Ideas for London commuting areas?

lostinrates

OK, so DH is lodging in London and I am living with my family. It seemed sensible since we will be buying together for the first time to hold out, but things are coming to a head and I really think living together is becoming essential so we are going to go back to looking for somewhere to rent for at least six months or so.

We could live anywhere commutable to London. DH finishes work at silly hours so, M25ish is the limit really, unless anyone knows of LATE last trains goin further.

Other complications include we have pets (2 cats one dog) and would need to be in an equestrian area to put the horse in livery easily. Garden is essential, and off road parking, but only one bed really vital. We would opt for cheaper rent over salubrious area but don't know the suburbs apart from to the west (surrey) very well.

Ideas welcome, the M25ish makes a HUGE search area:o

damianrsmith

lostinrates.

Myself and my wife were in a similar situation a couple of years ago. We needed somewhere commutable to London but wanted to be in a house (garden, drive etc). We chose to live in Farnborough, Hampshire. The town is pretty rubbish but has a lot of re-development going on at the moment.

I live down a road 5 minutes from the station which houses quite a few commuters. The mainline station to Waterloo is a very very popular commuting line and fast trains take 35 minutes to Waterloo. Other trains that stop at Brookwood and Woking take around 40-45 minutes. For me and my wife the advantages of being able to buy a house rather than a flat out here outweighed the commuting time and costs (about £72/week to Waterloo). We did used to live in Teddington and the trains took almost as long to get into town.

I work pretty rubbish hours in the city but the latest train is around 1am. After that I tend to get a cab, courtesy of work, which usually costs around £70-90 depending on where I am working in town.

It is about 10 miles downt the M3 from the M25 so probably outside the area you are looking.

Anyway, something to think about.

Regards
Damian

nrsql

Woking has very good connections to Waterloo - takes about 25 miins and a lot of trains - under 10 mins apart usually during rush hour.
From there it's easy to get to the City or Canary Wharf.
There are a lot of trains back until just after midnight and then another one at 1:05.

A few lines join at Waterloo so if you go a bit further out you will get less trains.

Car parrking at Woking is expensive though but buses are frequent if yyou are on a route.

Depending on where you want to get to look at trains into Paddington too - they can be quick.

Going to an express mainline station can be a lot quicker than the underground for a much greater distance depending on where you need to get to. Think how far you can get on the underground in 25 mins.

Financially_Prudent

Agree about Woking and surrounding areas as an option. I commute from Brookwood and work in C. London, takes approx 35 mins from Brookwood to Waterloo in the morning, plus there are two fast trains back at peak times, with Brookwood being the first stop, so a definite bonus and only takes 30 mins.

After peak times, the trains stop at intermediate stations: Clapham Junction, Surbiton, Walton on Thames, Weybridge, Woking, so journey times are longer, say 45 - 50 minutes.

Woking suburbs are semi-rural - Bisley, West End, Knaphill so possible options for the horses.

SquatNow

Luton's a sh1thole but very cheap and trains run all night pretty much due to the airport.

Plenty of horse livery as Bedfordshire is the "horse county" apparently. Grass-keep only is cheap as chips and plenty of good bridleways for weekend hacks.

JonWB

I'd put West Byfleet (stop before Woking) on your list. It's small, lots of places nearby for horses etc.

It has stopping trains in the morning (around 35-40 minutes) into Waterloo with loads of space as they start at Woking (get's full by Surbiton), then a few fast trains in the evening. I eat breatfast on the train and read a paper and it is quite relaxing.

When I leave my job in the city at 17:35, I'm home by 18:35 and always get a seat. No car, no hassle, a 10 minute walk from the station across the canal and up a private road to Woodham, it works brilliantly.

A cab from Woking is around £7 if going out for an evening. You don't have to bother 'timing' a train they are so frequent to Woking. Easy to get home from central London in an hour when going out, which I also love.

A word of warning - I found commutting from Woking in the morning a nightmare. Any direct train tends to be full or nearly full departing (from 06:45 - 08:30), so although only 25 minutes and lots of trains almost always have to stand.

One thing to watch out for is parking at most of the main train stations in Surrey is getting very expensive. I think it is £6 per day a Guildford and Woking.

hostman

Luton? :P

40 mins into London by train.
One hour into canary wharf by car.

garbadine

Another vote for Luton (who'd have thought?!) When my other half and I were looking to buy our first place, also both needing to commute into London, we drew a big circle around London and found 2 places we could afford: Luton and bits of Essex (around M25).

Luton isn't the most beautiful place in the world, but we liked it - out of the town centre it's like any other suburb in the UK. And lots of nice countryside fairly close - to me, it felt like the last bit of London before you hit proper greenery to the north - nothing much between Luton and Bedford really in terms of towns/cities.

Train links were really good too - 40 minutes into London, with trains every 15 minutes until fairly late evening (I think around 11pm), and then every half hour after that until past 1 in the morning (this was a year or so ago, so probably worth checking).

LilMissEmmylou

luton might be a dump but harpenden aint bad? only another stop or go along the line

I liked Wycombe - Amersham and Chesham(sp?) are on the tube map and near to Wycombe so only 30 mins to central London. That would b pretty cool and lots of greenery around Wycombe to find stabling for horses tbh its where I want to head to next year when im done with uni

lisahobden

LilMissEmmylou wrote: »

luton might be a dump but harpenden aint bad? only another stop or go along the line

I liked Wycombe - Amersham and Chesham(sp?) are on the tube map and near to Wycombe so only 30 mins to central London. That would b pretty cool and lots of greenery around Wycombe to find stabling for horses tbh its where I want to head to next year when im done with uni

Have you SEEN the house prices in Harpenden?!?!?!

It is one of the Top 10 most expensive areas in the whole country.... but the trains are bloody good!

900se

Have a look around Barnet/Cockfosters/Oakwood. Mainline trains (to Kings Cross and Moorgate) and tubes (Piccadilly) into central London. Can get in to the centre easily within the hour. Just inside the M25. Lots of green spaces (stables and riding school almost outside Oakwood tube station).