Moving out of London

[Eve1989]

Hello,
I have lived in London for the past 20 years but now have an 8 year old and I am tired of being stuck in a flat, so I have decided to leave London next year but the issue is, I have been to visit Coventry, Derby, Rugby, ( Grantham & Sleaford in Lincolnshire) I didn’t really like some of those areas so now, I am seriously considering Nottingham and or Peterborough. I would like somewhere that is not busy but also, not too far from the station as I would be travelling to London occasionally.

I would like to know if anyone has any idea what it’s like and what areas I should consider and which ones I should avoid please with the cities I have mentioned.

I am also hoping to be around where there are good schools. I would like him to go to a Grammar school and or an independent school if need be. In addition, my son loves football so I would need be able to continue that.

But just to add that I am open to other suggestions/areas because I do not have family, except in Yorkshire which I do not want to live in. I was looking at Milton Keynes but I am not sure if it’s wise to pay an extra 120k plus on a property when I can get something cheaper in other areas because I would like to work a little less so that I can be there for my son. He has not had much of me all his life because I have been working my life away, so the less I have to pay out on a mortgage and still have an “okay” life the better.

Thank you all so much

Hi OP,

What’s your budget, and what do you want for the money? How often will you have to go into London and how long are you willing to commute? What is important to you in an area - do you want nice restaurants? Shopping? Woods? This info will help people recommend areas :)

Hello,
Thanks for your response.

My budget is about 260k. I will be travelling to London about 2 days per week. I could afford more, but like I said, I don’t want to spend additional 120k to live in a places like Milton Keynes and or Essex when I can get something for less and still have similar life style.

Peterborough seems to be okay from what I have heard. But, I would like some advice around this. I am not fussy about restaurants as I like spending my own time with me as long as my son can have some green space.

What I really want is access to football for my son and easy access to the train station as well as a nice area, with low crime rate.

If you're going into London twice a week, I'd recommend somewhere closer than where you've mentioned. Train fares can easily make up for any savings on house prices. Those train journeys are also quite long to be doing four times per week.

I've attached a map of average property prices by area to my post. You can see a more detailed breakdown here There's quite a lot of the light yellow much closer to London. You could create a Rightmove search with all of your criteria and covering quite a large area, and see what comes up.

Have you looked at Leamington Spa or Lichfield? Both have direct rail links to London, although not train fares aren't cheap! Both have nice town centres and lovely parks, and easy access to Birmingham for anything else.