Looking for recommendations where to live outside London

[hmyyy]

Hi everyone, we are looking for a nice place outside of London to buy a house and settle down. Me and my partner both working near Euston, so we would like somewhere can get to Euston station less than 1hr. We both like village atmosphere, with good independent preparatory schools for our daughter. We are looking to have a house with 3-4 bedrooms and a sizeable garden. Our budget is 800k-850k. Lovely people please recommend some areas to us.

Shenley? you have manor lodge school and are around 30-40 mins from Euston

Following! We’re in the same position with a similar budget

You'd be amazed how much of the country opens up if the main criteria is less than 1hr to Euston...

Nuneaton is 1hr to Euston
Bookham is 45 mins to Vauxhall then 10 mins to Euston
Cambridge is 52 mins to Kings Cross
Rugby is 50 mins to Euston
Peterborough is 50 mins to Kings Cross
St Albans is 44 mins to Euston
Bedford is 38 mins to St Pancras
Sevenoaks is 24 mins to London Bridge then 11 mins to Euston

I know you've given some further info but is there anything else to consider to help narrow down areas ie. location of family, proximity to places in UK you like to visit, how close to station do you need to be etc?

@thehousefinder

@thehousefinder we’re looking for an outstanding primary, countryside and a commute of 1.5 hours or under. We were thinking of the Cotswolds or south oxfordshire as we have family there

Ah well that will definitely narrows things down as there's only a handful of primary schools in the Cotswolds, for example, that are Outstanding and most of those were inspections were more than five years ago. Fairford Church of England Primary is one which was Outstanding more recently (2019). You may have more luck in South Oxfordshire. Good luck!

@hmyyy did you find where to move? We have a similar budget and would really benefit from your insights on your research 🙏

Hello! We’re actually moving to a village outside of henley now, we couldn’t find very much in the centre of henley or Marlow (our two preferred locations) and a new house came up which doesn’t require any work and which can be our 5 year house to get us out of london. A major bonus is that a local farmer is happy to sell us some land behind the house so we’ll have lots of space for our little one to play. Have you narrowed down your search?

oh nice, ! We're currently looking at either outside Brighton or somewhere between Bath and the Cotswolds. We're taking it slow to find the right place for us especially as I've not had much luck with online research! I'm French so don't know the UK very well (other than London!). How did you do your research and narrow down to Henley and Marlow? Any tips? Thank you!

We have family in south Oxfordshire but like you, have no other real connection to anywhere outside of london, so we found it quite hard to be honest. I think the key for us was to see it as a
5 year house and that well have a garden for our little boy, good school options and a 27 min train into Paddington from Reading. I’m starting to get quite sad about leaving london but we just don’t have any real alternative unless we go further or compromise on the size of house for a slightly better/same commute. We’ve managed to get 2,200 sq ft and being able to have family to stay comfortably and grow as a family is what feels right for us at the moment. Brighton would be great, we considered there too. Bath also beautiful x

Oh and tips on the decision making process, I read a book called the desire map, basically it can help you when you’re stuck with a big decision as we were. The idea is that you and your partner think about how you want to feel, rather than what you want to achieve, what your core principles are, rather than material things you want to own/have. Then, when you’re making a big decision, to put those values at the centre, and that way you’ll be happier with your decision and be closer to living the life you want to lead. It’s actually life changing when you start approaching decisions with your core principles in mind x

Oh and I recommend the muddy stilettos website for location inspo! X

If anybody has any questions about Bath, I can try to answer them. DD(13) has friends at most of the schools and/or we have friends that work at them.