[Closed] Where to live near London....

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

[b]Cambridge[/b] 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....

[i]Budget for a 1-2 bed place is 120,000ish[/i]

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
[url= http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E72&insId=3&maxPrice=120000&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying ]A few flats at £120K[/url]

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:

[img] [/img]

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....

[url= http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45798409.html?premiumA=true ]Brighton[/url]

[url= http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44135785.html ]Colchester[/url]

[url= http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32384337.html ]Sarfend[/url]

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!

South London =Surrey & Sussex -great riding at Surrey hills /South Downs.
North(&west)London = Bedfordshire ,Hertfordshire Buckinghamshire -great riding along Chiltern ridge and more.
East London you know,Epping slop,not so great riding.

somewhere in kent with access to HS1?

Assume you don't mean riding, at that pace... in which case, why didn't you ride?

I used a folding bike to a variety of Enfield stations and then from Liverpool Street i cycled over to Waterloo. 12hr shifts riding a bicycle made the train the preferable option for the bulk of the commute for a majority of the time, when i did ride it was 75mins.

I don't think you can even get a shoebox for £120k in London anymore. Even Yuppies are pretending that West Norwood and Catford are 'desireable' to hide the fact they're living somewhere they never ever thought they'd live in their wildest nightmares 🙂

Get onto Rightmove using the Property Bee add-on and see how many places are dropping in asking price or sales falling through and ask yourself if it's actually a good time to buy or not...

Def think about renting in the area for 6 months+ so you can check it out...

Opinonion seems to be that London prices will plateau for a while and commuter places will increase. My house in village near Leatherhead hasn't gone up that much in recent years from what I've been told.

qwerty - fair play, you're excused. 🙂

Burgess Hill? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35938856.html

Cycling distance from South Downs & Stanmer Park, plus its literally next to the station .

Another possible website to use is http://www.commutefrom.com/ as you can set out what house price you are looking for; what travel time via train you want to particular stations in London and it will tell you the average property price.

Aylesbury should be affordable.

Only 45 mins ride into the Chilterns too.

@phil, as above I was going to suggest Guildford area (I lived there for 25 years) but a 2 bed flat is £200-250. Have a look round Dorking, you are actually closer to the best riding but I think prices are going to still be high £100's for flats. You might like to look around Aldershot / Camberly / Bracknell. Before I get flamed for suggestions I think you are going to struggle to find anywhere 90 mins from London where you can find a flat for £120. Also don't forget commute costs, it used to cost me about £600 a month to get to work with parking/train/tube costs

As a Kentishman that lived in Guildford, that would have been my suggestion. But somewhere in the North Kent Downs might come in closer to that kind of budget than Surrey.
23 minutes HS1 from Ebbsfleet to StPancras. Towns around there are dumps though (imho), but out of town is fine.
Not just convenience getting to/from work, and to/from some trails to ride on, but also what sort of access do you want or need to airports and the like for business? (only ask, since I've lived within 30minutes of the check in desk of the largest european airport hubs for so long that I couldn't imagine living somewhere where getting to the airport for a ski trip or holiday takes effort).

somewhere in kent with access to HS1?

Ashford is a pox-hole, and there isn't much in the way of MTB'ing to make up for that.

As a Kentishman that lived in Guildford, that would have been my suggestion. But somewhere in the North Kent Downs might come in closer to that kind of budget than Surrey.
23 minutes HS1 from Ebbsfleet to StPancras. Towns around there are dumps though (imho), but out of town is fine.
Not just convenience getting to/from work, and to/from some trails to ride on, but also what sort of access do you want or need to airports and the like for business? (only ask, since I've lived within 30minutes of the check in desk of the largest european airport hubs for so long that I couldn't imagine living somewhere where getting to the airport for a ski trip or holiday takes effort).

What is the riding like in the Kent Downs ? I have been looking around there a bit as it is way cheaper than Surrey, and is not too bad for access to the sea either.

I don't need access to airports for work at all, and after 18 months of on and off travelling, think I will be in one place for a little while 🙂

was mostly a roadie back then, and there's more than plenty of that, both in Kent and Surrey. north downs are hilly, plus there's also the Weald, but it's very much a grab a map and explore.
didn't really properly defect to MTB until I moved to holland (work that one out).

Reading. Has some good riding straight out of the door. 120k might not be enough though.

