Who commutes more than 40 miles into London?

[argonaut]

...for work.

I'm looking to buy a house (upgrading from a flat) and prices in the London suburbs (Pinner/Hatch End) are stupid.

So...I can get a nice 3-bed semi in Pinner (£360k) or a 5-bed detached in Northampton for the same amount!! I don't NEED that many bedrooms, but it's nice to have as can use one for a library, one for a study etc. I work not too far from Euston station.

Advice please.

[s2n]

I do!

I commute each day from Crawley nr Gatwick. 56 miles each day!

Houses still very expensive, for eg. I'm selling 2 x one bed houses at £133K each and buying a 3 bed semi for £200K.

Crawley obviously has the benefit of the Gatwick express into Victoria taking only 35 mins!

[sparks]

I used to regularly commute from Leicester.

1.5 hours of train comfort, 15 mins on tube (bareable) and another 15 for walking/cycling each end.

It's not for everyone, but I found it fine. Bit of a pig when things go wrong though (Hatfield).

You can look anywhere up to Peterborough (has fastish trains) or look around Kettering, Bedford, Luton for trains into St Pancras.

Be careful about house prices, relating to area. The sort of money you are suggesting will get you a 5/6 bed house in a good part of Leicester or several streets in some of the less than desireable areas.

HTH

Sparks

[gargamel]

I Commute from Haslemere to Soho - 44.6 miles - but obviously I go by train - takes about 1.25 hours in total - not too bad - nice surrey countryside at the weekends

However - housing is not the cheapest.

I would look at the east anglia/liverpool street lines
as they are good services (avoid south west trains if you can !)

[pbrettle]

Gargamels comments on East Anglia line are fair - check out over here. Dont go for Cambridge (no parking and houses around the train station go for a huge premium), but look at alternatives in the villages just south - easy access to train stations such as Whittlesford (which has a huge and well lit car park) or similar... however, trains not the fastest at 1 hr to Liverpool street.... but still, not too bad and did that commute for 6 months and lived to tell the tale.

Try Suffolk and maybe Essex too - both pretty easy to get in and out of London from. But take some time on the old Railtrack website working out the times and distances for trains, might not be suitable for all.

Cheers,

Paul

[dern]

We bought a book by The Times Press called The Commuters Guide to London which detailed all the towns and villages you could conceivably commute to London from including facilities, house prices, commute times, train prices etc. The copy we have is a few years old now but it would be worth finding out if there's a new copy out.

Regards,

Mark

[N17 TVR]

try Chelmsford, it's 35 minutes on the train into Liverpool Street. Nice countryside nearby and you can be by the sea in 20 minutes.

Big M & Podie are in the neighbourhood but it doesn't appear to have affected house prices.

[stc_bennett]

I worked in london but lived in northampton, for 18 months, the drive is a bit of a drag 2hrs in rush hour but i worked in kingston.

Northampton is good for access to the M1 but the M1 around Luton is crap in the morning.

You can get cheaper houses than that in Northampton, it depends if you were on about northampton town or the surrounding villages...

Steve

[raceboy]

There was a local TV show, for local people, last night which had a couple of Londoners who had sold their £250k flat a few years ago and bought a 36 room stately home in Northants

[stc_bennett]

5 beds in northampton start at 140000 ish

Also there is a v. nice new housing estate in Bedford, "Abbey Fields" its full of London Communters and the train line goes to kings cross 45minutes or so in the morning

[sparks]

....train line goes to kings cross 45minutes or so in the morning

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Or Midland Mainline to St Pancras is a bit quicker, as it is either direct or stops additionally only at Luton.

Sparks