I was brought up in the London suburbs ... a place called Petts Wood in North West Kent; plenty of good rail services into different London termini, the woods where daylight saving was invented to walk in, and a friendly place. Just the other day, we were chatting with Dad about why him and Mom chose Petts Wood when they moved from Liverpool in 1959, and what a good choice it had been.
But there's plenty else to choose from ... problem being that the closer to London you are, the more expensive nice housing tends to be; a trade off against travel time and costs. Where in London is your husband going to be working? You might do well to set up a commute that doesn't involve a long tube ride too. The second in command at Dad's office lived in Burnham on the line out of Paddington - another good place I understand, but he always commented that the 2 or 3 miles from London's Paddington terminus to their office in Moorgate took just as long as the 20 or 30 miles from Burnham into Paddington.
I lived for a few years in Harpenden; a bit expensive in those days (but times may have changed) and I would recommend, and Luton (where you should be very careful to choose the right area ... and you'll start to need a car if you're not very close to the centre, which you wouldn't want). Also here good reports of St. Albans in that direction.
But come over to the UK and spend a few days looking around ... and have a look at the various web sites such as
http://www.upmystreet.com (that's often recommended by others on UK-Y
) ... and I'm going to drop in a few more place names. Selsdon, Surbiton, Maidenhead, Apsley, Hertford, Crayford, Pitsea, ... don't know them like the other places above. Longer commutes / cheaper housing - have a look at places like Tunbridge Wells, Horsham, Guildford , Reading, Milton Keynes, Bedford.
