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

Okay thank you! See it is such a tricky decision, i think we will have to make sacrifices somewhere. I'm from Norfolk and have lived in small villages (think Reepham), so i know exactly what they are like and do appreciate they will be a quieter way of living. My partner is also from the french countryside, so although we are london lived for 12 years our roots are in the peace and quiet.

I do just worry about doing my daughter a disservice by being somewhere too quiet but also appreciate that it might just be whilst she's little and we go somewhere a bit busier in the future.

We have PTSD from London tbh, our neighbours are a nightmare (no soundproofing, victorian flat) so we are petrified about living in a built up area again for fear of going through what we've gone through here! Hence why we are despo for the quiet life and semi-detached/detached home.

I think we might need to take a leap of faith and just go for it. With my offices in oxford, i can start commuting there so would shave off a lot of time by looking around oxfordshire. There are good schools there my partner can teach at as well so eventually he would be near there (not commuting into london)

Cambridgeshire i would have to keep my office in London but with the thameslink to blackfriars this does work well. My partner could also find a lot of work in cambridge city, so again he would eventually not have to commute in

I think it will be a toss between oxfordshire and cambridgshire, i think Northamptonshire we can park for now.

Someone mentioned Hertfordshire upthread. It’s quite an expensive county. If you hop over the border to Bedfordshire you get more for your money and there’s lots of nice small towns there.

@ThatNimbleOP I think the idea to move between Oxford and Cambridge sounds like it fits for you....oh, where does that put you, oh yes Northamptonshire😂
Perhaps don't park it, but consider the area nearest to Oxfordshire rather than getting bound up with Northampton itself.

Thank you!

We are thinking of villages around Woodford Halse (not the village itself), Eydon and Culworth looked nice but not much in terms of housing. Do you know them?

Its about 25 min drive to Banbury for marleybone station or 40 min to Milton Keynes.

Essex has long been the butt of jokes but there are some lovely places there. Manningtree is just over the border from Suffolk and a very attractive little town with its own railway station with regular trains to London Liverpool Street taking around fifty minutes. It is on the edge of Constable Country and there are a lot of cultural events taking place in the wider area. It is near Colchester and not far from Ipswich.

Yes, I know them, pretty but maybe a bit out of range for commute to London or Oxford🤔. Though if that's your area Helmdon, Sulgrave also nice.
Kings Sutton(actually Oxfordshire😁) has it's own direct train or easy access to both Banbury and Bicester stations. Nice group of villages close by in Northants with excellent community spirits and schools etc.

Not sure anyone would make the commute to MK for London though.

Warwickshire is lovely Op - I think your suggestion earlier of Warwickshire villages is a good one. Warwick Parkway station is an easy commute from Kineton, Stratford etc. loads of lovely villages, plenty of arts and culture and really lovely, friendly people. I'm not from the midlands originally (Bristolian), but am an adopted midlander and can't imagine living anywhere else. Also consider Solihull, good links to London, excellent schools, good town centre with plenty happening. Also close to Birmingham (20mins on the train) for good restaurants, theatre, concerts and city life! Solihull or Dorridge are about 1hr 40 mins to Marylebone, or quicker if you get the mainline from Birmingham international to Euston. Property is fairly pricey though.

@another365togo thank you that’s really helpful 😀 there is a nic epeoperty there we like so perhaps we should go for it!

Although it’s so popular 🙈

Does anyone rate castle camps or the villages around that area (Haverhill, ashdon?)

Warwick/Kenilworth are lovely. Just over an hour on the train to St Pancreas. Plenty for families especially in the.Warwick area.

No. Haverhill is awful. Linton is ok but commuting to London would be horrendous from there.

I've PMd you some suggestions.