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?

I earlier thought Edinburgh and that would be my suggestion still but have you thought about Paris? Its vibrant and busy and not too big!
Oxford too is a busy City that has a decent atmosphere.

Lewes would tick those boxes apart from the 100’ garden

Proof there's no place like London. Rather live in a Zone 2/3 shoebox with the life about us. Vegan cafés a-plenty. And friends too

If we want the joys of Guildford, Tonbridge or St Alban's, they're easily accessible.

Look at Tunbridge Wells

you cant swing a cat without hitting a cafe, pub, restaurant. Vegan options galore!

V family friendly

All the schools are good

You walk most places. Green space/commons

Lots of events all the time. Live music in the
Park. Food festivals

Regular trains to London Bridge

@Misunderstoodagain wow!! i love 1 &3

Cambridge would tick every one of your boxes, though if you wanted a nice period house with a 100 foot garden then you would definitely be looking at 3 bed rather than a 4 bed. With a small garden, you could possibly get a 4 bed for that budget.

Norwich is absolutely great. I think you will love it. My in laws live there and I have visited many times. It is like cutting bad parts of London away and leaving the good bits and that creates Norwich.
it has everything you need , numerous restaurants, nice cafes, variety of options, art, theatre, etc.

And definitely commutable once a week.
you can walk everywhere , less stress, and at the same time lots of choices.
And your budget will get you a dream house.
i know of right estate agent and conveyancer if you decide to go ahead.

Orpington depressed me. Awful place

Croydon?! No wonder you don't like it!

Have you fully explored the suburbs? There are plenty of better options.

What about Hastings Old Town. Lots of places to eat, some vegan, loads to do and full of individual shops. You can walk to everything easily and whilst you may not get a big garden you’re on the beach!

Wokingham is also worth looking at..

God forbid that you should live in a cultural wasteland.
I hadn’t realised that there were so many people so far up their own A* until I read this thread.
My best suggestion is that you move back into your favourite zone of London as soon as possible and leave those of us who love living in the “outer reaches of the Empire’ alone.

How patronising can you be. .

Explain? I.live in one of those and it's great. Not sure what you mean by 70s social attitudes?

So this may not be what you're after (you'll have a patio garden not a 100ft one). But there's a little hidden / fairly unknown area just north of notting hill where you can get a 3 bed house for that budget. Think cottage, not mansion but the area is amazing. Brilliant parks and everything on your doorstep. (Portobello Market within walking distance, etc). If you're interested have a look at "the avenues" in Queens Park. It's a conservation area. Small 3 bed cottages.

For an £850k budget, you can get something decent in zone 3 London. Look at East London - ticks all your boxes, Walthamstow, Forest Gate, Chingford. I don't think you'd be any happier moving to a different town,

Hertford could work? It's not the quiet market town it used to be and the town centre is being redeveloped. You'll find good schools, Hartham park is great, two train lines into London. Lots of community events. It's quite a busy place now.

The house is nice enough, but Gosport/Alverstoke - seriosly?! Aleverstoke village is tiny (in terms of shopping, cafes, etc.), Gosport High St is as dead as a dodo. It's near Portsmouth, but to get there you'll need to drive and then take the ferry. Fast trains to Waterloo from Porstmouht Harbour station (so drive + ferry first, again) take 1hr45min. Well, on the plus side the (pebbled) beach is within a walking distance, with one cafe opposite a crazy golf course. 😆DH is from the area and FIL has lived in the road just next to that house for as long as I knew him, so fairly familiar with that particular spot.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126577763

If you’re in south Croydon (which has quite a fair amount of green spaces to discover… but anyway) you could move back into Crystal Palace for that budget. If not then I’d go to Bristol, bournemouth or Brighton

Bromley borough? All those things, but zone 4 or 5.

Don’t make it Kent , it’s horrendously built up and the councils don’t care , they just keep making bad decisions about where to build new estates without the infrastructure. Norwich is lovely.

Reading these only proves we are are different.

I think what OP means is, in Orpington or similar zone six towns, there's sprawling housing estates. Often v attractive 30s built but that's it for miles

Rows and rows of houses. No shops, pubs, amenities: just huge housing estates

You have to drive to the high st. Theres nothing much there anyway: sainsburys or pizzaexpress if you're lucky

There's no real identity. It's london overspill

Agree. My in laws live nearby and there is a stabbing in the local paper every day. Drugs rife. Violence common. Leigh is a very small bubble surrounded by a shit ton of not very nice areas. All our friends who lived in Leigh in their 20s have moved to Rayleigh & Hockley for schools now they have kids too.

Norwich is a fabulous city, lots going on culturally, all manner of shops from big chains to wonderful independents. Parks galore, UEA, and great communities. If your children go into state schools most walk and find good local groups, there are reasonable and good private schools but people tend to travel in so not as easy to create those groups. London is an easy commute, although 90-110 minutes timewise, contrary to a previous comment travel is easy. Heathrow 2-2.20hr drive, Stansted 75min drive, and Norwich to anywhere with KLM via Amsterdam which is a 35 minute hop (and Norwich airport is very easy!). Your budget is reasonably healthy there, although less so than it was 4 years ago. Cambridge very similar, and also fantastic, bigger feeling, shorter travel times, but very very expensive now especially if you want city living.