Cute Commuter Villages Near London? Please Help?

[user1481480706]

Hi! I've just moved to London with my husband (I'm 27 and he is 32). We are renting at the moment, but are looking to buy a house in the coming months. We've visited a few places, and have been disheartened by how expensive everything is! Our budget is 600,000-700,000 as we are looking to buy a house and gut the interior (and make it nice and modern inside)! We recently visited Blackheath Village and Walthamstow Village and loved both, but they're so tiny, quite expensive and bordered by some gritty urban bits.

We are SO overwhelmed by all the areas around London, but ultimately, we would love to find a quaint commuter village near London (60 minutes or less commute to London Holborn where I work). I really, really need suggestions on where to live! We would love a village that:
*Has a quaint high street with lots of independent/trendy shops
*Has plenty of young families and young professionals
*Has good transport links/fast trains into the city
*Will suit a budget of 600,000-700,000
*Ideally has some green space and potentially farmer markets on weekends

Thanks so much for your help! :)

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Sevenoaks could work for you.

OP did you check out the areas within London suggested on your other thread?

As someone has said above... Blackheath Village might be called 'village' but it is not really a separate village, it's just an area /suburb with village in the name. Same with Walthamstow, Wimbledon and many others.

Are you actually just meaning an area with an easy commute and the amenities you have mentioned or do you want to move out of London to the country, to an actual commuter village?

Epping is lovely.
Berko as mentioned earlier is also great.
Harpenden
Digswell near Welwyn Garden City

Gerrards cross is very nice, but one of the dearest places to buy outside the M25

Years ago I borrowed a book from the library called "The Daily Telegraph Guide to Commuterland" by Caroline McGhie - basically it looked at the the rail commuter lines out of London, train frequency, season ticket price cost, house prices for different types of houses and what each train stop town/village was like to live in etc etc.
I've looked it up, and its out of date so the prices will have gone up, but it will give you a rough idea of places that you could commute from to get to Holborn.

I live in Berkhamsted and would definitely recommend it so long as you buy a house with a driveway as street parking is terrible.

I also love St Albans.

Tring is nice and at the cheaper end of the market but not every train runs there.

Boxmoor can be lovely too.

Empress I think we may be neighbours

Jilly

I went to Blackheath the other day for lunch at Zero Degrees. They let me in so I must have managed to hide my urban grittiness.

Kings Langley is nice too.

Epping, Woodford Green, Loughton. Bishops Stortford, Ware and Hertford are also nice. I work on High Holborn and all of these are commuteable in an hour.

That's nothing Empress - I got let in to Gail's yesterday AND they even took my gritty cash in exchange for a loaf of non-gritty bread.

I'm sure i answered a post just like this before!

Last time she wanted "cute" inside london. Now she wants "cute" outside London.

I'm confused. You want to move to a commuter village and then list places in London?

How many bed?

You could get a 2/3 bed house in Teddington

That's nothing Empress - I got let in to Gail's yesterday AND they even took my gritty cash in exchange for a loaf of non-gritty bread.

I bet you washed especially, didn't you?

I did. And I made sure you couldn't see my pants above the waistband of my jeans. One has to go undercover when entering a cute, non-gritty area.

Am I the only one who winces rather at the words "cute" and "quaint"?

I'm guessing the OP is American, so the nuances are different.

I knew someone once who used to describe beautiful things as "twee". As in, "Oh, look at that twee cathedral." WINCE.

First time I have heard Walthamstow Cute and Village linked together

I think what you are describing doesn't go with your budget. I live in a cute picturesque village 1 you door to door from Holborn it has an 800 year old church but there are no shops or street lights or pavements but we do have a foodie pub and at the moment for your money you can buy a 2 bd flat.

**

That's cute artisan grittiness though, not undesirable urban grittiness. A different thing altogether.

Their grit is made of broken glass and fag ends of course

I still think the bit between Wanstead and Snaresbrook central line stations is good for your money.

Actual London.
Dead easy to get to Holborn.
High Street has good cafes etc.
Feels v yummy mummy.
Potentially might be described as cute...

Obvs there are "gritty urban bits" near by, but that is true even of the most prestigious London postcodes.

Actually budget might be a bit small for Wanstead

While artisan grit consists of ground diamonds and the discarded fragments of unicorn hooves.