Places to live c1 hr commute to canary wharf

[Chippychop]

We are thinking of moving to reduce Dh's commute (2hrs ew) I have to consider schooling for ds 6 and dd 2 and want to send them private from yr5 bit if not need good state schools to fall back on. Ideally we want to live in or on the edge of a market town or at least somewhere with a pizza express, Starbucks or nice independents. Along the lines of harpenden, Morpeth, Olney, Stockbridge in Edinburgh. We have c 750 to spend on a 4/5 bed house or piece of land . I know this is an almighty ask but can you think
of anywhere? Happy to live in central london or not as the case may be. Thx

We are looking to move out of Canary Wharf, well Isle of Dogs. We have looked at Caversham which is over river from Reading station (27 mins into Paddington, baker loo to Baker Street, jubilee to Wharf. Comes in at about an hour but depends on distance from Caversham house. Some really lovely ones there for budget.
Kingston in Surrey, think normal but not huge houses in budget, John Lewis, Starbucks etc.. My friends there are v pleased with schools. Grammar and privates. Or another Wharf working friend moved to Haslemere and loves it!
Colchester? We are looking around there and was recommended villages on outskirts called Birch and Leigh de la Haye (sp?). Good privates and grammar. City is meant to be lovely.
But Wharf is naff for commute. Had high hopes for Cross Rail but it is now put back until 2018!
Good luck, please do share any gems.

Come and live in Olney. Great state schools and a secondary all in walking distance. Lots going on, access to rail links, close to the M1, good pubs, shops, restaurants and loads of countryside too. I'm downsizing but am staying in Olney. Come and buy my house ;)

Caversham to Canary Wharf takes a lot longer than an hour, I did it for years, gave up 12 months ago. From the nicer parts of Caversham, it's on average 10 min drive to the station (costs £1800 per year from memory), then waiting for train, on average from getting on train to getting on office was about 1 hr 15, could easily be longer depending on the tube. Evenings take longer. I used to leave the office at 4.15 to be sure of being home for the nanny at 6, if I left at 4.20, it became very close.

I would say either look for somewhere that comes into Waterloo for the Jubilee line, maybe Richmond, Guildford, Woking. Or go out east within somewhere that comes into Stratford, Essex countryside can be lovely, but I don't know it as well

Kelvedon, lovely village, good schools and direct train link to Stratford.

Just moved to northwest london and on the tube all the way it takes DH about 1 hour to Canary Wharf.

Harpenden is very lovely with fantastic state schools and you might just about get a 4 bed house for your budget OP (you could get one under budget if you aren't bothered about period, central location, garden, parking etc.). Where does your DH have to commute to?

He currently commutes from Bedford to canary wharf. We moved 3 years ago from wimbledon and built a 5 bed Georgian house in the country and it is lovely but I just don't think he can keep the commute up for too much longer plus he doesn't see the kids mid week. At the time we moved He was working nr Cambridge but changed last year to work in canary wharf.

Well ordinarily I would encourage a move to Harpenden as it's a great place to live, but Canary Wharf is still a bit of a trek. Your DH will already know about the lack of reliability on the Thameslink line, plus it's a fair bit further to get out to CW from London Bridge. I commute to Liverpool St from Harpenden and it can take as little as an hour on a good day but is usually closer to 1.5 hours. You might be disappointed with how much you have to downsize by moving from your current house too - Harpenden is really very expensive, much more so than out in the Bedford area.

Come to Bishop's Stortford! You could get a decent house for that money. 45mins into Liverpool Street and good schools both independent and state.

The East London Line means that commuting from Forest Hill to Canary Wharf would be well under 30 minutes. You'd get a huge house for your money here, great state schools, plenty of private nearby and lots of facilities.

I was going to suggest south easy London too due to the extended tube line and because most of the stations like east dulwich, Denmark hill etc go straight to London bridge in under 15mins and then it's only 3 stops on the jubilee line to canary wharf. I did that commute often in about 30 mins total.
There are great private schools in dulwich (JAGS for girls and Dulwich College for boys) but the catchments for non private are very small. Also think that although you would get a 4 bed for your budget it will probably seem very small after the sounds of where you live now.

Perhaps somewhere in Kent like Sevenoaks or Orpington?

Essex has great schools and a couple of decent train lines for commuting - somewhere like Leigh on sea or Chelmsford?

Is this the sort of thing your looking for?
chelmsford £650k

Sevenoaks.

Check out this little Tudorbethan joy box. Reggie Perrin-length walk to the station, 30 mins to Cannon Street, stroll to Bank, DLR to Canary Wharf. Lovely jubbly.

Top tip for meeting people in Sevenoaks: join the Labour Party. There will be about six of you, so it's a good way to make close friends.

what a lovely house joano - do we get a finders fee? Mind you, you have blown the budget

This is a bit further away - very cycleable though - and the nearest primary is pretty good, but the main thing is the road itself, which is lovely. Not exactly a child-friendly garden though.

'About' 750? Any estate agent would immediately start showing stuff around 999,000

Chislehurst
But near station
Or Beckenham

Gosh you lot are amazing, thanks so much for all the suggestions... And keep them coming! I quite like some of the suggestions too. I'm going to get the ordnance survey map out with some coloured pins and start reviewing . It's nice to know there are some relatively inexpensive areas left still. Btw where we live currently is a hidden gem c38mins into st pancras and cheap(Ish) house prices too,

Check out the Cambridge to tottenham hale, stansted mountfitchet, newport, wendens Ambo all fab places to live and greAt schools.

Peckham is very popular with mumsnetters.

In 2015, the Crossrail station will be open - is that too long to wait?

Canary Wharf to Heathrow ? 39 minutes
Canary Wharf to Farringdon ? 8 minutes
Canary Wharf to Bond Street ? 13 minutes
Canary Wharf to Woolwich ? 7 minutes
Canary Wharf to Abbey Wood ? 11 minutes
Canary Wharf to Ealing Broadway ? 24 minutes 
Canary Wharf to Maidenhead ? 55 minutes

South Woodford, Woodford Green, Wanstead, Buckhurst Hill
all very very commutable, good schools, you'll get a decent amt for your dosh.

Close enough to all the fun in central London too.

Sorry up some of the posts upthread and their estimations of commute time to canary wharf: Do you guys have helicopters?!