Where can we live without a car?

[DespairingInLondon]

We're thinking of leaving London but really do not want to have to get a car.

Our children will be in secondary school soon, so we want them to have social lives but without having to drive them everywhere.

Tell me about the places you know within about 2 hours of London where you truly can live without a car. Frequent, reliable public transport, safe cycling options, walk to town centre and shops, etc.

@Franklin12

Slough is a hole. Quick trains into London so you would think it would be great but it’s not.

@Franklin12ranklin, It's not all a hole. Parts of it are nice. And it's a short stroll to Windsor via Eton.

Bristol

@pastypirate

There's loads of options I think. I loved in Leicester for a decade before I could drive and it was very easy. I think it's 90 minutes from london iirc. I assume Birmingham is the same. I'd look at all the midlands cities.

I agree. It's been a while but the buses were always very good, the city and suburbs comprehensively covered. Easy train back to London and plenty of other places on the main lines through. Quite a variety of education options too, many of them on normal bus routes and I can't think of any that are actually difficult to get to.

I think anywhere that has a reasonable student population is likely to be like this to be honest. Leicester has the advantage of being (in my opinion) quite a nice place, nice and diverse too. Birmingham probably ticks most of the boxes too, but for me it's nowhere near as friendly.

York is around 2 hours from London by train, and I know lots of families (including mine) without a car here. The train is expensive, though.

@NoSquirrels Yes, that's the conclusion we keep coming to as well. Very good break down the tiers of PT accessibility outside London. Thanks.

Budget is around £1m (but that would be with the biggest possible mortgage).

After living in West London in the Heathrow flight path, we've ruled out anything with low-flying planes. I know people say you get used to it and don't notice it eventually, but we never got used to it.

Some small towns we've heard about with good schools: Oadby nr Leicester, Saffron Walden, Thames, Lichfield, Ware, Solihull, Buxton (not sure Peak District is doable without a car), but haven't actually been to most of them.

I wouldn't mind a small city. Sheffield? Leeds?

Bristol, Brighton and Hove could also possibly work, but again, prices may not be that much cheaper than London. There really is no perfect solution.

London?

Stevenage. I grew up there. 30 mins fast train into London. Full of cycle tracks you can cycle to anywhere in the town you want to go, also reliable, frequent bus service.

Having done both - many years in London and in the midlands/north both with and without a car…NOWHERE. Yes other places have public transport but it’s nowhere near on a scale of what’s available in London. And it’s actually more expensive! If there is no TfL then I assure you that you will have to get a car.

I was going to say Bath, but then you said it's too expensive, but that's a decent budget (even for Bath). So I'll try to sell it to you:
90 mins by train to Paddington
Reasonable bus network (though spoky - you have to go through the centre to get anywhere - and not cheap compared to other places)
Really good state secondary schools with a choice of co-ed or single sex
It's hilly, but on that budget you wouldn't need to go way out so not massively far up hills. And an e-bike might help with that.
When buying a house, you pay a premium for parking. You don't need to pay that premium, so you can live on a road which is a right pain to park on (which usually just means parking five or ten minutes walk from your house).

@MissCruellaDeVil @SweetBabyCheeses99 That's what we keep coming back to!

@cannotfindanickname I was just speaking with someone the other day who has moved to Stevenage and commutes to north London. They love it but they also said they've realised that they'll need to buy a car.

Oh, and there are car club cars in Bath too.

SweetBabyCheeses99 the OP will not have to get a car. That will be their choice. Plenty of us manage just fine without, thanks for your concern.

@Spindelina I love Bath and hills are good (climate crisis, flash floods, etc). Not sure £1m would get us much more than it would where we currently are though. That said, I'll do some new research on schools there. It's been a while.

Edinburgh

Which is within 2 hours of London if you fly 🤣

I know lots of people without a car. You really can live without one if you live in a town.
Lots of people commute or cycle to work.
Children walk or cycle to school etc.
It's free exercise

I think if you’re used to London public transport you’d find even cities like Manchester pretty shit transport wise!
With your budget I’d go for Cambridge

How about Exeter? Schools are good enough, small enough to walk most places, just over two hours from London on the train, has a car club, buses and trains to Dartmoor and the beach.

Cardiff might be another option. Much cheaper than Bath, and it's got a few urban train lines going through it which would make getting to Cardiff Central or Queen Street station easy.

What size of house are you thinking of? Even in expensive places like Oxford, £1million will buy you a pretty good family house.

Manchester surely? From 2025 the public transport will be an integrated London style system and it's pretty great already. I hardly see my teens and we don't have a car, they're totally independent. We're a little further out now due to our tiny budget but used to live in a central suburb and could be in Euston within 2.5hrs of stepping out of our front door. The only thing I would say is buy very close to the tram stop as you end up walking them to and fro after dark a lot (or we do anywya.).

Just seen your budget - would agree with Oxford now!

@PermanentTemporary I came on to say Winchester

Cambridge

We don't drive and moved to Loughborough - a market uni town - from London. Am easy walk to the station where there are trains 1h15 to Kings Cross, and decent schools. Everything - hospital, schools, leisure centre, park, supermarkets, GP - is within easy walking distance. It's not mumsnet 'naice' but I think it's very convenient. I'm sure there are many other towns like this?

The problem I found with buying somewhere in towns where you can live without driving, is you just have to pounce on any house that comes up within the town centre/ station area. Cities give much more choice, as does driving, as you can look in a much wider area.

I just saw your budget so maybe forget my suggestion

There's a lovely house in Barrow Upon Soar near Loughborough for £995 on rightmove. Wish I knew how to link