Nice places to live north west london

[rosiebt]

Hi all,

Advice wanted! Myself, husband and ds (9 month old) are wanting to move out of london but be near enough for husband to commute.

We have family in the midlands so would like to be north/ west ish for easy journey!

We want a house for under 500k?! and nice area, good schools, nice parks etc etc....

Has anyone got any recomendations?

Didn't want this to go unanswered. How far out of London do you want to go? What's the limit for your husband's commute? Somewhere like St Albans is very pretty and trains only take 14 mins into Kings Cross. Not sure about house prices though, it's prime commuter belt. What about Oxfordshire? Very good for the Midlands...though you are looking at an hour from Bicester (great line, straight into Marylebone) or the other line goes into Paddington. Otherwise, what about Reading? Takes half an hour into London on the train from Paddington and there are nice areas around there, though the posher ones are quite dear. But that's not fab for getting to the Midlands.

Have you thought about Newbury? I'm guessing that the rail links to London would be good, and to get to the Midlands it's straight up the A34 to Oxford, and then onto the M40 to Brum.

TBH depends where in the Midlands your parents are - if they're M1 way you'd be better off in St.As. We used to live in St.As and commute into London. I personally loathed it (thought it was overly twee and NCT and conservative), but I know lots of families love it.

pinner