Where do we stay?

[conflictedmama]

Hello, we recently moved to London from Mumbai and want to find a place to stay. We are currently in Hoxton. I don’t have to go to work everyday. My office is in paddington( maybe once a month) husband’s office is in Liverpool st. I have an almost-3-year-old boy. We want to live in a place which has outstanding schools but also diversity while being not so far from my husband’s office since he needs to go to work 3 4 times a week. Ofcourse we want a safe neighbourhood. Very conflicted in identifying the areas. Please help in suggesting what would be the ideal areas for house hunting.

Are you buying or renting and what is your budget?
Are you planning state or private education?
Do you have family or friends in or out of London that you will want to be easy to visit at weekends?

We want to rent. Budget is less than 3k. We would prefer private education. We do have friends and family- but we are flexible in terms of accessibility to them.

Thats a good budget and as you are after private schools you dont have to be contricted by catchment locations - so I can see that too much choice is overwhelming. I would then work out the max time your DH wants to spend commuting and draw a circumfrance to consider. Then focus on prioritising a short list of private schools that work for your needs and see what overlaps?

Do you like Hoxten - or would you prefer somewhere more suburban / family orientated?

Apologies for the typo there. I intended saying we would prefer public schools. But won’t mind private if we can’t get outstanding public school/
we would want something suburban. Near parks.