London commuter-ville

[Elfina]

An hour into Paddington/Euston, 3 bed house with garden near good primaries. 550k.

It's not do-able, is it

does it have to be paddington/Euston...

Fast trains in from Tonbridge to West End. Pretty villages around there.....

Maidenhead. 20 min fast train to Paddington. Prices are going up because of crossrail though, so I'm not 100% sure if £550k would get you a 3 bed with a garden in the nice bits.
Houses on our road (one of the nice bits ) are now approx. £450k for a 2 bed with garden.
It is worth considering I think, though.

You won't find many places as easy and quick to get to from Paddington than Reading, it is a fab large town. That amount would get you somewhere in Caversham (North of the river, small town feel) but would get you a large 4 bed in West reading (without the traffic nightmares of Caversham) which is more diverse. Some fab primaries. I'd visit and see if you like it...

Twyford or Henley? Would personally avoid commuting from Reading itself as the scrum there can be miserable but if you find the right location then you can either hop on before the masses or get a semi 'stopping' train which commuters at Reading ignore. At twyford there are a couple of trains that start from Henley, so never even see Reading then only call at maidenhead and Paddington. In the evening there's a magic train which is 21 mins from Pad!

Currently live in a village between Didcot and Oxford. If you're that far out I'd seriously suggest factoring in.driving to.Didcot as the branch lines can be temperamental. Agree with suggestion of Goring. Pangbourne is lovely too.

My cousin lives in Ham. We visited him recently and it felt like the countryside! Lots and lots of green area, river, Richmond Park etc etc and a mile walk to Teddington train station www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50429297.html.

The children go to Grey Court school, an "outstanding" Ofsted one.

Cousin and wife cycle to Kingston along the tow path to get their shopping. Seems idyllic

Ruler - that's a house worth over half a million?

[rocks in corner sobbing, looks at jobs abroad]

I know Ballroom! It's pretty sad isn't it. How have the country got in to this mess .

Dead easy - berkhamsted - 30 minutes to Euston - this house 10 minutes from station. Berkhamsted is LOVELY town itself.

://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50799593.html
Or this one
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48736603.html

To be fair, ruler, £550k still buys an awful lot of house in huge swathes of the country.

(But yes, that depressing 70's terrace looks like an outrageous rip off)