Need to escape the smoke but where do normal people live??

kirsty12_2

Another vote here for Royston, perfect commute to London/Cambridge, house prices above average because of the commuter links, not as bad as London/Cambridge though.

Small town not much trouble, i can't comment on the schools but easy enough to find out about though

ohyespleasethankyou

Thanks for your all your replies. A lot to think about there! With the current state of the market we probably won't be able to move for a while anyway.
There are normal people in London but their lives are made poorer by all the scum that live here too unfortunately.
I was born in a posh area - Chalfont St Peter but my parents didn't have the money to fit in to the 'scene'. One day my dad came home to find my mum packed up ready to leave. She was driven mad by the women who did nothing except talk about make-up and how well little Jocasta was doing at school.
We moved near Uxbridge to a great place to grow up - its an absolute Kazi now though.
Anymore suggestions welcome!

lotto-dreamer

Oundle is a beautiful market town - plenty of lovely surrounding villages too. Relatively short drive to Peterborough where train to Kings Cross is under an hour. No Starbucks, but a great little coffee shop which does a roaring trade! - bookshop, library, doctor's surgery, dentist, vet, post office, travel agency etc all the basics. Great schooling choices for all ages - both public (Oundle School) and state schools. Main street is all C17th architecture. Mix of housing - from posh to not so posh - but crime rate is low - very pleasant place to live, although perhaps not wildly exciting. However, London's only an hour's journey away ....

clairehi

huntersc wrote: »

Hold on, what's wrong with 'posh' areas? .

house prices for a start?

also in some of the "posher" (if you want to call it that!) towns in Herts, the state secondary schools are not that great. possibly because the private schools cream off more of the brighter kids.

wallbash

My vote is Redbourn:j four miles north of the Ladies that lunch

My evidence of a nice place to live. I personally know of six families that have moved within the village in the past few years, we only moved from one side of the common to the other.

Ps the schools ( both state and private) are O.K

neverdespairgirl

huntersc wrote: »

. If you want commutable to London then Henley is lovely, about 50 minutes into Paddington, good schools, river, theater, restaurants, lovely shops, everything you need.

The trouble with commuting from Henley is that there aren't many trains a day to London which are direct.

moodydonkey

I live next to a funeral home but opposite a Post Office.
We have better parties at the funeral home but I can top up my phone at the post office.

carolt

St Albans is really nice - I don't think it's that posh at all - quite normal really. Has some posh shops but lots of normal ones, fantastic market, very safe, great parks - try it, or surrounding villages.

Recommend it.

22 mins into Kings Cross, I think - quick and easy.

Lots of nice countryside nearby.

trinity_bleu

Rugby is less than an hour away from Euston by train ... ?

Silly_Cow

Totally & utterly off topic but moodydonkey, your sig is my all time favourite joke:T