Pretty village commute to canary wharf...is it possible?

[footballsocks]

Help!
We are looking to relocate out of south east london to a pretty village with shops, pubs, good schools, lovely walks etc.

Can anyone give me some suggestions? We are thinking Kent / East Sussex and I'm keen to start doing some trips to explore. Kids are 5 and 3 and husband looking at around 1hr commute to canary wharf. We have a healthy budget. Does my dream exist?

Thanks ☺

Ashtead? Headley Heath? Headley is gorgeous and rural, Ashtead feels rural but isnt. Canary Wharf would be over an hour though.

Have you looked at Chislehurst? Very village-y. If you were very close to the station you could do it in just over an hour.

Otherwise I can't imagine anywhere an hour door to door that really is a village. I live on the edge of Epsom and door to door Canary Wharf is an hour and a half with the walk to the station.

Eynsford is nice village in Kent, pretty, a few pubs and a couple of shops. Good schools, but an 11+ area.

Expensive though. Well, everywhere is, I suppose. About an hour commute into London.

Shoreham is lovely, a bit further south, and even more expensive.

Would you consider Essex? Trains stop at Stratford and it's an easy change to Canary Wharf - could do it in less than an hour. Have a look at Ingatestone and surrounding areas, some lovely villages there and good schools in Chelmsford.

I was coming on today Essex. Stanstead mountfitchet-on the stanstead express train line so canary wharf if just over an hor is doable-and actually Not underneath the flight path (as you might suppose from the name).Also very handy for Cambridge as an added bonus.
Some newer bits (which are still nice) but also some older parts around a village green which are lovely.

Essex?

I would start with a rail map and look up frequency, times and prices. Tube adds a lot of time and hassle.

Lots of "villages" are just busy main roads with houses on each side.

East horsley? How healthy is your budget? Does it have to be a village? Godalming and Dorking are both lovely.

I think you,can do a train time search on zoopla too.

Godalming and dorking would be 90mins+ to canary wharf.

There are lots of places with an hour on the train. But do you mean door to door? Thats different. But I have done over an hour for many years and you get used to it for sure.

Essex definitely has better commute to Canary Wharf. We moved to Blackmore, a beautiful Tudor village near Brentwood/Shenfield/Ingatestone, and there are many other villages like this around. Door to door to work in CW in 50min although we do need to drive to Shenfield station and get the fast train there to Stratford (15min, super frequent, like every 2-5 min during peak time. like heaven compared to SW train I used to take from Surbiton in Surrey), and we are guaranteed to get on the first train of Jubilee line from Stratford (while previously has to wait at least 3-4 trains in Waterloo). We are very happy here.

This is our commute - we're putting the SE London flat up for sale next week and a bit lost about where to look. Budget 700k max for a 3/4 bed with garden. Chielehurst used to be affordable but not so much anymore. Thinking about Wadhurst in East Sussex. We've also looked at kings hill/west malling. Or Stratford line way there's saffron
Walden?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Hadn't considered Essex but yes lines into Stratford would be great for CW.
When I say village...just want somewhere with a bit of character with countryside and some basics i.e. good primary, nice pub and village shop!

It's so hard to know where to start 😧