Commuter Villages - recommendations

[beebusy]

Hi!
I'd love some feedback on commuter villages (under 1 hour train to London) that you love.
I live in Australia and we're heading back to the UK. Have no ties / family or friends out of London.
Would love a town/village that is welcoming with lots of things to do (book clubs, food & wine groups, gardening groups, ramblers etc).
Also great schools as we have a 6 year old.
Big problem will be cost of housing as we'll struggle to pay more than $300k for ideally a 3 bed house.
Other problem is we don't know where we'll be working yet - so many things up in the air!
Looking online there seem lovely places in Kent in our price range. What's it like living in places like Tunbridge Wells? Or a bit further out in Canterbury?
The Chilterns and Surrey all look great. But might be out of our budget.
Would love to hear of any gems of places that might suit.
thanks!
Bee
:-)

Is it possible to wait until you know where you'll be working? An hour each way on a train is okay, but if you have a half-hour tube journey on top, that would be pretty miserable.

You're right!
But for now we really need to have a bit of a short-list going. It does feel all a bit backwards, but we don't want our daughter to move schools too much (she's already done a bit of that and needs to settle asap).
Ideally we'd be able to access another town with employment opportunities (we work in media / IT), but have London within reach as an alternative option.

There's been lots of threads like this lately so worth having a good search. A recent one concluded that Canterbury was too far to happily commute, but Tunbridge Wells was good (depending on where you're coming into in London obviously). Just make sure you live close enough to a good school that has spaces. Probably best to rent first.

Horsham's another one that comes up a lot. And all the towns on the Thameslink line (within reason - not going too far out), the blue one on here: www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/static/pdf/network_route_map.pdf
Although lots of the other stops/lines are worth considering too.

Winchester or one of the villages on the mainline to London Shawford or Micheldever

Horsham is a great town. You can get into Victoria (West End) or London Bridge (City) from there. Brighton may have media IT type opportunities as might Crawley depending on what sort of thing you do. Horsham's near Gatwick for international travel but doesn't suffer from the planes. From some of the Horsham villages you get access onto the Downs Link which takes you 35 miles on year round footpaths.

Thank you so much for your feedback :-)

Thanks Pinkdelight - I have read up on a few that have been very insightful.

And thanks for the Horsham suggestion - I don't that one at all. So that's great :-)

Will also look along the Thameslink line as you suggested.

Winchester does sound gorgeous. That's certainly there on the short-list!

Are schools generally difficult to get placement in? I assume you have to be in the right catchment areas as well. Is that correct? (In Aust a govt school can't knock you back if you're in the catchment area).

Thanks!!!!
Bee

Tunbridge Wells is great, but the commute is expensive - around £4500 a year and heading north by above average inflation again no doubt at the end of the year.

Schools here are very good, but you need to live very close (0.25 mile) to the sought after ones to get in, although as you'd be an in year admission you may be lucky if a place comes up quickly. £300k wouldn't buy you a big house here - prices are rather bonkers, but there is loads going on and it's a great place to be - close to London, close to the sea, beautiful countryside, theatres, art centres, book groups etc etc....

One good website to look at is www.lifeafterlondon.com which has loads of information on towns and villages around London within the commuter belt - all with locals on hand to give further info on what it's really like.

if the OP means $300k Aussie dollars as she typed, that is about £175k British pounds and isn't going to work. Even if it is British pounds it will be an issue.

Also OP - if you have been away a while you will be HORRIFIED at how busy the south-east is now. The population has rocketed and the roads/trains are much more crowded than they were. Commuting costs are also huge.

not a 'don't', but be prepared for a shock.

I think OP meant 300 usual(US) dollars so that's 230-250 (not sure of exact rate). If it's Australian - ouch, that would be a big challenge.

Forget Winchester, it's really expensive, and an hour commute purely on train, you could get a tiniest 2-bed house maybe but with some issues like a noisy road.

Horsham much more realistic. Watching with interest myself.

Come to Horsham! We moved from London not so long ago and love it here! DH commutes to London, journey is fine but be warned season ticket is not cheap!

As others have mentioned if that is Aus dollars then you are going to find it very hard to even find a 2 bed flat, anywhere. If it is US you have slightly more chance, if it is pounds then you do have a possibility in most towns, but it will probably be either in not such a nice area or a flat, or...
I would definitely suggest renting to start with, to suss out areas, and to see what you can get for your money.

