Village Lifestyle within commuting distance to London

[Nix01]

Hi all,

So glad I found this forum.

We're looking for a village lifestyle within commuting distance to London.
Is it possible? Please tell me it is?

I haven't lived in England since I was a child so my memory of some area's is a bit skewed. My husband is the breadwinner and he'll probably need to commute to Canary Wharf side.

From the research we've done, we're loving the Chilterns area in Buckinghamshire and it seems to be commutable - he currently spends an hour in his car to work in the mornings, so being driven on a train is immensely preferable!

We also like some parts of Kent, Hertfordshire and some of Essex.

Please could you list lovely villages and towns below so that we can have a look? We have two small boys (ages 5 and 2 years old) as well so quality of education is very important.

Budget will be around 300 - 350k

PS, I came across a dreadful website called Chavtowns and it's put me off pretty much everywhere I've looked

Thanks in advance.

I think the area around Sevenoaks might suit you, either just inside or outside M25. Reasonable commute and has grammar school system. Cheaper than equivalent distance into Bucks too.

I grew up in Wanstead which is technically in London but totally feels like a village. Commuting wise it's on the right side for Docklands and is a superb area to bring little ones up in. Good luck xx

Which areas have you been looking at so far in Hertfordshire and Kent?

Tbh dont know the area but ( i remain to be corrected) your budget is fairly low. Is this not going to be the main driver?

Lizs, thank you, I'll have a look at Sevenoaks.

Kitty, unfortunately nothing much in Wanstead in our budget.

Justalittlemum, I have loads of properties saved in my Rightmove folder, will post the area's in a moment.

Everythingtodo, not a clue. There's some lovely homes available in this pricerange that I've found. Unfortunately, we're moving back to England and the exchange rate isn't in our favour so we'll have to find something within this budget for the next few years.

Justalittlemum, these are the area's that keep coming up and below is a few of the houses that I've seen to give you an idea of the greenery that I find so appealing:

Finchingfield (www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22804974.html)
Marsworth
Thaxted
Saffron Walden
Wendover
Sawbridgeworth
Hyde heath
Tring
Bishops Stortford
Oxted
Matfield
Lechlade (www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37740872.html
Kedington (www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22756092.html)
Halstead (www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22984890.html)
Deal (www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37758761.html)
Beaconsfield
Streatley
Charing (www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22604589.html)
Amersham
Great Missenden
Berkhamsted
Little Abington
Ongar
Royston
Epping
Chalfton St peter
Weston on the Green
Hurst Green
Charlbury
Swaffham Prior
Kidlington

I haven't checked the OFSTED reports for schools in all of these area's, it's just a preliminary list at this time. We'll be coming back in July to have a proper look around, but need to narrow our list down considerably.

Wivenhoe in Essex is perfect IMHO, 75 min approx commute to Liverpool Street, you can cycle to Colchester along the Wivenhoe Trail go shopping at Waitrose and they lend a bike trailer to bring your stuff back. Great sense of community, river, woods, lots going on. Went to the May fair yesterday. was packed, local bands, cycle powered cinema loads for kids to do. This morning volunteers turned up for a major rubbish collecting clean up of the venue which the DCs really enjoyed. Can you tell I like it here?

Thanks Starwarrior, will get back onto right move and have a look.

How long have you been there? How old are your kids and are you happy with the quality of education?

You would probably need to be careful with some of the areas in your list if your OH needs to be commuting to Canary Wharf... For example, Charlbury is lovely but the train goes to Paddington (I think). Getting from Paddington to Canary Wharf is a commute in itself.

You might be better off looking south east of London instead? Or maybe Bishops Stortford - I think that train route goes into Liverpool Street?

Good luck with your move.

Tring is a lovely little town, OK primary schools, just one comp for secondary. Good at the mo, but seems to depend on head. Marsworth is in Bucks, so at the moment (they keep talking about change...) you get the 11+ and possibilities of grammars in Aylesbury (though council now charge for school buses) but kids there can currently also get into Tring school (Herts). It has a v sweet infant school, and then they move into primary in the next village, which is more 'mixed'. Berkhamsted lovely, but v v pricey. Schools mediocre (because there is a big private). Also they are in a limbo between 3 tier and 2 tier system, not sure when exactly the final change to 2 tier will be. All these give you good trains into Euston (though Marsworth a 3 mile drive to Tring station, and Tring Station is not actually in Tring!)

