Open thread: If you moved out of London (to outskirts or commuter town) but still work centrally, where did you move and do you like it??

[sadlyrefreshingrightmove]

It's all in the title really! Have name changed due to potentially outing information.

Work in London (City) and looking to make a move. Impossible at the moment as the market is absolutely batshit crazy but hoping to do some research and visit places now in the hope that when (if) it cools down we have an idea of places to go.

Have sort of exhausted looking at all of the places we know, or near where we know, and am getting to the stage of just looking at a commuter map and trying to find dots on the map within a 1 hour commute of London that seems promising. So shamelessly asking for peoples' experiences. I don't think there's a perfect place that ticks all of our boxes so just want to know places to consider/rule out.

BUT if it helps the key things we're looking for are:

• Commute to city under 1 hr (any of bank/aldgate/liverpool street/cannon st)
• Good schools primary and secondary, ideally including state options but could do private for secondary. Kids currently primary age, have girls and boys.
• Safe and relatively green
• Enough of a town centre that you could spend half a day walking around, getting a meal, pottering around the shops, going to the park. A few good places to eat. Would love a cinema, theatre, buzz, great restaurants but these are nice to haves not essentials.
• min 5 bedroom detached house, with some character, within 1 mile of station and at least half acre plot. Budget £2-2.7m. Obviously would prefer to spend near the lower end of that.

Currently based around Petts Wood and I love the commute, the fact that it is green and feels very safe. Schools good too and the community is actually quite diverse for suburbia which I love. But the town centre is a teeny tiny bit dull and hard to find a larger house as the standard housing stock is 1930s semis and smaller 4 bed detatched.

Have considered moving a bit further out to Sevenoaks but prices are eye-watering and I don't love the town centre, it always feels a bit soulless to me. A few beautiful parks but just can't imagine being excited to get a massive mortgage to live there.

Please help! Just want to know some places which have generated happy commuters!

Looking at your list, how about changing one thing - within a mile of the station. When I did that it opened up a whole pandora's box of lovely properties. You just have to become a 2 car family, which is no bad thing with growing kids anyway.

Thanks! @daisyphase That's definitely something to think about, although am slightly worried about adding an extra stage of driving/parking on the commute.

If we were still walking distance to a high st though think it could work - don't think I could deal with somewhere so rural that we have to drive everywhere even just to go to the park etc.

Hitchin. Really nice town, 25-35 minutes into the various London terminals. Within walking distance of the station there are some £1.5m plus houses, though it depends what style you are after. If you’re willing to drive and pay for parking, or cycle, there’s some lovely
little villages just outside.

Knebworth and Welwyn have big properties too

Guildford? Reigate?

Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding villages would fit your criteria. Especially on the school and train front.

How about this ?

Bishops Stortford (near Stansted Airport) would fit all your criteria and you could get a lovely house within walking distance of the station for about half your budget. About 40 minutes to Liverpool Street. Excellent schools. Some lovely villages around.

There are quite a few places on the Liverpool Street to Cambridge train line which are worth looking at. Saffron Walden is lovely and has good schools but the nearest station is Audley End (a drive or a cycle away).

Ok, a five bed detached house might not be half your budget (that end of the market is not my expertise ) but you could definitely get what you want within budget in Bishops Stortford.

Some of the houses in the Southborough area of Surbiton might fit the bill - walkable to station/high street and some of them have massive gardens, around the £2.5m mark.

Saffron Walden is a good shout. Or even Cambridge, as they are building a new station in the south of the city, which means a lot of village areas will be quite close to the station, or some of the very nice leafy areas of the city (slightly more than a mile away but easy cycle routes). Both have trains to Liverpool St. Also if near enough Cambridge/Hitchin, there are trains to Kings Cross as alternatives for those days when one line isn't running, which is always good to have as a back-up.

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/58193702/ ? In esher

Actually scratch that, I don’t think the Southborough houses will meet your half acre requirement - but I do wonder how doable that one is with your station/commute requirements.

There’s a lovely five bed house in Letchworth on Broadway (lovely old road leads straight into the town centre and the station) at the moment for 2mil. Secondaries aren’t great but there are good private schools here. Has a cinema, green spaces, not as buzzy as Hitchin (it’s effectively next door).

Broadway, Letchworth Garden City
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-110445164.html

amazing barn conversion in Babraham. Bit further from stations that you wanted, but good bus/cycle links to Cambridge (trains are faster than they list!)

www.onthemarket.com/details/10305477/

Have you thought about Colchester? It's 50 min commute to Liverpool St. You'd get a lovely house for half your budget on Lexden Road (nicest central area). I think it ticks most of your boxes but I might be biased!

I think the 1mile / 0.5acre combined with commute restriction is going to reduce this massively to very few places.

Tunbridge Wells

Watching with interest as we have the same wishlist - although main commute is to victoria/waterloo/charing cross, rather than city.

I have not found many (any….) places where the town feels big enough but you can still get a very generous size garden within walking distance of the station/centre. Maybe Guildford.

Bishops stortford ticks all those boxes. 40 min to Liverpool st, 22 min to Tottenham Hale. Saffron Walden is bloody lovely, but the train station is a pig to get to.

Epping is the terminal for the east end of the Central Line. It has a thriving town centre and a street market on Mondays (although you are likely to be at work for most of the trading days!).

Beautiful Epping Forest and commons all around, good State and private schools in the local area.

Friends who still commute have gone Essex way or Kent (Ashford, Tonbridge, TW). But they don't do 5 days a wk

If I could I would live in Wim village as it has a great high street, common & then not far from more amenities but needs to win the lotto!

Kingston is nice but I find the big houses & gardens don't have much within walking distance, you need to drive to shops or restaurants.

Kingston or if you wanted further out of London- Guildford

I have a friend that lives in Buckhurst Hill and that seems lovely whenever we have visited. Epping area generally would be worth looking at.
We lived in Bishops Stortford for a while - that would also fit the bill. It has fast trains from Liverpool Street.
Saffron Walden is lovely but you have to drive to that train station.
Hitchin or Hertford might also work for you.