Where in Oxford

[Robrat]

We are thinking of relocating from London to Oxford. I will need to commute into London 2-3 days a week. DP WFH. Aware that areas such as north Oxford, Jericho and Summertown are very expensive. Are there other areas slightly more affordable not too far from the station?

Hmm. The station is quite central. You could look at Botley (which is Vale of White Horse District Council I think, not Oxford City Council) but is pretty much Oxford! The train station is at the end of the Botley Road.

Slightly further out is Cumnor which is nice and still close to everything.

What sort of budget?

Many parts of Oxford are super expensive and the more affordable areas (thinking the likes of Rose Hill, Blackbird Leys etc) can be pretty grotty while not being super close to the station.
Would Kidlington and the Parkway station be any good?
What about Didcot?

If you want Oxford itself you will need to put your budget into Rightmove and see what comes up.
Remember that driving to Oxford station is not really on, you need to consider walking, bus or bike.

The bus services between Oxford and London are good & would mean you could consider Headington & areas close by.

I’d also look at Headington and the Oxford Tube. Headington is a more affordable part of the city and the Tube is reliable. I’ve had colleagues use it for commuting daily with minimal issues.

What's the budget? Otherwise completely pointless

Look at Kidlington and Yarnton and the train line in from Oxford Parkway station (on the Marylebone line) stopping at eg Wembley.

Cutteslowe is central & very cheap compared to the rest of North Oxford. Very close to Oxford Parkway train station and easy to get on the ring road to Redhill for the Oxford tube coach. It’s not the best area but if you choose the north side it’s ok.

@Robrat if you give us
No of beds
Any school requirements (how fussy you are about schools)
Max house price
I can waste time looking at houses rather than doing my urgent bit of work 😁

Also do you want to be able to walk to city centre or happy to be in (boring but more affordable) places like Kidlington.

Also what is motivating the move? Why Oxford? This will give a clue as to what you want.

Thanks all. Budget around £850k. No DC yes but possibly in the next few years. Would prefer to be able to walk to restaurants etc. but we do cycle

We want to live somewhere a bit smaller/less busy than London that will allow us to get out to the countryside fairly easily. Parents are in the Cotswolds so want to be closer to them.

I commuted three days a week on the 6 am Oxford Tube (bus) for a year. It’s a good, very frequent service, and there’s also a rival, the X90. (Or used to be). Depending on when you would want to leave London, traffic on the way home may be more problematic.

I lived just off the Botley Road in a grotty college flat, bang close to the station. I imagine it’s now commuterville.

Have a look at kidlington / Islip rather than Oxford proper. It has a train station at parkway and is easier to get into the Cotswolds from than east Oxford.

It's going to be a trade off then between quiet life and walking distance restaurants then.

Didcot has amazingly good trains to London (more expensive but can get to London 35 minutes on the quickest train) so you could look at market towns near there. There would be walkable restaurants (small choice mostly pub and Indian) in Abingdon, Wallingford, Drayton. It's a drive to Didcot or quite a bad bus, or a fairly life threatening cycle. Didcot does have shops and chain restaurants. For the right house you might want to live in Didcot itself or the villages immediately round.

Equally you could look at Kidlington and commute from Oxford Parkway on a slower line into Marylebone. Personally I find Kidlington a bit soulless, maybe I just don't know it well enough.

If you don't want to lose the London buzz you'll have to pay up for Oxford. Headington and Cowley could fit the bill. Not sure it will give you much of a quieter life though.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144329948#/?channel=RES_BUY for £835k

We lived in Oxford in summer town for a couple of years

If I was you op I would go for something like this- handy for train and town (walk in) the other area that is great for that is called grand pont - and you will get some nice houses in Jericho for that including the big modern estate at iffly fields -

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144791879

That’s a great house!

Be aware that Oxford station is going to have an extensive remodel this year, which will include them replacing the rail bridge over Botley Road. This is likely to mean a lot of replacement bus services. If you don't have a deadline to move then you might want to put it off for a year.

Also, with a budget of £850k and no kids I would live in Jericho.

Headington is good for the Bus/Tube. But it does take a long time to get into the centre. Maybe you can get off at Hillingdon.

Water Eaton/Kidlington is an alternative station to oxford central if you want to live in Oxford and gets into Marlybone so if you work near there could be a plus.

Didcot has good rail links, but the town is a bit of a dump. But maybe you could park and ride into Didcot and live out of it.

Do your research on flooding if you are living in close proximity to the Thames. But that goes pretty much for anywhere these days.

The fact that you cycle is a definite bonus in Oxford. I used to cycle into town & back from Headington & it kept me very fit!

Hi. I saw a job vacancy in Kidlington. I really want to apply for it. But, I don't drive and Kidlington is a village. Will I find it difficult to live in Kidlington or if I get the job, should I look at living in Oxford and commuting to Kidlington?

@sunshineandstarsgirl

kidlington is more of a small town than a village (apparently it is the biggest village in the UK). It has a high street with a couple of medium size supermarkets, a butcher, some card shops, charity shops etc and there are a few restaurants. There is a full scale Sainsbury’s at the end of the village. It has the Thames Valley police headquarters, Oxford Airport and some business parks so it serves quite a big population.

Kidlington is much much cheaper than Oxford to live in, and the buses are frequent and don’t take too long. Central Oxford is also cyclable in about 35 minutes.

Commuting between Kidlington and Oxford is a breeze.
Apart from the train (although Parkway station is halfway to Oxford anyway🙃) there are regular busses but the best way is to cycle. Used to do it every day.
As PP said, Kidlington is more like a small town and the green belt between Oxford & Kidlington is getting smaller by the year. It has all the facilities you could require.