London zone 3 and beyond living

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Hi, I am looking for real world opinions of living in outer zones of London for young families. My DH and DC1 are looking to move from our cramped central flat to a 3-4 bed which is spacious. We would need access to decent nature / parks / woods or green spaces, plus excellent transport into the City, and West End.

We have previously rented in or looked around Kentish Town, Blackheath, Chiswick and so on. All of these would be right up our street, but we can't get room to swing a cat in those areas for our budget! (750-850).

We are both very tall and appreciate large proportions in properties!

So we are reluctantly looking to further out zones but we really don't enjoy the suburban vibe, so want it to still feel like London! We've never lived outside of central so don't want to feel too far out of that makes sense. Does anyone live in a place like this or have you made this move? Where can 750-850 get you a spacious 3 or 4 bed?

@BrilliantBetty

Do you have a preference on North / south of the river?

Are you also needing to consider good comprehensive schools? I found that narrowed down my search a fair bit.

No pref north or south but yes to secondary schools. As I said upthread I'm looking for v good state mixed secondaries which are non-religious. I used to inspect schools and I know this is hard to find.

Dunraven is worth a look, catchment is small but there are definitely houses in your budget in the surrounding streets

Wanstead, Snaresbrook, South Woodford?

Colliers Wood, the bit with the larger houses? Easy walking distance to Tooting Broadway & Tooting mainline too. Plenty green spaces around.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property/79188819

I used to love living in West Hampstead, although probably not the best if you're looking for acres of space. But this and this might be something to look at? Green spaces, lovely vibe, great transport links.

A bit more suburban (boo!), you might consider Surbiton. Fast links to Waterloo, by the river, not too suburban in my opinion. Something like this perhaps.

Colliers Wood, Wimbledon, Raynes Park. All good for young families, green space and transport links into central London.

Where I am in Streatham is nice - I'm in between 2 train stations so it's easy to get into London, v close supermarkets, leisure centre and big green spaces nearby. Mine is a 3 double bed Victorian terrace on the market for £750k. Further down the road in Norbury you'd get more for your money.

You could get a 3 bed victorian house in Tooting/Fursedown/Streatham for that - have the Commons for green space and if you go for the Tooting side the northern line to get you into town fairly quickly so you don't miss being central too much.

A few to look at

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78282468#/ on with a really helpful estate agent too (no I don't work for them)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/104749148#/ - graveney catchment

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/79036818#/

Wanstead:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property/104820530

South Woodford:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property/79071576

Chislehurst:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property/72704835

Forest Hill, Crystal Palace, East Dulwich.
My ES lives in E Dulwich and can walk to work near Tower Bridge in 45 minutes, my DiL cycles to work near Oxford Circus, good secondary schools to choose from.

Catford, Sydenham, Norbury, Streatham Vale
Or Eastcote /Ruislip / Harrow

I live in Leyton now and in Leytonstone for a decade. Always felt safe and very handy having a tube that takes you to the City in less than 15 mins and WestEnd in 30mins.

Lovely green spaces and in my opinion less crowded than Walthamstow. My house was built in 1900 and has lovely high ceilings, period features, a garden and bought at a reasonable price. You’ll get crime in all parts of London but looking at your criteria and budget, Leytonstone is not a bad option.

London SE zone 3 has so much to offer - Ladywell, Catford, Hither Green are all great, beautiful old houses, nice cafes, parks, transport links, schools. More affordable than zone 2 and equivalents in SW.

OP please ignore all "lol to rough Leytonstone"
IT IS ROUGH
as well as Walthamstone and Leyton

We live in Chiswick and downgraded from 2bed to buy 1 bed here.
I would ALWAYS choose location and neighborhood before size of the property (it has to be nice, and not too small obviously) because of my own experience as well as my friend's experiences.

Richmond, Chiswick, Kew - is absolutely lovely.
If you are looking for a house- will not be possible with that budget but 2bed flat- you cold find something.

Have you had a chance to check Ealing? shopping center, great communication links to Central London, very green, parks, etc.

If villagey but with a bit of buzz, restaurants etc, is what you’re after, I’d check out Highams Park or North Chingford (the area around the station). It is definitely more chilled, and not central London, but plenty to do, green, and some charming period houses. And really quite quick into central being on TfL overground and close to Central and Victoria lines.

I really don’t agree with some of the other posters’ positions that if it isn’t in the central zones, you might as well go to a commuter town. For me the outer zones is a great mix of both worlds - greener and more chill but also with stuff to do, good facilities (and, often, good schools) and great transport options so you can enjoy central very easily when you want to (not to mention without £1,000’s per year on commuter train tickets if / when office working gets up and running again!).

@Londonmummy66 Graveney Road is confusingly not in Graveney catchment (look it up)

Furzedown is great, as are parts of Tooting. If you want green spaces at lower prices you'd have to move away from the tube stations, although there are really good buses everywhere.

There are also some (relatively) reasonably priced houses between Tooting Broadway and Earlsfield, but again it's where you're away from stations.

link1

link2

Hither Green, Lee, Honor Oak, Brockley etc. Borough of Lewisham is a good call.

Penge, Sidcup, Bromley, Beckenham are all zone 4/5/6 so very suburban vibes

So many of the places being recommended are zone 4 5 and 6 as just pointed out.
Realistically you’ve got a big ask for zone 3 and your budget.