£350-400k, 3 beds with garden within 2 hrs direct train to London

[breadwidow]

Inspired by another thread where the OP got lots of suggestions, I need some suggestions for towns for relocation options. Quite typical story, moving out of London to free up some £, and to a place where DH could afford to set up longed for bakery. I will keep my job in civil service (which I love) so need to get to London fairly easily, for travel at least twice a week but likely not every day (hence happy with 2 hour journey)

So looking for locations:
Within about 2 hours train journey to London (I would stretch over that for the right place)
With decent schools (the biggest wrench will be leaving my sons outstanding primary)
Where houses with 3-4 bedrooms and decent size gardens, ideally within walking distance to the station, cost £350-400k

Even better if it's a location where you can see an artisan bakery doing well and extra marks for being near some wild / dramatic country side (this may be asking for the moon on a stick but I miss the landscapes of mid wales near to where I grew up)

[geekchicz]

Another vote for Market Harborough. It’s the home of Joules natch.

You can commute through Rugby to Euston too if you lived at the outer eastern reaches of the Harborough district if you lived more Lutterworth way( and get more for your money) but base a bakery business in MH where there is a thriving foodie / farm shop culture.

(There’s an excellent secondary state school in Rugby - Ashlawn and Lawrence Sherriff ) . Schools in Lutterworth very good too.

Lovely countryside heading out Rutland way. Rugby is much more urban with a dying town centre due to the out of town development. There’s is of course the famous Rugby school.

MH has an good schools and access to excellent grammar / he colleges in Leicester .

[geekchicz]

Sorry that should read western edges of harborough district

[wowfudge]

Lots of places are a two hour train journey away. You could look at Greater Manchester, Stockport, other parts of Cheshire. Or Warwickshire - trains from Warwick Parkway take about an hour.

[breadwidow]

Maunder, love that house. Exeter is looking tempting. Plus I have friends there already

thanks for all the suggestions

[Hotdoggity]

Exeter has a good pirate scene. Bakery near a beach is like a picture book. Do it!

[Theworldisfullofidiots]

My kids go to school in Peterborough and its a v good school but oversubscribed. It's improved a lot in the last few years and some v nice areas but I'm not sure I'd want to live there. V nice villages near Huntingdon with some v good primaries but you would have to drive to the station. 1 hour to kings cross.
It depends where you are working in London as to where you ideally want to go to, to shorten the commute.

[breadwidow]

Nearest station to work is Victoria, follow d by Waterloo. I'd consider the others tho, and get a Brompton

[TheBitterBoy]

Wokingham has excellent schools and would love an artisan bakery. Stopping train to Waterloo about 1 hour.

[Theworldisfullofidiots]

Exeter to Victoria is v long and v expensive. Just googled the train line.

Just remember, house prices go down and you will have a bigger garden, but train fayres will go up. Child minder costs are normally cheaper though.

[HeddaGarbled]

Hah, we've been looking at a lot of the places mentioned by PPs. Hated Stafford, Grantham, Newark & Peterborough. Really liked Lichfield. Also Oakham in Rutland (train into London via Peterborough). No wild and dramatic scenery though - more pretty and rolling.

[Sarsparella]

Kettering, Northamptonshire, direct train into London in 1hr, your budget would get you...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50633769.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71036804.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71190380.html

[PugwallsSummer]

Another vote for South Leicestershire/Rutland - some beautiful villages, great schools and the market towns have retained the whole "close knit community" thing. Really lovely place to live. 1 hour train journey to St Pancras.

[breadwidow]

Right think I need some options for a slightly lower house budget, in case we don't make as much on current home as envisaged. So it's a max of £350k this time (still hoping for 3 beds and a garden, and I'd rather compromise on size of garden than 3rd bedroom) - does this change anyone's suggestions?

[MaunderHunt]

Paddington to Waterloo on the Bakerloo line is 17mins, Paddington to Victoria is 14 mins on circle - not so bad...

[breadwidow]

Thanks good to get that perspective hedda. The only knowledge I have of Newark / Grantham / market harborough or any of the other East Midlands places is looking outside of the train window en route to Sheffield or Leeds (or somewhere further north). I'm much more familiar with west of London.

[elastamum]

Ampthill in beds. Less than an hour from London, great schools. Lovely town

[StickStickStickStick]

Poole/Bournemouth would give you new forest/beach/forests/country parks/ purbecks for rambling. And cheaper than winchester on the whole.

[JoJoSM2]

Are you dead set on moving out of London? My area could really do with an artisan bakery. There's a traditional one with queues out the door but a distinct lack of an artisan one. I think it would be in demand - so much so that I've considered taking up baking myself (not gonna happen). Small 3 bed houses with a garden start from 400k+ but your commute would be from zone 5 so relatively cheap. Schools are as good as they get (in terms of attainment nationally). Countryside is walkable but definitely not dramatic. However, the Surrey Hills are 20 mins and the coast less than 1h away.

[breadwidow]

JoJo, yes not out of desire but out of necessity really. DH has been looking for a bakery venue in London for years but even out in zone 5 retail space on a street with passing trade is at a premium. Think £80k a year which means finding £40k upfront for rent and deposit without sorting the building. This is why suburban high streets are full of chains.

[breadwidow]

Sorry that's not strictly true, it's part desire as both me and DH have a bit of a fear of the burbs. Instinctively we are drawn to either zone 1/2 London or living somewhere entirely different, apart from a few nice suburbs which are totally out of our price range!

[snewsname]

Wellingborough and Milton Keynes are on the fast train line. Mk is much more expensive than wellingborough.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52772436.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53152299.html

[snewsname]

Milton Keynes - nice parts

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50781216.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71877140.html

[LtheWife]

Norwich is doable in just under 2 hours (with a campaign to get it down to 90 mins in the next few years). You should be able to get something within walking distance of the station with 3 beds and a garden within budget and an artisan bakery would fit in well with the growing foody scene in the city.

[pieceofpurplesky]

Frodsham in the Northwest is just shy of 2 hours from London (Runcorn) and has a bakery for sale
www.cottrellcommercial.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/21-21A-Church-Street-Frodsham.pdf

[Theworldisfullofidiots]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66882923.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/fullscreen/image-gallery.html?propertyId=64002466

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64402435.html