I lived in Richmond for 18 years and then Teddington for a 3 years. Richmond is fab but very pricey, lots of bars, restaurants etc and the river and Richmond Park on your doorstep, trains to town and the tube are also very handy, the fast train is 16 minutes to Waterloo. We moved to Teddington as we needed more space after having a kid, a two bed house in Teddington is the same price as a one bed flat in Richmond, somewhere around £1200-£1400 pcm and £200 in council tax. I really loved Teddington but its very sleepy and family friendly and the trains are a bit slow and crap, Bushy park is nice for a stroll and there are nice pub type bimbles along the Thames and river Wey to Godalming. Most of west London is very nice but I would say Barnes, Richmond and Teddington are the nicest bits, Wimbledon is also nice but very pricey and for some reason has never really floated my boat.