Anyone moving out of London when both parents commuting to work?

[bluejet]

Hi all

We’re considering a move out of London for secondary education. What troubles us is the fact that both of us commute to Central London (City and Marylebone) so need to stay close to train station. We’ve looked at many places including those shown in the most recent Hamptons research www.hamptons.co.uk/thelondonroadshow/ but couldnt find a place where life around the train station is as quiet and spacious as we would want when moving out of London.

We currently live in an outer London borough within walking distance to tube station but very quiet and spacious property so to move away from such amenities when both commute is so difficult. The only driving concern is secondary schools for the children as where we live the non faith options are horrendous (well below average scores across all measures). Places we’ve looked at:

St Albans - very attractive town but very busy, properties around stations are tiny
All Surrey towns - terrible South West Railway service. Can work for one person commuting but both would be impossible. Low chance of improvement in near future as bottlenecks around Clapham Junction
Tonbridge/Chelmsford/Reading - same as St Albans, plus extremely competitive grammar schools which we’re against

Has anyone moved out and both commute to work? Where would be the best place to move to?

Leaning on Hertfordshire as no grammar schools and reasonable rail services (or not enough bad publicity)

Can I suggest you look at the villages just outside of Reading? A lot of people I know in my village work in London and commute in. Look at Pangbourne, Goring & Streatley, Cholsey.

Thanks bunny
Will have a look now

Hitchin might fit your bill.

Can you stay where you are as it sounds ideal and look at independent schools? Stamp duty and moving costs really add up so you might find it is a similar cost.

Yes I was going to say why not stay where you are?

While the villages outside reading would fit your bill house and school wise, the commute from Paddington to city wouldn't be fun at all. Marylebone wouldn't be too bad.

How long a commute is doable for you? We relocated to east Sussex recently. Used to live in Bedfordshire. Really depends on budget and your definition of spacious!

Reading traffic is dreadful and parking is ruinously expensive and living walking distance from the station does not fit the bill of more countryside style living. Having lived in London (zone 2) and central Reading, i’d choose staying in London. However Twyford is the next stop further in to London and is more rural, and does have fast trains morning and evening. A choice of nice secondary schools which are non-selective but easy access to Reading for the Grammars if kids pass the tests/if that’s what you want. There are fairly regularly 4 bedroom detached houses walking distance from twyford station for around £550k. No idea of your budget, but that gives you an idea .

Is there a reason you can't look elsewhere in London? I'm not sure it would benefit your children to be constantly in before and after school care while you do a long commute (especially assuming that your youngest would still be in primary), and as teenagers get older they won't thank you for moving to a village! You'll also be moving away from your and their existing friends and support networks.

If you truly loved the countryside then it makes more sense, but if it's just secondary then I'd look at London options, or even like pps said, depending on your house and income, savings on stamp duty and commuter costs may make an independent not be so much more expensive than a move.

I live in St Albans and everyone round here is Ex London round here.189. kids without secondary schools this year and they just build more and more houses. Many will go to the sink schools in Hemel Hempstead.

You may need to adjust your expectations - good commute, nice town, good schools, bigger property, walking distance to station is everyone's dream. You can expect to pay a lot for a property if you don't compromise on at one or probably two of that list.

Further north you will get the house for half the price and the station proximity but fares are crazy £££ £10k each person from here but it's 50 mins non stop to st Pancras and easy tube to each of your work. Don't know any households where both commute, there's a lot of sahm's or part time ex SE to be honest. But we do have sheep 5 mins from the station!

We tried it and managed for about 3 years, but 2 parents commuting was too hard. Both being far away if there were any issues, long days for everyone and if there were train problems we were really stuck with collecting dc. In the end I changed jobs to something I can mostly do from home

I know you said about Surrey trains but what about Reigate / Dorking way? Great schools, plenty of countryside and lots of families who commute into London. The trains are far better (Southern) than they have been for a while so I wouldn't totally rule out.

Hertford maybe worth looking at - two train routes into London and good state schools. Further out you can get issues with trains not being reliable so OK if have a sympathetic employer but not otherwise. We moved out of London but I gave up work there and freelance as my kids need me closeby - one is ASD.

I can’t claim to know the schools there but about Essex? I lived in Buckhurst Hill when I was young, free and single and commuted into CL.

In terms of commuting and being fairly rural, Amersham and surrounding area would seem reasonable (on tube and mainline into marylebone) but not sure what secondary schools are like. There are fast trains into st pancras on the Bedford line. Harpenden is one stop north of st albans but a lot smaller town. Welwyn and welwyn north go into st pancras, welwyn north station is very quiet - almost in the middle of nowhere.

We probably need to know more details, in order to help you. MN is very good at this!! Budget for house, more info on what house needs, what you consider spacious and what atmosphere you need.

Many of my friends commute daily into London, Canary wharf, but NONE both parents. That really does change things: from Woking, Weybridge, Chertsey, Wimbledon, Bedford.

But I don't think any of those places would quite suit you.

We both work and honestly I can't take long er commute than London zone 6. There will be hardly any family time left after commute and daily chores on weekdays. We compromised on house and garden size and kid worked hard to get into the competitive grammar. If we had more money, could have bought bigger house or sent kid to Indy but still wouldn't have chosen longer commute.

I used to live in zone 2 and my commute to central london was the same as it is now living 25 miles out. Depending on fast trains v tube connections the journies could be shorter but more £££ and also within the tube network there are some permutations if one line has a problem ....which is more difficult when relying on one station/line

I don't know anyone who moved out and still has both parents working and commuting full time.

Seems to be one parent ends up going very PT, or doing something they can WFH or become a SAHP.

Apart form anything else, 2x season passes are £££££££££££££

Exactly what Blue said, in my experience

We do it

We both work FT and commute from the edge of London (m25 belt). It is fairly hard tbh. I would like a longer commute than we have - currently under an hour door to door each way

I know two couples. In the first couple She works p/t and has a nanny for those days - means her earnings are less than in a standard job closer to home but suits them. Second couple she is also part time and he works from home on the two days she has to be in London. We looked at it ourselves, both South and West of London. We hit exactly the same problem as you - houses close to station are not anywhere close to the rural idle, often not in the right catchment area and are either similar to London prices or tiny or in areas we would not want to live. Instead we moved a mile up the road to the shed area and into a good cat helmet or with option of private.

I wouldn’t do it, you will find it hard to have the time to make a life for yourself where you live.
Children at school will help but it will be hard.
It looks like it works on paper but the reality is different.
We moved out, my DH now commutes he has no time for himself, he used to keep fit by cycling to work, he tried a Brompton bike on the train but it was so complicated, now he hardly cycles, same with tennis.
Unless you have very set predictable hours it can be tricky, if the train is cancelled you have no other option, in London you can get a bus, Uber, taxi, tube.
Do you have friends, family, support where you want to move to? If not I wouldn’t do it with both parents working.
If you can find somewhere to live in london with school options you like, I’d stick with it, schools really make communities and things change when your children go to school.

I won't move out of London because

1. I'd end up spending 5-6k on train fairs which which may not be reliable , I live in zone 4 and spend less than £1800 on the tube
2. I'd have a long commute which means not seeing my child and if trains are late I can't get the school in time
3. London means all these problems go away
4. some of the commuter towns don't offer that much more home for your money
5. outside London doesn't have a monopoly on good schools