cheap - and commutable to central London - possible?

clairehi

I agree you should look at towns along train lines into KX, Euston, St P. As others have said these are going to be the most accessible mainline stations for Bloomsbury. Agree best to avoid train + tube commute if poss as tube is grim.

Its 40 mins into Kings Cross from where we are (north of London) and so much nicer than where we could afford to live in London. There are some affordable, commutable and reasonable places to live in Herts/Beds if you look carefully. Re schools, use upmystreet to find out names of local schools and then check their OFSTED reports to get an idea.

we moved to the South East a few years ago, as the improved career opportunities (salary!) outweighed the increase in cost of living for us. I'm glad we moved while the kids are still quite young (5 and 3) so were not (too) disrupted by the move. It is harder when they are older and have made friends at school etc. One other thought, people say "rent to see if you like an area" before you buy but realistically, if you have school age kids you will be limited by where you can get them into school. You will not want to uproot them to move again unless the place you have moved to is a total disaster, so best to do your homework thoroughly before you move if you can.

Just to add: Season tickets are expensive (DHs is £3K) but even with this, its still cheaper to live outside London for us. only looking in towns on train lines will limit your options, but obviously helps with travel costs if you can walk to the station from home. Having said that, places that are off the main line may be cheaper in terms of house prices.
Also if you do get serious about this move, do check how frequently the trains go from your station into London, some smaller stations only get infrequent and v slow services which can be a pain (although they are usually quieter than the fast train!).

Tassotti

Obviously people have their own preferences.

Many places on the outskirts of London have been mentioned.

However, for 180k for a 3-4 bedroom house, you will only get a place in one of the cheaper areas.

I cannot believe the snob who said Bexley is not nice....? It is, but for 180K, you might get a decent 2 bed flat.

Lots of research for you anyway