Countryside locations commutable to London

[casaberry]

Thinking about moving out of London. We generally need to travel into Zone 1 for work 2-3 days/week but have a good deal of flexibility around this.

In a perfect world, we'd live on a few acres in the countryside, walkable to a decent town with a train into London. A short drive or public transport into the town to reach the station would also be ok, I just don't want to have to drive half an hour to get to anything. Train journey to London would take no more than an hour.

No need to consider schools. Budget around £800k.

Suggestions?

How about Eynsford/ Swanley/ Otford? Or are you looking for somewhere further out? Eynsford is only 40 minutes to London Bridge by train.
Swanley

Market Harborough is only an hour into St Prancas. It has some lovely villages around the outskirts.

Essex? I’d be looking at the small villages in and around Colchester maybe? £800k would buy you a fair sized house in or around either the town or semi-rural areas of Brentwood/shenfield/ingatestone/billericay/chelmsford all of which have good schools, excellent travel links, access to a town but it won’t get you ‘acres’ - for that you’d have to go to the areas with less choice of schooling options and less amenities. What’s your priority?

A property set on ‘acres’ in unlikely to have walkable routes into a town - especially at night and you’d have to deal with a dearth of cabs etc. I live in a rural area and there is no public transport option such as a bus - it’s something to consider for when your kids grow older as you’ll be ferrying them everywhere. On the upside, they learn to drive at the earliest opportunity.

Do you realistically have time for the upkeep of ‘acres’? I can tell you there are times when it is a complete PITA..

East Hendred in Oxfordshire. Near Wantage. Easy to go West on the M4 or north on the M40.

15 mins to the station. 37-42 minutes to Paddington.

Lovely community, beautiful walks in all directions. You won't get acres for that money though but you have the countryside and you don't need to maintain that!

Whereabouts in central London do you need to travel to?

I think you want to be on the same side of London as your ultimate destination so you keep your travel within London to a minimum.

A property set on ‘acres’ in unlikely to have walkable routes into a town - especially at night and you’d have to deal with a dearth of cabs etc. I live in a rural area and there is no public transport option such as a bus - it’s something to consider for when your kids grow older as you’ll be ferrying them everywhere. On the upside, they learn to drive at the earliest opportunity.

This was my first thought that a property with acres of land is generally more isolated from a town/built up area. And even if technically walkable, is likely to be along unlit lanes without pavement.

What station would you ideally commute to? Just getting across London could add another 30-40 minutes even if the area had a fast train link to London

1 hour train to London, a few acres, £800k and walkable to a well appointed town isn’t doable. You would need to relax at least 2 of those parameters.

As others have said, which part of zone 1 do you need to get to? London Bridge then look at parts of Kent. Tunbridge wells is pricey, but some pretty areas around it. If you need to get to Liverpool st I agree with a poster above to look at North Essex. There is a 1hr fast train from Colchester to Liverpool st. I wouldn't go for Colchester itself, but there are nice villages around the area.

If you need to get to Kings Cross, look at the line going north towards Bedford.

this looks good!
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/162594521#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's quite close to a sewage works, I think id find that off putting!

She didn’t have that as a prerequisite 😂😂

You need to state your travel budget as well as house budget. There are loads of places in the East Midlands that could fit the bill and technically be commutable, but the train tickets could be as much as your mortgage.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/166892414?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

How about staying in villagey locations in London? Have a look at Hayes (Bromley). It has parts where you don’t think you are in London. There is a direct train into London Bridge. Very quick into the Kent countryside. Good schools.

Where in London do you work - that will make a huge difference for recommendations.

I would highly recommend Bishop’s Stortford! Easy commute to London and not far from Cambridge. Lovely town and lots of beautiful rural villages nearby. Excellent schools, nice community

@anwensmummy I agree Bishops Stortford is nice, except its right next to Stansted airport. Friends lived there and on certain days she couldn't sit in the garden due to constant flight path noise.

Lots of motorway noise from that one

Anywhere around Rugby, plenty of villages between Rugby and Southam that would be well within 30 minutes to the station and the train is 60 minutes

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Long-Itchington.html

this village is very pretty and the house is on the outskirts, drive time to station in rugby is under 30 minutes

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/168834824

close to rugby but still in a village

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Long-Itchington.html

this is a beautiful village, less than 30 minutes from the station

Much of the town isn’t under the flight path. Some of the villages are, and especially places like Sawbridgeworth. I’ve lived here 5 years and never been disturbed by motorway noise or planes. I live a short distance from the house that someone has posted on here as a suggestion

I did say "in a perfect world"! 😂I was hoping someone would surprise me with a gem of a location I hadn't heard of.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I commute into Farringdon but DP is a consultant, so his destinations change. Kings X/StP, Waterloo, London Bridge all feasible, but wouldn't rule out Victoria or Liverpool Street.

Schools are not an issue we need to consider.

Definitely no flight paths (we left Ealing bc of the LHR noise), no sewage works, no flood plains.

I would personally love the Peak District but that's a bit far, I think. I do think Essex is underrated; we've had some lovely countryside holidays there but not found any place we'd want to live.

Based on those office locations start looking up and down the Thameslink line. £800 will get you a lot of house in the Biggleswade - Peterborough end of that line. Probably good for the Baldock- Royston sort of area too. I don't know the southern end but plenty of other Mumsnetters will do.

Acres won’t be walkable into a town and be commutable into London on that budget. Even in cheaper parts of the country, an acre of land and a 3 bed house will eat up your budget despite a 20 minute drive to the station. How long a commute will you tolerate, total (drive plus train) perhaps look within a 30 minute drive of didcot parkway? Swindon? Look around rugby maybe, market harborough? Suffolk?

Maybe look at south Suffolk/north Essex. Train service through parts of there is fast into Stratford and London Liverpool Street - only a few stops. So Stowmarket in Suffolk, Manningtree in Essex.