It is better to move schools than to be stuck somewhere you hate.

Housing here may appear tiny compared to what you are used to.

It may be quite hard getting a school place, even if you move next door to a great school. So even if you find the perfect house in the perfect town, you may not get into the perfect school and may have to move your DD after a while anyway.

Commuting also costs, quite a bit. I wouldn't even think about driving into London.

As for book clubs etc, most places have them. Good luck!

Sorry to be confusing - I did mean 300k pounds! I don't even have a pound key on my keyboard. Sorry!

We don't need a big house - just something with a bit of a garden (we're moving from a big farm, so do need a little patch of dirt to play in!) and two main bedrooms with some nook or cranny or study or third bedroom for friends / my dad to come and stay in!

I've seen lots of lovely houses around that price in and around Tunbridge Wells. I have to say, I have such a good feeling about it :-)

And Horsham seems to have lots of brilliant schools as well. What's the actual town like? Is it old and charming?!?

I think South of London will have to be our focus!

We are thinking of maybe having a 'scoping trip' in the next couple of months, then moving properly in six or so, so that might make things easier - and hopefully one of us will have a job sorted by then too.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Bee
x

If you want specific advice on TW, then do PM me - I'll be surprised if you can get a garden and 3 beds in a good area for £300k...there are definitely areas you don't want to be in....!

Oh thanks PanicMode!
If we get further down the track with TW I'll certainly PM you for some inside intel!
Cheers,
Bee
x

Hi Bee. We did your move several years ago and I think there is some good advice here. I don't know how long you have been away but I would caution against over-idealising the English country village/commuting lifestyle! I think you are going to find your budget a bit of a stretch if you are looking for a 1 hour train commute - and be realistic about how long it will take to get to the station and to your place of work at either end. Also, which part of London are you heading to, as crossing London by tube can add at least 30 mins to your journey.

If you are used to Australian houses then anything comparable here will feel small. If you find a "large" house within your budget, or something that compares with what you're used to, then there is something seriously wrong with it (I speak from bitter experience...). Also bear in mind that fuel costs (heating and transport) will be much more than you are used to.

School places are competitive. Lots of people move out of London to access "better" state schools and then find they are just as hard to get into - harder in some areas as the village school, if it still exists, will be limited to 20 or so places. Secondary education becomes a major issue if you are not in the local town. In Kent I believe you have the grammar school system and all that it entails (can be good or bad depending on your perspective).

The economy here is improving but nothing like what you have had over there for the past few years. Jobs are still hard to come by with big redundancies still being announced. DP and I were both made redundant shortly after getting here and neither of us has managed to get back on track - recruiters view Australian CVs with suspicion as they are not always familiar with the companies you may have worked for, and chasing references over a 10 hour time difference is too hard when there are dozens of other applicants.

Sorry to sound negative but I wanted to share our experience. As others have said, renting may be your best option in the short term. I would add Dorking and surrounding villages to the mix of suggestions (although the commute is a pain), also don't disregard the Chiltern villages as this is one of the best commuting lines into London.

you might look at Chesham as it is surrounded by lovely countryside but about 40 mins into Marylebone. Also, with HS2 (High Speed rail link) in the offing you might pick up a bargain!

Thanks Rockdoctor for the sober post!

It sounds like you've had a really rough time. I hope things are looking a bit better for you now...

We've been away 10 years and last lived in a 2 bed flat in Vauxhall - so know how to live in a small place! But now with a kid, there's no way we could live in London now. I think you need a lot of money to spend on a nice retreat in London to enjoy the lifestyle there - and that's not our position. So we're really looking at living out of London as we feel we don't have much choice - rather than it being an idolised dream.

And yes, we will definitely rent first, but we want to try and rent where we will end up (which includes somewhere affordable!).

We will certainly look at the chiltern villages as well. Why do you way it's a good commuting line? Is it on time / has seats / lots of trains / lines?

Thanks Joy - is that because we might end up with a rail-line going through our backyard?!? I've researched it a little - and looks like the they keep moving the path of it...

Does the Cambridge > London X Cross still take 40 minutes? It's been a while since I used it, but it was a pretty quick link to London.

That said, it is not a cheap city to live in by any stretch. I know a lot of people commute from there to London, but factoring in house prices and commuting costs, it may be a bit too much; I've not looked at prices there for some time.

I would look north of London : North herts, south carbs, west Essex - great schools, lower property prices and beautiful countryside.