Getting out of London

Does anyone have any suggestions of places to live outside London, with a more rural-y village/small town feel, and still commutable into London?  Affordable would be nice, but I know it's a stretch impossible in the southeast! 

A bit of background - DH and I live and work in London, but DH hates it and is unhappy.  He never really wanted to move to London (he's originally from a small village in the southwest), but my job is in London, and it's a really good one so we agreed to give it a go.  We've stuck it out for years, but he's really not enjoying it here and is at a point where it's really affecting his physical and mental health.  I would prefer to stay with my job, and we've decided that the best solution is probably to find a place outside London, with a more rural village-y feel, but close enough that I could commute into London for my job while DH finds a job locally and doesn't have to deal with London commuting and working. 

Problem is, I don't know where to start looking!

The ideal requirements:

- train terminating at King's Cross or St. Pancras or Euston (I can walk to work from there, and that would be great)
- commute time around one hour
- rent < or = what we pay now (about £1,100/month, excluding council tax and all utilities); less if travel expenses are going to be through the roof (currently, we're in zone 3 and use a zone 1-3 travelcard)

Any suggestions?  A colleague recently moved to Welwyn Garden City, and first impressions are good so far.  Another colleague is in St. Albans, but I've heard that's quite pricey.  We were originally thinking further out in the south/southeast area (maybe Kent), but we're already in southeast London and the trains have been... less than reliable.

To be honest, I wouldn't. Sympathy for your husband, but commuting 1 hour on fantastically unreliable British trains is what drove me out of my last job. They are ALWAYS late, cost a fortune, and make your day soooo long. My husband used to drive for about 40-50 minutes to his job, and the stress and expense of that really wore on him as well. Now I work from home and he drives 10 minutes and we're both much happier. Obviously, different people are different and your experience may be better, but I'd strongly recommend that you think really carefully about what you'll be taking on. Also, have a frank discussion with your employer about why you're moving and what their policy will be if you're late because of the trains. My old boss was a real b**ch about it and blamed me for not living closer, even though I repeatedly explained my reasons for living far away.

Good luck!

I'm an hour from London by train (to Waterloo, a bit less to Paddington) and I would NOT recommend coming this way (Wokingham).  A monthly train ticket is £435.   

I hope you guys find a solution that works for both of you.   

A commute time of one hour is going to be hard to find coupled with a lovely rural village, that's what everyone else wants as well.  Consequently, all the houses near the train station will be very expensive.  Don't forget you've got to add on the trip to the local train station, and the walk from Euston to your work.  Before you know it, the daily commute is more like 1.5 hours or more one way.  I do that each day, and it can be brutal, exhausting and soul destroying. 

Anyway, there are websites dedicated to helping commuters decide what station stop to live at, so find one of those for knowledgeable advice from hardcore commuters. 
I live in Twickenham and it's fairly agreeable and possibly could be within your criteria if you are flexible.  It's nice because the commute to London is doable and it's leafy green, but you can also drive south to get jobs in other places like your husband might prefer. 

Another suggestion that moving away from London and trying to commute into the city may not be feasible:

Not London, but my mum's company recently moved their offices from the small town she lives in to the centre of Bristol... and it's been an absolute nightmare for her to commute.

The new office is only 15 miles from home and is normally only a 30-minute drive in good traffic, but her commute has gone from a 5-10 minute cycle ride to a 1.25-hour commute each way, due to rush hour traffic. Instead of leaving the house at 8:50 am to start work at 9 am, she now has to leave at 7:45am, drive into the city, park in a residential street and then walk 30 minutes to the office!

After more than 25 years at the old office less than a mile from her house, her work day has increased by almost 3 hours and being in her early 60's now, she's struggling to cope with it all. Luckily, her company is allowing her to work from home a few days a week to compensate.


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We considered this for a hot minute until we added up the train costs. Even moving out to Kingston/Twickenham area wasn't feasible due to job locations and once you add up all the time well.. we decided it was better to live closer in and find the best place we could find to address our bugbears (noisy neighbors upstairs, loud high road) and then try and take off on weekends to the country. Folks who commute in daily from Brighton or down that direction I just can't imagine.

For this to make sense to me would be to have at least two if not three days work from home per week to get a break from the travel. Do you have a job (or could you move to a job) where that would be possible? Also, moving out also means having to buy a car in order to get around, which is another expense.

St Albans/Harpenden/Bedford etc are pretty decent - the Thameslink on that line is more reliable than most, there are speedy services, and it goes right into Kings X. I know there are some high speed train things that come into Blackfriars, but I think they go out to Kent. Also, don't forget about Crossrail coming online next year - that is going all the way out to Maidenhead and Reading and will get you to at least Farringdon, though that is a bit of a hike between stations. And I know nothing about the west out there.

To be honest, I wouldn't. Sympathy for your husband, but commuting 1 hour on fantastically unreliable British trains is what drove me out of my last job. They are ALWAYS late, cost a fortune, and make your day soooo long. My husband used to drive for about 40-50 minutes to his job, and the stress and expense of that really wore on him as well. Now I work from home and he drives 10 minutes and we're both much happier. Obviously, different people are different and your experience may be better, but I'd strongly recommend that you think really carefully about what you'll be taking on. Also, have a frank discussion with your employer about why you're moving and what their policy will be if you're late because of the trains. My old boss was a real b**ch about it and blamed me for not living closer, even though I repeatedly explained my reasons for living far away.

Good luck!

This actually made me feel better about asking my husband to move away from London. We're planning on both job hunting near his parents in the SW, but obviously I'll move to London temporarily if needed. He lives just south of Lewisham now, and because of the completely unreliable rail lines often ends up with a 2hr commute home. Can't imagine how bad that would be further out.

The warnings about Bristol are also appreciated - I'd read that traffic there can be a nightmare and it sounds like it's getting worse. We'd been looking there too because it was in our budget, but I have no interest in being a place where half the day will be spent in traffic!

Good luck to the OP. I have a friend in Godalming and it seems pretty & simple there, but I don't know how well it's connected to London or if that'd be too far out.

Any suggestions?  A colleague recently moved to Welwyn Garden City, and first impressions are good so far.  Another colleague is in St. Albans, but I've heard that's quite pricey.  We were originally thinking further out in the south/southeast area (maybe Kent), but we're already in southeast London and the trains have been... less than reliable.

You can go a lot farther north than St Albans and still have a shot at meeting your requirements.

We live in the countryside outside Biggleswade, which is 45 miles or so north of London. Depending on which train you get, getting to Kings Cross takes 30, 45, or 60 minutes (45 runs the most often).

£1000/month will get you a 3-bed semi detached house, and a 12 month rail card for Kings Cross is £4360 (£5656 if you add a London zones 1-6).

If those rail card numbers didn't give you a heart attack, I'd suggest looking at other places along Great Northern Rail's network map of trains into Kings Cross, and also whichever train companies serve St Pancras and Euston to see what villages/towns might work for you.

Heck, depending on which train you get, it takes less than an hour on the Virgin East Coast train from Peterborough to Kings Cross! OK, the annual season ticket costs £6300, but if the cost of your current travel ticket is around £1500, you could pay as much as £700/month in Peterborough (looks pretty easy to do) and not be any worse off.
I know nothing about Peterborough or the environs, just an example of how far out you could be if you don't limit yourself to the obvious London commuting routes!

Good point about Peterborough- I'm not sure about rent prices there, but I'm in Lincoln and you can rent a whole house here for only about £500-600/month.


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