a good, affordable house near London.

We used to live in Theale near Reading. It's nicer than Reading with many commuters and a reasonably nice feel. Reasonable, too, compared with some commuter places.

Horsham in West Sussex voted 2nd best place in Britain to live & only 1 hour from London by train, property relatively cheap and has a lovely town centre, low crime rate. Also Haywards Heath on main line to London and near the sea.

Surrey - Epsom, Ashtead, Leatherhead, Ewell, Cheam, Dorking etc are all 30-40 mins to Waterloo and Victoria and reasonably priced for home counties. Carshalton or Sutton worth looking at too, probably a bit cheaper.

What is your budget?

You can go a bit further north than Milton Keynes. Rugby is 50 mins to London, and you'll get more house for your money. Depends on how much commuting is worthwhile.

Yes, we need house size, budget and London station to give you the ultimate answer.

OK, we it might be a bit uncool but what about Peterborough? The fast train takes 45minutes into Kings Cross and the slow train 1hour (first thing in the morning and last thing at night). House prices are much lower than most of the other places mentioned here. You can buy a large family 4 bedroom for a lot less than £250k (and in a nice area). Schools can be a bit hit and miss but there are some good ones and there are very good private schools in the area. The environment around the city is fantastic as are other transport links and the city centre is being massively improved. There are some nice villagy areas within the city itself.

I got this book out of the library a few years ago and found it useful-

The Daily Telegraph Guide to Commuterland by
Caroline McGhie

It looks at the stops on each train line out of the London termini, and describes the feel of the town/villages and approximate house prices, schools, train frequency etc.

Cut the commute.
Buy this house Here - has nice garden or this this one - though they have shown the wrong map in the details.
Go to this outstanding primary school
and then this highly rated secondary.

Very friendly comunity area, good local park, excellent local faclilities and very good public transport to most parts of C London as it is between 2 different but very good rail networks.

Not a village location, though, but has many village atributes - book club, street party, small school so everyone knows everyone, trees, quiet at night.

Has anyone mentioned Rochester? Direct train links to Victoria, London Bridge, St Pancras, Waterloo East etc. Moved here from London a few years ago knowing nothing about the place and it's been great. Nice and close to the coast and countryside, too.