Where to live near London? Safe, green and open-minded place

[lamii]

Hi all,
Could you please give me tips on places near London to buy a flat/house 250K cash, in a safe area, green and open minded. We are both europeans ;)
I love London, want to relocate there but I'm scared of crimes and pollution!

[Womble75]

Whitchurch is 1 hour from Waterloo - large village with own station. Not sure how you would fare without a car though.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62433623.html
Andover is a decent size town with a mixed community. Ok transport links again just over 1 hour to London
This is just 5 minutes from station www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56321539.html

[CashelGirl]

You aren't going to get anywhere in London with your budget and specs at the moment. Woohoo to my fellow Plumrades! Been here 22 years and it is lovely. Xx

[PootlewasthebestFlump]

Twyford is perfect - smart village, good amenities, waitrose, country views, mainline to Paddington in 30 minutes.

Pretty much everyone is white but I don't know how trashy they are

But you'd struggle to find property that cheap. Maybe a 1-bed flat? You'd need to move much further from London.

[PootlewasthebestFlump]

Hungerford might just be cheap enough. Chippenham? - but you're getting a long way away.

None of these places will give you the experience of living 'near london'.

[Lorelei76]

Open minded my arse.

[PootlewasthebestFlump]

You could get a 1 bed flat in Crystal Palace at that price. Nice, leafy, reasonable commute.

[PigletWasPoohsFriend]

not whitetrash and safe

[conserveisposhforjam]

what term should I use then? How can I describe what I would like to avoid?

Top tip - When you're learning a language avoid using terms synonymous with rubbish to describe people.

HTH

[Lorelei76]

OP why don't you describe what you're trying to avoid?

[viques]

Faversham is nice. Hour from london, takes you into Stratford international so good connections to central London or the city.

Has great markets and lots of beer/food type festival stuff through the year. close to Ashford for connections to Eurostar etc.

[viques]

Meant to say £250000 will buy you a 2 bed Victorian terrace house.

[NerrSnerr]

How big are you wanting? There are a couple of flats in Hove in your price range (ignoring beach huts and retirement properties) but not much. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/houses/hove/?q=Hove&radius=0&resultssort=lowesttprice&searchsource=refine

I think you need to consider moving further from London with your price range.

[Sheepersfluff]

fresh I used to live in a very expensive part of Islington and plenty of people were stabbed in broad daylight there too.

That's just London for you. I personally have never felt unsafe (I was born in East London and lived in north London and now SE) - a lot of violent crime is within gangs.

[BitOutOfPractice]

Don't bother with anywhere in Essex if you want open minded.

[KindDogsTail]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52991609.html
You would not get much in Oxford for £250 but you could find something.

It is cosmopolitan there and the people who live there come from diverse backgrounds.

[bumpertobumper]

Have a look at Chesham, lovely countryside, nice high Street and community, and it's on the tube!

[KindDogsTail]

conserveisposhforjam Tue 22-Nov-16 14:57:34
what term should I use then? How can I describe what I would like to avoid?

Top tip - When you're learning a language avoid using terms synonymous with rubbish to describe people.

Conserve
The nicest places really do have a mixture of people - some poorer families, some students, some young professionals, some academics, some migrants who can be any of these. It is more difficult to find this now though since council houses were sold off and were lost to the housing pool in central areas of cities.

The euphemisms (polite words, or words with secret meaning) used for what you may be looking for are:
"A good area" or a "Reasonable area" "Sought after area"
"An area with good schools" (though there are now some good schools in some deprived areas especially in London I think)
"An area with a low crime rate" (Though as someone said, crime could be in affluent parts too.)

I may start an argument here, but the word for jam is jam! Conserve is a bit like trying to make it sound fancier than it is, it is not really the posh word though some jam jars have it written on to suggest extra fruit in the jam or that the jam is somehow exceptional. It is also used in American English, as is preserve.

[YelloDraw]

Leeds?

Safe, open minded, vibrant good access to nice countryside. 2h15 on the train to london.

250k woudl get you a nice house in a nice area

[KindDogsTail]

Sorry, Conserveisposhforjam I apologise. I should have been replying to Lamii, and not mentioned jam. (I thought Lamii was learning English, acceptable phrases and wanting to know what to say.)

[lamii]

Hi all, thanks for your ideas, it's interesting and I look at all the suggestions.
@KindDogsTail and @Lorelei76 well, I am trying to avoid people who go to KFC in pyjamas! Let me know if you have a term for that, I hope I don't offend anyone here who does that. I love the mix of different backgrounds though.

[KindDogsTail]

Lamii, I didn't realise people did wear their pyjamas out to fast food shops!
I have just been looking it up. Maybe that drove the recent fashion to make pyjama-like clothes.

[winkywinkola]

Berkhamsted? 30 mins from Euston on the train. V nice.

[Manumission]

Hastings, Camber that kind of Essex/Kent border area might yield something in your budget.

[Manumission]

Sorry; SUSSEX/Kent border.

[Manumission]

(Hastings is increasingly artistic/bohemian)