Leaving London...but where?

Oldernotwiser

zcrat41 wrote: »

Don't be afraid to look north, cheaper schools and cheaper housing. I'm Bedford/St Neots/Kimbolton (my personal fave - beautiful) all 50 mins from London on a fast train and within 8 decent private school distance.

We'll obviously have many different ideas on this thread but I cannot for the life of me see how someone could recommend either Bedford or St Neots as good places to live!

Running_Horse

cooltt wrote: »

Starting a family at 40? if that were a woman a few eyebrows would be raised. 50 year old dad at age 10?

He said he wanted a Victorian house, not Victorian attitudes. I became a dad at 40, and unlike my younger counterparts, spend every spare minute with my child. Perhaps that doesn't fit in with your prejudice either.

If I had to produce a Kent top five it would be 1: Headcorn, 2:Faversham, 3:West Malling, 4:Broadstairs, 5:Luddesdown/Harvel. But no doubt that would be different for everyone.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Kirsty is a Hampshire girl (i think!!) so on her behalf as she'll never get the chance I'll suggest Winchester.

BitterAndTwisted

I'd be having a look at the Walmer/Deal/Sandwich area. It's lovely down there

geoffky

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'd be having a look at the Walmer/Deal/Sandwich area. It's lovely down there

I spent five years of my life in the area and loved it,i am a northern lad but i loved that part of the uk..recommended.

mayfair1985

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'd be having a look at the Walmer/Deal/Sandwich area. It's lovely down there

My mum lives down that way, she's in a scrummy area but ten minutes down the road there are some right carp holes. She's retired now so wouldn't know about the schools etc. She's right on the sea front in a sleepy little town with its own shops and train station with direct to London access, but, it's grim in the winter, the sea side is never as nice when the sky is gray and it's hailing!

davilown

Emsworth in Hampshire - great rail links as well as roads straight into london

Running_Horse

Although you don't get much house for your money, Cambridge would give any child educational and social opportunities you just don't get anywhere else. But all that free-thinking does produce a fair few eccentrics.

claire16c

I live in Wokingham, Berks, which is often rated as the no.1 place to live in the UK (and also supposed to be the healthiest?!). The state schools here are excellent (sometimes get better results than the private ones!), safe, low costs for insurance etc. Every time family or friends come to visit us from somewhere far away they always mention how nice it is around here, but as Ive grown up here (moved from North London when I was a baby) Ive never appreciated it until Ive got older and lived in other places for uni etc.

You can commute to Waterloo from Wokingham station which takes about an hour, or catch a train to Reading which gets to Paddington in 25 mins. Thousands of people commute to London from here, I used to do it myself.

Wokingham itself has a small town centre, but Reading is only 20 mins away for proper shopping.

500k would get you a nice sized house with probably max of 5 bedrooms.

gingin_2

I'm in central Cambridge and it fits all of your criteria. I cannot fault the schools, a huge amount of culture, a safe feeling at night, plenty of free things to do at the weekend. £500k will get you a victorian house in a catchment for the good schools but it won't be a palace- prices here keep going up and up in popular areas. Commuting time into London is 45-50 mins by train.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33970268.html?premiumA=true

That's the sort of house you get in my area for your money - nice street, good school catchments and on the doorstep of the shops.