Where Is 'Leafy' in London? 800K Budget

[Cloud16]

Hi everyone,

DH & I are considering a move to London after the offer of a transfer from his work. My work have offices there and are happy to move me too so it all seems like it's falling into place nicely.

We've planned a week's holiday to London for early August. My question is...

What neighbourhoods should we check out? He is a remote worker, but I need to reach my offices in Covent Garden twice a week.

We quite like leafy, tree-lined streets and green spaces... budget 800k, happy with a flat. 2 beds is a must, 3 beds would be nice.

Thankful for any suggestions!

How about Muswell Hill? Something like this? www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123797096#/?channel=RES_BUY

Only 2 beds (under budget- you could definitely get 3 beds in the area) but a fab location right by beautiful Highgate Wood, Highgate tube will get you straight into Leicester Square, great schools if that is of interest.

To be honest that's a healthy budget if you're happy with a flat. I only know north London, but You could be anywhere from St Johns Woods (by Regent's Park) to Stoke Newington or Islington, to Hampstead. You might need to refine your criteria a bit more

Southfields/ Wimbledon

Barnet? Edge of Herts but still North London with excellent transport links. Hadley Wood is lovely, I grew up there. I am a bit out of the loop but you may able to get something within budget. Train links are excellent. I commuted for years to Covent Garden and then latterly Moorgate, takes very little time on the fast service.

Wanstead. I loved it there, very ‘leafy’ and between two central line stations Wanstead and Snaresbrook.

Dulwich is lovely and leafy. Could get a 3 bed flat for that around there. Could get a 3/4 bed house in near by Crystal Palace or Gipsy Hill for £800k

London Fields?

Check out Wimbledon. If you want to be a nice area close to the tube you can get a good flat, if your willing to go a little further away you may be able to swing a house.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124305893#/?channel=RES_BUY this is a large 3 bed flat in a nice area of Wimbledon that you could get for decently under your budget

Thanks for all the replies so far! Liking the look of Muswell Hill and Wimbledon (per my brief research).

Are they close to a tube? As ideally we would like to be able to go on day trips/see plays and get home easily at night fairly easily.

Muswell Hill is not "on" the tube as it does not have a tube stop but only 5 mins away by bus 10-15 walk into central muswell hill. Bus from the tube station every 5 mins. If you are on the west side of Muswell hill then you have East Finchley. North side served by Bounds Green on the Piccadilly line (a little further by bus).

I may be biased (I live in MH) but connections are better for the west end of you go north vs Wimbledon esp as you don't need to get the overland train

Have a look at Crouch End. A little further from the tube but has rail connections and bus from Archway and Finsbury Park. Another alternative is East Finchley. In all areas you are prob going to be looking at a flat but more flat availability than houses atm

MH is lovely and v village like (ie all the shops) but tbh pubs are not great and too many pizza places. Great place to start off if you are planning on having kids (v family friendly) (sorry if that is not appropriate for your situation)

With that budget I wouldn't buy a flat unless you are happy to stay there a while.

Yes Wimbledon in on the tube line. You can use Southfields, Wimbledon Park or Wimbledon depending on where the property is. it’s the district line to Earl’s Court, then change to Piccadilly line to Covent Garden.

Wimbledon also has an overground train line for heading south west out of London or goes into London Waterloo

Crouch End

Wimbledon has a very frequent train service that goes into waterloo (or vauxhall for the Victoria line) as well as the slower district line (good for going into Kensington, Notting hill, Putney etc but a bit annoying back from the west end). Both leave from the station in the centre. If you're east of Wimbledon station you can also use the northern line from South Wimbledon station.

There's also a short direct train to the Surrey hills if you like going walking in nature

East Finchley is nice but I wouldn't say it has quite the 'leafy', village-y feel of a Muswell Hill, Crouch End or Stoke Newington, but you do have the advantage of the tube (although it's not too bad getting a bus from Highgate, Finsbury Park or Highbury and Islington respectively even at night, Finsbury feels a little more dodgy as you transit through but is really busy and well lit 24/7 so is probably safer in reality).

Other areas I'd suggest north of the river are Hampstead or Highgate, both have excellent green space access, villagey feel and good transport. Also you could probably stretch to St Johns Wood or if you don't mind slightly further out you'd get more for your money and be looking at a house in somewhere like Totteridge, Hadley Wood, Mill Hill village, Oakwood, Chipping Barnet - all feel much more 'countryside-y'/middle'class 'naice' commuter town than London-like per se which may or may not be what you want. I'm less familiar with south/west areas but would suggest looking at Dulwich/Barnes/Putney/Wimbledon and Greenwich/Blackheath. Usually (and this is very much a generalisation) you get more for your money by looking south of the river but slightly worse transport links...

In North London I would look at:

Highgate

Dartmouth Park / Tufnell Park / Kentish Town

Leafy side of Camden by Regents Park (see Albert Street, Mornington Terrace, Delancy Street, Oval Road) - don't think your budget will stretch to Primrose Hill but by all means have a look!

Maida Vale / Queens Park / St Johns Wood

West Hampstead

(Don't think your budget will stretch to Hampstead village)

Crouch End (No tube but bus to Finsbury Park)

Highbury / Cannonbury

Barnsbury (you could walk to work)

South London I'm less familiar with but know these would work:

Blackheath

Greenwich

Dulwich

Clapham / Balham

I think Wimbledon is a bit far out but just imho

Do you have kids?

Personally without kids, I would go for near Battersea park but not sure about the schools there

I really like Ealing.

Blackheath, Greenwich or the ‘naice’ bit of Hither Green around Manor Park Gardens? I moved out to Suffolk seven years ago and still miss Blackheatht Village.

@woulducouldushouldu thanks for all that info! Muswell Hill does look lovely. The prices in Crouch End & East Finchley seem reasonable (for London) too so I'll make sure to visit when I'm down.

@hatchyu do you think I should be looking for a house? All advice is welcome!

I'd really like somewhere that's leafy with good transport links. 25min train or less.

@NapTimeChill that's a great list! Will Google some of these and visit them when we are down.

I'll ask check out Ealing as it looks close to Covent Garden (on the map anyway)

Also I don't have kids. I'd like them, but I'm having no luck with it due to endometriosis.

Definitely Blackheath/Greenwich side and the train to charing x is fairly reasonable. Otherwise I would have thought Bromley - I may be incorrect but think it is the leafiest borough but how that translates to trees on roads is a diff story - not sure about prices and transport but Beckenham and West Wickham are nice areas.

Brockley or Ladywell.

Wanstead... would love back there in heart beat if we could afford it. We were totally priced out but loved living there while we rented. Right next to M11 for quick escape to the country and on central line for getting to Westfield and central London.

Crouch end is leafy and bus ride from Finsbury Park / Piccadilly line.