Small city house and short commute or big house and long commute.

[fruitstick]

Have any of you given up one for the other? Did you regret it?

We moved to wiltshire 2yrs ago for a larger house in a nice area - this meant that DH had a 2 hour commute every day - each way. We lasted for a year but it was horrendous and led to us moving abroad in the end.
The train services where awful - always delayed and slow moving or cancelled trains.

So yes we ended up regretting it - but we do have a lovely house in a great village. We just dont live in it - we rent it out now whilst living on the continent.

We live in a flat in the centre of Paris.

NO WAY would I want to move out to the suburbs while we are working and the children are at school. We could have a huge house and garden in exchange for our flat, but it wouldn't be worth it in stress etc.

I would always go for the short commute - commuting is hell IMO.

short commute.

always. always.

short commute definitely - there was a thread earlier about how knackering a commute is

I have friends at work who have chosen the long commute/country living option, but none of them have small children (primary or younger). Generally what matters most to children is their parents being around. Unless the commute is very predictable, reliable and involves a seat all the way in, I think it is a recipe for stress. I do know a couple of men who have a part week in London (compressed hours+home working) long week end at home, with a significant distance to their family home. Both with teenaged children. It seems to work well for one family, but the other one is now divorcing, and I would have thought the split living was a factor. Personally I have chosen never to commute (door to door) longer than an hour.

We lived in a commuter village when I was a child and I grew up thinking commuting was "normal" - to work, to school, whatever.

That led to me making some very injudicious decisions about where I would live as a young adult. I have lived and learned

commuting is expensive and will probably become more so in the near future.

whether or not it's hell depends on hte commute, however, expenses aside.

if it's on roads without much traffic, just distance, in your own car, and the expense isn't a big deal to you, it can be downright enjoyable and the payoff worth it.

short commute

so un-eco to go for the long commute, dahling.

what would sheyhairezed say?

Short commute.

We live in Harpenden and it is half an hour into the city - very fast and frequent service. It is quicker commuting than a lot of places in London.

We met friends who live in London at the National Theatre on Sat night and it took them longer to get there than us.

So there is living in London and there is living in London.

How long does it take to get to the train station though? how long to get to work from kings cross, wherever? it's always more than the 30 mins on the overground.

Well quite. It depends where in London you work/both work. Where are the school/s? Where is the tennis club, swimming pool, shops, supermarket and everything else you might reasonable use on a regular basis.

A school friend of my son's (and his two sisters) commutes daily from Belsize Park to Hertfordshire.

short commute. I live in central Westminster and I give up a lot of space (I don't even have room for a toaster ffs) in return for quality of life.

Depends... a nice house and garden mean that when you're home at weekends you don't need to fet out and kids have room for climbing frame/ pets/ growing up in country but nothing is worth ten minute drive to the station and having to get there by a certain time to park followed by 45 mins on train followed by change at Kings X followed by tube! However, if you have train station ten mins walk from either and and journey of less than 45 mins you're laughing!

Depends on length/comfort of commute.

DH and I have a 1 hr train commute and then 10 mins either side, but can always get a seat and it means we have a chance to chat to each other and read paper.

And it is nice to have large house, large garden and nice country environment for the kids to grow up in. Our children were playing with the neighbours' 8 day old chicks at Easter, and next week we're going to be eating them (chickens, not the children). I definately didn't get that kind of experience in Islington.

I do miss the theatre though, and some of the specialist shops you get in a city, and sometimes when it is raining your options are limited (no museums, one cinema only etc)

And I think that commuter towns are probably miserable places to live.

But all in all I don't regret moving for a moment.

have chosen small city house and small commute. tis magic, dh gets to have bfast with the boys, and join in bed/bath time. if the tube and buses go down at the same time he can walk home in 40 minutes from current site he is working on.

did the OP say the commute was into London?

because truly, it all depends.

to us, a garden and outdoor living are really, really important, as are schools and what we feel is a better quality of life.

DH has 2 hour plus journey to and from work (London) every day. We don't have a large house or large garden but we live in a lovely village and our dcs go to a great school. I suppose it depends on circumstances, but there's no way we could afford to live that much closer to London anyway (we used to have a flat in Bromley, 30 mins away from city, so we know how "easy" it can be). DH chose to live where we do because he (we) decided to go for quality of life for the dcs. Doesn't help your predicament much!

he commutes for over 4 hours a day?

bloody hell.

or is that 2 hours there and back?

If both work, definitely the short commute. If one works, possibly the long commute but that is not my preference, provided I can still have a house and modest outside space.

Same as Kando.
DP leaves at 6.30am to get to work by 9am, and gets home about 7.45pm after leaving bang on at 5.30pm. We live in Eastbourne and he works just outside Croydon.
We love living here, and we could just about to buy our house here. BUT his commute is hideous.

Yes it would be into London. We live in zone 3 at the moment but are skint and have a garden smaller than he kitchen. No way we can afford private schools and local state ones aren't that great. Alternative is to find new jobs out of the city.

We've gone for the short commute - have moved to zone 1 after years commuting nearly 2hrs each way now that DD is here. If you're open minded about areas to live in it helps. We've got a nice house with a garden 30mins walk from the city but it's ex-council, on an estate and some of our friends think we live in the ghetto . We love it, neighbours are great, loads going on nearby, great parks etc. We might think differently when DD is older but with a baby it's the only answer for us.