Amersham, Gt Missended and the Chalfonts all v pricey in the nice parts. Currently all fall within catchment of good Bucks grammars, but as I said Bucks in a bit of a transition with all the grammars now academies and the council talking about stopping the 11+ and the schools all doing their own thing.

Royston I think has 3 tier, not sure if they are sticking with it long term. I think lots go into Cambridgeshire for 6th form (but that's a way away for you!).

Sevenoaks is v.expensive though!

Starwarrior, love the look of Wivenhoe, even found the perfect house, but alas 1h45m to Liverpool street is just a little too far :(

Thanks Bunnytea, we're inputting the routes onto some app that dh found :)

Party stress, I need to look more into the schooling system as I unfortunately didn't understand what you're referring to. Homework for tonight I think :) What system do you recommend? Do you live in the general area?

Hi Nix. Sorry, didn't mean to confuse. Marsworth, Tring and surrounds are on borders of 3 different education authorities, each with different system.

In England, for up to age 11, most places have the primary system (with Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 being the infant bit of primary, and then Years 3-6 (age 7-11) being the junior bit), followed by secondary. But some places divide instead into lower (age 4-9), middle (age 9-13) and upper (13-16) - this is the 3 tier system. They still have it in bits of Herts, some of Beds, and one or two other places (including Royston I think).

Most of the country has two tier, ie primary up to age 11, and secondary beyond that. But, just to confuse things further, some places have a selective system for secondary where children sit a test called the 11+ which is meant to identify the more academically able and shunt them off into grammar schools. Those in favour of this say it helps stretch the more able and means the middles can be top in a non-selective school. Those against say that it creams off the brightest leaving the non-selective schools with the rest, and unable to attract best teachers etc etc. Bucks still has this, some London Boroughs (eg Redbridge), Kent and one or two other off places (eg I think St Albans might?).

Hope this helps - we took no notice at all of education when we bought forever house as we were then childless and thought we would stay that way. V happy that we didn't stay childless, but wish we had known what lay ahead on the school front... We are in an 11+ area with one child who passed no trouble and loves grammar, and DC2, who is different in every way!

Please ignore "Chav Towns" it even includes some quite posh well to do towns. It's written by mischievous teenagers.

OP! Bishops Stortford! Bishops Stortford! Fantastic place to live, oustanding state schools both primary and secondary, private also available including outstanding state boarding school. Surrounded by lots of nice villages, farms etc.

Lots of job opportunities too it seems, straight train into kings cross. Property not too pricey.

Sorry, train goes to liverpool street, not kings x.

Partystress, thank you so much for the explanation. I left England before secondary school so it's all new to me!

My 5 year old has auditory processing difficulties but is being treated by a host of therapists at the moment so hopefully this will be much improved by the time we move, but we may need to take this into consideration as well.

Thanks Gunznroses, it does look really nice, we've seen a few houses on rightmove that may suit us.

Can you recommend any of the nearby towns and villages to expand our search?

Are there seats available on the trains?

Oooh! The best school are in Bishops Stortford, but surrounding lovely villages would include; Buntingford, Much Hadham, Little Hadham, albury, sawbridgeworth..thats all i can think of for now. I'm sure rightmove will list them.

Nix - that's a pity I'm sure you'd have loved Wivenhoe. Some trains get to Liverpool Street in 1hr 15mins but not a good journey from LS to Canary Wharf, you have to change a few times and it takes over 30 mins.

Thanks Gunznroses, will have a look after the piglets are in bed!

Starwarrior, such a pity, but we plan to do some travelling, so hopefully we'll get to visit your area too.

I live in Hertfordshire myself and have relatives in Kent.

Agree Sevenoaks is expensive and most parents in the area do prep schools to get their children into the good super selective grammar schools around the area. There are two grammar schools that got 40% of their intake from fee paying schools this year. You might want to read this article here

In Bishop Stortford your budget will go far and there are also both good private and state schools around the area.

Love Wivenhoe - you don't have to go into LS for Canary Wharf - just get off at Stratford and hop on the Jubilee line - it's really quick.

Would also recommend Kelvedon (the village not to be confused with the secret bunker at kelvedon hatch) - lovely schools and really friendly village atmosphere. Quick into LS/Canary Wharf.