Good commuter towns north of London
Discussion
Leighton Buzzard. I regularly use the train station there. It's quite busy, but the fast train is into Euston in 35 minutes. Or you can take the slow train and get a seat an be there in about 50 minutes. Lots of villages nearby. I live in Whitchurch and drive to the station (plenty of parking but £7.20 a day unless you buy season ticket.)
I can leave my house at 7:15, drive to the station and park up, buy my ticket, get the 8:06 to Euston (fast train) and Northern Line to Old Street by a smidge after 9am.
I can leave my house at 7:15, drive to the station and park up, buy my ticket, get the 8:06 to Euston (fast train) and Northern Line to Old Street by a smidge after 9am.
Another vote for MK here. I don't live there myself, but go there quite often. It should be perfect for your requirements. The train take 30 min to Euston. I normally catch the 7am Virgin from MKC, and it's not busy in my experience.
Lots of decent new builds, and good value. Loughton is nice, as is Woughton, Willen, Shenley and MK Village. Avoid most of the estates close to CMK, and Bletchley and Wolverton.
Lots of decent new builds, and good value. Loughton is nice, as is Woughton, Willen, Shenley and MK Village. Avoid most of the estates close to CMK, and Bletchley and Wolverton.
I live in MK so can hopefully clear up a few things.
Don't expect the train to take 30 minutes at peak time, virgin trains don't tend to stop between 7 and 9:30 from memory so the fastest you'll get will be 45-50 minutes, if you are after a seat you had better like a push!
There are only a few estates to avoid in MK, most estates have mixed housing ranging from big 5+ bed houses to 1/2 bed flats/maisonettes, all of the newer estates have social and affordable housing sections as well.
The straight lines on maps = bad analogy above is generally a good rule of thumb, but there are decent houses in Bletchley and Wolverton and as they are generally older you will get more land compared to the postage stamp plots most new builds have.
Don't expect the train to take 30 minutes at peak time, virgin trains don't tend to stop between 7 and 9:30 from memory so the fastest you'll get will be 45-50 minutes, if you are after a seat you had better like a push!
There are only a few estates to avoid in MK, most estates have mixed housing ranging from big 5+ bed houses to 1/2 bed flats/maisonettes, all of the newer estates have social and affordable housing sections as well.
The straight lines on maps = bad analogy above is generally a good rule of thumb, but there are decent houses in Bletchley and Wolverton and as they are generally older you will get more land compared to the postage stamp plots most new builds have.
I live in MK and in terms of trains, there is a 7.14 virgin train which takes a stonking 36 minutes (max) so not a big deal. I got it this morning and could have been at my desk in the city just over an hour later had I not stopped for a bacon sarnie 
I do the commute every day and often find myself frustrated that I haven't finished watching a single episode of something on iplayer before I get there.
I do the commute every day and often find myself frustrated that I haven't finished watching a single episode of something on iplayer before I get there. Edited by silverous on Friday 14th June 08:33
Feel your pain, we had to locate to a similar brief two years ago and looked at a square area bound by Amersham, Chorleywood, Gerrard's Cross and Beaconsfield (with The Chalfonts in the middle) as we needed to be within easy reach of the City, Heathrow and Luton. It's not exactly due North of London but may be worth considering.
Much of this area offers easy access to M40, with the Eastern side being a quick skim round one of the quieter (widened) bits of the M25 to J6A of the M1.
After looking at the area for a while we focussed our attention on Amersham and Beaconsfield. Both are nice places to live with good quality of life, inclusive local community and good-to-excellent schools; state, grammar & private. Even as definite outsiders (a Scottish accent will do that) we've been made to feel very welcome and have made a lot of friends here.
Both towns have main line trains into Marylebone in about 30 mins. In addition Amersham is on the Tube (Metropolitan), this is more of a trundle but does take you right into the City (Liverpool Street) in about an hour. London Bridge would be about 1h 10m with one change to either the Jubilee or Northern Lines.
Given the rural aspect, transport links, schooling etc. it can be a bit pricey and you will struggle to get a decent house for £250k unless you're only looking for a 2-bed flat. There are of course a few cheaper/less nice bits to live in but even they're not too bad in the grand scheme of things. Plenty small villages to look at as well but given this is green belt and an AONB you'd be unlikely to find any new builds in your price range. A £2M+ barn conversion, maybe...
Chesham is only a few miles NW of Amersham but only has Tube connection to London and we decided the extra 5-10 mins by car took us out of our commuting comfort zone and was also bit variable in terms of housing and I wouldn't consider it now.
Heathrow is about 20-30 minutes away (traffic very dependent, can be nearer an hour if M25/M4 is fubar), Luton about 30-40 mins (traffic less variable).
Biggish Tesco in Amersham, slightly smaller Sainsbury's & Waitrose in Beaconsfield. Small M&S food place in both as well as a lot of mid/high-end fashion chains, independent shops and plenty of decent cafes/pubs/restaurants in and around the area. Not much in the way of bangin' nightlife mind!
Decentish shopping in High Wycombe (10-15 mins), Hemel or Watford (20-25 mins) or Westfield (40 mins). Most big out-of-town shed places can be found in the black hole that is Slough.
Much of this area offers easy access to M40, with the Eastern side being a quick skim round one of the quieter (widened) bits of the M25 to J6A of the M1.
After looking at the area for a while we focussed our attention on Amersham and Beaconsfield. Both are nice places to live with good quality of life, inclusive local community and good-to-excellent schools; state, grammar & private. Even as definite outsiders (a Scottish accent will do that) we've been made to feel very welcome and have made a lot of friends here.