I hear croydon is nice

Give me £120K and you can stay at our place for 10 years, exactly 1.5 hours from Waterloo, some of the locals are a bit weird though

Kemble (Cirencester, Malmsbury or Tetbury). Nearer than Stroud, and most importantly, not Stroud.

I would second reading, good road riding from the town, some offroad routes as well up towards mapledurham, and a bit further out you have the whole of the chilterns and swinleys not far either. On the motorway for escapes and its 23 mins to paddington in the mornings. I think you might struggle on 120k though! Also don't forget to allow for the couple of thousand needed for your season ticket.

Any of the towns along the a25 from Guildford to sevenoaks would probably do a reasonable job of being nice places to live and convenient for London. Unfortunately that's why they're so expensive! Sometimes things do crop up a little bit further in, so maybe have a look at Epsom, coulsdon, caterham or Biggin hill?

In Rutland (Oakham 50 minutes from London) 120k would get you something decent and it's somewhere you would want to be at weekends. I've lived in Manchester, Surrey, Islington, Australia and none of these places made me as happy as I am living here.

Oakham 50 minutes from London

How? By helicopter?

Reading is all that comes to mind. There are flats around for your budget. With Crossrail on the way as well, I guess that prices should keep pace.

MILTON KEYNES!
Not the hipsters choice - but 170k could get you a victorian terrace in the very up and coming Wolverton area. Not far from Woburn woods

You can live inside the M25 and by a mainline station for your budget

Rather you than me though

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46627237.html

[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/london-property-market-boosted-by-people-pretending-grim-places-are-great-2013053070398 ]Living in London sounds great![/url]

😆

I had that sort of budget when I was looking ten years ago in Dorking (good combination of local riding and access to the South Coast for keelboat racing). I grew up in Leatherhead, by the way.

Did the commute into Soho for about five years - it was about 90 minutes door to door. Covent Garden is easier - an almost a pleasant walk from Waterloo, too.

As said above, look at renting to see if a town's good for you - although prices will go up in the mean time, of course.

Oakham 50 minutes from London

How? By helicopter?

Indeed, [url= http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/OKM/London/today/1000/dep ]1:40[/url] with a change in Leicester...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46627237.html

I wonder if you have to sleep in a coffin? 🙂

Ipswich if your idea of a fun day on the bike is lots of miles on rural bridleways with the odd small hill thrown in. (A flexible approach to cheeky trails is a good idea too). The only fly in the ointment is the mainline rolling stock is very old (as in it was brought in from GWR after one service life) and we're miles from any decent hills.

Not being funny but isn't the job/location/re numeration thing a bit skewed? What's the point of working in covent garden and being payed a wage that means 120k is your mortgage limit and you will be paying a significant chunk of monthly income on travel?
Or is your job so very specific that you can only do it there?

The only fly in the ointment is the mainline rolling stock is very old (as in it was brought in from GWR after one service life) and we're miles from any decent hills.

Eh? The mk3 coaches are infinitely nicer than most commuter rolling stock, and they didn't come from Great Western, who are still using their mk3s in HSTs. The loco hauled mk3s are different, Abellio Greater Anglia have had some for years, others came from Virgin after they introduced Voyagers and then later Pendolinos.

Plenty of them still in service with FGW, East Coast, Cross Country, EastMidlands Trains and Virgin West Coast, plus derivatives in EMUs for most of the major TOCs.

Derby is 90 minutes away from London by train the only problem a peak time return ticket is about £170 a day.....

[url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/all-london-properties-to-become-timeshares-2014031484586 ]TIme-share?[/url]

FWIW, back when I was commuting in to town, my train (Exeter-Waterloo) was always clean and tidy, and I almost always got a seat in both directions (Bar about three occasions when there was weather or "passenger action" disruptions).

Just about an hour of train time, so enough to have a nice coffee, read the paper and do the crossword.

Brompton was the key, though. Made a massive difference to the "either end" element of commuting.

What's the point of working in covent garden and being payed a wage that means 120k is your mortgage limit and you will be paying a significant chunk of monthly income on travel?

I hear croydon is nice

CaptainFlashheart - Am I missing something? How can Exeter to London be "an hour of train time". IS there another Exeter that's not in Devon?

Should have read "(Exeter to Waterloo line)", sorry!

You take public transport Flashy? With the masses? Urghhh. I had you down as more...

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