London / close to London areas

[pleno1]

Not sure if you are aware of this but since you are not "employed" as such with proof of income you can expect to prepay your rent 6 months in advance for most quality properties as you indicate.

yeah thats fine i guess.

[redsimon]

Sort of made me feel bit sick when saw the rent on that nice house is £54K per year, didn't even pay that much for my house

[pleno1]

Walton on Thames?

These houses pretty perfect I think.

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/10013130/lettings

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/9721463/lettings

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/9984595/lettings

Sunbary on Thames?

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/8710077/lettings

[edgascoigne]

Walton on Thames?

These houses pretty perfect I think.

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/10013130/lettings

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/9721463/lettings

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/9984595/lettings

Sunbary on Thames?

http://www.leaders.co.uk/properties/8710077/lettings

Morning Pads - I live in Walton fwiw. If you'd like to pick my brains give me a shout on PM and I'll send over my mobile #.

[pleno1]

Weybridge?

[verndog158]

Weybridge?

All very nice parts of the world! Think you'll pay for the privilege of living there, but defo nice spots

[tikay]

Most of Weybridge is perfectly lovely. Not far from where The Beatles used to live, where Bruce Forsyth & the late Terry Wogan lived, & just up the road from Wentworth Golf Course & not a million miles from Ascot, Windsor Great Park etc.

Walton on Thames is gorgeous, too. Rolf Harris & Max Clifford both live there, or do when not away on holiday.  Paul Daniels (the late) lived there too.

Be careful of Sunbury, parts of it are a bit ugh. Put it this way, it has an Argos.

[rinswun]

Transport links aren't great in Walton and Weybridge. Sunbury is a bit of a dump.

[tikay]

Transport links aren't great in Walton and Weybridge. Sunbury is a bit of a dump.

+1, +1 & +1.

PS - Walton on Thames Shopping Centre has an Aldi & a Wilko.

[acegooner]

My friend is looking to move to London with his Polish girlfriend.

He plays poker full time and she will be looking to get s job, she has a lot of experience in marketing and working in some big companies etc.

They are looking to live somewhere a little more "green" than Central London  as they have 2 dogs and a Son.

Im from the North so can't really help, any advice on desirable, safe places that are cool to live for a mid twenties couple.

Any advice?

Slight North London bias here (you could never tell with the name!). Hampstead/Highgate is ridiculously expensive but just up the road Muswell Hill and Crouch End are lovely places. Great shops/restaurants and near Ali Pali where there always is a concert or sports event going on. The transport links into London are miles better than south of the river. You can get from Alexandra Palace into the city within 20 mins. For the West End it's less than 30 mins. Just up the road is Bounds Green very middle class now and you could get a very nice house for under 2.5k a month. Again great transport links.

I was offered a job in weybridge a few years ago, it has to be the worst served area for public transport, it takes ages to get into central London and that rail company are always on strike.

[bergeroo]

I'm a big fan of Greenwich. You are closeish to central London but also have the river and lots of green.

Being a long way from the centre could end up being a bit of a nightmare commute for your girlfriend if she gets a job in central London. Clapham although South of the river has the northern Line and also a big greenspace in Clapham Common. I would say there is likely to be more crime than in some of the other areas of London already mentioned, but I haven't lived in South London for 8 years...

[muckthenuts]

Clapham attracts a ton of young preppy douchebags these days though. I've begun to hate hanging out round there in the evenings, the vibe is awful. There's plenty of other options that have better local crowds.

[tikay]

My friend is looking to move to London with his Polish girlfriend.

He plays poker full time and she will be looking to get s job, she has a lot of experience in marketing and working in some big companies etc.

They are looking to live somewhere a little more "green" than Central London  as they have 2 dogs and a Son.

Im from the North so can't really help, any advice on desirable, safe places that are cool to live for a mid twenties couple.

Any advice?

Slight North London bias here (you could never tell with the name!). Hampstead/Highgate is ridiculously expensive but just up the road Muswell Hill and Crouch End are lovely places. Great shops/restaurants and near Ali Pali where there always is a concert or sports event going on. The transport links into London are miles better than south of the river. You can get from Alexandra Palace into the city within 20 mins. For the West End it's less than 30 mins. Just up the road is Bounds Green very middle class now and you could get a very nice house for under 2.5k a month. Again great transport links.

I was offered a job in weybridge a few years ago, it has to be the worst served area for public transport, it takes ages to get into central London and that rail company are always on strike.

