Spec me a Commuter Town

Thanks for the suggestions:

Fleet - been looking at this as an alternative to Farnborough. Seems to have a better rep?
Farnham - seems quite pricey but not necessarily out of reach, is it worth the premium?
Bentley - seems too expensive and very limited housing on the market
Hook - could be another option, I've seen a few jobs advertised here also which is always a nice safety net to have
Brighton - we like the town but just a bit too far afield
Haywards Heath / Crowborough - too far East
Didcot - Probably too far North although seems well connected. Maybe an outside bet.
Haslemere - too expensive
 
Swindon.

I'd say 50% of the people I work with commute from London ironically... But it's under an hour by train and trains are hourly. I mean there are people who commute from cardiff and everything, rail links are crazy good to most of the UK.

£500k will buy you a big 6 bed house reasonably close to the train station (10-20 minute walk), with a lot of land, in an area approaching the rural but walking distance into the centre.

Good school links round that way and all.
 
Last edited:
You could consider parts of Oxfordshire as some have direct trains to London (I think didcot is one. There is also Buckinghamshire, places like high Wycombe.
 
I currently live in Godalming which is very nice.. you want to steer well well clear of farnborough, aldershot and woking if possible.. The extent to which you get pleasant north hampshire/surrey in farnham, godalming, guildford etc then 5 miles away you get god awful charmless ****holes like woking is terrifying.. Do your research!
 
Fleet is supposed to be the nicest place to live in the uk, for some weird reason:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...pshire-britain-halifax-survey-quality-of-life

its almost worth looking along the main rail lines for stations, Guildford is lovely but the cost close to the station are silly... Farncombe and Godalming are both on the rail line to waterloo and get cheaper, while not losing out on location too much.

I live just between farncombe and guildford in a tiny village, its about a 20min walk to the station but I drive for 2min, park for free and walk 2min to farncombe station...

Farnham again is a lovely town but you'll struggle to get much for 500k anywhere near the station i would have thought.
 
I hate to suggest it, but... Have you looked around Reading itself?
Not neccesarily central Reading (and avoid both Whitley and Tilehurst at all costs), but the outlying areas like Caversham, Earley, Woodley, Grazeley, Burghfield, Pangbourne, Theale, Spencers Wood, Beech Hill and Three Mile Cross tick most of those boxes.
Pangbourne, Theale, Earley, Winnersh and Twyford have stations, as do Wargrave, Aldermarston and Woolhampton.
 
Siliconslave said:
Fleet is supposed to be the nicest place to live in the uk, for some weird reason:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...pshire-britain-halifax-survey-quality-of-life

its almost worth looking along the main rail lines for stations, Guildford is lovely but the cost close to the station are silly... Farncombe and Godalming are both on the rail line to waterloo and get cheaper, while not losing out on location too much.

I live just between farncombe and guildford in a tiny village, its about a 20min walk to the station but I drive for 2min, park for free and walk 2min to farncombe station...

Farnham again is a lovely town but you'll struggle to get much for 500k anywhere near the station i would have thought.
Click to expand...

Technically the survey said that "Hart" area was the happiest, not specifically the town of Fleet. Hook, Hartley Wintney, Winchfield and many other towns / villages are part of Hart, but the council offices are in Fleet.
 
Kelvedon (a village) has a train station on the liverpool street line, used to live here when I was younger and there were loads of commuters who lived there with young families (which I assume you have as you are looking for primary schools, which it has) we had a nice, good sized 4 bed and my parents sold it for £225k in 2010 I believe. Although I'm not sure how that fares with your other requirements I'm not good with geography.

I used to walk to the station every morning to get the train to college.
 
Last edited:
ttaskmaster said:
I hate to suggest it, but... Have you looked around Reading itself?
Not neccesarily central Reading (and avoid both Whitley and Tilehurst at all costs), but the outlying areas like Caversham, Earley, Woodley, Grazeley, Burghfield, Pangbourne, Theale, Spencers Wood, Beech Hill and Three Mile Cross tick most of those boxes.
Pangbourne, Theale, Earley, Winnersh and Twyford have stations, as do Wargrave, Aldermarston and Woolhampton.
Click to expand...

Not really due to concerns about the area - also looking at at a few of those satellite stations they seem to typically involve either slow trains or a change (been burnt by missed connections many times in the past so keen to avoid!). Thanks for the suggestion though.

Anyway I've been giving the overall premise some more thought/research over the past couple of months and have come to the conclusion that after accounting for season ticket cost (equivalent to ~£5-10k net salary) and differences in house prices (£100k+ compared to locally), the numbers don't stack up too well. London doesn't seem to carry a high enough salary weighting on the sort of jobs I could land in the next couple of years. Or at the very least, I should only shoot for the moon rather than considering taking jobs with a rise of say less than £25k.

Fleet is probably my #1 pick based on research so far.

Left-field consideration is getting a pied-a-terre on the basis that it could be an investment as well - although I suspect I've missed the boat on that one.
 
Last edited:
tomparker95 said:
lancing :D
Click to expand...

No mate, just no. :p

Though North Lancing is quite nice, but unfortunately the you have to walk through some of the worst areas to get to the station, and the town is always a host for petty crime and the surrounding areas often play host to more serious crimes.

Plus the town name quite literally means "Stabbing". :eek:

Avoid Lancing/Worthing/Southwick/Fishersgate/Durrington etc etc... :p
 
Brighton is not more than an hour for sure ?

You have the seaside and touch on the outskirts for 500k you will be surprised what you will get. Happy to help if this is the area for you even if its picking you up at the station or anything really.

Worthing is not that bad its just full of old people lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom