Please help us finding a place to live. I really want to move out of London now

[kingat]

Dear Mumsnetters, please help me finding a place to live. I have seen many threads like this and there were always so many good ideas, so hoping There is a perfect place for us too.
We are currently in a London suburb and looking to move out.
What we are looking for is a town with low crime rates, generally feeling safe and good schools. The property itself doesn’t matter as much, but we need 3bed and would love to have a nice garden for DC.

These are the challenges though:
Budget of 400k, I need to factor in commuting costs
Commute: I have to get to Canary Wharf most days and to Liverpool Street/Bank some days
DH works in Ealing and drives
We are of foreign background, so multicultural aspect matters too

It is possible?

Newbury Park? Station is on the Central Line so you can get to your work and husband can sit on the Tube to Ealing. It's a long way but has no changes.

Watching with interest. I'm in CW and partner in the City.

Thank you, but we really want to get out of London and safety is the main factor. We just had some bad things happened last year and I am looking for somewhere to raise our DC happy

Hampshire would be my bet.

Petersfield is gorgeous, 1h05m-1h45m on the train (depends on the service) to Waterloo.

From Kent you can get to Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Waterloo East, London Bridge. Tonbridge and Sevenoaks have an excellent service. Tonbridge has reasonable house prices. The further down the line you go the cheaper the house prices.

Winchester is the same train journey.

That's quite a difficult one as you both work on opposite sides of London. As your DH drives to work you'd have to consider being west London or surrounding areas. However your commute would be terrible. Not much help! Sorry. I'll put my thinking cap on.

Could your DH use the train if you moved out to the west of London?

Hmm - does your DP HAVE to drive? Somewhere that would take you into a central station that you then commute on the tube in opposite directions would be the easiest (thinking of trains to Euston or Kings x)

Edenbridge has 2 train stations and has good schools on the doorstep and is rural and cheap 👍🏻
You can buy my house if you like haha 4 bed semi with a large garden....tad over your budget though ...... Seriously though have a look around Kent/Surrey that's a good place to start with good rail links and close to M25

Thank you, DH could take train, but I suppose it would cost more than driving from say Berkshire

Yes Kent/Surrey could workk, but which town? This is going to be hard

Go on Rightmove and do a map drawing search in a semi circle shape south east of London, pop on your top budget and see what comes up and work from there. Orpington and Tonbridge would suit your budget, further south you go cheaper it gets....Reigate/Redhill or maybe even West Kent, over Dartford way.

Can you wait for Crossrail? You could live pretty much anywhere on that line between Maidenhead and Ealing itself and then you could commute across town to Liverpool St / Canary Wharf directly.

Don't forget that M25, M4 and M40 are all very busy and quite often at a standstill at rush hour. So it may be better/quicker to take the train then drive.

To be honest your budget is going to be hard to stretch to a 3 bed with a garden within commuting distance to London in a 'nice' area. I've had a quick look at Petts Wood, Orpington, Dartford, Tonbridge, Bromley, Redhill and Croydon. Probably Redhill and Croydon may suit your housing needs. Tonbridge commuting is long and expensive (especially to your destinations). Essex is a better commute for you, rubbish for your DH. Or Slough switches the commute times around so worse for you. And unless you really research these areas who is to say you'll find a house you like in a 'safe' area.

Tunbridge Wells is fairly good (grew up there) and you could find something but again commuting time and costs are high. Figure out the maximum commute time you will both tolerate (and cost of said commute) and search from there.

I think Orpington is a good area. Quick rail connections to C London and close to the M25 but traffic around the Dartford Tunnel is often horrendous.

Difficult with where you both work really. High Wycombe area is cheapish and good schools. Drivable to Ealing and you could go baker Street to Waterloo to wharf I think? It's a long commute though.

Oh just tried on google maps and it gave a 1hr4min route from high Wycombe to canary wharf on train/tube, 36 mins drive to Ealing

I'm in Fleet, Hampshire. There's a fast train into Waterloo and DH sometimes has to go to Canary Wharf, it's very easy on the Jubilee line from Waterloo (although admittedly absolutely rammed if you have to do it in peak rush hour). Ditto Bank on the Waterloo and City line. We're very close to the M3 and then M25 here for driving - both can obviously be a pain in rush hour but I assume that would be the same anywhere. Lovely town with excellent schools, easy to get out into the countryside, and we bought our 3 bed a few years ago for under £400k :)

Do by good schools what ki D if schools do you mean? How far are you willing to commute? Can you drive? What kind of vibe are you looking for? Even if you name a part of London you like that would help answer your question.

I'd say that it would be hard to get to Ealing from places like Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells during rush hour. Your H would have to set off really early to beat the traffic. The section of the M25 you'd be travelling on would be hideous.
Surrey towns like Guildford might work as you could get the main line into Waterloo and then the Jubilee line. Still at least an hour's drive to Ealing though.

Have you considered East Midlands? Small towns such as Corby, Kettering, and Wellingborough, they've tried to brand them as north Londonshire as they are all only about an hour into London. You'd get a lot for £400k too.