Best affordable market towns to live?

[Lookingforahome]

Looking to relocate from the London Suburbs to a more rural area in the Somerset / Hampshire / Oxfordshire / South Downs regions... hoping to find a village/town which has good schools, rail connections to a city, good transport and a bit of fun & community spirit... markets, shops, butchers, Post office, pubs. Any gems out there?!

Should add that the children are currently aged 1 & 5.

I suggest you look at the town's along the Chiltern Line railway. House prices tend to get cheaper the further out from London. Princes Risborough and Thame are both lovely little market towns. Haddenham is a large village with a primary school but not secondary. Bicester is a bit cheaper, growing rapidly with very good rail and bus links to London, Oxford and Milton Keynes. PR is in Bucks and the others in Oxon.

Thame is lovely. Pangbourne is also gorgeous, on the train line and also close to Reading.

Around Reading is a good suggestion as there are good links to Oxford.
Reading isn't a city but is a big town.
Somewhere like Didcot might be an option, but I don't know it.

Hampshire is big and parts are close to Reading, or you could look at somewhere like Alton. I don't know it but have heard good things. Or you could look towards Southampton or Winchester.

The Chilterns are nice. Midsomer Murders country. The nearer you are to London, the more expensive it will be.

Henley is lovely but probably £££.

We are London based but have friends who live in Battle, East Sussex. The DH commutes into London, takes about 1 hr 10 but the property price reflects this. They have a massive house with lovely garden for the price of our tiny house with overlooked yard!! We love popping to the high street when we visit and it has the lovely Abbey to wander round.

Market Harborough

Sherborne on the Somerset/Dorset border would be worth considering.

What is your budget (roughly) and what type of house are you looking for?

Also, have a think about grammar schools - would you want to move to an area with them or not. Kent is grammar territory, so even though your DC are young it's something to bear in mind as in a couple of years these things will impact them.

Affordable is a bit meaningless, as is city. Some cities are quite small.
Wells is lovely but tiny.

Reading is a town but has a population of a large city.

Thanks for this - balancing it all is exactly what’s causing my mind to explode! Budget would be up to £1.25m, and currently looking at areas with great high schools, not just primaries

Winchester - you’d get an amazing house for your budget, schools are great, train is about 1.5 hrs to London, end point of the South Downs Way. What’s not to like?

I lived in and around Witney for a long while and I loved it. Only moved because of family commitments and if I could afford to move back, I would. Really easy to get into Oxford and the newly built Oxford Parkway means getting into London is a breeze

Another who came to say Thame. 3 great primary schools, a good comprehensive and a few people take the 11+ for the grammar schools in Aylesbury (across the border in bucks) if you want grammar. Lots of community driven events throughout the year food, literary, music festivals, carnival plus many others and loads of interest groups around if that's your thing.

Olney in northants bit further out but worth a look :)

I take it you’ll looking at state schools? If you want ‘great’ then a bit of stats should help you narrow things down quickly.

Here’s Oxfordshire for example:

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=931&la-name=oxfordshire&geographic=la&for=secondary

Leamington spa is gorgeous

We moved to Wokingham a few years ago. The town centre has had a refurb (we have a Gail's and Oliver Bonas), but the old town hall remains the focus and there is a market weekly. The town park also had a refurb. Primary schools are great here, I'm less well up on high schools as my eldest is only at infant school. Connections to London via Waterloo can be a bit slow but you can travel into London from Twyford which is on the Paddington line and will be a stop on the crossrail. Reading is close by, about 8-12 minutes on the train. It's not a city but is big and where I would go to shop, but also recently refurbished Bracknell too. Lots of nice countryside and we have lots of parks and green spaces.

For that money - weybridge, Petersfield, Winchester, haslemere (not really a market town but nice nonetheless!). You’d get plenty for your money and they are all lovely places.

Just out of interest. What is a “market town”?

My cousin relocated many years ago from Central London to a village near Bridgwater, Somerset. They swapped their 2 bed flat for a 4 bed house & cousin has commuted via train to Bristol for work. So far as I know they haven’t regretted their decision.

I like Lewes, but I have no idea what the schools are like.
You can afford lots along the Chiltern line, Amersham is nice too.

Thank you

I'd look at the Beaconsfield area. Chalfont St Giles. Not sure what you would get for your money though. It's in a Grammar School area.

Wokingham is a nice town but so many new houses have been built there.

Taylors Ride, Leighton Buzzard
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-75605437.html

Leighton Buzzard

30 mins out of Euston on the train, first stop.

You would get a lot of house and land for over £1m

Example attached.

St Albans is a lovely market town, or nearby Harpenden. Harpenden, although officially is a town is known as a village.

Petersfield
Alton
Winchester
Alresford
Farnham
Romsey

or the best of the lot
Winchester
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84288917.html