Somewhere with good commuter link to London

[40andlovelife]

We currently live in Manchester. Most of my partners work is midlands and London meaning he usually stays away mon- Friday and does a heck of a lot of travelling. We are thinking of relocating to somewhere outside of London so his journeys are not as bad and if he does need to still stay in a hotel , his travel won’t be as long as it currently is to and from Manchester. We would like to live in more of a rural location with a nice community feel. We have a 13 year old son so don’t want to be too isolated though but I would love somewhere with nice views and walks. I would like a good public transport in to London as if I move to my works London office would need to go in twice a week. Any ideas of places? I have no idea!

uxbridge?
surrey?

Where in London?

Ah sorry it would be central

Thank you will take a look

Tonbridge/orpington?

Ashwell, Herts

Bushey is nice, or it used to be

Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells. Direct trains to London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross, Canon Street in under an hour.

Dorking!

Lots of Surrey Hills countryside! Or if you want London Bridge/ London Victoria look at the villages outside Reigate and Redhill - Brockham, Betchworth, Nutfield etc.

Or do you need north of London if your partner needs to commute back up to the Midlands?

Probably safer to stay north of London I think !

What about your son’s schooling? Are you sure you want to move him at the age of 13?

Good question yes we would prefer to do it before he gets into year 10 when GCSE’s start. His current school isn’t great so the opportunity to go to a better school isn’t appealing

Somewhere along the Chilterns line from
Marylebone to Birmingham.

I lived there on/off for 7 years. Used to be lovely but felt very stuck in the past and not in the good way. Lacking in character too, I wouldn't recommend it.

What's your budget?

Charlbury. Train to Paddington.

Lots of Hertfordshire would tick your boxes.

I'd be looking at the train line and commute times to narrow down area. I'd step further than Bushey, as agree, used to be lovely but very built up now.

Definitely Surrey on the mainline to Waterloo worpleston, Brookwood or Knaphill 30mins fast trains to Waterloo. Great Country areas nearby but near Woking and Guildford town centres for cinema, Theatre nights out. Good schools

Plus you can park for 12 hours for free in the CoOp community centre carpark which is a short walk to the station if you are not within walking distance.

You need to be north of London, on the mainline to Manchester or similar. Look at villages around Milton Keynes or Northampton.

Greenford. We have 13 buses running through Greenford Broadway, 4 bus stops to Ealing Hospital. Buses to Northwick Park Hospital, West Middlesex Hospotal , Clementine Churchill Private hospital. More than a dozen schools walking and buses from Greenford, One bus journey to Heathrow Airport. Beautiful parks, golf courses and golf clubs, kids football clubs. 6 hour drive to Cornwall. Train to Paddington, Euston! Kings Cross, Waterloo, London Bridge, Victoria stations and then to all of England and beyond .... I love Greenford !

Somewhere like Thame maybe? Easy yo get into Marylebone by train and not too far to drive to the midlands.

I grew up living very close to the chilterns line into London Marylebone. Quick into town and good links to midlands and north too. Banbury, Bicester, Haddenham & Thame, High Wycombe etc. great schools in Oxon & Bucks for your son too but I would say that house prices are probably pretty high due to the vicinity to Oxford and London. Oxford is an excellent city to live close to mind you - so beautiful and loads to do. I have family that live in Buckingham, and the midlands mainline route from Birmingham to Euston is excellent. From Bletchley it’s around 50 mins into London Euston & you’ve got good links to midlands and north. Milton Keynes is well connected on that route too. Possibly more opportunity for a range of house prices too. Both lovely areas but probably more North West out of London rather than North though. X

Live in Bushey - not horrible as mentioned above! There are good and very good secondary schools and if you get stuck, there's St Margaret's private school and it's now co-ed.
It's not rural though. Suburban.
Where in London do you need to connect to? The Euston to Tring/Northampton line stops at Bushey. But if you need King's Cross - look at Hatfield - Liverpool St, Hertford, just follow the train lines out.

I think you need to be clearer on which lines you want to be on. 'central' could be kings cross or Victoria and if you come into the wrong one it'll take you 40 mins to get over to the other.

Try https://commutetimemap.com/map