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?

Or edinburgh & fly to London once a week ? Only 40 mins & if you book in advance - no issue

I'd def consider Bristol

There is zone 6. and zone 6. Bromley or Kingston have things going on. But in-between places can be a lot of houses and bad traffic. If you are walking distance to a main centre the buses and trains should be better for you.

The same will be true in commuter towns, it sounds like you need to be within walking distance of the town centre to get what you want - but the large garden might be a challenge.

Problem is I like gardening and I hate being penned in by overlooking neighbours so I wanted to be somewhere where my mone could go further. If I was rich I would stay in London and just buy a massive house and garden - but I'm not so want to be somewhere where my money can go further and I can still get a fairly large/wide garden, not be overlooked by loads of neighbours, while still having things to do

Leamington Spa would definitely fit - beautiful regency houses, Victorian terraces; it's a small-ish town but with loads going on and great fast rail links into London; also stunning countryside around and near to Birmingham on the other side. Otherwise - yeah, Bristol, Brighton/Hove, Cambridge, Winchester would also fit.

Bristol or Brighton I would look at.

Quick check in Cambridge shows you can get houses under your budget. The garden size may be an issue- especially in the city, but if you moved out to one of the lovely villages- Histon, shelfords, you would get a bigger garden.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126462515

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123286730

If your budget is 850k you can live in London...ok not zone one but I live in zone 3 in se London and you could buy a decent house near me for that.

The contradiction is 100ft garden in a town/city centre. £850 is a chunky budget but even I think you'll struggle to meet all your criteria.
Public transport beyond the capital or larger cities has been depleted and I suspect will get worse as budgets are cut and costs increased.

I agree with pp that Tonbrige and Faversham seem like they'd be too small for you. Folkestone is nice, but personally I think living by the sea is a completely different experience so I'd decide first of all whether you want a seaside town or not.

I'd echo recommendations for Winchester. I love Oxford. Both are expensive but have cheaper areas. Cambridge is also nice, especially with the recent developments bringing more investment. Some people like Colchester (I don't, personally, but it fulfils most of your wishlist). If you're willing to go as far as Norwich then you might want to consider a city elsewhere - Bristol, Leicester ...

Guildford is very nice indeed. 30 min regular trains to London yet surrounded by beautiful AONB countryside and idyllic villages, the town itself is lovely too. Although not sure you would get much for 850k.

Not a bad budget for Brighton but most houses have much smaller gardens than that - so do what most Brightonions do when they need more space and move to Worthing.

I wouldn't go for Tonbridge. Tunbrudge Wells maybe, but Tonbridge won't meet you're list of wants.

Somewhere like Hove or Worthing might be worth a look.

You would love Bristol. I'm not in the city (25 mins by car/40 mins on bus) but the city has all your requests. It's quite expensive in the trendy places though. Where I live you can buy a 4 bed detached for £550k and we can walk to everything, primary school is a walk around the Marina with no roads to cross. Beach (stony) at the end of the street. It's a slog into London though so a location with a station (ours isn't built yet) would make sense for a weekly commute

Guildford is also quite dull tbh.
Bristol is entirely do-able on your budget

Get a flat in London and an allotment.

I moved out of London to a city and ended up moving back again. I don't regret the move back (I regret the move out - I lost out serously on the property market!).

Barking and Dagenham

Oh, or Lewes or Guildford like others have said.

Although I'm not sure you'll get what you want in budget in Guildford. Unless you're happy being on the outskirts.

Actually you might get that size garden in places like New Malden, Worcester Park, Carshalton Beeches

Agree with Tunbridge Wells and Brighton. Canterbury? If you like the seaside, Folkestone, Broadstairs, Margate?

Maybe Berkhampstead? Good schools, quite a few restaurants, a lovely cinema, good transport link to London. You could get something like this for under budget www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123844799#/?channel=RES_BUY.

St Albans?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123484058#/?channel=RES_BUY

Bedford?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124514069#/?channel=RES_BUY
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125262269#/?channel=RES_BUY

It must be terrible not having a Pret A Manger to get your soy chai latte and Smoky Carrot & Falafel sandwiches (on fairtrade seeded bread)

Why so unnecessarily rude @AlexNye ? The OP wants to be able to take her children to a park and to be able to walk places, I don't think that's ridiculous.

Thanks everyone, some really good ideas on here!

Particularly interested in finding out more on Bristol, Worthing, Bedford, Folkestone, Ramsgate, Margate, Canterbury and Winchester from anyone that lives round there.

It's unfortunately been a costly mistake to realise what I thought I wanted wasn't actually it, so really keen not to make the same mistake again. Thank god we didn't move to the middle of nowhere though which was the original plan! Sometimes pipe dreams should just stay in the pipe 😨