looking to move out of london any suggestions? commuterland

[somewheresunny]

so we need to move, somewhere in countryside for us small family, 2 kids 2 grown ups, dog, cats etc. Fancying somewhere in middle of country but near to good primary and secondary non fee schools. Other thing is needs to be approx 30-40 mins commutable to Lon.

Suggestions on a postcard please

You are going to need to spell out what you mean by 30-40 minutes commutable I think.

30-40 minutes actually on the train, or total journey? And into which station?

Plenty of places would be 40 minutes into Liverpool st if you work right around the corner, but a darn sight longer if you work in the West End.

We live in Essex. Beautiful villages in north Essex. Chelmsford has fantastic schools and is 35 mins to London. Essex is also far cheaper than similar commutable locations in Surrey/Herts/Kent. It's not as 'Essex' as you might fear!

Budget?
Commute by train or public transport? To which part of town?

Chelmsford or surrounding villages?

Hertfordshire. Not the cheapest commuter county, but some nice towns and villages and decent and schools...

It depends a lot on which part of London you want to commute into, like You'llLaugh said. We are in Bromley and it's 30 mins on the train to Victoria/Charing Cross/London Bridge/Cannon St but then you might have to hop on the tube or bus which could easily add another 1/2 hour.

Kent / East sussex, really depends where you need to get to as to where is best to live.

Which London train station do you want to travel in and out of?

I didnt expect so many responses so quickly, brilliant thanks. Distance wise it'll be DH doing the commuting and I want it to be as easy for him as poss as this is my push to move. He moves about but generally works in west end, so it would be a train (to Charing Cross, Victoria or Lvp.Street) or possibly he could drive part of the way and leave car. I guess I was allowing for any extra movement once in London so his max journey wouldn't go over an hour. We're probably middle bracket budget wise and will rent our London house out and rent new place as a trial run. NorthernNumpty I'm happy to go anywhere if all ingredients are right. I wondered if there were any websites or books that cater to this sort of request giving info on locations, budget etc if anyone knows of.

www.commuterguide.co.uk/

If you want more advice here you might need to divulge your budget

You need this website.

Start by where trains go from Charing Cross / Victoria / Liverpool street, and where has the fastest and most frequent trains.

Remember remember remember to calculate total journey time. To give an example, my train journey is 20 mins (18 mins if I get a really good train), but my whole commute is an hour door to door (if all the connections are on time). If the train journey is 40 mins, you'd probably be looking more like 1.5hr commute each way. Also consider how "bitty" the journey is. Although it sounds nice that in principle I have two hours to myself each day, it's really chopped up (getting to the train station, on the train, on a tube, change tubes, walk to work, or sometimes take one tube instead of two, and then a Boris bike).

Don't go with Hertfordshire if those are your mainline stations.

What do you mean by "middle bracket budget wise"? I reckon that will mean quite different things to different people!

There are a gazillion threads on here about nice places to live within commuting distance of London btw. Try a search of the archives.

What do you mean by "middle bracket"? For Charing Cross/Victoria some of the villages around Sevenoaks in Kent could work well (e.g. Plaxtol) but property can be pricey.

I'll follow those leads and do a full search thanks, bit reluctant and not sure what budget is until I get house valued I'm hoping for the house of my dreams for about 1200-1500 pcm rental 3-4 beds and garden, or in rural setting. I'll feel silly if thats unrealistic so be gentle, that could go up but it would be nice to be under not over to cover travel costs.

Thanks wigeon it would be very typical of me not to include the bitty bits. Getting to and from station etc, Ill do the math.

You need this book! - loads of ideas for commutable places. We ended up in Kent but our bit of it is 1hr actual train journey, so bit far for you.

bear in mind Kent & Medway are selective 11+, Hampshire (eg) isn't

^ great thanks - was it worth the move for you? - that was my other question to those that have made the move, is it worth the commute and giving up whats left of the buzz of being in Lon for the quiet life?

Do bear in mind too that villages often don't have train stations and those which do don't have such a regular service, so you might need to factor in parking costs/driving to station. Or live on outskirts of town, also look at catchment distances for secondaries. Having said that living out of London is great and you will find lots of others who have made the same move.

We moved out of central London 2 years ago - definitely the best thing for us. Good schools, open spaces, a house at last instead of living in a shoe box! But being within half an hour of London is great too so we can still take advantage of all that London has to offer.

We have lived semi-rurally and commuted for a few years now and couldn't be happier, we don't miss London one bit and there are relatively late trains home anyway so a theatre trip and dinner is still easy to do. Had a quick look in your budget within 10 miles of Chelmsford and you should get what you are looking for in budget. Chelmsford also has two park and rides. I commute from a little further up the line but ample parking at all the stations.
I am quite evangelical about Essex, can you tell?!

Yes Northernumpty! I had a quick browse earlier, its encouraging to hear success stories as DH isnt keen, I have to pitch it to him I think and gather evidence like secret squirrel. Did you look for schools first, followed by property within catchment?

Thanks for all the replies, tips and links to sites and things, very helpful

We did it the opposite way (lived in commuter village in Herts, then moved into London). It really didn't work for us, perhaps because we were both working in town. This meant that we both had long-ish and expensive journeys (£3600 season ticket each, plus £2000 annual parking at the station, so best part of £10k per year, plus the costs of the car). And we thought that we would find a lovely friendy village, but - perhaps because we were only there at the weekends? - it was the worst place we have ever lived.

Don't get me wrong, there are some lovely places out there (eg if I could afford a great house and a nanny I'd live in Tring or Berko or central St Albans in a flash), but for us we find London suits us so much better.

Tunbridge Wells ticks all of your boxes - we moved from London almost 5 years ago and haven't looked back. It is 11+ land though so you'd have to decide whether you like that idea or not, but it ticked our three main priorities of commute, schools and community, and gives you the best of everything - half way between the city and the sea, great countryside, 2 theatres, galleries, lovely shops, great people.....!

Maybe a lone voice of dissent, but we moved out of London to a commuter town for the reasons you describe. Hated it, and moved back! Different strokes tho and all that!