gregjd

Now our little one has taken over the lounge / dining room / landing etc with his toys I think we need a bigger house..

Needs to be within commuting distance of London (currently takes me 1 & a half hours ish door to door) and have good (ideally grammar)state or private schools..

We currently live in Aylesbury, Bucks (3 bedroom semi, extended to 4 bedrooms..big upstairs, not enough downstairs accomodation for us now) and we would ideally like to move to a village.. Trouble is, they tend to be very pricey near us for anything significantly bigger than what we've got now.

Nearest I've found within our league are the villages immediately surrounding Milton Keynes (Newton Longville.. anyone know it?), but the other half doesn't want to be too close to MK for fear of being eaten up as the city expands..

Any recommendations for areas to look at from you Scoobynetters?

Mice_Elf

Personally it would be in a castle in Scotland.

With heating!

Mice_Elf

Not too sure of the surrounding area, to be honest - there are some good villages near MK, but it's quite a hike to London every day...

Best thing to do is have a drive about, see what takes your fancy and then contact Estate Agencies in that area.

what would scooby do

Yeah Newton Longville or one of the villages to the West of MK is your best bet. You may be able to buy something around Woburn or bow brickhill - very expensive areas and least likely to be encroached upon. MK (or Mercia is it will be known is mooted to be expanding East to Bedford, North to Northampton and West to Buckingham. Communte time from MK to London Euston is about 45 mins..

skipjack

with amanda holden ...

carl

Are you keen to stay that side of London? If not, there are some nice places in the M11 corridor (not Harlow )

gregjd

Thanks so far Folks. Would consider being any side of London (even Essex!..zips up flameproof suit..). Don't know the M11 corridor very well..Where should I be looking around there Carl?

rik1471

300K for a 3 bed semi!!!!!!

Round our way that kind of money would get

carl

M11 corridor: Sawbridgeworth, Bishop's Stortford, Ware, The Hadhams, Saffron Walden, Newport, The Chesterfords (just outside Cambrigde).

With the Stansted airport expansion, ideally you want to avoid anything on the flightpath which means steering clear of anything to the East of the M11 (The Hallingburys, Hatfield Heath, etc.)

TopBanana

That's all very well if your field of will work allow you up there.

what would scooby do

...and enjoy gravy....

AndiThompson

Pfht, bloody fairies with there stupidly expensive houses

GCollier

Had a similar dilemna a 2.5 years ago. Checked out Woking, Weybridge, Walton (nearly bought there), Amersham etc. Settled on Hitchin - old market town in North Herts, and picked up a 4 bed detached under 10mins walk to the station (35mins to Kings X) for £226K, though I guess it has gone up a bit since. Very good schools in the vicinity too. If you are prepared to drive to the station, you can get even more for your money in the villages (especially if you consider Bedfordshire, but the education system is less good).

Gary.

xyzpaul

How about Guildford? The property prices are similar to Aylesbury, but it's a much quicker commute.

JoanUK300

Yep, thumbs up for Sawbridgeworth.........thats where we are off to.
Hubby will commute to his work which will be about 45mins, so thats not a problem.

Joan.

MattW

Depends on your work location, but Swindon is an hour away from Paddington. Next station down is Kemble.

There are some lovely surrounding villages to Kemble where 300k would buy you something decent.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Well, I live on the Suffolk/Cambs borders. Stansted doesn't affect us & London is about 75/80 mins drive (city) or Cambridge goes into Kings X or Liverpool Street.

Hurry up though, prices are catching up

BTW, somewhere like Peterborough is only 1 hr by train...

carl

You'll be a local then. There's quite a contingent of us in Bishop's Stortford (4 miles away).

I lived in Sawbridgeworth for 10 years, and would love to move back there one day.

S55 HOT

Situated in a cul-de-sac of similar substantial Westbury built detached houses this home has been designed with the family in mind. The accommodation is over two floors and comprises spacious reception hall, cloakroom, study, separate dining room, sitting room with open fire facility and an impressive breakfast kitchen with a comprehensive range of built-in appliances, utility and cloakroom. On the first floor there are 5 good sized bedroom, 4 having a range of built-in wardrobes and 2 with en suite bathrooms. There is also a 4 piece bathroom with a Jacuzzi bath. The property has gas fired central heating, UPVC double glazing, a double width driveway leading to an integral double garage. Enclosed rear gardens and this house is offered with no chain and an internal inspection is strongly recommended

£327k - an hour from Kings Cross

It's in Peterborough - I commute from there on a daily basis !

Al

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

One hour 40 minutes from KX by inter-city.
Doncaster, where £300k would buy you a four bedroomed house with good garden, double garage, utility, conservatory etc, and leave you £100k to play with.
Alcazar
BTW: just near Doncaster lies the village/small town of Epworth. Prices are even lower, Rowan Atkinson has a house there, schools are excellent, and the local education authority has just been awarded for it's competence again.

pslewis

You COULD buy Wales??

Fly your own plane into London with the change

Pete

JoanUK300

Carl, we`re coming from North London, can`t say where abouts on here.....bit risky at the moment in our neck of the woods!

Perhaps we could have a Herts meet, preferably not in St Albans, like the usual one!!

Joan.

carl

Norf London?

I'm from Walfamstow originally, but that's East London

Devil's Refugee

Leave the country mate.
Find a nice place in the sun somewhere.

Try Brittany, nice farmhouse with 20 odd acres of land/woodland for about £200k.
Then compare that to the cr*p you pay for here.

Dave P

There are some nice villages outside Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Mainline to London 44 minutes (Cannon Street, London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross) Kent has Grammar schools.

Dave

rik1471

Is it really worth living somewhere a 3 bedroom semi costs £300,000? When you can live furhter North and get a 7 bedroom Grade 2 listed detached for the same price???

[Edited by rik1471 - 1/6/2003 12:47:14 PM]