Help! No idea where to move to…

[ThatNimbleOP]

Hello lovely mumsnetters,

My partner (31), myself (31) and our gorgeous 14 month old daughter are at a complete loss about where to move to. Short story, we are selling our flat in London. It was initially under offer in November but fell through so we lost the onward purchase we were making in Oxfordshire.

At the time we loved Oxfordshire (Cotswolds area) but now I’ve gone off it I think partly due to everything being dragged out for so long. We are now luckily under offer again but due to how long the whole process has been taking, we just cannot make a decision about where to go and what to buy. It’s almost like our minds are so oversaturated and burntout nothing is good enough…or maybe it just isn’t!

We’ve been looking all over the shop but thinking Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire or even Cambridgeshire.
Top line:

• I work in central London twice a week and my partner will as well, so we need somewhere with relatively okay links to London (maybe 1.5 hour max on the train)
• 3 bedrooms min
• Love the countryside but not sure about being too isolated
• Somewhere that’s good for kids activities wise
• Love art and music so somewhere with a good cultural scene would be great but not a dealbreaker
• £500k max budget for the right place

Do your magic! 😀 X

I'd be looking for a city within reach of the countryside so you get your culture and child friendly activities but can easily spend time rurally at weekends. I assume you considered Oxford itself?

Newark,Nottinghamshire, good direct train to London, good area I believe, prob quite cheap too

Eastbourne? Hastings?

Bristol or Bath.

South Suffolk or North Essex?

Rural but big towns nearby.
Trains to London from Ipswich/Colchester.
Constable country and arty places like Aldeburgh and Snape are easy to get to.

Norwich?

Stroud?

I’m from Norfolk originally and have been tempted but something is stopping me 🙈

How do you make a decision when it comes to these things, is it better just to rip off the plaster, take a leap of faith and see how it goes?

Stamford or Oakham? Pretty market towns

Friends in a similar boat have moved to Frome or Stroud. Met someone recently who raved about Marlow.

personally? I would go to Folkestone

Ely?

We lived in a village just outside Cambridge until recently. I'd definitely recommend it for children. Loads of activities, access to amazing opportunities, really good schools and you can be in central London within an hour. We used to go from Royston and fast trains took under 45 minutes to get to King's Cross

Our dc attended a village school.and then a village college, both of which were rated Outstanding. We were in South Cambridgeshire so had access to nice countryside in Essex and Hertfordshire. You could get a house within your budget in some places but not in Cambridge itself.

We've now moved to a different part of the country as we want to be near the coast. But Cambridge was definitely a great place for us to bring up kids

Lewes

Brockenhurst?

York. Just over your 1.5 hrs on the train criteria...but worth it for what you get in my opinion.

Bristol/Bath are out - they’re the top end of your train commute time and for a decent three bed that isn’t going to be a long way from the stations/in a dodgy area you’ll pay a pretty penny. Frome and Stroud will have a similar issue with commute time.
Portsmouth/Southampton/Winchester if you fancy being close to the coast?

You need to factor schooling into your wish list!

Alton?
Farnham?

Yes, need to think about schools as well. It does get so overwhelming doesn't it! We were also thinking of Warickshire, the countryside around stratford-upon-avon with banbury being the nearest train station but not sure whether it's too isolated for kids?

Could you rent for now to avoid committing your capital ?

Have several friends living and loving Faversham in Kent.

Folkstone is getting alot of positive press recently. Deal is another good option.

Worthing also.

Where in London do you need to be for work? This makes a huge difference to the commute. I know someone who lives further out but they have a shorter commute than those living in London just because he works near Liverpool St and his train goes directly there.

Sheffield? Just over an hour from at pancras and £500,000 will give you a lot of choice in housing and areas. You can definitely buy a 3 or 4 bed terrace in the best school catchment and you might even stretch to a semi.

So to answer questions:

@alonglongshot We have 4 years left on our mortgage with a good rate of 3.4% so ideally we would keep it. We could rent but would have to rent the flat out with the mortgage or pay it off (about £7k)

@Revelatio i work in Blackfriars. Partner is mainly west London