Tell me where to live!

[doublechin99]

Hello
Am going round in circles about where best to move to.
We need to be within 45 min train to city - so liv st, Moorgate, London Bridge, cannon st, Farringdon
Need good primaries - state. Secondaries - state also good to have though this is long time away so not essential yet.
Want to find somewhere that is not suburbia like. Would like pretty countryside and walks. A bit of character and not too desperate housewives. Decent shopping nearby. Doesn't have to be on doorstep, just within 20 mins or so. I would consider a village if there was a larger place like this nearby. Have 1m. Would like 4 bed. Period preferably but not a deal breaker. Did think about staying in London but just want a bit of space, though am a bit nervous of the difference in lifestyle. I really like lewes but it goes into wrong station unfortunately :-(

Do you want to be in a village? (You mention countryside) or a town? if a town, how about Cambridge? If a village, friends recently moved to a village with a station in Essex. It's the London side of Colchester and an easy commute into Liv St - they love it. Good schools in both these options

Ps I love Lewes too!

St Albans

It's a lovely place to live

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37365216.html

Do you want to be just a 45 min train journey to those stations, or would you take a shorter train journey with a drive first? The villages around Sevenoaks might suit, 25 minutes from Sevenoaks to London Bridge/30 to Cannon Street, the Town itself might be too small and too big for you, but there's lots of lovely villages around the area, it'll just be a drive to the station every day. (good shopping in Tunbridge Wells or Bluewater, Sevenoaks itself doesn't have a wide range of shops as it's a bit small).

Oh and Tunbridge Wells would be the right distance, big town centre for shopping, lots of lovely character properties, but might be a bit too suberbia for you.

Do you need to be in walking distance of the station?

If not, then I would suggest Saffron Walden.
It's a lovely market town, lots of good shops, nice community feel to it, good schools, state and private, close to Cambridge for all the amenities and entertainments there, 51 minutes commute into Liverpool Street from Audley End station (which might be a deal breaker, but it is a lovely place, I would say it is worth the extra 6 minutes). BUT the station isn't in the town itself, it's a short drive outside - or close enough to cycle also.

I would love to live there myself!

Hello
Thanks for posts. I'm not sure about preferring town or village. Never lived in a town before. It's either city or rural. Though rural was when young and am a bit nervous of feeling isolated with two young children in a new place. Hence lewes sort of size would suit me just grand. Need to get lewes out of head!! Think saffron walden may be too far really. Did think about Sevenoaks and TW - they both seem fine though I'm not sold on either just yet. Sevenoaks commute would be great though! St. Albans we have already discounted as felt v overdeveloped and expensive. That said Sevenoaks is a bit like that too! Will check out Essex villages

Cambridge too far as well. Fine for kx. I could live there no prob though. Maybe a village outside of Sevenoaks - will have a gander x

Look at villages near to Kelvedon and Marks Tey stations. Coggeshall is lovely and some of the smaller villages around there are nice too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50127517.html

Berkhamsted. Chilterns and ashridge, lovely countryside. Great shops/restaurants. The house above has 3 parking spaces.

St. Albans is much more sprawly than Berkhamsted and isn't as close to lovely countryside

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54737243.html

This lovely house is a few minutes walk from Tring station (3 miles from Berkhamsted). Rural enough? Very close to ashridge forest but again 30 minutes from London