Location me...

[needtomovesoon]

Need some help finding a nice area to move to. Feel like we've been looking forever and need some fresh ideas. We need to be commutable to London - into Euston or Kings Cross ideally and a short drive (40 mins max) to Milton Keynes. We're after somewhere with nice parks, a decent town centre and good state schools. Are there any hidden gems out there? Does your area tick these boxes? Thanks people.

What's your budget?

£750k.

We live in Cambridge which I love, it's 50 mins on the train into Kings Cross but is more like 55 mins drive to Milton Keynes so probably a bit too far for you. I'm not sure where you've looked so far but what about Hitchin or the garden cities (Letchworth or Welwyn)?

I'd love to live in Cambridge! But yes, I think it's a bit far. We've looked at Hitchin, Welwyn and St Albans. But I'm not really loving any of them.

Perhaps somewhere in zone 5-6? Barnet? Don't know the area personally but have heard a lot of good about it. You could get into central London on The tube (much cheaper than a season ticket) and it's close to the M1.

What about hitchin and st albans didn't float your boat. They seem to tick all your boxes

How about Hertford ? Two train lines, one to Moorgate via Finsbury Park and one to Liverpool Street via Tottenham Hale. The best park/ open space ever in Hartham Common/ the Meads. Great schools and a brilliant cafe culture with more restaurants than you can eat at. Great community feel to it.

St Albans is beautiful I grant you. And yes ticks all our boxes, but the 3-4 bed houses in our budget are quite a way out of town in the not so pretty bits, so essentially you're paying super expensive prices to live in suburbia. A place we saw recently was a 10 min walk to the nearest shop - a tesco metro and over 30 mins to town and the station.

My sister recently moved to Biggleswade, I really like it!

Tring?

Or Rickmansworth??

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44680581.html

Harpenden and Hitchin have very good state schools.

Berkhamsted
Boxmoor in Hemel next to the station
Tring

Harpenden has large green spaces and is close to M1 and st pancreas trainline, some lovely hours and town centre but it does have very strict traffic wardens

No idea about schools though

*houses

31 mins drive on M1 from harpenden to MK

Tring does look pretty good. Do you live there CountMagnus? What's it like? Is there enough going on to keep the children entertained or do you end up driving to Berkhamsted a lot?

Harpenden is just too pricey.

I don't get Boxmoor. Nice houses but nothing big else really there. Unless I'm missing something?

Berkhamsted also looks good. But the town centre is so choked with traffic it's put me off a bit.

We live in a village to the west of Cambridge. Dh drives to St Neots to catch train to Kings Cross (40 minutes). Our local primary school is Outstanding, as is the secondary. We can be in Cambridge in 15 minutes (albeit not in rush hour). If you were prepared to live in a village then £750k would buy you a lovely house round here.

Oh yes, and Milton Keynes is about 40 minutes drive.

I don't know Tring that well (grew up not far away though), always seemed very pleasant, and it does well in "best places to live" lists:

www.berkhamstedtoday.co.uk/news/character-and-charm-earn-tring-a-place-on-sunday-times-best-places-to-live-in-britain-list-1-5941250

Tring and Berkhansted are great for families, lots of London commuters so some nice cafes/delis etc... my sister moved to Berko (from London) a few years ago and has no intention of leaving! Her DH works locally now and she commutes into London in 30 minutes.

here is 5 bedrooms for under your budget

Lots of others if you put in show sold or under offer as well when you put in details into rightmove so there should be loads under your budget

How many bedrooms do you want, garden or parking for how many cars?

New or old or character?

Where do you live ATM and why did you buy that house?

What is good and bad about it?