Coming back to the UK - where should we live?

[babymakesfive]

After almost 15 years in the US we are thinking of moving back to the UK. Recent civil unrest (literally on the street where we live), news that our kids' schools won't reopen at all in the autumn and a desire to be closer to family have made us want to come back, for a few months at least.
We used to live in London but we will have PTSD from the violence we're living through now, and a drastically reduced income due to the Covid-19 shutdowns, so wondering where to move to give life back in the UK a try!
Requirements:

• Not too far from London, so we can visit friends and family (once restrictions lift) and so my husband can commute once or twice a week.
• Pretty and scenic, with parks and gardens for the kids
• Great schools (kids are 10, 7 and 3)
• A reasonable number of shops/restaurants - we've always lived in cities so it would be nice to still have some 'creature comforts' on our doorstep
• Safe! Ideally with friendly locals to help my Yankee kids settle in!

Suggestions warmly welcomed : )

Will very much depend on budget and what you are looking for.

Grantham.

Budget?

What’s your budget?

I think your real issue is schools, particularly for your eldest child. Are you looking at state or private schools? You will have to apply for secondary schools for your 10 year old in the autumn (unless they are 11 before September, when you’ll need to find a secondary place), which could be problematical in Kent, for example, where you’d be throwing them into the world of the 11+.

Maybe Saffron Walden if you just need to commute twice a week. Excellent schools and safe, nice friendly community. Very pretty with historic centre and Audley End house and a gardens there.

However, I'm not sure our schools will be back to normal in Autumn either (I'm expecting a few hours a week for mine). Mine have been told no school indefinitely at the moment and November was mentioned other day by BBC but nothing announced officially yet. I'm be surprised if they are back as normal in September. Private schools may go back earlier but no guarantees on that either, best to ask.

My knowledge is mainly based in Surrey, so following for budget to be more helpful

Beckenham in SE London fits your criteria but, as previous posters said, it will depend on your budget.

Winchester- beautiful city near South downs and New Forest national parks and not far from coast. Fast train to London in just over an hour, outstanding state comprehensives. Is £££££ though, so depends on budget!

Winchester
Petersfield
Alton
Fleet
Farnborough
the schools are all comps so there is no admission stress
direct trains to London
easy access to the countryside and coast

Reading and Didcot area

Cambridge.

Direct train into London in an hour.

Heavenly place.

Berkhamsted in Herts - not cheap but cheaper than good London suburbs, easy commute (Euston and poss King's Cross).

Surbiton / Walton-on-Thames (that's Waterloo commute).

Tunbridge Wells, bit more traditional - but closer to te South Coast (goes to Charing Cross, further out than previous two).

Chislehurst is very nice indeed, in a London Borough (Bromley), easy commute to central London, a pretty shopping centre with restaurants and cafes, ponds and woodland.

We had an extremely similar dilemma four years ago and looked all over. At the time we had a 6, 8 and 11 year old. We looked all over and I had spreadsheets and all sorts to try and narrow it down. In the end we narrowed in down to Kent and then Folkestone for a variety of reasons - better chance of children getting into grammars, excellent commute times to London (less than an hour), fabulous period properties which represented excellent value, beautiful countryside and stunning seaside, proximity to channel tunnel for European mini-breaks, lots of things to do at the weekend. I have to say it exceeded our expectations. The community is fantastic and there are lots of people moving here from all over (especially London though owing to HS1), the children have so much creative and arts based stuff to take part in and the schools have been fantastic. Half of the family really did not want to return to the U.K. (and I was in that half) and was dreading it, but I really needn’t have worried as it turned out to be the best move ever and I do honestly think as far as being a great place to raise a family it would be hard to top.

It really depends on three things OP:

• your budget;
• where your DH will be working (ideally, you'll live on a train line that takes him into the right area of London - you don't really want to be living in Essex if he will be working in Wimbledon)
• where your family live (if they're in Norfolk, you don't want to be moving to Surrey).

Like @Wokeuptwirly we also did the move ten years ago and we were ruthless about what we wanted. I'm so glad we were - we absolutely love where we live and while I was also lukewarm about the move I can't imagine living in the US any more - moving back here to the small city we chose has been the best thing ever!

When you move with kids and get them into schools you know you could well be settling somewhere long-term, so you need to get it right. We spent a lot of time online doing research, talking to people we knew who'd moved out of London, looking at properties online. We rented when we first moved, so we could get to know the place properly before we bought. This is also a good idea if you're moving somewhere you don't already know. Feel free to PM me, but I don't want to put identifying details on here.

Canterbury

Nowhere with selective schools - why give yourself that stress

Winchester
has three fab secondaries and an amazing 6th form
with no admission criteria or testing

Sorry you’ve had to witness such things so close to home

Hope you make it back to UK very soon

I always wanted to go back to USA to visit but I Will not be going back now, and definitely not with trump in power.

I have lots of sympathy for anyone living there right now

Winchester fits the bill massively, unless your budget doesn’t allow it. It’s really quite expensive. I live twenty miles away just inside the New Forest. It’s a nice area, still not the cheapest you could go but probably about 2/3 of the cost of Winchester. The New Forest is a lovely area to raise children, lots of big open space and things to do but close to a few city centres. Southampton is a quick drive away, Bournemouth a little further. Both a direct train to Waterloo.

Id go winchester. I cant afford to live there now but woild love to!

A "drastically reduced income" and you want to come and live in the UK.
Seriously ??

A "drastically reduced income" and you want to come and live in the UK.
Seriously ??

You don't know what it's been reduced from - no need to be unhelpful

Me too pineapple I would love to live in Winchester. It’s got everything - history, green spaces, amenities and good transport links.

Not all of Winchester is expensive
and if you look at the bus routes (to allow pub meals out)
there are cheaper options on the outskirts