From Princeton to London III - Lodging

Hi all,
I've posted for advice on where to live and have gotten good advice thus far. As my wife and I continue to narrow our search, we turn to you all once again.

There are two main areas of focus for our housing search: 1) Find temporary lodging for the month of August, and 2) Find longer term housing for September and beyond.

Below are our considerations:

• Location: Since I will be working in Shepherds Bush, I'd like our living space to be within a 30 minute commute (using public transportation) from there. In addition, since my wife will be home with our daughter, AND we will not have a car, our home should be walking-friendly and accessible to shops, grocerys stores, and maybe a little downtown/Main Street area.
• Family Friendly: Since we have a young daughter, having neighborhood kids for her to play with would be a big plus.
• Safety: I've heard numerous times that London is very safe, but I've also heard there are places to avoid (e.g., Peckham). I'd like to make sure wherever we live is quite safe, and not near the places to avoid.
• Cost: I'm looking to stay within £1250 PCM.
  

All that said, of course West London looks appealing. However, based on what I've seen on RightMove, staying within the aforementioned budget is a challenge, not necessarily impossible, but a challenge.
I've also seen that a good number of the "no-fly zones" are in Southeast London, and prices are lower, so that makes sense.

We've been looking at most areas within the Borough of Ealing, as well as Chiswick, but would like to expand our search to include other areas that might be similar - just to better our odds. So, I'm asking if you all can provide your input and recommendations based on all the info above.

AND FINALLY, can you provide any additional recommendations on finding short term (2-4 weeks) lodging? We've looked on AirBnB, Roomarama, Booking.com, and the Oakwood website. If there's any other "insider" source that someone might be familiar with, please let me know.

Thanks so much!
Al

You could also try spareroom.com, but that's more geared towards renting a room in a shared house, and might not be ideal for your situation.

Best of luck!

I just can't stay away from posts like these! So I'm going to roll up my sleeves and see if there's anything I can do to help.

Shepherd's Bush is a great area to look around. You'll be able to find something probably north of Uxbridge Road, and it'll likely be a 1bed flat if you want quality over space. However, that means nearby your wife will have Goldhawk Road, Westfield and it's not a far walk to Ravenscourt Park with its lido and swings. Chiswick is fantastic if you can find anything in your price range.

Now SBush has some great transport connections, so you can look further afield around the railway stations that go there. Balham and surrounds is a great little place. Nice supermarkets (Waitrose, which your DW will love), and nearby she'll find many green spaces. Balham is 30 mins by rail to SBush.

Also, Clapham Junction is your friend when looking for places, as you can connect there for your train to work. It's a bit further out, 40 mins, but Twickenham and surrounds (St Margarets is lovely) could be a good option. Plenty to do, right on the river, a very pretty area (that has it's not so pretty parts, but don't all areas of London?). This is a better bet for finding a 2bed.

Nothing more to add about short term than what you have and what's been said before. Estate agents sometimes have short term on the books. If it were me, I'd airbnb it or cough up the reddies (if my husband would ever let me) with onefinestay.com, if only because their flats look amazing.

Best of luck!!