Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Looking for places near London to start looking for apartments for an upcoming move. It's tough for me to narrow down exactly what I'm looking for but I'll try to give a very quick summary.
I know English culture. Growing up in Canada where I was, I was surrounded by a lot of English music, literature, shops, etc and growing up I've always maintained a strong dose of the UK in my life. Even here in New York where I am now, I hunt down English shops, buy English products, and my wife and I watch almost exclusively UK television. We get the culture and will feel very at home there. What I want though, knowing that London is not like the rest of the UK, is to know if there is an area near London but outside it that is close enough to the city, preferably on the west side, but that is more small town, historic, perhaps turn of the century flats, than big-city downtown condo life.
I don't want to live where it's hip, where it's trendy, where it's trendy for being anti-trendy (like Brooklyn here) and of course, I'd like it to be affordable and if that means living further out that's ok.
We want to live a more typically English life there and absorb the real culture. I want to be able to get to a shop nearby to get my McVities and Typhoo. I want real British food nearby and markets where I can get fresh food. But I'd like to be a tube ride away from commerce in London as well.
If anyone who actually lives in London (or has lived here in New York and London) has ideas, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks!! I'll keep researching on my end.
Your search will be a hard one and finding something that matches your wants will take time and possibly some compromise.
If there's any sliver of "historic", "charm" or "tweeness", count on it being expensive, small and busy at certain times of the day or days of the week, like the weekends.
There's really little in the way of historic to the west of London (which I know best) and that is also on the tube network.
Ealing and Chiswick would fall into that category and they have lots of old homes that would match what you want and many of them have been converted into flats (although not all of them have been converted very well and so sound insulation is a problem with these flats - a factor to check into if you're buying). Also consider Kew & Richmond.
There's lots in the Berkshire/Bucks areas (such as Maidenhead, Cookham, Twyford, Marlow and surrounding (but not Slough as its essentially just one large industrial park), but all these areas are several miles from the nearest tube network, although the overground trains do run from these towns to Paddington, which is an option to consider.
Then there's areas like Twickenham, Strawberry Hill, Teddington that are away from the tube network but within reach by car or single train journey. They have a lot of great old homes (some of which have not been converted and house private schools, doctor's and lawyer's offices, etc.) but they are not cheap places to live in generally but they retain the old charm that the British are fixated on keeping and that it sound like what you're looking for.
Finally, Iver and Windsor come to mind to consider.
Google street views will help you with these areas.
Is it not possible to live somewhere like what I've described outside London and maybe take some form of train into the city? I don't mind commuting up to an hour. I live in New York, so trust me, I get how commuting can be. I guess the rent is ultimately the most important thing but I'd rather live in the right place than be close to the city center.
Oh, and I don't plan on buying. Only renting.
Perhaps someone could let me know of a few of the most used sites by locals for renting unfurnished long term apartments.
Yes of course there is, but you asked for places close to the city and 1 hour on a train is not close.
What you'll also find is that such long journey times on overground trains have other impacts.
What if you miss your train or its late or its cancelled - a frequent occurence in the UK? Some areas have trains every 10-15 mins, others not.
Will you always get a seat or have to stand the entire time?
Going home in the evening - do the trains run until just 9pm or later?
Do you have to take more than one train for your journey? If so, then multiply the above for each segment of your journey.
Many people want to live in a lovely town within a nice setting and have a short commute into the city, but few places can or have achieved this without creating a new sprawl of houses, shopping centres (malls) and more and more roads, noise, etc., as well as the destruction of old homes to make way for new buildings to house more people.
Its like those travel shows that show viewers nice quiet unspoilit havens to travel to - well, they're not going to remain nice quiet unspoilt havens anymore now that you've told everyone.
There are a slew of towns on the outskirts and further out of London that are known as commuter towns and which could be what you are looking for.
Those I metioned before in Berkshire and Bucks are some.
Some people travel from Brighton too.
Gumtree used to be good but there's lots of criminals advertising on there so I don't recommend it.
I would also advise that you talk to some letting agents in the area that you end up wanting to live in about the best districts/sections within an area, as this can make a real difference sometimes to your life and you won't know about numerous nuanaces without extensive research and mostly, experience.
Whatever you do, don't part with any money at any time for anything unless you have a proper receipt.
The receipt should at least show the company name and their address (both of which should match with whom you are dealing with), the correct date, what the fees/charges are for. BTW, there are no charges for just showing you a list of properties or showing you any homes. People who do this are 100% illegal and also, such people are likley to stiff you with other charges if you use them.
If you want any direct advice, please PM me anytime.
I don't know what you already know or still need to know, but usually, there's lots to learn about and somethings you just can't learn about before going.
It could stop you from being exploited.
Is it not possible to live somewhere like what I've described outside London and maybe take some form of train into the city? I don't mind commuting up to an hour. I live in New York, so trust me, I get how commuting can be. I guess the rent is ultimately the most important thing but I'd rather live in the right place than be close to the city center.
