Where should we live? Please come sell me your neighbourhood, or help me search

[QuintessentialPains]

We cannot afford what we want in East Sheen.
Ideally, we would like to live with Richmond park in our backyard, but failing that we need alternatives.

We are looking for the following:

3-4 beds
Large garden with room for a garden office.
Modern eat in kitchen
Conservatory, or space to build, together with garden office.
Off street parking for motorbike out front.
Side access to garden for our bikes, and the motorbike.
Close proximity to parks
Close proximity to excellent schools (not fee paying)
Near or in South (West) London(
not in Utopia)
Under ahem 700k. [cblush]

thanks muchly

not much help but we have:
4 double bedrooms
2 bathrooms
double garage
big kitchen/ dinning area
lounge
games room
kids play area
front and back garden ( with shed)
opp park
quite street
800mtrs to beach
walking distance to bus stops with good links to rail station ( 1hr 20 mins to Perth CBD)
273 UK pounds!!!![csmile]

Have you looked in Kingston or the areas around? I moved near to Kingston last year and have already made friends with several neighbours.

Agree about Kingston. And have you looked at Twickenham or Hampton?

Take it you don't want to live in the depths of Dorset do you? Great house for sale in our village by the sea for under your asking price, and the schools are great. Good transport links to London aswell.

Agree with Hampton.
Bushey Park in our back yard and the lovely Carlisle Park
Waitrose may be coming here ( hope so!)
Good bus service (111) to Kingston if you get up too late on a Saturday to want to take your car and all the parking hassle that involves.
R70 direct to Richmond though not quite as reliable as the 111.
Good schools (in my opinion as DS's always went to local state schools and did very well and have great local friends who they still go out with when home from / graduated from uni.)
Bottom of M3 5 minutes away, so easy to get out of and back to London with (hopefully) minimal traffic chaos.

Hi Quintessential I would second Kingston, but would recommend particular parts of it. Parts of it (e.g., 'north' Kingston) are IMHO extremely overpriced for what you get and to get into schools you need to practically live on their doorstep. The area is awash with young families with school-age children.

I would recommend you look at New Malden in particular. It's not sexy in any way, and is suburbiburbia in the extreme, but the housing is lovely in parts, you are 10 minutes from Richmond Park, 21 minutes into waterloo, and very near Kingston which has everything you need, including John lewis and Waitrose - middle-class heaven . The state schools are great, although some require church attendance to gain entry so watch out for that if you're not religious. I really like the Coombeside area and if I had £700,000 that's where I'd go.

This, for example, would seem to fit many of your criteria (the local primary is excellent. 11-16 girls' school also fine):

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33638549.html?backListLink=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Fmap.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E972%26insId%3D1%26maxPrice%3D700000%23_includeSSTC%3Don%26auction%3Dfalse%26locationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E972%26maxPrice%3D700000%26previousSearchLocation%3DNew%2520Malden%26radius%3D0.0%26searchLocation%3DNew%2520Malden%26searchType%3DSALE%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26box%3D-0.27904%2C-0.25028%2C51.40472%2C51.41414%26popupPropertyId%3D33638549%26mapType%3DMap&fromMap=true

I like Hampton, it's great. There's a big but though - the state primary schools are ridiculously oversubscribed and the catchment areas are extremely small. We have friends living 0.3 miles from the local school whose children did not get a place. There are children in my friend's road with no school place as of yet. Richmond council are obliged to offer one but they know it's going to be miles away or in a different borough. If you have kids going into reception classes soon, or any other class for that matter, then whenever you see a house it is essential that you check with the council about the chances of gaining entry to the nearby school. Apologies if you've already been through this rigmarole but really, it's a massive trap for the unwary.

I also like Teddington but again, watch out for school catchment areas. It is also a very pricey area owing to parts of it being on the river.

Another major plus of the Kingston area is that there is little aircraft noise. Having previously lived just off Richmond Hill, this is a welcome relief for us!

Oxted.

Good schools - small town, but good links to elsewhere. Train to London Bridge/Victoria in 30 mins.

Mostly fine for parking/garage/garden space etc.

Teddington. Excellent primary schools, good secondary school. It IS pricey, but cheaper than Richmond. We bought a house here last year, with everything on your list but even more bedrooms, for under £600k (though it was a bargain).

Have you looked at St Margaret's/Isleworth? Close to Richmond, just across the river, Isleworth probably more reasonable than St Margarets. Will come back to you with some property ideas, but I'd be gobsmacked if you couldn't get something under £700k (we sold our 2 bed flat for £215k)

We sold our 2 bed flat in Isleworth for £215k

fr'instance:

3 bed

-over budget, but if you could stretch/negotiate woudl be a lovely house

this?

or this?

or this?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-18164229.htmlhere?

??

We started looking in Twickenham and gradually edged out!!

Here you go...

Isleworth:
Served by South West Trains into Waterloo and (depending on where you are) also Osterley tube station on the Picadilly line.
Have a look at this, this, this, this, and this.

St Margarets:
Also served by South West Trains - I'm assuming into Waterloo, but can't remember exactly, sorry!
Have a look at this, this, this, this, this, and this

HTH!

But Isleworth is so noisy, as is St Margaret's. The planes are SO loud. No worse than Sheen I suppose but it's a deal breaker for me as it totally ruins any time spent in the garden....

We have friends in Oxted. Good schools. Countryside. Commutable. Cheaper than London.