Need help finding somewhere to live within commuting distance of Kings Cross.

[FruitSaladIsNotPudding]

Hi,

We are looking (very unwillingly) at leaving London in order to buy a house but we're totally stumped about where to start looking and I was hoping mumsnetters might have some suggestions.

Here's what we need:

Must be communtable to Kings Cross or Euston, preferably in 45 mins or so on train.

We need to be able to live near the station at the other end - no more than a mile.

We would rather live in a town than a village.

Needs to be cheapish - we would have £230,000 max to buy 3, preferably 4 bedrooms.

Any ideas?

Well my first suggestion was going to be St. Albans or similar but I'm afraid I don't think that budget would get you 2 bedrooms, let alone 3 or 4.

You could get something for that price in Hitchin which is about half an hour from Kings X. My husband used to work there and thought it was a nice town but neither of us have lived there so am prepared to be corrected .

And I think Hertford is reasonably priced too (and goes into Kings Cross).

Thank you, will check those out. I already found out St Albans was above budget!

Parts of Bedfordshire are prob within budget?

I second Bedfordshire beautiful, quiet and some good schools. Hitchin good too although more expensive. Both have good schools, have friends who live in both areas.

My brother and his family are in Hertford. You could afford a 3 bed there. It's a nice town with great schools.

Peterborough or bit further out Grantham, def get 4 bedroom for that money in Grantham although it is 1hr 10min commute from Grantham.

How about Enfield Town, if you're not snobby about ex-LA you would prob get 3 beds for your money, and it's a lovely town with good transport links.

Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes both have fast trains into Euston, and property may be a bit cheaper as it's a bit further out.

Peterborough - you can get a 4 bed for that price in a really nice area. Fast train takes 45 minutes into KIng sCross. Not too bad living here - nice parks etc. We have lived here for 10 years!

would recommend you looking at leighton buzzard. you could comfortably get 3 good beds for your money. would focus around linslade for commuting. good schools(linslade 3 lower schools all excellent, upper school gets best results in county for non selective school)

commute is 35 mins into euston plenty of trains.

high street has waitrose,costa and some independents. proper good shopping in milton keynes which is easy 20 min drive.

Letchworth?

Stevenage? Not as nice but property probably cheaper.

St Albans - our 3 bed ex-Council semi-detached house sold for £240,000 in December 2009. But if you don't want ex-council, expect to pay £320,000 + for a Victorian, small 3 bed house in St Albans.

Watford - 20 mins into Euston from Watford Junction, very frequent trains, small 3 bed at £215,000 (Victorian terrace), bigger 3 bed at £250,000. Much less nice town than St Albans but only 15 mins drive away from it!!

Thank you, everyone, lots of ideas there.

I hadn't considered Watford, although would like to live so close to London - does anyone live there and can tell me what it is like?

I live there - moved from St Albans 13 months ago in order to upsize, simply because of the massive difference in property prices, even though they are about 5 miles apart (and same commute into London). We have a 3 bed detached house in Watford with garden, garage, lots of outside storage, that would probably cost at least another £100k more in St Albans. Maybe £150k more.

I see you are 30 with one DD aged 11 months - I am 31 and DD is 2.5, with number 2 on the way, so very similar! I work in London (Westminster area) and commute 3 days a week. DH works in Watford (secondary teacher).

Pros of Watford: great commute if you are going to live outside London. Takes me an hour door to door to Westminster. Great transport links generally - v close to M25, M1, rail links all over the country. On London Overground rail. Metropolitan line even comes out as far as Watford! Although you'd be crazy to commute into central London using it.

Property prices far lower than many other bits of Hertfordshire.

Big hospital, three new, clean council leisure centres, pretty good shopping centre with all the usual big brands, including a John Lewis(the Harlequin). Two state grammar schools, 100% selective (one boys, one girls) and some othe state schools which are semi-selective and get v good results (eg Parmiters). Some good primaries (eg Knutsford, Nascot Wood). Lovely lovely huge park (Cassiobury) with miniture railway, clean lovely big paddling pools, nature reserve, 2 playgrounds with new equipment, lovely cafe etc. Usual amount of baby / toddler groups / activities etc.

