It's another "moving out of London" thread! £400K, 3 bed house - where would you go?

[ACatCalledFang]

I'd welcome some ideas from you knowledgeable people on where we should focus our research into a move out of London, as we're rather clueless and Rightmove doesn't tell you whether a place is affordable for a reason...

We've decided it's time for us to move out, and to upgrade from a 2-bed flat to a house, which would be unaffordable for us in our current location.

Our dilemma is that we both commute into central London, but have family outside, mainly in the north, who we visit regularly and vice versa. From the point of view of our commutes, we'd be looking at locations within easy reach of Victoria, Waterloo or Charing Cross. For visiting family, it would be St Pancras, King's Cross or Euston (all feasible for commuting onwards into the centre if initial train journey under, say, 40 mins).

What we're looking for may not exist on our budget, but our wishlist is something like this:

Location:

• a town rather than a village (unless it was a large village with good facilities/easy access to same and good transport links; we like the look of Knebworth in Hertfordshire).
• a commute of no more than an hour to Victoria/Waterloo, or 40/45 mins to Euston, St Pancras or King's Cross.

-somewhere friendly enough with a reasonable amount of activities for preschoolers (we have a baby, and plan on having more) and decent state schools.

Property:

• budget of around £350K, £400K max.
• a (freehold) house with a garden, semi or detached. Keen to avoid a terrace unless end of terrace.
• 3 bedrooms minimum; more would be nice, or potential to extend later on.
• we'd consider doing some work but are not looking for a fixer-upper. We lack the skills and knowledge for major renovations and would have to live in it from the start with a baby/toddler.

-within walking distance of the station but in a fairly quiet area.

• slight preference for an older property rather than a new(er) build. Something like a 1930s semi would be great; an older property with decent sized rooms even better.

Areas I think worth looking at include Hertfordshire (Hitchin, Welwyn, Letchworth, Stevenage), Surrey (not quite sure where to start given our budget, have looked at Godalming briefly and ruled out Haslemere on cost grounds), NE Hampshire (not sure whether this is too far out), and West Sussex (ditto depending on the area). I'm not sure where the tipping point between cheaper housing and excessively long commutes may lie, and would welcome thoughts on the locations I've listed above as well as places we may not have thought of.

If you've read through all that, thank you! All thoughts welcome (including "totally unrealistic")

I'm going to go against the grain here and say keep it easier for visiting family. We are in SE London and the journey through town every time we want to visit GPs is bad enough that we end up seeing very little of them. Which is sad. I'm guessing that family are likely to stay put whereas even within London work can change location pretty easily, so Victoria may not be where work is in a year's time. But you've still got a bitch of a journey every time you want to see family.

When we think of leaving London we certainly wouldn't go to Kent, it's pretty awkward to get to from anywhere that isn't Kent. For us to get to FIL in the Midlands from Kent it would involve driving nigh on halfway round the M25 - fun. Not.

I would stick to Herts and Herts/Essex borders.

We moved to a 3 bed semi in Godalming in July, about 45 mins in to Waterloo I think? £355k.

Yes yes Rivertam, we moved this side of London from SE London for the right motorways to get to our families! Cuts of like an hour and half of the journey getting across London.

We moved from London to Hitchin and love it. It's a friendly town, with enough to do to not feel too small, but still being quite smallish.

The commute is excellent as well. Most of Hitchin is 15-20 minutes walk from the station (though it's easy to get a taxi on a rubbish morning), with regular and fast trains into London. We don't often get problems with the line. Most rush hour trains stop at Finsbury Park after about a 25 minute journey, where it takes about 60 seconds to be on the Victoria/Piccadilly Line platforms, and the trains aren't as busy as they are in Kings Cross.

£350-400 will get you a 3-bed in Hitchin at the moment, though I wouldn't think about it too long as the prices are rising quite quickly.

I think you'd get slightly more for your money in Letchworth (the next town over) at the moment, though the trains are a little less frequent. Not sure about Knebworth.

How about Hitchin or Letchworth? Both are North (in Hertfordshire) with good road links to the north via the A1M and M1. The train takes you to Kings Cross in about 35 - 40 mins.

Welwyn Garden City is even closer to town (the fast train will have you in Kings Cross in 20mins) but the houses there are a little bit more expensive. There is a John Lewis in the town, which is fab.

Cross posts there, Nina.

Knebworth is a tad pricey but you can find some gems there. Lovely little High Street, but definitely more of a village feel than a town.

I live in Bedford - it is 38 min by train to St Pancras, and house prices are still reasonable (although they do seem to have gone up quite a bit in the last year or so).

Schools are a bit uncertain at moment though. We are moving from 3-tier to 2-tier, and it is a bit complicated currently. The lower/ primary schools are generally good, the middle/upper/secondary end of things is a bit disjointed at the moment (I'm sure it will sort itself out in a few years time).

We moved to Andover from zone 2. DH commutes to Waterloo daily. Hour on the train always gets a seat! We got a 3 bed new build for £237k but that was 2 years ago. We are no more than 30 minutes from Basingstoke, Salisbury, Winchester, Southampton, Newbury. Andover has Waitrose, Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys and a few high street names with more on the way due to major housing development. . Loads to do with children. Right on the A303 so a great base to access major road links and best of both worlds in respect of town and country living. Don't regret leaving for one second!

