Living between London and Southampton

Hi there everyone!

I need to decide about taking a post at the Univ. of Southampton, knowing that my husband's best bet for work would be in London (financial services).  In such a predicament, and considering our full team includes our 2 year old daughter and my mom (aka the nanny!), where would you want to live?

We've looked at the maps of the trains, and it appears Wimbledon would be a good bet.  Any towns/neighbrohoods that would get him into the City with relative ease, while getting me on the train to Southampton a few days a week--without mutliple train changes? It's an academic post, so I would not have a daily need to get to campus.  But, I do want a reasonable commute.  And, proximity to London would be ideal for all of the obvious expat-in-the-capitol reasons!

Any advice?

Thanks so much in advance!

Wow!  No opinions, huh?  Maybe this is a kinda unusual choice to have to make?  I am completely clueless about this whole area, at least first-hand. 

But, how about opinions on Wimbledon as a place to settle a small family, but still feel like there are things to walk to and do?  Any Wimbledon residents have suggestions?  Maybe towns around Wimbledon on the train route to Southampton?

Thanks, tons, for any feedback at all.  Everything will be helpful somehow!

I think there is a UKY-er who lives in Wimbledon. Hopefully, she'll see your post and reply!

I'm in Wales so can't offer any advice. But welcome and good luck to you and your family!

Winchester is a pretty good in between-er because there are more direct trains between Winchester and London then Wimbeldon and Southampton.  To get to Wimbeldon to Southampton you have to go all the way into London and come back out on the same train track you were just on.   Housing will be probably be cheaper in Winchester than Wimbeldon as it is a little more out of London
www.southwesttrains.co.uk

You haven't really given any preference to how long of a journey you want between home and Southampton and what time you'd need to be in Southampton (also, how quickly you can get from Soton Station to your workplace but I'll assume that bit is negligible).

It sounds as though you'd like to be quite close to London, but just how close must you be?  Would you consider living in Surrey or do you want to be in Greater London proper?  Wimbledon seems to have the occassional direct service to Soton but mostly you will need to change at places like Clapham Junction or Woking.

Woking is in Surrey and is about 1 hour's journey to Soton Station, however, going from Wimbledon you're probably looking at closer to 1 hr 45 mins.
Maybe this isn't so bad if you only need to be there a few days a week and you don't have to be at work particularly early.  But if you're doing 3 or 4 days a week and need to be in by 9:00 at the latest you could be looking at some very early morning departures (6:58 train gets to Soton at 8:40).

As Whispersarah suggested, Winchester is only 15-30 mins by train.  But then you're quite a ways from London with a journey close to 1 hour.

If you feel that a long-ish journey is fine and you must be in the London area your best bet might be Clapham as the trip from Clapham Junction can be as fast as 1 hr. 20 mins.

Why on earth are you thinking of taking the train!?

Car is faster and cheaper.

Thanks so much, all!

First, no real care about time, though closer to London is likely better.  My post at the Univ. of Southampton is a faculty gig, which means lots of time flexibility and no set hours in the office.  My husband is in a traditional finance consulting post, which will likely have terrible hours in the city.  We are considering Clapham--what do you think about this area?

BUT, we have been seriously considering Woking, and I am glad to see it mentioned.  Looks like more bang for your buck there, and my husband is a cyclist and thinks the riding out of Woking might actually be pretty nice.  What are your thoughts about lifestyle for young family--interesting things to do, good shops, etc?

I've basically decided against driving because I can work on the train and include it into the useful work time of my day.  Driving just seems like a monumental waste of time.  But, I am used to public transportation, so it may just be ingrained in me. 

Thanks for all the feedback and I'd be grateful for more.  We are definitely making the move and really hope to get off to a great start...

Best,
Roberta

http://www.woking.gov.uk/

Check out the forums there.  I did, and we decided against Woking.  Of course, I'm not in the UK now, but members were complaining about local crime rates quite a bit.

Anyhoo, just a resource to look into!

Woking's not too bad, really.  It's a commuter town, has good shopping, close to London. 
Truthfully, though London and Southhampton are really far apart, not commutable at all. 
I would agree that your best bet is futher out-Winchester type way. Although you might find that your husband can find a pretty good job in Southampton or Portsmouth.  Especially once you start paying for all that commuting.  Trains and petrol are really really expensive. 

Very interesting; thanks!  The distance is not that scary to me; 1 hour 15 min from Waterloo to Southampton Central is not so much worse than commutes in the States (California and Massachusetts come to mind).  Woking to Southampton is like 50 minutes, so not bad at all, but we care a lot about quality of life...  Clapham Junction takes 10 min. or so off the commute, so that may be the winner.  So hard to picture all this from over here in Boston, but we'll be in the UK next month to look at places ourselves.

Thanks, again, everyone!

We lived in Winchester for a few months when we first came over and currently live about 20 minutes away in a small village.  If you decide to move out that way feel free to PM me.

Thanks HantsMamma, and all the rest of you.  We're coming over on the househunt excursion in a few weeks and will look at Winchester, Woking, and Clapham Junction/Battersea.  I am stressed out!!  But, I keep thinking that in a few months, we'll be settled, I'll be into my new job, and it will be a grand adventure...  Right now, though, I am just trying not to freak...   

Why on earth are you thinking of taking the train!?

Car is faster and cheaper.

Do you really think it is? I pay somewhere around £2000 for my annual train/tube ticket which gets me from South Bucks to central London. DH drives approximately 5 miles and pays about £20 a week in petrol. If I drove it would easily be double the petrol or more, plus the congestion charge. And I'd be sitting in traffic every day whereas on the train I can read, etc. and be there in about the same amount of time (about an hour door to door)....

Very interesting; thanks!  The distance is not that scary to me; 1 hour 15 min from Waterloo to Southampton Central...

My boss does this commute every day... then takes the bus up to Holborn from Waterloo.  He lives in Winchester.