Hello!
my partner and I, early 30s, are getting married this may (!!!) and fairly soon after that we are going to sell our flat in Ladywell, southern east London.
He is from Ealing but always wanted to live ‘in the country’ - his version of rural quite different to mine. My family/close friends live in Tilehurst / theale but we grew up fairly rural in upper Basildon (outside pangbourne). Right now, I work in central London in office about 2 days a week, could change one day to in Bracknell if preferred. I don’t love this job but it’s ok, and the benefits are good and will be a good place to start a family. In the (long term) future I might find another job which require more like 3 days in London. Partner works in Uxbridge one day a week. Once the move is well underway/done we are going to start TTC.
As many people on here, we are stuck as where to move to. Priorities: at least 3 bedrooms (or count be extended in budget) for £550k, somewhere to work at home, nice walks very close by suitable for daily walks with dog, ideally a nice cafe fairly close by, ideally a good size garden, has a welcoming atmosphere for a mixed couple, walkable nursery and junior schools, within 30-40 mins drive to tilehurst for help with future children, within 2 hours commute to work.
we are currently considering:
- pangbourne (although grew up very close to here and would be nice to be somewhere new, and very expensive
- goring, also very expensive
- purley
- tilehurst (on the sulham woods side, again not ideal already lived here for many years)
- burghfield and Mortimer (maybe look a bit tooo quiet, beautiful walks though)
- some parts of caversham, although don’t know the where/where not too well yet, the ‘nicer’ parts very expensive/out of budget
- not considering theale as I went to school here and that’s too much for me.
has anyone moved from London to these areas? How was your experience?
ultimately we would love to stay in London but it’s way too expensive and the drive to Ealing /Reading is an absolute pain. We already want to see our family more and know this will be even more important once we have a baby.
Are there any areas we are missing? Is there a secret mini London somewhere I’m not aware of 😅
thanks so much in advance x