Towns with a community feel and affordable London train commute

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Moving out of London and would like somewhere alternative/Boho with a good community vibe but that the train isnt too expensive as still got to get back to work a couple of days a week. Budget is max £400k. Would like a town or village with a nice centre and also easy access to nature like Stroud and Frome. We don't need schools as we are now child free. Any ideas welcome!

Lewes fits the bill (walk up into the South Downs from town) but £400k might be tight unless you’re looking for retirement type housing. Loads going on for a small place, farmers market, easy access to the coast and Brighton/London. Lots of people working in London.

Hove or Worthing (getting a bit more boho as people move out of Brighton).

Forest Row near Ashdown Forest - smaller but nice place.

Totnes has a nice vibe.

Street/Glastonbury are quite new age.

Margate - still pretty gritty but has a boho vibe.

Whitstable - nice community, by the sea but a bit cut off to get anywhere. North Downs not too far away and Kent countryside. Canterbury is better connected.

Newbury would fit the bill.

What do you want for your 400k?

If you have to travel to London twice a week you want to be much closer than Glastonbury/Street (neither of which has a railway station) or Totnes.

Whereabouts in London do you need to be? When we worked in London (now retired) we were within walking distance of Waterloo, Charing Cross and Victoria stations, so when we moved out we chose somewhere where the trains went to one of those stations. It would have added a lot (time and cost) to the journey if we had lived north or east of London and had to use the tube as well as the train.

Which part of London do you need access to? I'd work out on each of the train lines.

Basingstoke, Overton, Whitchurch (which is lovely), Andover, Grateley, Salisbury?

Forest Row is a good shout. 10 minute drive to East Grinstead and then an hour into London Bridge or Victoria. I don't know if it's an affordable commute - I did it for years and just paid up!

But your budget might be an issue. There's very little currently on Rightmove below £500k.

I don’t think there is such a thing as an affordable London train commute! If there was the housing would be more expensive.

2 bed and a garden and a doer-upper. Nothing structural but happy to do new kitchen, bathroom, knock down a few plasterboard walls type of thing...

Letchworth Garden City?

Need to get to Soho/Oxford St area and occasionally to Shoreditch. So I guess its a good shout to think about which London stations are going to work best! Thanks

Look along the Lizzie Line in both directions.

Maybe Hastings for boho vibe.

When you say train commute, what are your boundaries around this? Do you need to walk to the station or would you cycle/bus/drive? And do you want to live in the community feel town or do you want to be within travel distance of it? Your train to London, does it have to be direct or would you do a change? And as others have said which mainline station and how much London travel will you tolerate?

I'm thinking you could look at South Oxfordshire. Oxford is probably out of your budget but Didcot has a really good route into Paddington then has the Elizabeth line. Didcot has an increasingly good community feel, or if you're prepared to do a change in the train there's the line between Oxford and Didcot [Radley Appleford Culham all quite small but an easy hop to Oxford and Abingdon for bigger communities]. You should be able to get two beds in not necessarily great repair for 400k in those places except Oxford City and even Oxford might be doable if you're happy to travel far at the Oxford end (I don't advise it though)

It all depends on how much is too much/too expensive for the travel which only you can decide.

What counts as "not too expensive" on the train fare? My experience is that train fares are horribly expensive even close to London!

Slow as God's wrath and no loos. Not recommended for long distance commuting.

Probably Luton on that budget

@Fefefefe Stanstead Abbotts in Hertfordshire? I've also been looking at moving out of London and this might fit the bill on access to nature.
This is what the estate agent blurb has to say...
"Stanstead Abbotts is in the heart of the Lea Valley conservation area with the river running through the village and beautiful walks, cycle routes and bridleways in the surrounding countryside."

Mind you, I don't know it, never actually been, just lurked on Streetview!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/174779852?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

This house is on budget and has the two bedrooms, plus downstairs bathroom. Parking looks like it might be a pain though. Right next door to the Marina so not the most picturesque immediate surroundings...