True, but for balance, it is the home of the London Bus Museum.

[edgascoigne]

Walton-on-Thames

Travel

I live in Walton with wifey having bought here around three years ago. We both do the daily commute into town, along with many thousands of others! Whether it's relevant to your gf I'm not sure but if so morning trains are 0647/0656/0716/0727/0746/0757/0806/0815/0827/0836 etc. All take c30mins. Door to door from home to the City I am dead on an hour (cycle, train, W&C)

Through the day there are four an hour. Two of these take 25mins, two take 35mins.

It's nowhere near as accessible as something on the tube or say the Wimbledon 'mainline' which runs every 3-4 mins, but the flipside of this is that you will get a seat getting on at Walton, your commute has a pretty decent quality to it and you can be productive on the train etc. Even just a few miles further in (Raynes Park / Earlsfield etc.) you are struggling to get on like cattle and the overall journey is perhaps only 3-5mins quicker owing to it being a slower train.

Last train home is 0009 I believe (while since I did it, obv!). Uber is around £45 from town centre but a bit of a tiring 55min ride.

South West trains being useless is a bit of a common misconception in my opinion. Nobody loves their train provider as they relieve them of a considerable chunk of change and there are sometimes delays...but I always challenge people by asking how else they would propose to complete the journey and at what cost...

The Area

Being on the River is obviously lovely though it's worth noting that town and the Station are split (this is the same in Esher and Weybridge, too). This probably not an issue if not commuting but it's worth bearing in mind that you would most likely be a bit of a walk to the station. I am one mile and do a quick bike ride.

The food options here are very good Vs. a non-London small British town but naturally relatively weaker than in town itself.

Nice community feel. It's kind of a "nappy valley" once kids are out of nappies, if that makes any sense. You can basically see that people bought somewhere in London, had a child, perhaps had a second child, needed more space, and moved to somewhere leafy to live the suburban dream whilst still working in town.

Pubs are good. Personal highlights would be sitting on the river at The Anglers, The Barley Mow (Shepperton) and The Wheatsheaf on the Green / Marneys in Esher (near Sandown racecourse). Again, however, this demonstrates that not that much here is specifically walking/strolling distance. Unless you are going somewhere expressly for a walk you will often be in the car here. As previous comments suggest beyond the main trainline public transport is basically a non-event.

Quality of Life / Whether it's right for you

When we bought we could basically choose between a small and fairly mediocre two bed flat in, say, Wimbledon....or a three bed semi-detached new build here. We sensed that we would need to move out of the former upon having a family, which we intended to do (now 40 weeks and four days pregnant!), and therefore we would 'skip' that step and come straight here.

We both really enjoy living here. We're well settled now and see it very much as home....



.....however, this doesn't necessarily mean it would be right for you. By my understanding you are a little younger than Helen and me and I also think this would be the first time that you have lived in/around London?

I know you like the idea of space, dog walks, river, greenery etc. (which I completely get) but my gut feel is that for a first move to/around London town you should be a bit closer to the action. I think you may get a little frustrated here unless you really are after 'the country life'.

Alternatives


Haha, now this is the tricky bit. Crouch End as someone has touched on is lovely. Again, though, part of the reason it's lovely is that it's a bit of a transport blackspot. You get the tube to Finsbury Park and then the W7. This is sort of fine, but by the time you are doing that then total travel time is probably equivalent to being somewhere further out with more space. If you are happy to cab a lot though this could be a good option.

Wandsworth Common would have you 'closer to the action' and, if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of distance from a specific station (so removing you from the cut throat world of the daily commuter) then you can probably get a three bed with a garden within budget. It won't be as 'nice' and 'country' as something out this way but it will give you more of a London buzz and feel.

Happy to chat whenever!

Best,

Ed

[ripple11]

Going back a bit, but a friend use to live in Walton in Thames, and he invited us to a fancy dress party at a pub to celebrate the great New Millennium/New Years Eve.
 8 of us had to pre booked our "fifty quid invitation only" tickets for buffet/dancing/all singing,party promise....and on arrival we were ushered through a" special party side door" into a bar.
 As the evening went on, strangely no one else arrived for this great Millennium party, and we felt we had been sold a dud.
It was only after a while, we tried another door from our bar , only to find out the "other" bar was full of non paying undressed up locals, ready to eat the buffet and dance in the New Year!