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Good areas within commuting distance to London?

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  • thatgirlsam
    thatgirlsam Posts: 10,451 Forumite
    Tropez wrote: »
    Dare I ask what is wrong with Hatfield?

    Thanks for the wiki link. I shall have a gander.



    Thank you. I hadn't considered Oxford. Somewhere else to look at.

    There are some nice area's surrounding Hatfield but the town centre is a dive imo

    Welwyn Garden City is next to Hatfield and is much nicer

    Hitchin is an old market town, it has loads of personality and a lot of cool people live there ;)

    :rotfl:
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  • gingin_2
    gingin_2 Posts: 2,992 Forumite

    Hitchin is an old market town, it has loads of personality

    :rotfl:

    Does it? ( I must have missed that!)
  • thatgirlsam
    thatgirlsam Posts: 10,451 Forumite
    gingin wrote: »
    Does it? ( I must have missed that!)

    Most people who live in Hitchin seem to think so :D
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  • LittleMoog
    LittleMoog Posts: 2,392 Forumite
    zcrat41 wrote: »
    Bedford/st Neots.

    Both less than an hour from London and proper countryside. 0

    I'm from St Albans/Hemel Hempstead area originally, although we've now moved to Bedford as it's much closer to my work. It's certainly significantly better value for money than St Albans (although not quite as classy ;)) and there are some lovely villages around. The fast train to london goes non-stop into st pancras in less than an hour. Links to west coast mainline not great though, same trainline as St Albans.
    Tropez wrote: »

    Being on the WCML is certainly a plus for Milton Keynes. I shall have to add it to my list of places to research.

    Thank you for your help! :)

    If you want to be on the line to Euston and MK, have you considered Berkhamstead? It's a lovely little town, similarly priced to St Albans though, so housing is pricey. Cheaper option is Hemel Hempstead, there are some nice areas, but you need to pick carefully.

    If you did end up in Docklands/Canary Wharf as opposed to Euston/St Pancras, my BIL actually drives in every day from HH, as it's less hassle than the train (he claims ;)). Maybe an option as you won't be going in every day.
    Little monkey born November 2012:j
    Froglet due March 2016 :D
  • loobs40
    loobs40 Posts: 1,232 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Tropez wrote: »
    Dare I ask what is wrong with Hatfield?

    .

    Don't even consider Hatfield or Harlow. Really, don't !

    Watford, Berkhamsted and Tring are on the West Coast Main line and all have excellent commuter links to London. Tring and Berkhamsted very good for families. Close to everything but also surrounded by beautiful countryside.
  • loobs40 wrote: »
    Don't even consider Hatfield or Harlow. Really, don't !

    Watford, Berkhamsted and Tring are on the West Coast Main line and all have excellent commuter links to London. Tring and Berkhamsted very good for families. Close to everything but also surrounded by beautiful countryside.

    I live in Bricket Wood (Between Watford and St Albans)... we have the 'abbey flyer' train that takes you to Watford in 6 minutes, then connects you can get into London after that. I can be in Euston station in 35 minutes. It's a lovely village also. St albans postcode without the price :)
  • Tropez
    Tropez Posts: 3,696 Forumite
    I think a lot depends on how you define good. You've had lots of helpful suggestions which meet your transport requirements for London & travelling home, but might not be places you'd consider good to live in. Cambridge and Cheltenham are generally considered nice places to live, but are both large towns. You might prefer a nearby village for your green and leafy requirements. Detached houses are available across the home counties, at varying price points influenced by transport links and general niceness/affluence. Essex and Kent are the cheapest home counties.

    If you'd consider Milton Keynes, then Woking is a good contender; 28 minutes into London Waterloo. Not my cup of tea at all, although a place I know well. It's in an excellent location with loads of fast trains to Waterloo every hour, late trains for nights out and loads on the doorstep. The smaller villages like Horsell are nice and within walking distance to the station.

    Henley-on-Thames is very nice if you can afford it and North of London. Everywhere else I know well enough to recommend as a lovely place to live is South of London with trains going in to Waterloo which don't really make sense.

    I suppose good is one of those things that is difficult to define. For me, personally, I'm happy with an area with low crime, good connections, trees, parks and that is relatively quiet. I'm not too interested in availability of pubs and clubs because I'm not a big drinker and shopping isn't really that important to me because I'm quite happy buying things online, although a nice cafe would be welcome. The availability of high speed Internet services is crucial though. I couldn't live somewhere with slow Internet speeds as it would affect my work, as well as ruin my HD streaming from Netflix! :D

    But, of course, I do have to consider my partner and what she would want. Fortunately, she would be looking for much the same, although she would probably like somewhere within easy reach that does have a more comprehensive high-street and also local facilities where she can meet people and make new friends and of course she has her own business interests that could either be relocated or expanded providing the correct factors were nearby for her.

