Hi 
I wasn't sure where to post this, I hope here is ok...
My hub and I will be moving next summer, I will be reducing my hours at work to 3 days a week and will be based in London. We have narrowed our search down to either Bedfordshire or the villages surround Ashford in Kent. We chose these places due to fast train links and we have friends who live nearby(ish) (Surrey/Leighton Buzzard).
We now can't decide which place to settle on though. We have never visited either place as it is a 4+ hour commute from where we are now but do plan on spending a couple of weekends there after Christmas. There are plenty of houses I love the look of on rightmove in both places so I could really do with some advice on other things that may help sway us.
We're big on countryside, love the outdoors and walking, we have dogs that we love taking for a dip in our local park. We can obviously go to London for nights/days out so I'm not too worried about having a great array of amenities nearby but obviously a supermarket, takeaway, etc would be nice. We currently live in a village and enjoy the goings on of a village lifestyle so would ideally want to replicate that or be able to walk/drive into a nearby village.
I suppose what I would like to know is if you had to choose between the two, where would you choose and why? If any locals could give some advice too I would be much obliged.