Moving from Berlin to the UK – where would you recommend for a £1m family home within commuting distance of London?
Hi everyone,
My wife, our daughter (born in January) and I are planning to move from Berlin to the UK, and we’re currently trying to work out where would be the best place for us to settle.
We’ve lived in Berlin for around 8–10 years, so we’re very used to city life, but we’re now looking for somewhere that gives us more space and a better environment for raising a family. My wife is British and I’m originally from Turkey. I’m a composer, painter and researcher, while my wife is a senior manager at a start-up in Berlin.
Her parents live near Oxford and most of her friends are in the south of England, so we’d ideally like to be somewhere in the broad area south/west of London.
What we’re looking for
Our rough criteria are:
- Around £1 million budget
- 4-bedroom detached house, ideally with plenty of character
- A large garden is very important
- Somewhere in Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire or nearby
- Ideally a town rather than completely rural, as we’re used to having cafés, restaurants, shops etc. nearby
- A good sense of community, but also somewhere relatively liberal, international and multicultural
- We’re very sporty and would love good access to tennis, cycling, walking, gyms/swimming etc.
- Ideally a walkable town centre with cafés, restaurants, pubs, bakeries and everyday shops
- A train station within walking distance would be fantastic, although we’re absolutely happy to drive when necessary
- We expect to commute to London 2–3 days a week, so a reasonable train journey into London is important
- Being reasonably close to Oxford is also a plus because of my wife’s family
Note: we would like to rent for at least 6 month before we buy anywhere.
We’re not completely sure whether we want a village, a town or something semi-rural. At the moment, I think a nice market town would probably suit us best: somewhere with a proper town centre and community, but where you can still have a large garden and feel like you’re surrounded by greenery.
Places we’ve looked at
We’ve been looking at places such as Godalming, Farnham and Beaconsfield, and I particularly like the look of those. My wife grew up around Petersfield, so she knows that area well and likes it, although she doesn’t particularly want to move back there.
The problem is that there are so many towns in Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire that it’s becoming quite difficult to understand the differences between them just from looking at Rightmove/Zoopla.
So I’d really appreciate some local knowledge.
If you had around £1m to spend on a 4-bedroom detached family house and wanted to be within reasonable commuting distance of London, where would you choose?
And perhaps more importantly, which towns would you avoid, and why?
We’re particularly interested in places that offer a good balance between:
nice house + large garden + attractive town centre + community + good schools/family environment + access to London + countryside.
We’re also very open to places we haven’t considered at all, so please feel free to suggest anywhere in the wider area.
Thanks very much in advance; I really appreciate any recommendations or local insight!