What To ThinkAbout When Moving

To A New Area

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What Drives People to Leave London You’re at a certain point in your life - the push chair in your hall has driven you mad just once too often and the muddy wellies have damaged the hall carpet. The school results are in and your chosen primary has slipped down the ratings and, what’s worse, no amount of bribery will get your little angel a place. Your chance of upsizing in London reduces with every headline and your commute to work has become so unbearable you’re aren’t sure you can stand alongside three overpowering underarms for another moment: so now it’s time to consider the options.

Assuming you haven’t won the lottery you know that retiring is not an option so you’re looking at another 25 years of the district line, saving every penny for a further 1,000 square foot of house and a postage stamp of garden. But then it dawns on you there is another option, and it suddenly eats into every waking moment of your life. You aren’t alone - according to George Franks, Douglas and Gordon ‘We see approximately 25% of our house sellers from, Clapham, Battersea, Putney, Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham moving out of London. This tends to be to the traditional areas of the Home Counties within an hour and a half commute. The M3/M4 corridor and the top of the A303 seems to have been very popular last year. Parts of Kent and East Sussex are perceived as being very good value for money’. The problem is you soon realise it’s just not as simple as all that - there are endless questions, school places, commuting times, finding a house - and it’s not all plain sailing, so you have to keep a toe in reality and work out what to think about and how to do it.

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How do you choose where to go when you still need to work in London? If London is your main office the obvious choice is the “one hour on the train commute” known lovingly as the Golden Hour (Link to Home in an hour- http://lifeafterlondon.com/category/home-in-an-hour/) Buying yourself a big map and a compass and drawing a big circle around the relevant part of London is one way of finding a place to go. However, it will quickly become clear that some stations are better than others, some villages offer a community and the life you envisage - so how do you actually choose?draw up a list of what’s important; even the most tenuous thoughts can help in the early stages – Office Location - main line stations suit some

areas better –

For example Haslemere, Farnham and Cobham all have direct trains into Waterloo. You can’t be sure where their office will be located in the next couple of years but keeping the location in mind can still help narrow the search.

If you know your business is almost always located in the City the sensible solution is to search for areas which feed into Waterloo, Liverpool Street, Fenchurch Street, Cannon Street or London Bridge. One hapless commuter bought a house in East Sussex when his job was in the West End. When the job changed and he needed to be in Canary Wharf at his desk by 6am every day the commute became impossible on a daily basis.

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· Education – whether state or private, you need to consider your secondary options first as good primary schools are usually located fairly close to good secondary schools For example Haslemere is well served with Primary and yet lacks any really outstanding state secondary options, but is well served by the private sector.

Sevenoaks provides an excellent choice of primary, secondary, state and independent schools as well as offering access to Grammar Schools. Don’t rely on the Grammar schools as they are extremely competitive and there is no guarantee of a place.

· Family- location of aging parents can give some area focus - keeping to the North of London is easier if you’re always travelling North. For example Northamptonshire or Amersham, both with easy commutes into London and North of England for weekend visits.

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Leisure Time - if you alwayslike going to the coast for your freetime it’s sensible to live betweenLondon and the Coast.For example Colchester, just 45 miles from the beaches at Aldeburgh or West Malling in

Kent,30 minutes from the seaside townof Whitstable.

Circles on a Map

It’s not as simple as drawing a circle around the areas you want to live but buying a map is an important part of the process.

Mark on it areas which fall within commuting distance and other important factors like schools/villages you like.

Gradually you will build up a picture – the circle may be ragged and have lots of different points on it but it will help to see at a glance when houses fall in your area or not

Rural v urban Leaving London doesn’t automatically mean you have to don your wellington boots and instantly join the country-casuals brigade.

There are two very distinct moves - rural v urban.

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· UrbanIf the thought of getting in your car for a pint of milk and a cup of coffee is bringing you out in a cold sweat it’s definitely worth considering the urban environment.

Towns like Winchester and Sevenoaks offer excellent connections to London, the major motorways and airports. Their high streets provide mainstream and individual stores and the hustle of a ‘city’ with the gentler pace of being country towns. Places like Amersham can act like a happy medium. “The beauty of moving to somewhere like Amersham is that you have all of the space and tranquillity you would expect from a market town but you are still close to the hustle and bustle of the city, thanks to the Met and Chiltern lines plus the motorway links. “http://lifeafterlondon.com/topic/moving-to-amersham/

· RuralIf you’re desperate to be away from light pollution going rural might be a solution, but you could also opt for a quiet village as an alternative.

Some truly rural communities might be harder to ‘break into’ but others have unofficial welcoming committees to ensure you’re quickly befriended by people.

If you’re going really rural you’ll need to consider driving everywhere and if you’ve got children remember you could become a taxi service as they get older.

