Finding a house near M4 with commuter access to London

Mr_Thrifty

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting on this website. So, pleased to meet you all.

My situation is as follows. I have a budget of say £300K (absolute maximum of £350K) and need to buy a decent family home. You know the sort of thing - 3+ bedrooms, garden, bit of space, etc. Right now I'm living and working in London and, quite frankly, am depressed at how little a quarter of a million quid buys you. Houses which I consider to be 'nothing special' are priced at £500K+! So, I figure the time has come for me to move out of London.

Now, for various reasons I need to find somewhere that meets the following criteria:
a) Quick and easy to commute into London by train
b) Reasonably close to the M4
c) Nice, quiet area with a bit of greenery around (i.e. not a town centre)

I've noticed that Maidenhead and High Wycombe have fast trains into London, and the location looks ideal. However, I have no idea what the surrounding villages are like. Basically I'm trying to find somewhere that offers good value for money, is commutable, and is a pleasant area that doesn't suffer from traffic problems, crime, inner city deprivation, etc.

So.... any suggestions/thoughts please? Thank you! :T

cashndash

We live very near the M3, near Romsey. The train is an hour to waterloo.

You could buy my house!! but it's a little over £350, but is a nice big family home, the village is so nice we're moving round the corner.

well, you don't ask you don't get

keith969

At the moment I live just outside Reading, walking distance of the Thames, 5 mins to M4. Train from Reading to Paddington is half an hour, the only real problem is getting to the station - parking charges are extortion, although there is a bus. Maidenhead is also very pleasant, as for Wycombe I'd avoid it, but surrounding villages are nice.

maninthestreet

Try the Wokingham area - though £350,000 is about the lowest you'll get a 4 bed detached house in a decent neighbourhood.

martindow

maninthestreet wrote: »

Try the Wokingham area - though £350,000 is about the lowest you'll get a 4 bed detached house in a decent neighbourhood.

Nice areas around Wokingham but trains to Waterloo are much slower and less frequent compared to Reading - Paddington. However Waterloo might be easier than Paddington to get to where you need to go in London.

beccad

cashndash wrote: »

We live very near the M3, near Romsey. The train is an hour to waterloo.

You could buy my house!! but it's a little over £350, but is a nice big family home, the village is so nice we're moving round the corner.

well, you don't ask you don't get

Do you get the train from the Parkway there, or Winchester? It's not an easy commute either way - been there, done that!

To the OP:

You could try Holyport. It's quite a nice village just outside Maidenhead. Twyford is also nice, but I suspect a bit expensive!

Essentially, you need to look at the train lines - the Reading to Paddington line is uber quick, but the Reading to Waterloo is pretty slow (stops everywhere and anywhere!) I guess it just depends on how long you're prepared to spend commuting, including any time spent on the tube/bus once you get there.

One tip, have a look at Kingston Upon Thames, the borough - it's actually pretty reasonably priced for property and it has good schools etc. but is an easy commute into london, particularly areas like New Malden and around Malden Manor station, eg: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-12381603.html

morg_monster

i agree the commute direct from wokingham is a bit of a pooper. lived at my parents for a while between houses and had to commute in, but in the end always used to get up at the crack of dawn to drive with my dad to work in Maidenhead, and get the train from there, it was so much easier.
The other thing with maidenhead is that the crossrail will go out to there supposedly, so that will be a direct train in to tottenham court road, liverpool st and then canary wharf, so depending on where you work that might be useful. god knows when that'll be approved and built though...
You need to look at the parking provision at the stations too. If you are driving to the station you need to be sure you're gonig to get a space every day!

beccad

morg_monster wrote: »

i agree the commute direct from wokingham is a bit of a pooper. lived at my parents for a while between houses and had to commute in, but in the end always used to get up at the crack of dawn to drive with my dad to work in Maidenhead, and get the train from there, it was so much easier.
The other thing with maidenhead is that the crossrail will go out to there supposedly, so that will be a direct train in to tottenham court road, liverpool st and then canary wharf, so depending on where you work that might be useful. god knows when that'll be approved and built though...
You need to look at the parking provision at the stations too. If you are driving to the station you need to be sure you're gonig to get a space every day!

It's approved, work has already started in central London, and the extension out to Maidenhead is due for completion in 2017. Whether or not it'll come in on time is another matter!

I don't see the appeal of Wokingham. Dire town centre, poor transport links, the schools aren't all that great and the town gets massively clogged up with traffic!

tizhimi

Twyford is lovely and strongly recommended however I'm not sure how far your pennies would get you round there. Its a great area and has everything, hence the large asking prices. I've no idea how people afford to live down south!

i1189

Eton Wick is near Windsor, and from the Eton end of the village it is not too far to walk to Windsor and Eton Riverside station (Waterloo line).

Also Datchet is near Windsor, has its own station, and you could probably get a reasonable house for your budget. Only problem with Datchet is that traffic backs up when the level crossing is down.

Taplow and Burnham are two villages between Slough and Maidenhead which both have stations on the Paddington line. Taplow is nice, and Burnham has good bits and bad bits.

There's also Slough which has cheap houses and fast trains but I wouldn't live there by choice!