Where would you spend a million in London?

[hiphophippity]

I have NCed for this. Would love some ideas/MN wisdom. if you have a budget of a million or thereabouts and wanted to buy a family house in London for a young family of 2 young girls where would you look? Can budget for independent school. Have been looking West but wanted some new ideas thrown out. Happy to go pretty urban... Too suburban would probably put us off.

But more I would love to here where YOU would go (or already are) and why. Need reasonable access to town for daily commute (West End/City). We have lived all over (but not with children, and now moving back from abroad)

It sounds really nice. How long does it take you to get into the city from there on public transport?

Greenwich/Blackheath

Surbiton

Strawberry Hill/twickenham

TooMany Love that Wanstead house - I'd move to East London for that one ......Might have to but a lottery ticket this weekend!

Yes, wish I had £1M to spend myself! Fun to imagine spending other people's money though!

I used to live just round the corner from this park:

www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/46773392

Always said if I had the money we'd buy there. Great bus route into brixton, the park/gardens is great for small ones, brockwell park close by and amazing. Local primary is outstanding, and clapham high school for secondary (or dunraven if you wanted v good state). Do it!

Ha, lulupeg, your post made me think I know who you are, and a quick search shows that I absolutely do! How nice to see you on here - another good thing about the SE22/23 area is the lovely sense of community. I still want to come and see your lovely new kitchen, even though ours is actually finally finished now.

I'm also se23/22 borders- love it round here too!

Oh my good God.
If ever I needed proof that London is a goner. A million quid gets you a house, just, in Stroud Green...I mean, I like Stroud Green an all but..!!?
And yeah, you don't want to buy in Peckham. Lovely Georgian houses but you know, there are still poor black people there in places. Plenty of places in London where they have been safely cleansed.
RIP London, used to be the best city on earth

A big vote for Peckham Rye here. The advantage of your budget is that you can afford to live in the best bit (between P Rye station and East Dulwich) and still get plenty of space. Transport links are fab (direct trains to London Bridge, Victoria and Kings X, 20 mins to Canary Wharf via Overground). Still not too far away from Central London so taxis aren't ruinous and cycling is very do-able as a daily commute.

I've recently been in maternity leave and met tons of other lovely families and there was a seemingly endless list of things to do. There's a new primary school opening on Bellenden Rd shortly by the trust that runs an outstanding rated state primary in Dulwich Village.

There are new restaurants, cafés, galleries and other independent businesses opening all the time and I find it to be a really vibrant part of London. I suggest you visit on a Saturday lunchtime to get a feel for the buzz of the place. We will be looking for a larger house in your price range in the next year or so and will be searching as close to home as possible! Good luck with the house hunt.

How do you determine what is urban and acceptable and suburban which is not acceptable to the OP in an ideal world?

I would have thought that to buy a house with its own front door, at a budget of about £1million, you would need to be looking at zone 2/3, but arguably that is suburban by definition.

My suggestions, for what they are worth, would be Finsbury Park, Highgate/East Finchley (if you can face the Northern line) or possibly Kensal Rise/Willesden (although apparently the air quality is poor). As ever, it's a trade off for space against location.

Spot on LaR...all the suggestions for ED, Twickenham, FH etc are DEFINITELY suburban....nice gentrified suburbs with chi-chi shops and young families, so nice vibe BUT def not urban central London - for me that is NottingHill, Pimlico, Angel, Marylebone, Fitzrovia, Camden, Clerkenwell, Kensington, Fulham, Shoreditch etc

Urban is out of OP's price range. There's suburban dull, suburban rough and dreary, and then there's suburban but connected.

Personally I wouldn't touch Peckham with a barge pole. Swathes of dreariness all around. TWickenham to me is fast Asleep and torpid. Having lived in EF I wouldn't recommend it, or the northern line, to anyone, ever. I also think KR is horrible.

London is so big, and tastes are so personal.

But Emeline, you have flagged up a house in Putney; isn't that suburban?

Maybe Camden or Islington would be do-able - zone 2 but because London is spherical, these areas somehow seem closer in than some homes at the outer boundaries of zone 1.

My very unscientific definition is that zones 1 & 2 are urban, anything outside of that is suburban. Zone 2 is still busy, bustling, central london is very accessible, and yes a cab home is easily doable. Don't even need a car in zone 2.

Putney is on the thames, with riverside parks, and walkable to fulham, full of cafes shops bars, Richmond park, Barnes common, wandsworth common, Clapham junction down the road one way, Kings road the other way, and a ten minute train to Waterloo. As well as ducks to feed, loads of nurseries, play groups, great primaries...

Putney is definitely suburban. But connected. And not surrounded by dreariness.

Islington is lovely, in the right parts. Camden is ok...but bear in mind OP has two children. On balance, I do think putney has the most to offer the entire family. Not saying it's an easy choice, i think it's very personal and depends on what you're used to, as well.

I am well aware of our budget constraints. And having lived for years in manhattan I have a decent understanding of urban versus suburban. In an ideal world (and with double our budget) I would go for brook green. But that ain't going to happen at the moment. This thread has been hugely helpful in getting my head around other options and, of c, the pros and cons of individual areas. God knows what will go for in the end but probably we will sacrifice some space for location. We are used to that!

Renting for 6 months would be very wise and prove to be a sensible ROI/sunk cost.

You can then check out your chosen area and other areas on your short list before committing - and this would save making a v costly mistake if you had to move again.

Stamp duty is 10% (so £220,000 down the drain if you get it wrong) legal fees x2 and estate agents fees (£15k) - which would significantly eat into and diminish your constrained budget.

Zone 1 is equivalent to Manhattan urban living - Peckham, East Dulwich, Camberwell, FH is not.

As well as what sort of childhood you want to give your daughters you should also consider how you want to spend your down time in an urban environment. If access to cutting edge art, theatre, culture etc is how you spend your time then you need to head East....as there aint none West - if it is only upmarket global brand retail and restaurants then West is fine.

I am of the opinion that the only "urban vibe" in socially and economically cleansed west/central/south west London is that of braying, boring, city boys and their dull identi-kit trophy wives shopping and eating in the same outlets you find in Dubai, Geneva, Singapore etc.

somethingtodo isn't entirely wrong, but the fact is, any place can be viewed harshly and described through a sour lense.

The arty ness of East London can equally be felt as ersatz wannabe -ness, dripping with try-hard vanities and anxious trend following.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Certainly, I often fail to see it where others succeed.

When DP and I first moved to London we wished we could afford to live to the West, but settled for East. Now we would hate to move. I think you get oriented to wherever you are. I think it's fair to say that East London is where the "new" stuff happens, and where the young live. West London has serious money, to the point where new experiments are just unaffordable there.

I'd go for Blackheath!
Beautiful village and views of Canary Wharf from the heath, Greenwich park just a few minutes away.

Ahhh in my dreams!
Good luck with the search OP

It may not be cool but the area around Stanmore Station has served me well. Still only 20 mins from central London and it is quiet and has a lovely nature reserve close by. Plus close to all the good schools like habs, nlcs etc.

TooSpotty! Just saw this! Semi-outed on mumsnet, the horror! Would be lovely to swap cups of tea in our respective kitchens this year! Will fb you and yes totally agree about lovely community, feel very lucky xx

Monica why isnt it cool? I notice lots of areas are never mentioned on MN. Finchley Rd & Frognal never comes up, nor Temple Fortune, or Golders Green, or Manor House or Southgate.

I am not sure why.

Golders Green a great spot. Lived there for years, detoured briefly to another part of London but as of October we are back in the area again, though closer to Hampstead now. Great schools, good restaurants and a nice community feel.