London/surrounding areas?

[schmalex]

Dare I say it, but Basingstoke is between 47 & 52 minutes to Waterloo and then you can hop on the Jubilee from there, straight to CW.

[Cheib]

Hackney said:

Cheib said:

OP.....you need to ignore any of the advice to look at places that are an hour commute from the London mainline stations....that will translate easily into a 90 min commute. If you for example were to commute into Kings Cross you'll do really well to get to your desk within 30 minutes of your train pulling into Kings Cross. Add on your journey to your station near home and you'll be looking at a 90 min journey easily.

This. For a time I lived and worked in Peterborough, got sick of people telling me it was less than an hour to London.
Yes, but you live in fking Stamford and you don't work at Kings Cross, so it's a damn sight more than that.

Yup. People almost always understate their commute.....most people that live in London do well to have a 30 or even 45 min commute never mind those outside London. I have a four stop tube journey to work....have a fairly typical 5 to 10 min walk at each end. Door to door it's 30 mins.

If your train journey into a main line station is any longer than 30 mins unless you work next to the station you have almost no chance of having a genuine door to door one hour commute.

[s1962a]

If you are travelling to canary wharf and within a reasonable budget then look anywhere across the east london line extension. Your commute time will be short (30 mins) and most of those areas are reasonably green - some can be questionable in terms of the other people living there. Areas I am thinking of are forest hill, sydenham, crystal palace, anerley etc.

[kiethton]

s1962a said:

If you are travelling to canary wharf and within a reasonable budget then look anywhere across the east london line extension. Your commute time will be short (30 mins) and most of those areas are reasonably green - some can be questionable in terms of the other people living there. Areas I am thinking of are forest hill, sydenham, crystal palace, anerley etc.

Agree with this 100% but need more details re. How much the OP has available for rent, a 3 bed terrace semi anywhere on that line would be well over £1,400pm

[Legend83]

RC1 said:

harpenden and st albans are in herts and the vibe is very different to ampthill..

As is the cost of living....

[glm1977]

Cheib said:

Hackney said:

Cheib said:

OP.....you need to ignore any of the advice to look at places that are an hour commute from the London mainline stations....that will translate easily into a 90 min commute. If you for example were to commute into Kings Cross you'll do really well to get to your desk within 30 minutes of your train pulling into Kings Cross. Add on your journey to your station near home and you'll be looking at a 90 min journey easily.

This. For a time I lived and worked in Peterborough, got sick of people telling me it was less than an hour to London.
Yes, but you live in fking Stamford and you don't work at Kings Cross, so it's a damn sight more than that.

Yup. People almost always understate their commute.....most people that live in London do well to have a 30 or even 45 min commute never mind those outside London. I have a four stop tube journey to work....have a fairly typical 5 to 10 min walk at each end. Door to door it's 30 mins.

If your train journey into a main line station is any longer than 30 mins unless you work next to the station you have almost no chance of having a genuine door to door one hour commute.

I agree to a point but I've been commuting via train to London for many many years from tonbridge in kent which is typically a 45-50min train journey to Lon bridge/canon st and door-2-door in the morning it's 1hr 5-10min and of recent years the worse part is always the part on the tube - epically the jubilee line! Getting on it at any major station like Waterloo, London bridge, canada water etc... Is a nightmare and then going home at canary wharf at certain times is a pain in the arse.

One thing for the OP to bear in mind a typical travel card from outside of the M25 will cost upwards of £3-4k per year plus you have to get to and from the station etc.... That is one advantage of being within London. But like everything, it's a balancing act

[w00tman]

Jesus - I think I posted this whilst drunk and forgot all about it.. sorry…

Er, budget? perhaps £900 or so a month - maybe £1k? I'm not sure if this instantly rules out everywhere half decent or not.

Kids are 13 years old and 5 months.. quite the two extremes!

Happy to consider anywhere on the basis that outside of central London, I'm green around the gills.

[mattdaniels]

Cheib said:

OP.....you need to ignore any of the advice to look at places that are an hour commute from the London mainline stations

This.

I have a house in Bromley, about 10 minutes walk from Grove Park. That was a lovely commute - fast train to London Bridge is about 20 minutes, or the 261 bus from the end of the road got you to Lewisham in about 35 mins then DLR. The Sevenoaks line is pretty good and there are some nice places to live along it, personally I'd be looking there.

Compare and contrast when I commuted from Northampton to Canary Wharf. Its "only an hour" to London - but that is just to get to Euston. You've then got a soul destroying 45 minutes on the tube with one change to get out to Canary Wharf. Factor in change times and letting 1 or 2 trains go on the Jubilee line because it's 10 deep on the platform and you can't get on the train, and your "only an hour to London" commute is in excess of 2 hours.

[worsy]

Cheib said:

OP.....you need to ignore any of the advice to look at places that are an hour commute from the London mainline stations....that will translate easily into a 90 min commute. If you for example were to commute into Kings Cross you'll do really well to get to your desk within 30 minutes of your train pulling into Kings Cross. Add on your journey to your station near home and you'll be looking at a 90 min journey easily.

You need to look at areas that are a 30 min train journey into London Bridge or Waterloo (both connect in a short period of time to The Wharf via The Jubilee Line). Same as someone else mentioned with lines into Liverpool St that you can get off at Stratford.

In terms of tube lines I'd have a look at areas on the Jubilee Line in North West London and also areas on the Central Line as it heads out towards Essex. Both would be 45 mins on a train to The Wharf.

+1 did Swindon to CW for a year. 1.75 hours door to door nearly killed me. Swindon is 1 hr from PAD!

[kiethton]

Cheib said:

OP.....you need to ignore any of the advice to look at places that are an hour commute from the London mainline stations....that will translate easily into a 90 min commute. If you for example were to commute into Kings Cross you'll do really well to get to your desk within 30 minutes of your train pulling into Kings Cross. Add on your journey to your station near home and you'll be looking at a 90 min journey easily.

You need to look at areas that are a 30 min train journey into London Bridge or Waterloo (both connect in a short period of time to The Wharf via The Jubilee Line). Same as someone else mentioned with lines into Liverpool St that you can get off at Stratford.

In terms of tube lines I'd have a look at areas on the Jubilee Line in North West London and also areas on the Central Line as it heads out towards Essex. Both would be 45 mins on a train to The Wharf.

Add any of the Southeastern Lines that go into Lewisham to that list - only 10 mins on the DLR from there (and a lot quieter!)

May also be looking at places that are Croydon way (although its a dive!) it'll be more akin to budget - 30 min trains to london bridge and the Jubilee line in?

[essayer]

Try to avoid the Jubilee line if you can, you will be significantly happier as a result!

If you can get in on the DLR so much the better.

[banjowill]

cheib is right. listen to cheib

[southendpier]

Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness is a better rail line. Either change at west ham for jubilee or Limehouse for DLR. Leigh through to Shoeburyness should have plenty within your budget. Seaside living decent schools and a genuine hour commute.

[Cheib]

Some very good points about the joys of using main line stations in the rush hour....basically if you aren't at your desk by 8pm expect very busy as the norm. If you're commute brings you into a mainline station at say 8.15 if the tubesare running okay you'll "just" be very busy...any even minor disruption and expect station platforms/barriers to be shut to keep people off platforms etc.

I get to work at 8pm and on the days I am later fking hate the journey.