Liberal/ quirky areas outside london

[Southlondoner88]

Hi,

DH and I are planning to buy a house (would consider a flat if location was amazing) we plan to also start a family and our first buy will likely be be a home for about 5-8 years so looking to make a profit in that time (I guess that’s not a guarantee in this climate though?)

We don’t know many areas outside where we live as we’re from a different country and I was wondering if you lovely mumsnetters had any ideas of where to start looking.

We need easy access into London as we will need to commute Mon-Fri.

We used to live in hackney and Peckham and loved the vibe/ independent coffee shops etc but now live near oxleas woods/ greenwich and love the green space. Somewhere with a cross between hackney and greenwich would be amazing, does such a place exist?

We also want somewhere not too urban now we’re getting older, lots of green space, we like living near water (sea, rivers, canals) good schools and community feel. We were looking at Essex but don’t really know the area.

Our budget is 250-300k. Husband gets free transport so that will save us money so expensive season ticket although not ideal, not a deal breaker either. I’d love to find somewhere we can meet like minded people, not super rich like the people we meet in london but more normal earning, left wing folk. I work as a therapist so tend to gravitate towards charity workers etc but also into fashion/ music so have many friends in these industries too and would like to find these people if we move out. I worry the Home Counties will be too stifling for us as we are still quite young at heart but ultimately the main deal breaker is just a nice area with good transport links and things to do.

Thanks in advance.

Schools-wise... ofsted reports can change a fair bit in 5 years

@BigSkies2022 you are right we are not very knowledgeable in this area tbh, no one in our immediate family own property, we come from a very disadvantaged town outside uk and it’s all so new, we’ve done quite well for ourselves and just want something to show for and to get on the property ladder once and for all. Can’t move out of london until 5 years or so.

@MetaverseMavis yes I think location is key, really don’t mind a flat but house would be nice. I mean there are flats in some parts of london for same price as the outskirts so that’s something to think about…

You could consider the castle quarter in Bedford, or perhaps Boxmoor in Hemel Hempstead. Both good communities and lots going on. But realistically you are probably going to have to accept the leafier it gets the less greenwhich/ Hackney vibe you get!

If you both have to be in London offices 5 days a week I’d really want to stay within M25 / TfL zones as so much cheaper travel. What about West Norwood / Crystal Palace? We sold a 2 bed flat in that area last year for £300k.

Aylesbury is due to get a new trainline (it already has a good one). It may be a good place to invest your money. Some of the villages around the edge are lovely. Not quite a hackney vibe, but nice all the same.

Market Harborough. The district has traditionally been Conservative, but the town has just elected its first three green Councillors and now has a Lib/Lab/Green Council. Lively town centre, lots of community activities, nice countryside, central to visit lots of other places, you'll get a house for £300k and the commute is around an hour. The only issue is that because it's mainline it's more expensive to commute in than from other places.

Rochester is really beautiful and interesting. I looked into moving there but didn't feel it had that arty, cosmopolitan vibe you want. It felt a bit Little Britain, despite its beauty and history. I could be wrong. Didn't spend long there.

Don't move it too far down your list. You want friends you can relate to. We moved to a pretty Home Counties village - great outdoor space, clean air, good schools, but we struggled to make any friends. In twenty years I think there are three people I genuinely connect with. And DH hasn't met a single one. Interestingly, despite it being a genuinely lovely, safe area with a good community spirit, DC didn't make close friends here either. DS1 has one friend from the village, DS2 has none. We just didn't quite fit in and we're moving now DC are grown. In retrospect, I might have gone for a place where we felt more at home mentally/intellectually/politically not just physically.

You need to think about commenting costs soon as these can be horrendous.

We live in SE18 and love it and think you could get a 2 bed flat where we are for 300k.

Ah just seen you're near Oxleas so not far anyway!

Worthing is the new Brighton for people who can’t afford the old one, I heard. Worth a look?

As PP definitely look into commute costs, no one is really mentioning that. Could easily be £5k a year each for a season ticket. You could spend that investing in a property in London and cycle to work!

Sorry yes commuting not commenting!!

Yes it seems staying London and buying a flat would be good because then I don’t have to worry about the commuting time and cost and might be a better investment long term, flats are already being reduced even around where we live. We have looked for places in London just briefly but will look more seriously in the coming weeks. DH has his heart set on a house rather than a flat but we’ll have to meet halfway!

This is where we moved from to just outside Folkestone. The commute from here is far from difficult OP. Door-to-door my commute now takes me the same amount of time from my village here to the office as it used to do when I lived in zone 3.

I would literally put your budget into rightmove London and see what comes up.
The thing about moving to some of the places suggested is the commute costs that are over an hour out of London will be big. These still have to be paid from your monthly budget and definitely need to be factored in.

Have you. thought about Hassocks?

What about Kidbrooke? You wouldn't be moving too far from where you are now! Seems to be a nice area if a bit quiet. And great for transport.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136635278

Leamington spa

1.20 on train to Marylebone, it’s a popular commuting town to London but mist do a mix of wfh and commute 1/2 days a week

Canals, rivers and 10 minute cycle into countryside. decent schools ok shopping, many independents

its also strangely a university town without a uni as students choose to live here and commute to Warwick university which is nowhere near Warwick but in westward Heath, Coventry

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136451117. Housing near town

Wivenhoe is worth looking at. https://essex.muddystilettos.co.uk/best-places-to-live/essex/best-places-to-live-essex-wivenhoe
Just over an hour to get to Liverpool Street, by the river with lovely walks, and very friendly vibe in the town. I lived there when my kids were young and they have lovely memories, still talk about going crabbing and building dens in the woods.
House prices in lower Wivenhoe, near the river, a bit out of your price range but less expensive on the outskirts.

Just to say, although some of these areas look great, there is absolutely no way I would live more than an hour outside London, with only a train line, if both adults are working in London Mon-Fri, especially if you’re thinking about kids. I think a lengthy commute only works if either one person works locally or you can split the week so that someone is wfh on most days. Aside from the cost don’t underestimate how many times trains are cancelled or on strike, and the stress of leaving the office in time to make nursery pickup. At least if you’re in a city, if the tube is suspended you can get buses, overground or in extremis a taxi. If you’re reliant on one train service and 1 or 2 stations with the same company/ on the same line and the route is suspended what would you do?

I agree with others that I would stick with London for now (even if suburbs) and then consider moving out in a few years- or maybe for secondary? Choose an area with decent primary schools and you’ll likely find loads of similar people and London is a brilliant place to have small kids (less so when you’re investigating secondary schools which don’t require either 500k in the bank, the religious fervour of a nun or 3 years worth of tutoring in my experience!).

Why don't you wait for a bit as the market is falling a lot at present. As this is your first purchase, you would be likely to end up in negative equity and potentially struggle to move. Can you not rent nearer your work for now? Also, as a therapist, could you switch to online work and build up a practice elsewhere?

You briefly mentioned schools later on - it’s really worth looking at this as so many of the surprisingly affordable areas turn out to be affordable because they’re in school black spots - hard to get into local schools unless you live on their doorstep, v unpopular schools the only option etc.

I don’t know where to suggest - are you absolutely tied to London with work? I know a family who moved to Southsea near Portsmouth and it has just the vibe you suggest and they’ve found great schools etc.

Ampthill in beds is a lovely little town and on the Thameslink from flitwick. You can get a 2 bed house for under £300k. Lots of parks, cafes and good schools.

Something like this on edge of kingston on Thames might suit- ex council probably but 3 bed flat and doesn't look bad at all

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/133588163#/?channel=RES_BUY