London location with young family

[Motherhood12345]

We're relocating to London as my husband has a new job, flying long haul from Heathrow. I'm a lawyer (formerly a corporate lawyer but currently working in-house) and will be looking for a new job in London. We have two children (boy almost 2 and girl 3.5) and are looking for a nice location to raise a family. We currently live in Scotland in a lovely, artsy, liberal area and would love to find somewhere with similar, welcoming vibes.

We're open to either London itself, or the outskirts but don't want a commute for myself of more than 45 minutes. My husband's commute time is less important as it will be less frequent.

I would like the children to be relatively close to their school (ideally walking distance or short ride on public transport). Initially, I would like the children to attend a state primary school but for late primary and secondary, I'm open to either state or private. For secondary in particular, I would like them to attend an excellent school where they have great pastural care and lots of extracurricular opportunities.

We'd like a period house with a garden, near green space where we can walk our spaniel. Our budget is around £1.25 million. We're happy to buy a property that requires some work. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

I'd recommend Twickenham.
lots of green spaces, beautiful parks, fast trains to London, good schools both state and private and you'd get a decent house for
the money. Not the artsiest area, but actually lots going on.
Eg this is a five minute walk to the station.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/169911917#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's difficult to suggest somewhere with a 45 minute commute to a job you don't yet have. I'd probably start looking around Wandsworth Common and seeing what you can afford.

Also, Twickenham is a very quick and easy journey either by car or public transport from Heathrow.

Thanks for your suggestion @anicesmellycandle - I haven't looked at Twickenham before but the house you've shared looks lovely. I'll definitely explore that area further.

South or west London is better for Heathrow. If you want somewhere “artsy” then east London is definitely the cultural heart these days, especially around Hackney and further east. If you can find somewhere on the Elizabeth line that will enable a fast commute to Heathrow even from the east and maximise your chances of an easy commute to a central London office job. That’s probably the compromise I would make in your shoes.

Thank you. Can you recommend any particular areas around East London with good primary schools and a nice community feel?

I grew up around that area and would recommend Twickenham or Teddington. Agreed it’s hard to suggest a short commute to a job you don’t have yet but both are 20-30 mins to Waterloo.

Yes the key thing is to work out where your job will be and decide on location then. It makes a massive difference whether you’ll be in Mayfair (hedge funds, boutique law firms), the city/ bank/ Moorgate (big law firms), or Canary Wharf (banks etc). For example, if you’re in west London (good for Heathrow), but then end up with a job near Aldwych or in Canary Wharf that’s adding another half hour at least to your commute over Mayfair/ central. I have friends who live in zone 2 who have worse commutes than me from the Home Counties- because I have 1 30 min train and then a 10 minute walk from Marylebone.

In very general terms from your description I would consider Wandsworth/ Clapham, Putney, Southfields, Wimbledon, Herne Hill/ Dulwich, Greenwich, Hither Green, / Leytonstone/ Highhams park, Walthamstow/ Crouch End, Ealing, Twickenham. Maybe also Crystal Palace, Tooting and parts of New Cross. Have friends in these areas with small kids who are very happy. But in quite a few of those places you will only get a very small house with postage stamp garden for your budget. And they might look dodgy compared to Scotland (all have good and bad parts). Most have excellent primary schools but sometimes very small catchments so you’ll need to be clued up on that. Secondary can be a bit of a bun fight/ mix but there are good state secondaries in particular in Herne Hill, Wimbledon, New Cross and Tooting.

If you’d consider a flat you could look at Islington, Highgate and Hampstead, Richmond etc.

If you want a bigger place then you might consider moving out to places like St Albans, Watford, Hitchin, Berkhamsted, Twyford etc but you may well need a nanny as your commute might be longer and your DH might be away.

I lived in Twickenham for many years, and my children’s early years were spent there. Highly recommend it.

Super helpful overview. Thanks so much for such a detailed response.

I don’t know anything about primary schools, but just based on areas which are nice for artsy young families:

De Beauvoir
London Fields
The area between Victoria Park and Hackney Central

All of those are an easy bus ride from the Elizabeth line

Stoke Newington (although that’s more north)

Walthamstow (further out, cheaper)

Ealing Broadway. Beautiful Victorian houdung stock, fantastic transport links, green space, pitzhanger art gallery, lovely area.

Ealing Broadway. Beautiful Victorian houdung stock, fantastic transport links, green space, pitzhanger art gallery, lovely area.

Having lived in twickenham, personally I would not recommend it. Train service is awful (no tube). Plagued by aircraft noise and shut down for many weekends by rugby. I like TW1 but There are better places to live in west London.

Ealing

Teddington is a good option

Greenwich or Blackheath. 15 minutes on the train and you’re in central London.

Ive also lived in Sevenoaks, lovely area but around 30 minutes to central London by train.

Wanstead. Great East London village on the Central line. Easy access to Stansted, M11/25 and LHR via Elizabeth at Stratford. Good schools: state, church and private. Good local community and green spaces. Gail's and the Ginger Pig. Housing a mix of Victorian and Edwardian.

And definitely not the arty, liberal vibe the OP is after

We live in Maida Vale; you probably would be looking at a flat rather than a house for your budget but it’s close to parks, v convenient for Heathrow and a commute into town, excellent state primary schools with lots of options for secondary especially on the tube. Lovely village feeling and a sense of community, especially once the children are at school.

Been a while since I lived there but look at Brockley, Nunhead, Honor Oak and parts of Peckham and ED and FH.
Will definitely tick the green spaces box. We were very happy there when our son was in his first few years.

What about Blackheath? Lots of open space with good transport links. Villagey vibe. Woolwich is close with Elizabeth line to Heathrow

As others have said, twickenham is nice, has green spaces and the river Crane. Buses go directly to heathrow. Traffic can be bad though and yes, the rugby can be a pain at the weekend. Its a welcoming place and has eel pie island which might interest you. Lots of good schools. If you want to be close to the train stations in the area look closer to fulwell or strawberry hill. Twickenham station is at the other end. There is also marble hill which is closer to Richmond but i imagine quite expensive.

Peckham or Hackney for artsy and liberal. Loads of uninterrupted green space as well