Surrey to Essex?

[MrsPratt]

Hi, We are looking at towns to move to that are better 'value for money' than our area of Surrey. Please could you suggest villages or towns or 'areas' of larger towns that we should look into? Here's our 'ideal' wish for list
1 - 40-55 minutes or less from London (Liverpool street, Fenchurch, any 'East Side')
2 - Small-ish high street (more than just a postoffice)
3 - 'Community' - / 'small town' feel
5 - Close to countryside
Thank you, It might be naive to think that anything commuting distance to London like this will not be inflated, but I am hopeful we might find a nice part of Essex(ish).

Leigh on Sea?

Billericay - 30 mins to Liverpool Street, nice selection of shops and good schools.

Shenfield - 22 mins to Liverpool Street, future crossrail link, reasonable selection of shops (more than just a post office).

Ingatestone - villagey, 30 mins to Liverpool Street, Anglo-European school very desirable.

Should also add, they are close to some nice countryside, lovely villages like Stock, Margaretting, Downham and villages surrounding the Chelmsford and Brentwood areas yet although all three are on the main rail network, they all have that small town feel.

You have just described Kelvedon!

Rayleigh - small town, great community and excellent schools?

Agree Rayleigh is nice, I was born and bred there. Two stops on the railway line further on from Billericay which adds 15-20 minutes to the journey, but housing is a little cheaper there.

Did you see my PM, OP?

Coggeshall?

Kelvedon :-)

But bear in mind - Greater Anglia are a terrible train company. They aren't called Later Anglia for nothing....

Actually, if you are prepared for a 1 hour commute into Liverpool St, then my vote would go to Saffron Walden which is lovely. You can still see the medieval heart of the town, there are fab independent shops, and lovely countryside nearby. 20 minutes to Cambridge if you need a culture fix. But it may be too far away for you to consider.

Ingatestone is lovely - i miss it tons :-( once you get further down the line the trains do get a lot more unreliable.

Leigh on sea or Rochford.

YY avoid anything on the Liverpool Street line, the trains on Later Anglia are atrocious. You will have a better commute with C2C!

Traffic in Kelvedon is horrendous. DS goes to school there and the anxiety I feel at even thinking about driving there is palpable.

I'd go for Stock, Brentwood or Billericay.

Coggeshall you have to drive or get bus to station and are stuck when it snows and local comp has gone down hill big time.

I live in Kelvedon and love it, though agree with Madame that at school run times the traffic is horrendous, fortunately we walk to school though. If I was forced to move anywhere else I would choose Saffron Walden. I went to Brentwood a couple of weekends ago and it was full of stag and hen groups doing TOWIE tours, it used to be a lovely town until about 10yrs ago but now it is very Essex and not in a good way.

Do you wear a mumsnet scarf Fallon?

Madame