Budget of £750k where do I move to

[velvetfrontdoor]

Has to be within 2 hour each way commute to London (pt commute)

I want a big detached house with garden.
I'm looking for a fun house not a boring run of the mill home.

Would consider moving areas completely and relocating.

Have to consider secondary schools. Can afford private up to £18k pa if stay within commuting distance to London (I know that's not great for private) may afford more if I get a job but I'm happy working in my pt role and support dc so obviously have to consider state schools. No problem to consider grammars as was already considering anyway.

May be able to push budget slightly higher but ideally would get something cheaper that needs doing up. If I stick to below actual price of £725k would probably manage to keep £100k in the bank for repairs as a guide for how crazy renovations can get to but willing to put up with old to have the dream home.

Don't like new houses or estates.
Recommendations of areas would also be very helpful.

Anyone fancy helping? Links welcome

I'd say look at Kent. Commutable to London, grammar schools and lots of beautiful houses.

The South Downs national park - look at Petersfield (1 hour to Waterloo) and surrounding. Loads of lovely homes. Some within your budget.

Market Harborough. An 1hr to Kings cross. Would get you country living and 4/5 bed with a big garden and access to all of Leicestershire’s private schools.

Warwickshire

50 minutes to Euston from Rugby station. 1.5hours to Marylebone from Leamington Spa

Saffron Walden has good state secondaries and is a lovely place to live, train route from nearby Audley End. Private is expensive close to London and £18k would only do 1 child normally but some excellent state secondaries around.

Cambridgeshire has excellent schools and housing within your budget and within 2 hours from London.

What part of London do you need? What sort of lifestyle are you after? Beach, village, town? Do you want acres of land, or just a garden? You’ve got a decent budget and 2 hours casts a pretty huge trajectory for potential areas so you should definitely find what your after but it would be useful to have a few more details so we can use our hive mind to help.

Where I live
But not telling you as so so lovely that I don’t want to spread the word... sorry!!

Rutland.
Stamford, Uppingham, Oakham, Oundle in that order and any of the beautiful villages in between.

And they all have impressive public schools, Stamford being the 'cheapest' but most inclusive.

Sophisticated but in that posh country way, not showy or naff.

You'd get quite a lovely old period house for your money.

50 mins from Peterborough to KGX on a fast train.

I agree with Kent, there are some beautiful villages and nice towns like Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells.

Happy to have land, dh a country person. It not sure how much we'd get with that budget, I'd love to have animals. Can't have any right now though as city living is not so fun!
Need to get into the city for now but tbh ideally stick with simply London links because that's where the better paid jobs are for us although if house prices are cheaper in a certain area we are able to get employment elsewhere for a slight cut that won't necessarily be a huge cut there's just less jobs outside of London.

Have one dc so the £18k is easy to achieve, could go more ideally don't want to as that would mean me working more hours and our family balance is so nice right now but obviously I suppose this may change as dc might not be so interested in in me when they reach teenage years!

There are definitely places on here I've never heard of before. Thanks for the ideas

I’d second Market Harborough, lovely market town, independent shops ( still there), outstanding schools and direct train to London in an hour. Lovely villages in the surrounding area within 5 miles of the station. The M1/A1 are 10 min drives away.

I was going to list all the places @BigusBumus listed (Rutland, Stamford, Oundle etc). It always surprises me what size house you can get in these areas with the proximity to London still pretty close, and the areas listed here are the naice ones that are more expensive than other neighbouring towns but perfectly affordable with your budget.

Market Harborough is a good shout too.

Vale of Belvoir. 1 hour commute to Kings Cross from Grantham. Area of outstanding natural beauty, excellent Grammar and public schools i.e. kings & Kesteven or Ratcliffe college.

That sort of budget would get you a very large very nice house with land, in a lovely village and views of Belvoir Castle. Some are more remote, others have greengrocers, butchers, cafes etc and more amenities, depends what you want. The main a roads from Nottingham, Lincoln and Leicester are all very easily accessible.

I think Kent for those transport links. Maybe around Canterbury - best of all worlds, near the sea, great schools plus Grammar options. Or close to Tunbridge Wells but housing budget probably won't stretch to land etc. There are some beautiful villages in that neck of the woods.

Oaten Hill, Canterbury, Kent
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-102842999.html

Kingfisher Place, Chartham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84799714.html

Rural villages in north Bedfordshire? Bedford has several private schools .

Another vote for Kent

Sevenoaks

oast

Sevenoaks 2

kings hill

Maidstone

A few ideas

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How about this.
Probably further than you want but only three miles to train station with two hour Paddington train. It's just across the road from the excellent Ufculme School (or if really clever and you don't mind a commute, Colyton Grammar) and you get to live in Devon.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77861349#/

@passtheorange Bedford does indeed have some good public schools but the town itself is horrible. Not much in Bedfordshire thats nice either with the exception of Woburn and possibly Ampthill. Shame as it could have been lovely once. But that wasteland A421 of sprawling modern estate villages, warehouses and landfill sites is just awful now. Not like it used to be. The planners have really fucked Bedfordshire over and it's just overspill for cheap Housing for Milton Keynes now. 😢

I like Saltdean outside Brighton. Roedean and Brighton College are handy. Sizeable houses on good blocks with sea or rural views.

Transport links are reasonable - bus to Brighton station or roads either along the coast or up the back through Rottingdean and left and right from there.

And I liked living there.

This is in the chocolate box pretty village of Barrowden in Rutland that has a fantastic pub with new owners. Between Stamford and Uppingham. Barrowden
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-98536427.html