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Original poster

Family home in London

38 replies

curious84 · 22/04/2015 12:19

Getting married next year and starting a family soon after hopefully and have just started looking at where we might set up and buy a family home that will work for us for the next 20-25 years. I'm only familiar with a few bits of London (Richmond where I grew up, and Bayswater where I'm living now) so was hoping some mumsnetters could give me some ideas of where to start looking!

We'll be going private the whole way through so primary catchment areas aren't important but do want to be close enough to some good prep schools + not too far from some good private secondaries. 4-5 bedrooms something 1700-2200 sq feet. And absolute max we could scrape together around 2.25m but was hoping to get something around 1.5-1.75 really. The final thing is my parents are in Richmond so ideally would not be too far from them (ruling out North and East)

Richmond is one option, though I do worry that the total commute time will end up being 15 mins too long each way (we both work 60 hour weeks so dont want to have super long commutes)

Walked around Brackenbury village the other day and loved it, and obviously perfect for schools and ok'ish for a commute to the city. Took a look at North Kensington as well, but seemed almost out of our budget + pretty scruffy for such an expensive area!

Any other ideas of where we should look?

OP posts:
Psipsina · 22/04/2015 12:21

Grin How cool though - I look forward to vicarious enjoyment of the suggestions! Good luck, I hope you find something lovely.

ExitPursuedByABear · 22/04/2015 12:23

Shameless place marking to see how the other half live

sleepwhenidie · 22/04/2015 12:33

Have you looked around Teddington or East Sheen? If you want that much space for that budget and to be near Richmond it may be best option?

sleepwhenidie · 22/04/2015 12:39

Sorry-think I misunderstood, you want to be more central than Richmond? Prepared to go anywhere?

atonofwashing · 22/04/2015 12:42

Fancy moving south of the river?
Wandsworth has fabulous homes and great prep schools.
Not sure of the commute if you work long hours.

helloalll · 22/04/2015 12:44

Putney? Easy to get to Richmond and central London.

You could get a 'done up' nice 5 bed terrace for that price (lower end). Very good state primaries if you changed your mind and lots of private ones around too.

QuintShhhhhh · 22/04/2015 12:45

Putney will fit your budget. Barnes also. East Sheen. All good for schools.

sleepwhenidie · 22/04/2015 12:50

Have you thought about Chiswick?

LaurieFairyCake · 22/04/2015 12:50

Fulham, Parsons Green - walk to Kensington Prep if you've girls (lovely school and nice area)

District Line the negative - I waited 17 minutes for a tube today from Embankment

VeritableFeast · 22/04/2015 12:55

Grin @ North Ken. You mean Ladbroke Grove? You'll be hard pushed to get a 4 bed house round there on your budget (can't believe I am saying that).

Is your heart set on a pretty, villagey, yummy-mummy part of London?

Chiswick or Ealing?
Battersea?
Muswell Hill / Crouch End / Ally Pally?

If you moved further out in to the suburbs, you'd get way more for your money. I don't low south that well, but north...you could look at Hampstead and Highgate borders. Finchley, for example, although quite suburban and certainly not trendy, would serve your needs well.

Its leafy, has very good tube links (20-25 mins into Kings Cross and Euston), excellent grammar schools (Henrietta Barnet, St Michael's, QE Boys) and is close to plenty of high performing indie secondary schools (Haberdashers, North London Collegiate, Channing...off the top of my head) and teeming with preps. You'd get a beautiful, large family home on a prime road for that money.

VeritableFeast · 22/04/2015 12:56

Oh crap, missed the 'not north London' caveat.

You're looking in the most expensive 'family' part of London, really - West is astronomical for anywhere lovely and south west is also pricey.

Teddington?

Zinxie · 22/04/2015 13:12

Putney is your spot.

Laurie was unlucky with the district line, it's generally very reliable and such a nice line to travel on because it's overground a fair amount.

From Putney you get the fast train to Waterloo, takes about 10 minutes, very frequent service.

Private schools in abundance, and I expect you are familiar with it already, as you are from Richmond!

Zinxie · 22/04/2015 13:18

Might be of interest:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34295865.html

homebythesea · 22/04/2015 13:31

Why do you need to be in London? Your commute might be the same if not less time if you look down the A3 a bit towards Guildford, oodles of schools and you will get a large house and acres for your budget

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45612070.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43186079.html

Cheekychip · 22/04/2015 13:47

Surbiton - 15 mins on train to Waterloo.
I think you'll find the schools you are looking for and it's a short drive to Richmond.

Cheekychip · 22/04/2015 13:50

5 mins walk to station
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33648825.html

Original poster
curious84 · 22/04/2015 15:39

Thanks for all the replies! Super helpful

I dont need to be right next to Richmond, but being in the opposite corner or an hour drive etc wouldnt work

On initial impressions Brackenbury/Hammersmith tick a lot of boxes and will check out Ealing/Battersea/Putney. I suspect the problem with the latter two is that you could easily find yourself with a 10-15 minute walk to the tube / train which kills the commute (same with Richmond).

Any other little pockets I've missed?

To one of the earlier posters, yup looks like North Kensington / Ladbroke Grove probably out of the budget, looks like there are some places on the edges further away from the tube station. I have to say the prices are mind boggling..

OP posts:
CityDweller · 22/04/2015 16:48

Do you want the suburbs? You could get a (4-bed) tower flat in the Barbican for that. Lots of good local private school options and easy to get to Richmond (Waterloo is a hop and skip away and then a fast train). Somewhat counterintuitively, it's a great area to raise kids - loads going on and lots of families in the Barbican and around.

Or how about bits of south London such as Herne Hill, where you'd have schools such as JAGS and Dulwich accessible?

Apatite1 · 22/04/2015 17:45

We bought in Dulwich, near w dulwich station. brockwell park in 2 minutes. Lots of families. Outstanding private schools. Public transport is ok but not as great as being near a tube. It's very leafy and naice and your budget would buy something lovely though I think £2m plus for the best houses, lower end of your budget for terraces. We've had to build from scratch having bought a total wreck but was only way to get all the space we wanted in budget. Total costs heading towards your budget now though so maybe not such a economical decision after all!!

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 22/04/2015 17:52

Kew. A nice big house near the station and Kew College on your doorstep.

Or have a look at Barnes, Chiswick or Blackheath.

sacbina · 22/04/2015 17:53

where do you and/or dh need to commute to?

88blueshoes · 22/04/2015 17:55

You are a first time buyer and your budget is 2.25m?? What industry do you work in?? DH and I saved enough to buy a 2 bed flat in zone 3 and we were feeling pretty smug about that, but we are clearly doing something wrong. Envy

To answer your question, Putney is nice.

ArcheryAnnie · 22/04/2015 18:02

Chiswick, Barnes, Hammersmith (not pretty but close to parks and stupidly well-connected), Fulham Palace Road.

Mind you, if I had your budget, I'd probably go for Turnham Green village, or Kew, near the tube station.

sleepwhenidie · 22/04/2015 18:04

I'm assuming you are working around £150k in stamp duty into your budget too?