Essex - where to live and commute less than 45 mins to London Liv St?

[JessieMcJessie]

Hi. DH and I are about to move to London after living overseas for 6 years. In our previous London lives we both lived in Zone 2 but now we fancy a 3 bed house rather than a flat. He will be working right next to Liverpool Street and I am wondering if we should explore commuter routes into Essex.

I'd like to live in a period property rather than a new build. We've got a budget of up to 950k. Can anyone recommend somewhere fab to live?

Wanstead! Lovely area, London not Essex though. Zone 3 and 20 mins to Liv St on the central line.

Fab road close to High Street: link

You would get loads for your money if you went out to Chelmsford. Less than 40 mins on train. Shenfield is more expensive but you would still get a lovely house for that money. Shenfield is about 30 mins into Liverpool Street.
Villages around both are lovely if you could handle another 15 mins to get to the station.
If looking at Central Chelmsford Old Moulsham is the area with period houses, although for your budget you should look at Springfield Road too.

Thanks both, I'll get on to RightMove...the road/area- specific info is really helpful too.

I come from & my dad still lives in, Stansted, Stansted Mountfichet to give it it's real name :) it's near the airport but not on the flight path so not noisy. I think it's a lovely village & has a station with trains to Liv St. You could get a lot for your money there. Like this

Feel free to PM me for any more specific info OP I'm positively evangelical about Essex as the perfect commuter spot! We lived near Wanstead before moving out here. I live in a gorgeous village just over an hour door to door to liverpool St

Also look at East Herts maybe - Broxbourne is just under 30 mins and there are lots of trains as it's on the Stansted Express route, as well as the Cambridge and Hertford East lines. Hertford itself is very pretty and is about 40 mins to Liverpool Street.

In Essex, Colchester is lovely - historic centre, plenty to do.

Wow germgirl that is a lovely house, what a beautiful garden. Any idea if that would be walking distance to the station?

North Essex rocks. It takes me around 1hr 15 door to door from a small village in the proper country to Liverpool st. 30 mins of that is drive to station and parking.

Jessie yes, it's probably a 7 minute walk. Stansted is lovely. Every time I go to see my dad I wish I could move back there.
The house I linked to is near a fair few lively restaurants and a couple of pubs, but it's on a private road. Definitely worth a look

Lively=lovely!!

Also, maybe consider Cambridge?

Another vote here for Shenfield and Brentwood. Shenfield more expensive as train journey is direct to LLSt (no stops) and less than 30mins -sometimes under 25. Brentwood is a 45 min journey as more stops but you are more likely to get a seat and fare is cheaper. You don't mention children but worth knowing that the schools are fab in both and catchment for the grammars. Great selection of independents too. Easy also to get to Canary wharf via DLR or Jubilee line at Stratford. But now as prices are going up owing to cross rail which will make a huge difference travelling quickly to the west end also. Upminster is on the fenchurch St line but also has the district line. Prices are more expensive as a result but you are out of catchment for grammar schools if that is important to you both. £950k will buy you a substantial detached house (5 bedded) in brentwood with a sizeable garden. In Shenfield choice is less grand but you will manage to get a four bed detached. Pm me if you want any more details and good luck with the move xx

I used to live in Theydon Bois - lovely village, has a green,
nice little restaurants/shops/pubs and some nice older houses. And in zone 6 on tube so commuting prices not hideous and trains pretty frequent. Or try Epping at the end of the line, lovely little market town.

Ps would second that Stansted area is lovely but I know when I lived in TB that a lot of the villages near it would have been under threat had a second runway been built. Have completely lost track of whether or not that's still an issue, but worth checking!

Ha ha germgirl I was quite excited about the lively restaurants :-) But lovely is good too.

We have no children yet but are TTC so I guess schools will become inportant in due course.

DH is unlikely to agree to a commute of any more than 45 mins I am afraid and he's spoken of horror with taking the same train every day with the same people till he retires, so frequency of trains would be a big factor too. I'm working on him. I'll also be working in the City too but I am less anti-commuter than he is.

I've just been looking at Hertford, lots of lovely houses there. Is it nice as a town in itself?

We'll be in a 1 bed new build flat in E3 for the first little while after we get back, I plan to get in the car and do lots of exploring.

Oh, meant to say thanks to everyone for all your great recommendations and I may well take you up on those PM offers in due course. Not back in the UK till July though.

South Woodford? In laws live there and there are some lovely big period properties (Monkhams estate) around there. Nice little high street, and on the central line for Liverpool St.

I've just found this in Woodford....gracious, someone has very strong views on interior design... .

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50067832.html?premiumA=true

Special

But so easy to add some colour :)

Monkhams is lovely but you would probably be priced out. You could get a lovely three bed for 650 in South woodford though, which is nicer than that end of Woodford Green IMO. We're in the cheap end, in Woodford Bridge :)