For us, another important advantage is being equidistant between my PILs (Oxford) and my mum (Bedford). Unlikely to apply to you though!

Cons: town centre (apart from Harlequin) v uninspiring. Charity shops, bars and nightclubs, cheap homeware shops. Basically no historical interest or interesting buildings. Not much culture going on. Is a cinema and a theatre, but hardly a cultural mecca. Generally not a hugely inspiring as a town, but for us the advantages (particuarly the commute) make up for this, and anyway we spend weekends either in our house, or visiting people, or going to other places!

It's a real case of weighing up what's important to you - I think our friends in St Albans (antenatal classes) think we are slightly bonkers to have moved to Watford, but we couldn't have afforded the house we wanted in St Albans, and it's more important to us to live in the right house for the next 10+ years, rather than a much smaller house in a better town. And the length of the commute really matters to me, so I didn't want to live in, for example, Hitchin - better property prices than St Albans, but longer commute.

We just came to the conclusion that the perfect town with affordable (to us) property prices and a short commute just didn't exist, and ended up here.

Anything else you'd like to know about Watford, just ask!

Is it worth considering Hemel Hempstead? I think they have a frequent train to Euston. Schools are variable. The old town is lovely.

Thank you Widgeon, that is very helpful. I agree with you that the perfect town doesn't exist - we're just trying to work out what we are prepared to compromise on!

Watford sounds interesting from what you are telling me. My H works in Camden so his commute should be fine. Ideally we would like to live within walking distance of a station to cut down on changes - is that possible in Watford? We'd like to live in a reasonably nice area.

Do you ever go into Watford in the evenings? Sounds like there's not much there, but we would like to be go out for the odd meal!

We had similar requirements to you and live in Leighton Buzzard (Linslade was out of our budget at the time). It's not the most exciting town but perfectly pleasant, almost all schools are good and within easy reach of MK for shopping, theatre etc. Also close to M1 which matters to us as PIL are up north. Previously lived in Watford which I loved and dh hated due to parking restrictions! Property was too expensive for us there once we had baby 3 on the way.

Aylesbury in Bucks,
I know that it is on the Chiltern Line, and that goes inro Marylebone, but it is less than an hour into London, and it is pretty cheap, my sister got her 3 bedroom house 4 years ago for less than £220,000.
The shopping is okayish, has more supermarkets than you can shake a stick at, and thay have just opened a really good theatre, soon to be followed by a waitrose next door, thay also have swimming pools, and very good school system, very good primaries, and Grammer School system for seconadry education.
And the chiltern hills are on your doorstep,

Linslade

Also

or...

Ok, Leighton Buzzard looking interesting as well. What is the difference between that and Linslade?

That first house you posted looks good Katisha, and so close to the station!

I think Aylesbury is a little too far - just checked and it's about an hour. Really need the train to be a bit quicker or it'll be two hours on a bad day once you've factored in getting to the station etc.

Leighton Buzzard and Linslade are the same town, it's just that the bit over the river and near to the station is called Linslade. (Long ago the river was the county boundary and Linslade was in Bucks.)

I think that first house is on a relatively busy road, you'd have to come and have a look, but I think there are quite a few houses in your price bracket in the area.

You could branch out to Leighton Buzzard and still be in walking distance of the station.

Ah. So which is better, Linslade or LB? And are there any areas with a few nice shops/restaurants there?

Have you considered Huntingdon? It's about 50 minutes on the train to KingsX pretty reliable service on FCC. DH does the commute everyday and its okay (he did do it from Cambridge and it was dire)

You can buy a good sized four bedroomed house for about £250k and less depending on what you want and they are building new homes at the moment if you need to do a trade in thing.

There is a good secondary school in the town (I don't know about primaries) and some good private schools within commuting distance. The town is relatively well stocked with good day to day shops with Cambridge/Peterborough about 20 mins away for other purchases. The big bonus is the country park which is really nice.