Can you please suggest some areas that fit this criteria?

[BowTieBob]

Dp and I are wracking our brains at the moment spread between two areas and can't find somewhere that fits what we want/need. It's possible there is nowhere and that's fine but I just thought I would exhaust the possibilties!

I have to be able to get into work which requires preferably getting into London Waterloo (office is a 20 mins walk from there). My friends (and current home and my adult dc) are all based around SW London.

Dp's exw (and his 2 young dc) live in north Oxfordshire. We tried living in a house near Bicester with me trying to commute via Bicester/Oxford Parkway but it was disastrous for me. The commute is hideous from there (drive/park/train/tube/walk - it's just too long). Dp does pick the kids up from school sometimes and look after them which means ideally, he needs to be within an hour of there.

I would like to buy a house but I cannot find an area within an hour of north Oxfordshire where I can easily commute into my side of London. I don't think it exists. So i am erring towards just buying a bigger house in London, somewhere near where dp can get out to the M25 fairly easily and onto the M40.

But I don't know the UK very well so thought I'd ask you lot if there's anywhere possible that fits this criteria!

How about somewhere like Amersham, where you can pick up the end of the tube line?

that's a very good shout thank you - I wasn't even aware of it!

just put it in google maps - it's an hour to dp's kids and 1hr 10 mins door to door commute for me (well tube station to office door) which is not unlike the commute I have now tbh

now that I'm looking at that line, there are a few stops near the base of the M40 too that are an hour to his kids and about an hour to work (but on the central line which I dislike, the metropolitan line far better for me!)

You can get direct trains into Waterloo from Reading and WIndsor/Eton, could anywhere round there work for your purposes?

I did think about Reading (as he could go to A34 then up to oxford that way) but the Waterloo train is an hour and 22 mins and then there's 20 mins on top of that plus however long it would take to get to the station Reading side. The fast Reading trains go to Paddington and i must admitted I hated the trains that went in there for some reason (Paddington/Marylebone) because the best connection to the office from there was crossing onto the central line which I just found too much! Windsor/Eton just a bit too far for his kids (though would work for me).

thank you though!

I'm quite enjoying looking through those sort Hillingdon borough (near M40) and Amersham area houses - something there could work.

Haddenham

I was going to say Reading. Does the Elizabeth Line make your commute any easier? There are smaller stops between Reading and Waterloo that might be good shouts, like Winnersh, Earley etc? What is your budget?

I'll look at those thank you. Probably around 700k and we'd need a 3 bed. That looks doable in all the places mentioned so far (but I would absolutely have to walk to the station wherever it was so that might make the price a bit higher I imagine)

hadn't heard of Haddenham or those other stops past Reading - yes Elizabeth line should make a difference so I will look at those stops too, thank you

Basingstoke might work.
Very frequent trains to Waterloo, in about 45-50 mins - some might even be a bit quicker.

Drive is really quite straightforward to Oxford, about an hour. Plus train to Oxford parkway for when Dc are older.

Some parts of Basingstoke get a bit of a bad press, but the area immediately around the station is nice (and you can walk to the station). Old Basing is also nice, but further from the station.

I would never have thought that but basingstoke is also only an hour to his kids - it must be because it's close to the A34 - thanks I will look at that too!

Maidenhead. Fast train to Paddington is 22 mins and then Bakerloo to Waterloo maybe another 20 mins.