Central London with a family?

[JoJoSM2]

We live in zone 5 and it’s a great place to be for a family. However, DH craves the countryside and I crave more time as a family. We’ve recently started wondering about living in central London during the week and then decanting to the countryside at weekends/in the holidays. That would mean less commuting so more time together and weekends outside London for a bit of fresh air and breathing space.

Where could be good in central London for a family? Any pros and cons of running two homes and frequently travelling between the two?

PS We have one baby so far and hope for another soon.

Mini, obv didn’t think about it but it’s very true about 2 and 4 year olds. Whenever we’ve had visitors in that age bracket, they ran around and bounced of the walls. Or did laps of the garden counting trees ;)

Christopher, yes we’re in SM2 and the schools are fab and it’s generally a top spot for bringing up children. The commute just isn’t the shortest. And a very good point about staying late at work instead of getting back home if you live very close to work. Knowing my husband, it could definitely happen.

Aview, thank you. It’s really making me think!

Placemarking as we will be relocating to London later this year. It will be interesting to see what everybody thinks!

I’m afraid I agree with pp - once your children are in school this will become unworkable. They will miss birthday parties and sports fixtures, and they’ll come to resent being away from their lives and their friends. You’ll need two of everything. The children will inevitably forget their homework / beloved teddy in one place and then need it in the other.

If you are in a position to afford a second property I would suggest buying a holiday property a little further out, perhaps by the coast, for less frequent weekends and for holidays.

JoJo we’re in Vauxhall/Nine Elms and I echo what a PP says about getting in and out of town. It takes a good hour to the M25 in every direction unless we’re really, really lucky and it’s worse on Friday nights and Sunday evenings. When I was working we considered a country bolt hole too but the driving time put us off.

Have you heard of Retreat East? Some of our city based friends with younger children have become members which gives a home from home out in the countryside. They rave about it - though insist it’s not a timeshare I wonder if that might scratch an itch for you?

Knitted, trying to drive out of central London on Friday evening sounds like a nightmare.

Re-reading the posts and thinking about it, I can see that we’re better off staying put. We do get our city, countryside and coast fixes regularly as everything is very easily and quickly accessible. And living between 2 homes with children doesn’t seem so great any more.

The Barbican might fit what you need. It’s very central London and trains can get you out to the country in no time either via Farringdon or Liverpool Street.
All the amenities you’d want are on site and it’s a very family oriented area.
Pricey though...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69110413.html

This one looks better www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-58334490.html

Really focus on the practicalities. A baby is so easy and portable - although it doesn't feel like it at the time! Fast forward a couple of years and life will be very different.
What time does your DH get home on a Friday night? What time will you realistically be doing the drive? How will you juggle that when you have children's bedtime routines to worry about? Some children are flexible; others aren't. Technology means that life has got easier and you get adjust the heating so the house is warm when you get there & things but what will you do for food? Take it with you? Get a supermarket delivery that evening and hope you get there before the delivery does or get the delivery on Saturday morning and give the children dry cereal for breakfast?
Where/when will you do the washing? All the uniforms and sports kit that you'll inevitably end up with as well as the bedding & towels from the weekend place. If you're only there a couple of nights a week, you won't need to wash bedding every weekend ... unless you have guests. And you will have guests. And you will always host as you will be the one with the place in the country so you're constantly in hostess mode and cooking and making sure everything is clean and tidy when you might just want to slob. On the subject of keeping it clean and tidy, will you get a cleaned for it? What about a gardener? Who will be there to let the plumber in when there's a leak?
And that's without mentioning clubs and parties.

Where is your husband commuting to? What about somewhere on a fast line on edge of London that makes it easier to get out but doesn't a huge amount in commute? DH is 1 hour door to door but we actually live in an AONB.