Nice affordable town/village commutable to London

[Ricochet77]

Hi there,

I expect this has been asked a lot so apologies! We live in Essex with our 2 kids (7 and 3). We’re generally happy with the area and love living near Epping Forest, but the state secondary schools are not good where we are and the property is expensive.

We would like to move to a more affordable (but lovely) area - if that exists! I grew up in the countryside so would love greenery/woodland and somewhere with a rural feel. Somewhere safe and friendly with a nice high street and things to do locally for the kids.

My OH commutes into Liverpool Street and because of his long hours he would like his commute to be an hour door to door (or not much over).

We would like a nice area with excellent state secondary schools (and ideally with the option for grammar schools too).

Budget is £850k. The other option we possibly have is to buy for around £600/650k and spend the money we save on private school.

We are considering:

Hitchin
Harpenden
Billericay
Chelmsford
Watford

Any other options we may not have considered? Or any opinions on the places above? Any input very gratefully received, thank you!!

If you’re looking for safe, then Chelmsford or Watford wouldn’t be my top picks (you can have a look at police.uk, find area, ‘performance’, ‘compare my area’).

You could consider areas with trains going into London Bridge as it’s then only a walk over the bridge into the city.

Sevenoaks is a popular commuter town with very quick trains, nice high street, lovely countryside and grammar schools. The backup options aren’t great unless you’re Christian and then you have the option of Trinity.

Near me, I can also recommend Cheam Village on the edge of London. Nice centre with lots of family amenities within a short walk (a David Lloyd with a crèche and activities for the whole family, tennis, rugby and cricket clubs, lots of different classes, fab playground etc). There’s a lovely park adjacent to a Woodland Trust area and accessible green belt countryside (Banstead Commons) starts about 2km from the village centre. Short drive to the Surrey Hills and 1h to the beach. There are 5 grammars in the borough and the local comp is the excellent Cheam High. The primaries are fab too. Apart from London Bridge and Victoria train, it’s also a 15 min bus/Uber from the end of the Northern line.

Parts of Cambridgeshire eg Whittlesford or Shelford which have stations? Royston? Great Chesterford, Audley End or Saffron Walden?

Chelmsford is actually quite a big place, might be why crime stats are higher. I work in Chelmsford and have friends there. It's very nice and they have spent a lot of money on the town centre making it a very pleasant place to shop/socialise.

There are older traditional houses as well as new build estates full of executive homes. There are grammar schools and a private school, all excellent, as well as pretty good comprehensive schools.

Billericay is lovely and you should get something decent for your budget, however the train from there is full in the mornings and seats are scarce. Again, very good schools and a private one.

Shenfield is the next stop towards Liverpool Street from Billericay and offers more trains as it is a busy junction, so seats should not be so much of a problem, though the slower trains will have more seats as they start from Shenfield rather than the fast ones coming from Southend and Colchester. Journey to Liverpool Street is only 22 minutes on the fast trains, 30 minutes from Billericay.

Ingatestone is between Shenfield and Chelmsford, lovely small town and excellent school, there is a mainline station which takes around 30 minutes to Liverpool Street.

Didn't think I would ever see affordable and Harpenden put together.

Didn't think I would ever see affordable and Harpenden put together.

Seems to make sense if you put affordable and 850k together first

Hitchin is just lovely

How about Bishop’s Stortford as well. I believe it goes directly to Liverpool Street

Otherwise Harpenden or St Albans are good bets.

I definitely agree that Harpenden is not affordable. We loved it when we looked around though, and the schools seem to be excellent - which is why it made our short list but why we’re also still looking!

Wanstead? South Woodford? Central line into Liverpool st
North Chingford? Direct overground into Liverpool st

Hitchin (Moorgate if you change at Finsbury Park)
Hertford (Moorgate or Liv st - 2 separate lines to London)
St Albans - Thameslink.

All lovely places and good schools. Your budget in first two will get something nice, St Albans bit more expensive but still decent house for the money.

So how much house are you expecting for 850k? There seem to be 3-4 bed semis in Harpenden for the money.

what about leigh on sea? I believe it's a grammar area, you've got the seaside right there, a lovely high street and it's on the line into liverpool street. I think £850k would get you something lovely there

North Kent has a very good commute to London if you use the high speed train. You'd get something nice in one of the villages for that.

like this, which is a couple of mins walk from Chalwell station and seaside and has partial sea view:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-75342865.html

You could go further up into Suffolk and Norfolk. Check the London Liverpool Street to Norwich train line and the times between each journey. Be aware though that the trains can be relatively unreliable so you’d need to allow for that but it is very do able and lots of people do it - Norwich to London is about 1 hour 30.

Saffron Walden? Berkhamsted?

Thanks so much for all the really useful info.

Cheam Village is one we haven’t heard of before so we’ll definitely look into that, thank you!

I would love to move to Saffron Walden, but the commute from Audley End is just too far unfortunately. My husband often finishes work at 10pm or later and it just wouldn’t be feasible.

Love Billericay and Ingatestone. I hear mixed reviews about the Anglo European school in Ingatestone though and I’m not sure it would be a good fit for our kids. It seems like such a lovely area though and ticks a lot of our boxes for being green and having a peaceful/rural feel. Also love Stock but the drive to the station makes it not possible for us unfortunately.

We briefly looked around Hitchin and really liked it. I hear you have to buy a house practically in the playground of Hitchin Boys’ and Hitchin Girls’ school though and we have one of each so I fear we’d struggle to find the right house at the correct distance to get into both.

We will look at Bishop’s Stortford, thanks!

Does anyone commute to London from Milton Keynes? It’s probably too far for my husband but our budget would go a lot further there (although we’d have to factor in travel costs too of course!).

Any other options or thoughts on the above gratefully received! Thank you

Bishops stortford

Ware
Hertford.

Look at Berkhamsted, Tring and surrounding villages.

If you’re looking for a cutesy market town or village, then I doubt Milton Keynes itself will be to your liking.

If you wanted to be on the edge of London but get a decent house for under 650k, then Carshalton Village is worth a look. It’s very pretty. Zone 5 with LB trains from Carshalton Beeches or the Thameslink and Victoria trains from Carshalton station. Borough of Sutton again so 5 grammarsto choose from. Greenery, walkable to lavender fields and surrounding countryside with footpaths and bridleways. Lovely community feel with a theatre, an ecology centre, nice pubs and cafes, a leisure centre and lots of events (eg Artists’ Open Houses or fairs throughout the year).

Will post again on the morning re the extent to which Watford ticks your boxes!

Have a look at the Cambridge to Liverpool St line. Newport, Elsenham, Bishops Stortford, Stansted, Sawbridgeworth

I grew up in Elsenham

I grew up in Billericay and my parents still live there, it’s a lovely place. Nice high street, useful shops, pubs, cafes. (And a Waitrose) The trains (although very busy in the rush hour) are regular modern and quick, around 25 mins to Liverpool st. There are 2 large secondary schools both are excellent. Multiple primary schools and a private school. Grammar schools close by too. There is a large woods and a lovely park. You would get a lovely house for you budget.

@JoJoSM2 true

Have you looked at the Chilterns area in S. Bucks? You won't get anything for your budget in some of the villages, but some of the town are cheaper. High Wycombe is probably the cheapest, closest place at 30 mins to Marylebone, and it's 15/20 mins to Liverpool St. Gerrard's Cross is "nicer" and closer, but more expensive. It's all a grammar area, but also has tons of private schools.