Hi All 🙂

I am newish to the UK, work in London and want to buy a small flat somewhere within 90 minutes by train to the city and with good riding almost on the door step.

I ride mainly cross country trails, Epping Forest is my local at the moment, and would like some gentle hills and single track rather than gnarly downhill.

I have been looking around the interweb for a while and am confused as hell as to what is a good place to live. Scarily MumsNet seems to be the most informed and least inflammatory source of information so I thought I would try for some real expertise and ask fellow mountain bikers as I am not interested in schools, creches or knitting circles, just good riding and a decent pub.

Thoughts ?

Surrey area – Guildford, Dorking ?

The North Downs gnarr is then on your doorstep.

Leeds.

Seriously….. 🙂

within 90 minutes by train to the city

Cambridge or Brighton or Stroud?

3 hrs commuting per day, that is 15hrs per week. Think very carefully about that. It’s not really that much fun, how much will you be paying a month on train fairs to live there vs living closer or even better not in London at all.

Leeds.

Seriously…..

Falls flat on the 90 minute thing, by quite a margin…

Rough budget? Guildford area is nice, and decent train service, Godalming/Haslemere slightly further down and nicer to live in IMO, but marginally further commute.

Horsham way is far cheaper, slower trains (although geographically not that far away), but you go into London Bridge, so better for the City than Waterloo.

Dorking is nice, middling commute wise – slower than Guildford, quicker than Horsham, all the best riding right on your doorstep.

Brighton. Less than an hour (assuming they’re running) on the train.

OP – how much you want to pay to buy? Village or town? Nightlife important? What else?

Guildford best compromise around Surrey maybe but I prefer Dorking – ended up near Leatherhead.

Only 2 hours from Leeds to London. Could rent a little pied-a-terre in the city with the money saved from having to actually live there permanently 🙂

I am only being semi-serious of course, but if you’re prepared to travel 90 minutes each way anyway…..

How much do pied-a-terres in the city rent for these days?

And what good riding is there on your doorstep in Leeds?

Where in London exactly as if you want to be nearer Paddington or Waterloo (for example) then that will make a difference…

with good riding almost on the door step

Cambridge or Brighton or Stroud?

?????

Thanks 🙂

Budget for a 1-2 bed place is 120,000ish. I am not really interested in night life, been there done that 🙂 Somewhere to eat out and the odd pint of proper beer or a decent pinot are my entertainment requirements.

I would probably stay in London with the better half most commute nights so this is more a weekend pad, or when I feel the need to escape. So travel costs are not critical, though obviously a consideration.

I hadn’t really looked at the North Downs town much yet, so good advice!

Leatherhead, Guildford, Dorking and surrounds for county towns with easy access to both Waterloo and the hills and downs.

Surbiton, Kingston, Thames Ditton, Twickenham, Teddington, Hampton for nice places to live 1/2 hours drive to good riding and easier and cheaper for London stations as all inside Zone 6. Basically A3 corridor is what you want. On your budget you’ll be further out and most likely shared ownership I’m afraid 120k is about 2/3rds what you’ll need, look in New Malden it’s cheaper and coming up.

You won’t get much for £120,000 that has a decent train service to that there London.

You will probably need to be buying in a village that is a 3 or 4 miles from the actual railway station.

Possibly the Chilterns a consideration also.

Budget for a 1-2 bed place is 120,000ish.

😯

that’s probably going to be one very deprived area

Farnborough? Close to Swinley, Tunnel Hill and the locations used for the Gorrick events. Frequent trains to Waterloo, should be able to get something reasonable within your budget……

You won’t get much for £120,000 that has a decent train service to that there London.

You will probably need to be buying in a village that is a 3 or 4 miles from the actual railway station.

And the rest….

Budget for a 1-2 bed place is 120,000ish

Not Brighton.

woking/bracknell/aldershot…

Swinley, tunnel hill, Ceasers camp, porridge potts all near by…
surrey hills not that far away.
Woking is well served to london…
not quite as expensive as Guildford, but then again its definitely so pretty…

If you look at the strava heat map you can get a good look at concentrations of single track in the area…

Bristol!

See what you mean about Surrey prices 🙂 quick look and time to move on…

I don’t really have too much of a preference around mainline London stations, I work in Covent Garden (sorry forgot that if I say “city” it has a specific meaning here… In NZ the ‘city’ is anywhere vaguely near the centre of town 🙂 )

I have heard of, and know loosely where they are, but of but have no idea about the riding or where to live in the Chilterns…

Bedwyn / Pewsey looking West, but you won’t get a place in Bedwyn for 120K and Pewsey might be a stretch if you’re looking for door to door in 90 mins.

Andover a possibility, lots of good riding in the area, straight into Waterloo in an hour, house prices in town cheap enough (possibly).

that’s probably going to be one very deprived area

Welcome to Leeds 🙂

Aylesbury
A few flats at £120K

Nz to the south East… Well that’s a big level of disappointment

Woking is a good shout and in budget.

johndoh – Member

And what good riding is there on your doorstep in Leeds?

a surprisingly large amount of great riding.

Budget for a 1-2 bed place is 120,000ish.

Thats gonna be tricky!

For 150k, we have…

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31288266.html

or

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48692246.html

😀

Woking is a good shout and in budget.

Really?

Well I see this but it’s not really Woking:

As above, do your research on where you’ll be working in London, the mainline station you train into will dictate if your looking north, east, south or west of London.

I used to live in Enfield, North London and door to door it would take me around 80mins to get to work at Waterloo (13miles). From Stroud, Gloucestershire the train journey into Paddington is 80mins (Approx 90miles?).

flexi time would enable you to travel outside of rush hour and would be highly beneficial.

As above, do your research on where you’ll be working in London, the mainline station you train into will dictate if your looking north, east, south or west of London.

As above, Covent Garden.

So, I’d recommend looking at the Waterloo lines.

With that in mind, North Hants is a well worth a look. Nice trail riding on the doorstep, fast line to Waterloo, and some great local beer/cheese/buffalo/gin to keep you happy! 😀

Budget for a 1-2 bed place is 120,000ish

i properly LOL’d.

although….

Brighton

Colchester

Sarfend

qwerty – Member
I used to live in Enfield, North London and door to door it would take me around 80mins to get to work at Waterloo (13miles).

Assume you don’t mean riding, at that pace… in which case, why didn’t you ride? 😕

I hate taking the train and avoid wherever possible

The budget is a challenge, but you could find somewhere cheap closer to London and within about 15-20 miles of London. You could then cycle into London, thereby being more fun and cheaper

You could also cycle to the station, and then cycle from the station to your place of work

There are plenty of small flats for that money in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge.

Only 45 minutes from London Bridge.

Some beautiful countryside but the riding isn’t great though.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/10958987/Map-where-cheap-property-prices-meet-cheap-train-lines.html

With that in mind, North Hants is a well worth a look.

Aye, not a bad shout. Farnborough/Aldershot/Fleet area you’ll probably get a 1 bed flat for that.

Crawley/Redhill perhaps worth a look. The former is quite err… cosmopolitan!