Help escaping London - but need to commute?

daveb975

Mcodox wrote: »

A great help - thanks all. Will revisit all these new suggestions. We had slightly discounted Esher because esher centre not near station so had looked at hses nr station and not liked the stock, but it is closer in for train journey so will do a trip there. Have been seriously considering Walton with lots of housing stock in budget and gd schools etc, but not much community, still looks a good option though, but the driver to brentford needs to get over bridge. Hampton would be interesting, but so far haven't seen massive improvement in what we wld get for money. Still is a nice area with gd schools etc. So will do drive by again this weekend. Surbiton we have not really given much time as drive looked worse and seemed a bit suburbiton sprawly rather than a distinct area with a character -again will revisit! Keep the suggestions coming this is really helping formulate ideas for further research!

It is the Brentford connection that makes it difficult coming from the South West. It is very close geographically, but Richmond and Kew Bridge makes it a nightmare to get to in rush hour.

I live in Surbiton, but am not sure it is right in your case. There is a distinct centre to the town and it is nice, but it is mainly full of flats. Houses are expensive when they do come on, £700k+ for a semi and a lot more for anything detached.

The rest of Surbiton is a lot cheaper, but it is a bit of a sprawl and you lose the benefits of the river, station etc that make it a nice/convenient place to start with.

As you have kids, I'd probably go a bit further out to the areas recommended like Esher, Weybridge etc as they are probably a bit more family-friendly. They are less busy, more 'Surrey', less 'London', but there are still rough areas to be aware of as there are anywhere.

Unless you really want to be south-west, I'd suggest going the other side of the river to make it a bit easier to get into Brentford. Perhaps try Twickenham if you are looking for somewhere a bit busier or Shepperton if you want to be a bit further out.