Where should we move??

[muddlingthrou]

My DH and I are thinking about moving out of London, but we are totally stumped on where...

We currently live in v.SW London and love how green it is and access to Surrey countryside. However, we are currently in a 2 bed with one DC and would like to move to a 4 bed so we could have another child and a guest bedroom for DH's mum to stay.

Where to go though? DH's family live near Nottingham, mine are in W.London, so we'd like to be nearer to at least one of them. Our budget is ~600k. We'd like somewhere with a village feel rather than suburban, ideally with OK transport links to London. As someone with non-white heritage I'd prefer somewhere with a little bit of diversity, but is that asking too much of a non-city in the UK?

We're willing to go quite small scale as long as it's got a good pub or pub(s). We love a good dog walk in the woods, any suggestions? Thanks in advance - I know this is vague!

How about Northampton? It is between London and Nottingham.

Stevenage has good links to London and Nottingham. Stevenage itself is quite multicultural, and there are lots of surrounding villages (Aston, Watton-at-Stone, Benington, Dane End, Knebworth) that are very lovely (although a bit more homogeneous in terms of the population).

Knebworth, Watton-at-Stone and Cuffley are all villages with good train links to London. Welwyn Garden City has good links to London and Welwyn Old Town is very leafy villagey. Hitchin and Letchworth also have good links to London and Nottingham and have some very villagey areas.

what about outer London places like New Malden & Worcester Park, Thames Ditton may have stuff in budget.

Thank you all for your suggestions, I'm going to look into them all!

We actually already live on the way to Worcester Park, so sort of know that area. I haven't looked into Thames Ditton though. My DH has his heart set on somewhere quite villagey, but obviously that poses issues with the diversity question. I think we'll just have to do some visits and see how we feel.

I thought of those areas because they are West with good transport links & likely have 3 beds for 600k. New Malden is very diverse & I think WP & Cheam are becoming more so due to Hong Kongers. You could look at Surbiton too. Obviously the further you go the less diverse it generally becomes unless you go to another city or big town. Plus being close to family is a huge help.

A friend lives in Hitchin & it's very nice.

I think everywhere inside the M25 is suburban. I agree some have a more villagey feel with a centre point, but they are all part of the urban sprawl.
The further away from London you'll go, the more you'll get for your money. Sorry I know that's obvious and I can't comment specifically because I don't know about house prices.

How about something like this OP. It's in a country feel bit of Watford on edge of parkland- only 3 bed but separate garden annex with bathroom etc- great for guests and in budget. That area is great for both going to nottingham and west London and good for London too

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131257133#/?channel=RES_BUY