Nice family Towns along the Chiltern Line?

Hi All-knowing listees,

We're moving over mid April and I have been scouring findaproperty... I've found lots of great looking places near the M-25 in Surrey, but my office is 1/2 block from Marylebone train station so I've determined that NW of London along the Chiltern Line would be very conveinent. We're looking to balance good schools (3 kids) with decent shopping, a good size yard, good family activities, all at a reasonable price: <2500 pounds for a 5 bedroom. We are flexible and realisitic, but the perfect scenario would be outside edge of a small, "but has one of everything" town with a bit of open space around us. 

Is Chiltern the only line into Marylebone? Thats what the map I have shows... If so, can you guys name some towns we should be looking at? I'd prefer to commute no more than 35-45 minutes.

Hiya. My husband and I live in Gerrards Cross - on the Chiltern line - and like it a lot. It's VERY VERY VERY expensive, but we rent a 2 bedroom terrace house with a big garden for £850 which is a lot, but a lot less than London. The train line is SUPER convenient, and once a day there's a train that goes to Paddington as well. The drawback is that Gerrards X is not a very pretty village and if you're looking to emerse yourself in Brit. culture, the place is teeming with American families for some weird reason (which actually could put your kids more at ease at first....)

I'd recommend old Beaconsfield ("new town" is the one on the Chiltern line, but "old town" is much more quaint. It's about a 15 minute brisk walk/20-25 minute stroll from the train station to old town.) It has more amenities than Gerrards Cross, but that will change by Autumn when a giant Tesco opens in Gerrards Cross. Seer Green is cute and has a station. Those two are two stops further than we are (takes me 35 mins to get to Marylebone.) Closer in the only place I would suggest would be Denham Golf Club area - New Denham isn't terribly attractive.

Old Amersham is nice but it's a hike to get to the station (which is in "new town" - funny all the villages out here have an old and new half!) New Amersham has a tube stop but is sort of a pit IMHO.

I'd avoid central areas of High Wycombe, Aylesbury, and Chesham (though both have nice areas surrounding them) as they're more impersonal towns and can be rough in the wrong areas.

Honestly, looking at your wants I'd say Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross are your best bet - decent shopping, great transport links to London, I've never seen a rental without a garden, and definitely surrounded by some lovely countryside. They both have an element of "suburbia" to them, but if you don't want a commute that's over 45 mins I think you'll get that pretty much wherever you go.

Send me a PM if you want any more info - and I'm more than happy to pass judgement on places in Gerrards Cross for you if you want someone to walk by a specific house. Also, use www.upmystreet.com to check things like crime rates.

The areas Anne mentions are nice smaller towns that are along the Chiltern line.  The only problem is, if you want to rent a 5 bedroom house you could be looking at a fair bit more than £2500/month.  In fact, most seem to range
between £3000-5000/month from what I've seen on sites such as fish4.co.uk and assertahome.com.

The only other line coming into Marylebone is the Bakerloo line but that only goes out to Harrow & Wealdstone which has a more urban feel but might be worth a look.

The Chiltern line breaks off in 2 directions, 1 going out to Aylesbury via Harrow and the other going out to Birmingham via High Wycombe.  Out past Amersham you have Great Missenden and Wendover which have country town feel to them and might not be bad options although it may take 40-50 minutes to get to Marylebone.

Going out past High Wycombe you have Princes Risborough, another nice country town which is 45-50 minutes to Marylebone as well.  As always, you might do better on house rentals being a bit further out.

If you want a quick 15 minute journey Harrow-on-the-Hill is the fastest on the Chiltern line with Harrow & Wealdstone taking 30 minutes to Marylebone via the Underground.

Matt

Oh yeah! Good call Matt - I forgot about Great Missenden and Wendover - I really like both of those places. I'm especially fond of Wendover (cute little market town) but it's too far from my husband's work to justify us moving there. It's a lot more country-ish out that way, too. Actually now that I think about it Wendover would be my top pick. 

Also Matt reminded me in a round-about way that Baker Street tube station is only about a 2 minute walk from Marylebone station and has more than just one line running through it, so that might expand your options a tiny bit, albeit to more urban-type areas.