Where to go - Teddington or TunbridgeWells?

[Tootiredtothinkzzz]

Hello
Trying to decide between moving to Teddington and Tunbridge Wells. Like Teddington slightly more as it still has a London vibe, next to Bushy and Richmond Park, good high street but not too busy, good schools, family friendly, on Thames, commute ok. Aware it's expensive though!!
Tunbridge Wells also on the list as good schools, good shops, family friendly, access to lovely countryside, get more for money in house and garden but commute long and I'm nervous about not having the London access. Prefer Teddington but think TW better value.
Can anyone help me decide which one would be better? We plan to stay long term through schools. We currently have £1m but may go up in future. We know people in both places. Unfortunately no close family in either - both about 2.5hr away.

Crouch End v. expensive and big shortage of schools places this year. And yes, I fear, equally as 'yummy' as Tedd, if not more so (plus the celebs! It's the new Primrose Hill!).

How about Gospel Oak/ top end of Kentish Town? Close to Hampstead Heath. Although I'm not sure ??1m would buy much these days (shockingly). Or Highbury (near Highbury Fields), although think that schools might be an issue round there.

It's a really tricky one. One that we grappled with for a while, and we never did find that 'perfect' bit of London to move to that was affordable (or rather, could get a decent sized house with a proper garden for ??1m or less), nice housing stock, green space, good schools with places, easily accessible to central London, not too 'yummy'. The only places that did tick the boxes were in SE London, and that doesn't work for my commute.

Good luck! I think the answer is to go on exploration trips to everywhere that's even remotely viable - somewhere will feel 'right' and then everything else falls into place.

Pushka Tedd isn't that great for work commute (city) but tbh we have run out of ideas of where would be best. I really need to be somewhere that has stuff going on. However, saying that I would also like to be near space! This is probably why we haven't found anywhere. I mentioned Brighton, Lewes is another place I could live. But commute crap. Maybe should rethink se London too, though I have visited and it did feel quite urban.
Thought about ton but it depressed me a bit if I'm honest (though so do tw and Tedd in some ways too ha ha!)
Citydweller where did u end up?

Pushka. snap. I was coming on to suggest Tonbridge. £1m won't get you much in TW and much less in Teddington. You'd get more in Tonbridge. Lovely place. Many many great schools both state and private. And with your budget you would get a nice big period family house.

TW is nice and we spent a long time looking at TW. Problems for me were DHs commute would be 1h45 each way (Tonbridge it's 1h5mins each way plus 8trains an hour) and it's actually quite noisy in the nicer residential parts of TW. And we had a substantially bigger budget than yours and struggled to find anything at all.

Essentially what will cost us £1.25m in Tonbridge (inc extension and refurb) would have cost us approx £2m in TW.
DC are at a fabulous prep here and since our recent arrival we have seen the opening of an Artisan bakery and several boutique coffee shops (non chain variety).
And obv Tonbridge has a Waitrose, TW doesn't.

Surbiton sounds much more up your street. Have you had a look there?

That Herne Hill house (actually Brixton - and none the worse for that) is actually in a difficult spot for schools, IMO.

Tootired we haven't ended up anywhere yet. But if all goes according to plan and our purchase goes through, we're moving out out - as in, to a village about 1.5-2 hrs from London. In the South East. Anymore info would out me . But neither of us has to commute into London. And for us a move from central London to zone 3-4 suburbs felt pointless. We felt we'd be losing everything of London we love without gaining enough (other than a larger mortgage for a terraced house with a tiny garden where we'd be stressing about school catchments). So we're opting for the complete lifestyle change.

I wouldn't be contemplating such a move if we both had to commute into London. Life's too short to spend all of it rushing for trains, sitting on trains and feeling guilty about not getting to see DC in the morning or evening (or both).