Where’s a good place to live to commute to London?

[cornwall11]

My family have always lived in London but the children are reaching school age and we are thinking of moving out of town.

We work in London, maybe 3 days a week when we get back to normal so needs to be somewhere commutable.

Somewhere on the North of London as that’s where we have family.

What commuter towns are there that are worth looking at also that have good schools and a good lifestyle for families?

Hertfordshire seems popular on here; Hitchin, Berkhamstead or somewhere like St Albans and villages around.

My aunt lives in Radlett which seems nice.
I was going to suggest Guildford until I saw you wanted north. Welwyn Garden City is also very nice but I don't know if that's too far a commute.

Depends on where you need to get to in London, and therefore which mainline station it makes sense to arrive and and which tube lines or bus routes you might want This website is handy for helping you figure it out as it shows you all the commuter routes.

Also totally depends on your budget, and maximum door to door commute time you are prepared to put up with. A terraced Victorian three bed house 5 min walk from St Albans station is going to be £800k plus. However, £800k in Bedford will get you a very large 5 bed three storey Victorian house in a nice area...But the commute is double the St Albans commute.

By “good schools” do you mean state or private?

Herts is an obvious option - good state schools in St Albans, Harpenden, Watford (look up the SW Herts consortium of schools in the Watford area, which are semi-selective on the 11+).

Definitely Cambridge? You could achieve all that on Kent coast with change to spare. We moved out of London needing a St Pancras commute, paid off our mortgage, bought a fab house with a bit of land within walking distance of sea and countryside and affordable smaller properties for parents nearby. We all love it. Still commute a few times a week but it’s a pleasant one (Folkestone on HS1-56mins). The lifestyle change we all dreamed of and an absolutely amazing place to raise a family...

Sorry, just seen you wanted N London, so not relevant at all!

Thanks for the suggestions. Would be state schools and Harpenden, Welwyn and St Albans all good options. Not thought of Radlett before so will look into it.

Radlett is a nice village, 20 min commute into Kings Cross, although pricey, inevitably. Good primaries but then you have a bit of a trek to secondary school as Radlett is too small to have any, so you’re off to Watford or St Albans. And then it’s quite tricky to actually get into them, unless your DC do well in the 11+ and get into the Watford schools.

Watford has some of the best secondaries in the county (Parmiters, Watford Boys, Watford girls, all semi-selective), and you can always live in Rickmansworth, Kings Langley, Bushey or Abbots Langley if Watford itself isn’t fancy enough for you . Several good primaries too.

I know a few people who live in Radlett.

The secondary schools put on a coach each day that picks up from Radlett and brings them back after school.

If you are looking to commute it would depend where you want to get to.

Rickmansworth is lovely and on the Met line, Watford goes into Euston.
Radlett, Elstree, St Albans and Harpenden are on the Thameslink.