Left London for the suburbs - hate it

[Whereishome22]

Feeling miserable about this situation so want to at least have hope on the horizon! Moved from a part of London I loved to zone 6 suburbs end of last year and absolutely loathe it. It's a cultural wasteland, nothing to do, need to drive everywhere (which I can't yet), takes ages to get into work, and no local parks or playgrounds (two small kids). Suffering serious buyers remorse but anywhere I'd live in London has shot up in price Vs here, which has stayed steady.

So I want to leave and start anew in a town/ small city and want your help!

Budget is £850k, need at least 3 bedrooms but ideally more/annexe. Want a house with period features (not cottage more Victorian/Edwardian/1930s), at least 100 foot garden, good schools (this doesn't necessarily mean grammar schools) within walking distance, things to do, cinema, swimming pool, fruit and veg market, actually useful shops rather than gift shops and to be able to get a nice coffee, vegan food every now and then. Family in the South so don't want to be too far from them (i.e. Wales, Scotland, NE/SW England) and will need to commute to London one day a week (but don't mind it being a long one)

Places on the shortlist are:
Folkestone
Norwich
Tonbridge
Faversham

Any other ideas?

If you want to ideally stay in London OP- as others have mentioned Tooting fits the bill- you may struggle on the garden bit though

I beg to differ - Folkestone has a lot to give creatively - good live music and visual arts, lovely walks along the Leas, plenty of great places to eat and drink, a ton of gorgeous period architecture and a decent train service into London.

Faversham though - nightmare traffic almost 100% of the time. A once-gorgeous market town being fucking ruined by volume developers on the outskirts causing overcrowding of public services locally.

Have you considered Wanstead/Snaresbrook in east London? Or potentially Beaconsfield or Marlow? Transport links from the latter aren’t brilliant. Both have lovely high streets a with loads of boujis cafes. To find the vibe your going for I would just search for high streets with Gails bakeries.

.... and a hellish drug and antisocial behaviour problem. I lived there for 8 years and moved in 2016 when Leigh on Sea Broadway started to become a playground for fuckwitted cocaine hounds every weekend. None of my visits back to visit friends subsequently have convinced me that this situation is getting any better - but very much worse. It's adjacent to Southend on Sea which, although, creatively is very lively, also suffers hugely from issues with crime and high levels of social deprivation.

I lived in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells and I wouldn't advise it. I moved back to London after a few years! The only way I can describe living there is strange and dated. I guess it's each to there own though because I've mentioned it before on a similar thread and was roasted by some of the natives! 😂
I lived in Brighton for 10 year and although I wouldn't move back to the city, there are some lovely surrounding areas much cheaper and nicer and have good transport systems like Shoreham, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, Horsham ect.

Ok that explains the price! It is lovely

*forgot to add that although Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge has a reputation of being posh, it is full to the brim with chavs and Travellers!
I guess this could be said about most places though .....

I know 2 people who live in Belfast. They both commute one day a week to Central London and they love it. They say its quiet and less stressful with an early flight. They can easily nap or get ready on the flight etc...quicker than getting trains etc.
Your money will go very far too. Excellent school near town.
For example lovely area walking distance to town, schools and parks, very close to airports etc
www.propertypal.com/40-myrtlefield-park-malone-belfast/774893

www.propertypal.com/12b-deramore-park-belfast/773199

www.propertypal.com/30-derryvolgie-avenue-malone-road-belfast/754792

• Lovely areas with beaches, parks, village feel towns and short distance to airports.

www.propertypal.com/67-ballyrobert-road-crawfordsburn-bangor/775495/photo-39

www.propertypal.com/the-gables-10-glen-road-cultra-holywood/549499/photo-43

I just wanted an excuse to have a noisey on propertypal 😊
But if your looking for a fresh start in a wonderful place you come over on a day trip and see for yourself.

Look at the nicer parts of Zone 9. You get Market Town living with all the amenities you've mentioned next to countryside living. It has the benefit of still being on the tube into London but not the London feeling. Your money will go much further, with a 1hr commute.

Warwick

Malvern, Worcestershire. Excellent in so many ways (check out online). People love this area so they look after it - and their neighbours.

St Leonard's - it has a great community lots going on especially music. 2 independent cinemas in the area, lots of vegan food. Small interesting businesses lots of parks, the beach. Lovely houses. We love it.

Try SE22?

Not a Kentish seaside town- you definitely don’t want Margate!!

Birmingham- look at Bournville or Selly Oak- you’d get a beautiful house and garden there.

Try Bristol or near Bath!

You could totally get a lovely period 3 bed with big garden in Streatham for your budget. Lots of families and a community feel in my opinion. Also near lots of things going on. Vegan restaurant, cinema, theatre, mini golf, jazz club and plenty of shops. You don’t need to move out of London with a budget that good!

Maidstone

leigh on sea is nice lovely little shops and resturants in the broadway access to the beach closeby and 2 train stations

i do wonder why you moved to near croydon without reasearching parks etc first

Look at Edinburgh.
A real capital.
Great schools.
Decent shops.
Your children will have an enviable accent.
Lots to do, clubs, restaurants and theatres and pubs.
Real culture there, not pretend history.
£850k will get you a decent reasonable place.
1hours flight to London.
Beautiful city.
Additional bonus is the Festival.
It has a mixture of very rich and the opposite.
Never boring.
Best wishes wherever you go.

@mellicauli Pub in the park is exactly the run of the mill, middle aged, middle class vibe that St Albans is famous for. Some love it but compared to any London suburb it is dull. As someone earlier said, it lacks a certain quirk.

I am late to this thread, but I have a London born-and-bred friend who moved to Folkestone about 18 months ago, and is completely in love with it.

She posts photos almost on the daily of their life down there, and it looks great!

Admittedly, they’re a child-free couple, so I haven’t seen the child-friendly side of things, but hell, it’s by the sea, what more do you need?!

Honestly, her photos over summer have looked likes she’s on holiday the entire time.

And she commutes into London.

I say this as a Kiwi, who is more than a lot familiar with living close to the sea and having that lifestyle on my doorstep.

Folkestone looks as good as anything.

This is fabulous girls, keep it up.

@Nottidaythanks Yes I said this-and I've lived there twice!!! No hint of 'bohemian' and dead as a dodo at night. I put this down to having no Uni or large college so it has a lot of families with young kids and teens but not that many young adults. A lot of parents who are 'stuck in' of an evening. Which is no issue when you are in that position yourself- but a bit of a dull vibe when you aren't. We have pub in the park in Bath too - but the vibe is a different one altogether - in my opinion .

Come to Wokingham, Finchhampstead or Camberly any town in Surrey you fancy. Good schools and easy access to country life and London too

I think you're right. A town is better than London suburb. Train fare to Central London is more and and longer obviously but its worth it to me

Those Kent towns are nice with plenty going on