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Things to consider when choosing your area Schools Moving out of London doesn’t offer an instant end to the dilemmas about education. Good state schools continue to have significant catchment area issues and buying a house in spitting distance isn’t always enough. Catherine Bassindale from Schools Guru http://www.schoolguruhertfordshire.co.uk/ “You might find the perfect house and assume that you’ll get into the adorable little school on the corner. Classic mistake. We fell for that one. After our second child was born, we fled London .. and headed straight for the suburban heartland of St Albans. Got the house, TICK! Great school a few minutes away, TICK! The only problem was, we didn’t get in. In fact, we didn’t get any of our preferences, and were allocated the school at very the bottom of the league table, far worse than any of the schools that we’d ‘escaped’ from in the East End. “ Going Private might seem like a less fraught option but whilst private schools don’t have an official catchment you can find certain schools attract people from a different side of the county. Rebecca Fletcher, author of Margot Tries the Good Life found a school night out was over an hour from home 'We live in a school catchment no man's land so we ended up sending our daughter to a school that is a 25 minute drive from where we live. All the other families live in the opposite direction from school. Playdates can be tricky as the school day is long enough without having to drive an extra 40 minutes for a play with school friends. Other mothers share picking up and dropping off duties as they are 15 minutes from the school but you can't expect to do that if you live more than 20 minutes away from your child's school. We tend to have playdates on a Friday night and then organise lots of fun days out with school friends in half term or the holidays to make up for it.” CostsThere are a couple significant costs that often get overlooked. Don’t forget to add the not insignificant season tickets and parking charges. Season Tickets from Haslemere cost £3,668 and every year look set to rise by a substantial percentage. Another cost is fuel. Whilst in London your use of the car might be a luxury in the Countryside you can find you’re in the car for everything and if one of you is commuting even part of the week you’re going to need a second car. Nowadays the station car parks are full of Landrovers and Audis whilst the school drop offs are more fuel efficient Fiats and VWs. You will also need to consider additional fuel bills for heating your house which may not be in a terrace where you benefit from the residual warmth of your neighbours.

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TimeIt’s easy enough to work out how long your train journey will take but the drive to the station needs to be calculated by practice.

What appears to be an easy drive can turn out to be the daily route of the local farm traffic at just the hour when you’re rushing to catch the 7.15am. 10 miles on winding villages lanes can be a great deal more testing than 20 miles on the main A road to your nearest station.

It’s also worth considering the weather implications - the A roads are gritted more often and the village lanes are sometimes left out so all of a sudden you can find a hard winter means a near-impossible commute.

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Parking

Do not assume you’ll get a space in the Station Car Park.

Some charge for a season ticket while others operate on a daily basis.

Check out If there are ‘gold’ season tickets it means you have your own space and apparently that’s a life line for lots of commuters. Season tickets in general are easier as they save you buying a daily ticket and wasting valuable time in the mornings.

Stations with free car parks may seem like a good option but they can be full by 6am.

SocialisingPopping out to the pub can be a more expensive night out, babysitters don’t live around the corner any more and you will need a taxi home if you want anything more than a sharp half a pint or so. The alternative is to buy yourself a bike and wobble home.

In London what might have been an easy walk home or a night bus is suddenly a very dark sky, with no street lights. Many a new Life after Londoner has found themselves scrambling home in the pitch black – always carry a torch!

· Broadband SpeedsDespite the Government’s stated determination to help small business the UK still does not have full coverage of decent broadband speeds. Rightmove offers a broadband check when you’re looking for houses but it’s definitely worth bearing in mind. There are boosters you can buy which can help but in some areas the connection really is too slow to make the most of the booster. If you plan to work from home, Broadband speeds do need to be considered.

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Station ChoiceThe obvious station isn’t always the best answer. Some stations have fast trains but you struggle to get a seat but if you take the slower train you will get a seat. Also some stations might seem quicker but travelling a little further away to get a train might result in being able to park and get a seat. ‘Haslemere is the last fast train into London but by travelling to Petersfield you always get a seat and, while the season ticket is a bit more, property prices can be a little cheaper

Have you thought of Renting

We are a nation of home owners and the majority of people aspire at some point to own a property, often feeling that renting can be an expensive waste of money. However, renting is a sensible option when you’re looking for a new place to live.

It enables you to keep your options open which is particularly relevant when moving to a new area.

It also allows the chance to work out what commute time is feasible as well as looking seriously at your ‘wish list’ for a house.

Many people spend time renting their dream home only to realise that two acres, period features and a stream at the bottom of the garden are actually not what they want after all. For more on renting read our articles

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Questions to ask before making the leap? Is the commute feasible on a daily basis, can I park, and will I get a seat? How much is a season ticket? If I can work from home periodically, are broadband speeds viable? How will I cross London on days when the tube network isn’t running smoothly? What time is the last train and can I get home if I’ve been out with my friends or entertaining clients? Are there regular taxis at my station should I need to leave the car? If I drive to a station further away will that enable me to park and get a seat on the train? Will my children get into the local schools, what are the catchment areas for state and from where do most children travel to the private sector - will we be able to share lifts for the school run? Where will my children go to Secondary School?

Should we consider renting at the start?

Can we afford the rise in fuel, the cost of running two cars (the station car and the run about at home car)? What happens when the children are older, do we become a taxi service or is there a public transport network to take some of the burden? Will our friends be able to visit? Those living in the West Country speak of the joy of living near roads such as the A3 catching their London friends who pass by en route to the Coast?

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Who do I ask next? Schools Guru for schools advice in HertfordshireSchools Guide for school information provided by parentsGood Schools Guide for locating schools across the countryNGSA for info on grammar schools Commute From for commuting journey times across the UK Stacks have agents located across the UKalso GA Property for Somerset and Property Turner for Kent Visit the forums on Lifeafterlondon.com and ask the locals for their advice. Lots of them have done the move themselves and will be only too happy to share their experience.

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