What about Bedford? Looks about 40-60mins to Kings Cross.

How about Milton Keynes? About 35 minutes out of Euston (45 in the morning depending on time) and a fantastic place to live with kids, lots for them to do. Some great schools (although some to avoid too - guess lots of places are like that though).

Sorry, haven't got time to type out lots of info now, but if you search on the site on my name and Milton Keynes, I've typed it out several times before! Or shout and I can post answers later...

What about Staines? 35-40 minutes into Waterloo. Waitrose right in the centre of town, loads of good shops. Cheaper because of the Ali G association. Major benefit is being 10 minutes from Heathrow for work travel but being south of the airport is actually away from almost all flight paths so there is next to no plane noise. You get more noise to the direct west and east of the airport because that's the way the runways are laid out. Any new runway is also likely to run east west so won't cause any significant noise increase.

Nearby Windsor may also be worth a look although that's getting on for an hour into Waterloo.

Basingstoke is also nice. The shops there are pretty good. 45 minutes into Waterloo.

Hitchin. It always seems to come up on these threads and for good reason; not too big, not too small, good restaurants, easy transport links, good trains. Schools are good too apparently although I've not got experience of them. We lived there over 20 years ago, it was good then and seems good now judging by odd visits and by posts on here.

I can give some opinions on your East Hertfordshire choices. Because you said you like the look of Knebworth, I'm assuming you would prefer the market town feel/cafe culture/places to eat and drink/pretty high street etc. Also sort of assuming you'd like to have the option of walking into the town centre, and retaining a little bit of a London lifestyle, especially with a young family. If none of that's a priority for you then this will all be irrelevant, but it's what we would consider important.

Stevenage - very much a classic "new town", your budget would go quite far, but it might not really be what you are looking for in terms of lifestyle. Letchworth is prettier, but again I think it is lacking in culture (personal opinion).

Hitchin might suit you more, as has more of a market town feel, but I couldn't comment on how far your money would go there as I don't know the area well enough. Welwyn has a nice town centre and good train line, but I think for your budget you might find yourself pushed out to the sub-urb estates, some of which are a 45+ minute walk to the town centre. Also, hardly any pubs (if that is important)!

St Albans is lovely, and great connections to the city, but I expect would be out of your budget as prices there are on par with parts of London. We live in Hertford, which is also lovely, a market town with good schools, family friendly and about a 45 minute commute to Moorgate/Kings Cross. There is also a second trainline from the East side of the town that goes into Liverpool Street, or you can change at Seven Sisters for the tube if you are heading west. Most bits of central London are accessible in under an hour. You also always get a seat on the way in, which is a bonus! £400k would just about get something like what is on your list, not everything, but for us the location makes up for it.

(Although the selfish part of me says please don't move here, as Londoner's moving out are already pushing up the price of family homes here - there is already a shortage. We will need to make a similar move to you in the next year or two, from a two bed flat to a family home, and we want to stay in Hertford, just hoping the prices aren't pushed out of our reach).

Thank you so much to everyone who's responded to this thread! Haven't checked for a few days due to being home alone with a demanding baby, but will take a proper look later this evening and reply. Thanks again for your time.

If you are still considering west sussex then look at East Grinstead. Trains into Victoria about 55 mins. Our wish list and budget was very similar to yours and we bought a 3 double bed period semi with large garden under ten mins walk from the station just over a year ago. Good preschools and state schools too.

Thanks again to everyone who has commented - especially NinaSharp, SkipToTheGoodBit, DotterP and OnceAnOwl. The Hertfordshire comments were really helpful. We couldn't afford anything much in St Albans and you're right that we'd want shops and cafes within walking distance. Would you get that in Letchworth and Welwyn or not so much? Hitchin sounds perfect, think that's going to be one of our day trips, ditto Welwyn - any bits to avoid in either?

I think I'm pretty clear now that Hertfordshire would be a good choice for us, but we will also look at Horsham, Haywards Heath, Basingstoke, East Grinstead and Andover, none of which were on our list before. And possibly Staines! (Godalming was already on the list but would welcome any other Surrey suggestions where we might be able to afford something.)

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to respond - it's confirmed for me that we're thinking of the right sort of places.

Glad we could be of help ACat. If I was moving to Hitchin again I would try and get a house on the Benslow Lane side. (We used to live near there). Having said that I liked all of Hitchin. You will get an idea when you go there. Good luck with it all. I do miss it. We live the other side of the country now but I love going back.

Most of Hitchin is nice. There's bigger properties to be had down by the Poet's Estate, which is very near to the station. Benslow Lane area is lovely but pricier. But it's not a big town and it doesn't have any particularly rough bits - though actually, if you end up in the north west side of town that would be quite a walk to the station.

Another vote for East Grinstead - much cheaper houses than London, very family oriented, and it's at the end of a (short) train line to Victoria so you can always get a seat.

Hertford is lovely, market and county town with lots going on and 2 lines into London - but probably no more than an hour from Victoria if change onto the underground (at Highbury and Islington the tube is on the next platform). Lots of green spaces and excellent schools.

We bought in Enfield Chase 450k for 3 bed with loft all done up v high standard. Excellent schools nearby (8 in 2 mile radius). Loads of parks and forests, good town centre and 20 mins to Moorgate.