Suggestions - nice market town north or west of London, maybe 1.5 hours drive away for my parents to consider moving to

[MNersanonymous]

My parents and granny are considering moving closer to London as all of their kids are down here.

We all live either north or westish of London.
I don't think given where they live now or their stage in life they'd like a city but then again they love eating out so a village wouldn't work. So I was thinking market towns (maybe Bury St Edmunds type size)

Considerations are:

• it would need to be safe i.e. not a hotbed of crime
• not absolutely extortionately priced given they are moving from the northwest, although this is not a huge issue as they could do with a bedroom or two less if they don't have us all coming to stay.
• no need to be commutable to London
• needs to have enough restaurants to keep their going out to dinner habit going
• the kind of place where there'd be a bridge club for grandma as she is addicted and it would be a great way for her to meet people!

Can't think of anything else really.

Any suggestions!?? it's a bit pie in the sky at the moment but it seems a wise idea as they don't have much binding them to where they live now.

They'd need to get two properties very close to each other e.g. two on the same development or a house that is already split into two as grandma would want a separate space for her.

Thanks everyone.

Anywhere South of London is a non-starter as the whole point is being closer to all the kids and we all live North/ West of Central London - primarily North.

Now if it were me I'd love Cambridge!

What about Bury St Edmunds or Newmarket though?

Oundle....near to P'boro and quick links to London, lovely monthly farmers markets and a number of cultural things too. ALso do look at Stamford,

Would Hitchin be too close for them? It is less than 1.5hrs away, but doesn't have the huge commuter belt price tag of places like Harpenden or St Albans.

Might not be too close for them but I think it would be for me!!! Too likely to pop round unannounced as we are that side of London!

Definitely avoid commuter belt, they'll pay through the nose.

Buckingham and Winslow are luvverly

Wokingham is the wrong side of London isn't it? It's got to be North or NorthWest

Well, to be fair you did say 'north or westish' anonymous,not 'north westish' & Wokingham is 'westish'....

Buckingham is nice
small, v low crime but has old fashioned police station
some nice older housing
not extortionately priced as not near enough a station
2 chinese restaurants
about 5 Indian restaurants
2 pizza places
Villiers hotel for posher dinners
several pubs
a deli
a fish shop about to open
some proper town type shops
Tesco / Woolworths
Milton Keynes is the nearest station, then it's 45 minutes to London
or driving, London's about an hour ish
Milton Keynes has John Lewis, Ikea, big shops
No idea about bridge club but bet there's one. There's a shop selling granny mobiles (don't know what they're called, ride on things) anyway and a shop selling old fashioned lingerie so bet there's a bridge club.

Apologies Rusty - my bad geography as I thought Wokingham was further south than it is!

mrsryder, isn't Buckingham about to get a Waitrose too?

You'd have to be a bit bonkers to drive in or around Cambridge during rush hour if you didn't have to, but I don't think that makes it dire as a place, and even in rush hour traffic is better than London - all about what you're used to I suppose.
Congestion charge obviously will be a pain if you absolutely have to drive, but at least it should hugely improve the traffic situation.

yes buckingham is about to get waitrose.
and parking is free in most of the town

I'm confused...isn't Cambridge north/north east of London?

My parents live in Wallingford, which is lovely and ticks all their boxes - easy to get to London by car (M40), train (from Cholsey on slow line or Didcot on fast) and bus.

Has U3A, bridge clubs, lots of nice restaurants/pubs around, good countryside and low crime.

Hitchin is nice, on quite a fast line into London too if they fancy a day out (or a trip to Paris, as line goes into Kings Cross, next to St Pancras!). Nice countryside etc.

Or what about this St Ives in Cambridgeshire not far from Peterborough. I drive past it quite often and think how nice it looks.

Yes TWD I agree that Cambridge is North/ North East.

I meant northish to be honest or northwest. My fault for typing with ds around and being distracted.

I suppose in terms of counties: north Berkshire/ Bucks/ Hertfordshire or Westish side of Cambridgeshire would all be ok.

Wallingham, Hitchin, Buckingham all sound like places to check out then and also I'll look at St Ives.

Thanks everyone so far!

Agree on Wallingford (or down the river at Goring if they have plenty of money to spend on a house). Is Banbury too far out?

marlborough hungerford newbury

Sorry MNers, I was genuinely confused, not trying to be picky, honestly! I know Berks/Bucks/Oxon towns relatively well...

Banbury isn't blessed with great restaurants, but has some lovely villages in the surrounding area which have some great pubs. A bit further north, both Warwick and Leamington Spa are lovely. I don't know Buckingham very well, but having stopped there a couple of weeks ago I didn't think it looked blessed with decent eateries (although I am sure your parents would get a decent game of bridge!).

A bit further south, although still west of London, is Witney, which is lovely. But did have serious flooding last year of course.

Decent restaurants are pretty crucial - shame Bray is too expensive! Even my 87 year old gran is a serious foodie.

Thanks for all these suggestions - Mumsnet is just fab for this sort of thing!

Winchester! Tis a city but not very big at all. Also 55 minutes on the train to Waterloo.

House prices a bit high though, ut I guess it would depend on what you need.

Winchester WOULD be perfect (in fact my gran grew up there so knows it) but it's totally the wrong side of London as they would want to drive to all of us and 3 of us are just North of London and 1 west.

It's a shame as it would be perfect for them.

If checking out Hitchin includes finding somewhere a foodie will love for lunch/dinner, then go here.