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.

Winchester is good, not because the transport network is good - I would call it ok, but because it is compact.

It has really good schools.
Healthcare is fair to good.
The train service to London, the south coast, Oxford etc is ok.
You can walk to everything - if you live IN Winchester and not the outskirts.

The main downside is the cost of property, but moving London to Winchester is very doable.

It is technically a city. I would call it a large town.

With 1 million you could get something amazing in Bristol but I wouldn’t recommend living there with kids without a car.

With your budget I’d be guessing you’d be looking at redland/cotham/Clifton/westbury/Stoke Bishop. In primary years you may be ok (although getting to parties will be tricky) but there aren’t that many secondary options and if you go private their friends could be mikes away.

It may have a reputation as a green city but I wouldn’t want to be cycling on Bristol roads with kids. The bus service is notoriously bad and not cheap.

There are so many lovely places to visit in and around Bristol like Blaise, Leigh woods and Ashton court but you will struggle to get to them without a car.

This is within your budget and is very close to town, station and good schools

I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116150402

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114683489#/?channel=RES_BUY

Your budget in Loughborough could get this - 6 bed victorian villa with enough change to send your kids to the private schools next door

You are stuffed.

It is not possible for your kids to have and 'education' anywhere without a car.

In fact it is not possible for you to live at all. Anywhere.

The fact that two thirds of the population of the planet manage it ahs nothign whatsoever to do with anything.

Just get them to spell the word.

E.N.T.I.T.L.E.D.

That would do.

before anyone comments I'm dyslexic

@TizerorFizz lol my DH's boss who is an director in an investment bank on 6 figures doesn't even have a car because she realized that it was cheaper to just book Ubers when you feel like it and you have to commute to central london using public transport anyway. How do we justify a car when we earn so much less? We just use public transport but we do live in London. I would stay in London cos not having a car is an easy decision here. I can't really beg for trips as most people I know has a car!

@lunarlandscape

Kingston? It's almost London but has Richmond and Bushy Parks, Hampton Court and the Thames for breathing spaces. Shops and schools within walking distance or short bus ride. Has its own cinemas, restaurants, leisure centre, sports and sailing clubs, theatre, nightclubs and a very very good indie music shop that puts on super-cheap gigs by well known bands. Pretty much all you need. I love Kingston.

It’s in Greater London.

Altrincham?

South manchester but on the tram line. Loads to see and do plus grammar schools.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111730844#/?channel=RES_BUY
(Expensive houses though with £1m getting a semi in a central location).

Or Didsbury which is more central- also on the tram and a taxi home from the city centre about a tenner. Also the most frequent bus route ever along Oxford road.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107722541#/?channel=RES_BUY

Bristol, Cambridge.

Reading? Specifically Earley, in Maiden Erlegh (top local comprehensive) catchment, Aldryngton Primary next door is pretty good, easy walk of Earley station (to Waterloo), buses every 10-20 mins from 3 Tuns into Reading where you can get fast trans to Paddington & ultimately Jubliee Line, also I think 2x hour peak to Woodley (good local shopping precinct with a PO and couple of banks, Robert Dyas, cafes etc. Also 2 parades of shops in walking distance, the main road/pavement in places is cycle lane all the way from Reading to Wokingham, short walk to Reading Uni, the campus is open to the public and the grounds have won awards. Lots going on at the Uni and in Reading too. Good local sports facilities, in cycling distance at Uni, Bulmershe sports centre & Loddon valley..
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115939028#/?channel=RES_BUY

Living in London is entirely different. My DD earns well into 6 figures and doesn’t have a car! The OP wax talking about moving out of London. That’s very different. You can get around on trains and buses but Uber isn’t everywhere. It isn’t easy to get into the countryside from any city! Buses are few and far between. Believe me - I live in the countryside. Apart from London dwellers, everyone else I know who doesn’t drive begs lifts off others. All the time. To get to with, to go out, to take their DC somewhere, etc. It’s just what happens because other peoples cars are convenient!

Definitely Cardiff, lots to do, cycle paths, trains from suburbs to mainline, fab city but so many parks it doesn't feel like a city. Bit over 2 hours to London on the train, but it's worth it.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116326223

Roath is walking distance to city centre, but there is also fab local facilities, coffee shops, indie shops etc

Another lovely house in a fab location. Depends what kind of area you like.
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116014448

Bristol will be getting a Clean Air Zone in the city centre in the not too distant future so if you fancy city centre living then having a car will be an issue. It already has residents parking zones.

[quote DespairingInLondon]@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.[/quote]
My children are at a school in the same academy trust as one of the big schools in Oadby;thé standards are high as are thé grades achieved at GCSE and A-level.

If your thinking of Leicestershire and you like the sort of vibe Oadby gives you then you might like to consider an area called Syston;it's lovely;there's a real sense of community and there's a train station in syston also which is a bonus if you need to travel into London

With that budget, you can stay in London. Not West London maybe but South/South East London no problem.

I think Sheffield is doable without a car - I have friends who manage

Nowhere is comparable to London in terms of transport and bike links.

To take Leicester as an example, the city centre is similar to Kingston town centre, but its 27 miles away from a similar sized city like, Nottingham.

Longer distances make you more reliant on a car because you can’t just grab a taxi or, at a push walk, when public transport connections breaks down or don’t exist.

With a budget of 1 million I would just factor in the purchase of a car, even if it was rarely used, or buy something smaller in a London borough.

Bristol. £1m would get you a great house in a good catchment, especially if you don't need parking!!

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

ok @DespairingInLondon you can take Windsor off of your list then

Echoing Oxford and Cambridge

@DespairingInLondon

Not Buxton! You absolutely couldn't get away without a car in the Peak District. Public transport is more or less non existent, or so unreliable that you give up trying. The local train lines are old and slow. You'd need to get to Sheffield or Manchester for a London connection.

£1 million wouldn't get you very much in the nicer bits of Sheffield or Leeds. If you wanted to be in the catchment for the best comprehensive school in Sheffield, you'd be looking at well over that for the kind of house you'd want (and even then, there's no guarantee that your children would get places, as it's so oversubscribed). You would also be living in the suburbs (which are nice, but not convenient for the station - and the traffic into town can be horrendous). In Leeds, you'd spend similar on a house in North Leeds (which is where you'd want to live), and you'd probably end up paying school fees on top...

I would stick with London, personally!

Be careful if you are moving to a rural area. I have a property in Dorset that I inherited and there is virtually no public transport anymore. One bus in the morning and one in the evening. Nothing on Sunday or bank holidays. You couldn’t exist without a car.

I live 35 miles from London with no bus!