Where can we live (to commute to London)?

[Arpeggiator]

Hi

We're in a real quandary about where to move to- we currently live in London in a 2 bedroom house (well, 3 bed if you count the boxroom) with a teeny tiny kitchen and a handkerchief sized garden. It was perfect for a couple with one child, but 5 years down the line we have two more children and we are itching for more space. We have, at the very very most, £700k.

We'd love to live in a 4/5 bedroom house (the extra room is for our office/guests) in a more rural location, a detached house with a nice garden and a field (ideally), walking distance of a shop, pub etc, but within 8 or so miles of a market town or similar that has a good connection to London and a station car park so that we can commute to work in London- we both work flexible hours with some WFH so it wouldn't be every day. We grew up in the countryside so well aware of the downsides and not expecting a rural idyll! I love getting involved in local stuff and am very community minded and sociable so I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere, but we also want room to just breathe a bit.

Where is this mythical location? Does it exist? Should we just look for jobs elsewhere in the UK if we want more space? Thank you for any suggestions at all!

As is always the case, we really need to know which bit of London you would be commuting to before we can advise. No point telling you to look at Kent if you work in Paddington for example.

I'd look at villages in between Cambridge and Saffron Walden. Direct trains to Liverpool St from Audley End and Whittlesford (or more villages for the slow train).

Or between Stamford and Peterborough. Nice market town being Stamford but direct trains into Kings Cross from Peterborough.

Ahhh duh, of course. My work moves around but ideal stations would be Waterloo, Charing Cross, London Bridge and at a stretch Kings Cross/ St Pancras.

@Mufflette brilliant, thank you. Liverpool St also doable. I'll check those out.

You could achieve that in Liss or Liphook in Hampshire. Nearest market town Petersfield and easy access to Guildford, the coast and London Waterloo. Just off the A3 for good road networks - 40 mins drive to M25.

Both have train stations and good schools and amenities.

What about Loughton in zone 6 - quite quick into Liverpool st.

You would get a 5 bedroom house in both Liphook or Liss.

Id look at Welwyn Garden City, Digswell, Hertford and Hitchin. All very commutable.

Not round here. We've got enough people moving out of London and driving house prices through the roof already.

St Neots / Hitchin and surrounding areas- trains go to St Pancras and London Bridge

Luton, Leagrave and Bedford would work, particularly if you want to come into St Pancras. For £700k you could easily get a 4/5 bedroom house.

From Luton you can be in London within 30mins on EMR trains.

Thank you so much everyone! Loads of places to check out.

Henley-on-Thames or villages surrounding Reading- 30 mins direct trains to central London.

Make sure you check out commuting costs. It’s rare to get change from £5k pa if you need to go in 4/5 days a week.

I certainly do not think you’d get a 4/5 bed detached house with land for £700k in any of the places suggested. Personally, I live in Devon and commute into London part of the month (and have for close to 10 years). It would be a stretch to get that here. We have a 5 bed detached house with land and paid a bit over £800k. You can certainly get like a 1 acre garden, but a separate paddock is very sought after.

That said, I would really consider commuting costs. I don’t commute as much as I used to, but when I had a monthly ticket it cost me £750 plus parking and tube. It depends on if your salaries can absorb that extra cost.

My first thought was Kent - paddock wood, Tonbridge etc are all on the train line that goes into London Bridge.

Put 5 bed house with garden and parking £700K max into Rightmove with a 20mile radius from London. There are houses in Basildon, Carshalton, Epsom, Stokenchurch, Ongar - all sorts of places from market towns to villages, to semi-rural outer suburbs. There are over 500 houses that fit the brief.

I’d try Bedfordshire and South Northamptonshire as you can get more for your money generally (Towcester and Leighton Buzzard are nice market towns, Olney and around Woburn are lovely but quite expensive). Depends how many times you have to commute though as the commute can be a bit longer. Around Aylesbury might also be with a look- Aylesbury itself is no beauty but the surrounding countryside is lovely.

Saxmundham

Great 4/5 beds near station - direct to Liverpool Street (large station car park) 1 hour 46 minutes

4 miles from the amazing Aldeburgh with its lovely walks along the beach to Thorpeness. It's an incredible area, so much to see and do.

Salisbury and it has a direct train to London
Commute to Winchester but live a bit further out where it's cheaper

@BellaVida

Henley-on-Thames or villages surrounding Reading- 30 mins direct trains to central London.

A 4/5 bedroom detached house in Henley for £700k? In 2005 maybe.

Loads of options, but much depends on your tolerance for commuting.

Even commuting direct from commuter towns / stations often means a 90 minute journey door to door, each way, with several stages. Living outside that would add even more time.

2 people commuting, even 3 days a week, is hard IME. Most families commuting have 2 cars. Many mums give up paid work or take much lower paid work locally, due to the issues arising from 2 commuters: perhaps that’ll change with more people wfh some of ghe time.

In your shoes I’d choose outskirts of a commuter town.

@Riverlee

My first thought was Kent - paddock wood, Tonbridge etc are all on the train line that goes into London Bridge.

You’ll never get a 4/5 bed with a big garden and a paddock round tonbridge or paddock wood for that!

Faversham

East Grinstead or Horsham would yield a decent amount for that budget, and round Horsham some of the small villages are also on the mainline train