    Cheltenham is quite nice but I may be forced to avoid that area owing to a completely loony ex-girlfriend who lives there! :rotfl:
    Hitchin is an old market town, it has loads of personality and a lot of cool people live there ;)

    Ah, I see. You're trying to lure me there to see how much I look like Fozzy Bear, aren't you?
    LittleMoog wrote: »
    I'm from St Albans/Hemel Hempstead area originally, although we've now moved to Bedford as it's much closer to my work. It's certainly significantly better value for money than St Albans (although not quite as classy ;)) and there are some lovely villages around. The fast train to london goes non-stop into st pancras in less than an hour. Links to west coast mainline not great though, same trainline as St Albans.

    If you want to be on the line to Euston and MK, have you considered Berkhamstead? It's a lovely little town, similarly priced to St Albans though, so housing is pricey. Cheaper option is Hemel Hempstead, there are some nice areas, but you need to pick carefully.

    If you did end up in Docklands/Canary Wharf as opposed to Euston/St Pancras, my BIL actually drives in every day from HH, as it's less hassle than the train (he claims ;)). Maybe an option as you won't be going in every day.

    Well admittedly, I've only driven in London the once, with the aid of a satnav that had clearly gone senile, but it was quite a frustrating experience. I'm not fond of driving really.

    At the risk of further proving that anything south of Birmingham is alien territory to me, I have never heard of Berkhamstead so I shall have to investigate further.
  • loobs40
    loobs40 Posts: 1,232 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 9 July 2012 at 1:36PM
    Tropez wrote: »
    I have never heard of Berkhamstead so I shall have to investigate further.

    Ahh that's the beauty of the place ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkhamsted

    I'd never heard of it until a work colleague invited us to a bbq at her home in Berkhamsted. We moved there from London in 1990 and have been there ever since

    PS It has the best cinema in the country by a country mile http://therexberkhamsted.com/
  • LittleMoog
    LittleMoog Posts: 2,392 Forumite
    Tropez wrote: »
    I suppose good is one of those things that is difficult to define. For me, personally, I'm happy with an area with low crime, good connections, trees, parks and that is relatively quiet. I'm not too interested in availability of pubs and clubs because I'm not a big drinker and shopping isn't really that important to me because I'm quite happy buying things online, although a nice cafe would be welcome. The availability of high speed Internet services is crucial though. I couldn't live somewhere with slow Internet speeds as it would affect my work, as well as ruin my HD streaming from Netflix! :D

    But, of course, I do have to consider my partner and what she would want. Fortunately, she would be looking for much the same, although she would probably like somewhere within easy reach that does have a more comprehensive high-street and also local facilities where she can meet people and make new friends and of course she has her own business interests that could either be relocated or expanded providing the correct factors were nearby for her.

    Cheltenham is quite nice but I may be forced to avoid that area owing to a completely loony ex-girlfriend who lives there! :rotfl:



    Ah, I see. You're trying to lure me there to see how much I look like Fozzy Bear, aren't you?



    Well admittedly, I've only driven in London the once, with the aid of a satnav that had clearly gone senile, but it was quite a frustrating experience. I'm not fond of driving really.

    At the risk of further proving that anything south of Birmingham is alien territory to me, I have never heard of Berkhamstead so I shall have to investigate further.

    Sounds like Berko could be the place for you then :). Lots of cafes and restaurants and little boutiquey shops, but only a few mins to Watford on the train, where there's a huge shopping centre, or a short drive to Brent Cross at the bottom of the M1. Hemel also has a reasonable town centre.

    Re: driving into the city, apparently it's relatively simple, round the M25 to the east of the city and in. I've not done it, but BIL does do it every day and reckons the convenience makes up for the slightly higher cost of fuel as he'd have to drive to the station and then change twice in london to get to work.
    Little monkey born November 2012:j
    Froglet due March 2016 :D
  • Ellejmorgan
    Ellejmorgan Posts: 1,487 Forumite
    loobs40 wrote: »
    Don't even consider Hatfield or Harlow. Really, don't !

    Watford, Berkhamsted and Tring are on the West Coast Main line and all have excellent commuter links to London. Tring and Berkhamsted very good for families. Close to everything but also surrounded by beautiful countryside.



    Nothing wrong with harlow as everywhere there are good and bad bits, some houses are worth 1m..
    Newhall has won so many design awards...

    It has a few rough areas ie Brocklesmead but not that many....
    I always take the moral high ground, it's lovely up here...
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