Both towns have main line trains into Marylebone in about 30 mins. In addition Amersham is on the Tube (Metropolitan), this is more of a trundle but does take you right into the City (Liverpool Street) in about an hour. London Bridge would be about 1h 10m with one change to either the Jubilee or Northern Lines.
Given the rural aspect, transport links, schooling etc. it can be a bit pricey and you will struggle to get a decent house for £250k unless you're only looking for a 2-bed flat. There are of course a few cheaper/less nice bits to live in but even they're not too bad in the grand scheme of things. Plenty small villages to look at as well but given this is green belt and an AONB you'd be unlikely to find any new builds in your price range. A £2M+ barn conversion, maybe...
Chesham is only a few miles NW of Amersham but only has Tube connection to London and we decided the extra 5-10 mins by car took us out of our commuting comfort zone and was also bit variable in terms of housing and I wouldn't consider it now.
Heathrow is about 20-30 minutes away (traffic very dependent, can be nearer an hour if M25/M4 is fubar), Luton about 30-40 mins (traffic less variable).
Biggish Tesco in Amersham, slightly smaller Sainsbury's & Waitrose in Beaconsfield. Small M&S food place in both as well as a lot of mid/high-end fashion chains, independent shops and plenty of decent cafes/pubs/restaurants in and around the area. Not much in the way of bangin' nightlife mind!
Decentish shopping in High Wycombe (10-15 mins), Hemel or Watford (20-25 mins) or Westfield (40 mins). Most big out-of-town shed places can be found in the black hole that is Slough.
skibum said:
When I lived in Birmingham I'd head down to London fairly often, so am aware of how crowded the train can get and also the journey from Euston to London Bridge and the crowded Northern Line. Will be a factor to consider definitely.
Taking that into consideration I would look at places that go into Liverpool street rather than Kings Cross/ Euston. Speaking from experience (worked in London Bridge for 4 years +) I spent 4 months doing Kings Cross -> London Bridge and it was a complete pain in the arse on the Northern Line. Moved to Ipswich and the trains went into Liverpool Street meant that London Bridge was a fifteen minute stroll through the city or a better tube trip.
n3il123 said:
Taking that into consideration I would look at places that go into Liverpool street rather than Kings Cross/ Euston.
Speaking from experience (worked in London Bridge for 4 years +) I spent 4 months doing Kings Cross -> London Bridge and it was a complete pain in the arse on the Northern Line. Moved to Ipswich and the trains went into Liverpool Street meant that London Bridge was a fifteen minute stroll through the city or a better tube trip.
Good shout - I often walk that route - 10~15 minutes or a quick and easy tube ride via Bank.Speaking from experience (worked in London Bridge for 4 years +) I spent 4 months doing Kings Cross -> London Bridge and it was a complete pain in the arse on the Northern Line. Moved to Ipswich and the trains went into Liverpool Street meant that London Bridge was a fifteen minute stroll through the city or a better tube trip.
There's a couple of threads of late detailing Chris71's search for a house in areas which have train lines going into Liverpool Street - lots of good advice on those.
Perhaps take a look at Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth, Hertford, Ware, Broxbourne, etc - all within 40 mins of Liverpool Street...
had ham said:
There's a couple of threads of late detailing Chris71's search for a house in areas which have train lines going into Liverpool Street - lots of good advice on those.
Perhaps take a look at Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth, Hertford, Ware, Broxbourne, etc - all within 40 mins of Liverpool Street...
Perhaps take a look at Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth, Hertford, Ware, Broxbourne, etc - all within 40 mins of Liverpool Street...
Has to be said they're a helpful bunch in this corner of the forum. Lots of good information on those threads.
The eastern side of Herts is generally cheaper than central/western portion if you can live with being a little further from the M1. We're in a similar position, but the ease of commuting into North London five days a week easily outweighed the marginally longer journey times if we wanted to catch up with family further afield.
Personally, I really rate Hertford for the way it combines a very chilled out atmosphere with a reasonable amount of nightlife. A lot of the places we saw either seemed to be too quiet and villagey or a bit souless.
Wow - thanks for all the replies. Seems a friendly corner of PH compared to some!
My house sale is going through next week, hopefully, so the search is gaining pace. I'm heading up to MK tomorrow to view some new builds in Westcroft and Wolverton. Then going to head over to St Neots and to Biggleswade and see what happens.
All seem to be around the 40-45 minute commute time into Euston/Kings Cross. Then thinking of getting a folding bike so I can do the cycle across to London Bridge.
My house sale is going through next week, hopefully, so the search is gaining pace. I'm heading up to MK tomorrow to view some new builds in Westcroft and Wolverton. Then going to head over to St Neots and to Biggleswade and see what happens.
All seem to be around the 40-45 minute commute time into Euston/Kings Cross. Then thinking of getting a folding bike so I can do the cycle across to London Bridge.
Think I am going to opt for St Neots. I've found a property I like, its just outside the town and close enough to the station to be viable. Plenty of space and a good price.
I thought that St Neots had a nice feel to it as I drove through - but am well aware that there is more to a town than driving down the high street!
Any major reasons to avoid St Neots or is it like most towns in that it has it's good areas and it's bad?
The trains seem to be quite good with 4 trains an hour into London - 41 or 55 mins. Anyone have any experience of this commute? Are the trains packed, often delayed, etc?
As always advice and recommendations greatly appreciated.
Rich
I thought that St Neots had a nice feel to it as I drove through - but am well aware that there is more to a town than driving down the high street!
Any major reasons to avoid St Neots or is it like most towns in that it has it's good areas and it's bad?
The trains seem to be quite good with 4 trains an hour into London - 41 or 55 mins. Anyone have any experience of this commute? Are the trains packed, often delayed, etc?
As always advice and recommendations greatly appreciated.
Rich
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