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

We moved from clapham to Reigate 5 years ago and have since got married and had a DD and have another on the way and life is great! Schools are pretty good (esp primary) and there are lots of villages around depending on how rural you want to be. I commute to battersea and DH to herts and both are very do-able due to great train and motorway links. We loved our time in the smoke but have never looked back and want go even further into the sticks! All the best with whatever you decide

I guess it is easier when you are around during the week/ evenings to make contacts. When we first moved out I was commuting for first 3+ years, and though it was great on the weekends to go out for walks etc, it wasn't until we had children and started going to stuff in the community that we actually made local friends. I know loads more local people than dh still. I imagine though that is similar in London, if you are the sort of person who likes lots of people around then you do need to join things etc. Some of the communities are fairly established, so you find 2/3 generations running the scout pack etc, and it can take some effort to integrate however in most towns/villages in the commuter belt there will be lots of people like you who wanted to leave the city.

Don't necessarily expect your friends to all come rushing to visit/join you, some do, some don't get the countryside at all. By the sounds of it if you are renting both ends, if it all falls apart you can always return. Even though we are only semi-rural I do like the fact that we see horses going down the road, we can walk to the farm to get eggs, there's badger poo on the way to school, ok, maybe not that last one!

Hi there! I moved to the UK 4 years ago, we're based in London now but were in North Essex at the beginning. You get a lot of bang for your buck, safe community, great schools, etc. How are you moving all your stuff over, sorting bank accounts all that stuff?

We used these guys when my mother moved over last month and needed her items shipped to the UK : moveguides.com/ They're quite good as you can lots of quotes and price comparison of companies.

Goodluck! :)

OP - you ask is it worth the commute? Well, we would no way be able to afford our current house in a nice part of London. In fact, the price we paid for our current three bed detatched house with garden would probably equate to a one or two bed flat. So we'd end up living in a grotty part of London just to get a house, and be in zone 3, 4 or 5, by which time you are having to get into central London by tube, and it would still take an hour.

By moving out, we are on a fast train line, so whizz into Euston in 20 mins, but the town is much much more affordable.

And the buzz of London: well, we are close enough to go into London at the weekend, or on days I am at home with DD2 (DD1 now at school), but frankly with two small children we spend weekends seeing friends, family, going to swimming lessons, doing homework, doing family stuff, and are hardly doing much buzzy London life anyway! The children are still pretty small, and our families aren't that near, so DH and I don't generally go off to London by ourselves. And our town has all the relevant local amenities for a young family.

We moved from London to a small village in East Sussex five weeks ago. I bloody love it! It took me six years of propaganda to persuade DH so I know where you are coming from on that front.

Our village is a five minute bike ride from a station, it's full of people who've moved out of London to be here so doesn't feel like it's stuck in a 1950's time warp like some villages can do, and is really friendly - I've already made several local friends. The village is small and chocolate-boxy but it has good facilities, plenty of stuff to do, an excellent pre-school and primary and the nearest secondary is pretty good too. It's not far from a couple of nice towns as well as Brighton for city things. DH's commute is an hour and a half door to door, but would be closer to an hour if his work was near Victoria.

The only downside - houses are not far from London prices, because it is so damn perfect!

Another vote for north Essex

Some great tips and starters here thanks again to all.

North Essex appeals purely because I need some magic potion to convince not- so-DH-at-the-moment that its worth his commuting. I am mainly SAHM, work is from home now and I dont have to commute daily, but I would like reasonable access to a main town or Lon as I like to have a mixture of interests, and for me I would love East Sussex because it seems quite alternative, but I think it would be too long for DH who is pretty stuck in the mud about this. TBH the reason I want to move is because the area we live in is cliquey (I havn't cracked the code of membership entry for any of them, and not really keen anyway) and the schools suck for want of a better word. From a persoanl point of view my quality of life has deteriorated since having kids, the reason I moved and once loved Lon are no longer relevant. So the point is I wonder if it'd be better to be lonely in nature, with happy kids than miserable in the hostile city . Or maybe as DH keeps banging on, the grass is greener. I do tell him we can move back - as some people here have tried and done so. I dont see what we have to lose.