Affordable Areas South West/west of London

[Honeybee2021]

Hi there
Looking for a location west of London with good links to Midlands but also to South Coast, diversity and house prices I can afford! My immediate thoughts are in Reading... does anyone know the area? For work have possibly a year long contract in central London (West) or Basingstoke. I would like to buy with a budget of about 500-600. DH needs to be able to get to South Coast for work that is less frequent than mine.

You don't say anything about other needs: size of house, schooling or modes of travel.
Reading seems to tick most of your boxes but it is a very varied area. Also the Reading urban area splits across a number of local authorities for schooling and secondary can be tricky. Fast train to London and a slower stopping 1 around west London to Waterloo and there used to be a train to Brighton via Gatwick, the south coast is a pretty wide area. Good road network. The shopping is a bit generic and shopping arts etc suffers from proximity to London.
Another option would be Basingstoke where you would probably get more for your money, The town centre is a bit soulless.

There have been lots of very positive posts about Reading recently if you do a search. What about Bracknell? Areas outside Maidenhead like Burnham and Twyford?

I don’t need schools (no children yet)
Must be diverse... that’s a big must.
South Coast (that’s Worthing/Brighton) where DH parents live.
House size probably 3-4 bedrooms for long term, has to be characterful.