Oh, and I don't plan on buying. Only renting.
Perhaps someone could let me know of a few of the most used sites by locals for renting unfurnished long term apartments.
Have a look at the South Croydon/Purley area. Croydon is a decent sized city in its own right and South Croydon/Purley are quite "leafy". They also have the advantage of being on the main line to Gatwick so plenty of trains into town.
I know you said West but I'm going to send you East as you said you wanted a small town feel and not somewhere trendy or hip.
When I met my now husband he lived in Wanstead and commuted into the city every day. He had a choice of the tube from Wanstead or the mainline from Manor Park as he lived right beside Wanstead flats in the Aldersbrook area. Wanstead has a nice front street with a variety of independent and chain stores, plus decent places to eat.
South Woodford is close by and has a bigger selection.
Epping forest is in that area and it's very green, with the turn of the century homes and older, as well as some new developments.
I loved visiting him there.
Windsor, west of London, historic, beautiful architecture with good traditional English values, probably one of the best examples of an English town that most of the world think England is made up of. Right next to London, too, so commuting is easy. It's rather expensive so as it's one of the wealthiest towns in Britain.
Is it not possible to live somewhere like what I've described outside London and maybe take some form of train into the city? I don't mind commuting up to an hour
I forgot to mention some things about journey times that you need to consider.
There is the declared journey time as given by the train company. To this you must add:
1. The time to it takes to get to the station from your home and the time it takes to arrive at your ultimate destination after the train journey ends, including any walking time in between.
2. Then there is the interchange time in between lines at the same station on the tube network in order to get to your city destination (the tube maps give no indication of what this time might be. Some walks are short, of less than a minute, while others, like Bank, can take 10 minutes or more).
3. At busy times, you might have to wait for more than one train before you can get on, both on overground and tube trains.
Also, if you intend to get a job in central London, it would be advisable to locate yourself in the same general direction out of London, so you have easy access to main line station serving that part of central London, so for example:
If your job is located in the west part of central London, Paddington is the most convenient station for towns towards the West and South West of England.
Victoria & Waterloo serve South West London, South & South East England.
Charing Cross serves South East England
Liverpool Street for Essex and East Anglia
Kings Cross & Euston for the northern counties, North of England and and some of East Anglia.
The reason for saying this is if you locate yourself in say, South London (very poorly served by the tube network by the way), and you get a job in the North of central London, you have to add another x mins to your journey time before you get to your place of work, in both actual tube travelling time and the time to walk to the tube platform and any waiting time. This can become a real chore and hassle.
Also, while it happens often, you can't predict the time for delays that occur often with overground trains (anything from 1-20 mins typically, sometimes more) for no apparent reason, unless you have a nice driver who will tell you why he has stopped.
Then there's the classic complaints & excuses of "leaves on the line", "frost/ice on the line", "weather is too hot" "weather is too cold". Unbelievable but true.
I realize you are an adult and can probably think of these things yourself, but if you're not famailiar with the UK trains, stations, the tubes and the distances involved, you might not understand the cumulative amount of time that all the travelling adds up to.
This is why many people give up and end up living in the London, wherever they can afford it.
Tip:
I used to have a handy pocket guide to tell me which carriage of the tube train to get onto in order to be adjacent to the exit of the destination or interchange station and which can save a lot of time and avoid the hassel of crowds.
They've now got it on the web and iphone. Tube Exits for the London Underground - Save Time. Beat the crowds.
I have also thought about a couple of areas in London that might be of interest to you but they're both not cheap. Hampstead and Greenwich.
Looking for places near London to start looking for apartments for an upcoming move. It's tough for me to narrow down exactly what I'm looking for but I'll try to give a very quick summary.
I know English culture. Growing up in Canada where I was, I was surrounded by a lot of English music, literature, shops, etc and growing up I've always maintained a strong dose of the UK in my life. Even here in New York where I am now, I hunt down English shops, buy English products, and my wife and I watch almost exclusively UK television. We get the culture and will feel very at home there. What I want though, knowing that London is not like the rest of the UK, is to know if there is an area near London but outside it that is close enough to the city, preferably on the west side, but that is more small town, historic, perhaps turn of the century flats, than big-city downtown condo life.
I don't want to live where it's hip, where it's trendy, where it's trendy for being anti-trendy (like Brooklyn here) and of course, I'd like it to be affordable and if that means living further out that's ok.
We want to live a more typically English life there and absorb the real culture. I want to be able to get to a shop nearby to get my McVities and Typhoo. I want real British food nearby and markets where I can get fresh food. But I'd like to be a tube ride away from commerce in London as well.
If anyone who actually lives in London (or has lived here in New York and London) has ideas, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks!! I'll keep researching on my end.
You have a romantic view of the UK. Do you have a job lined up?
I know you said West but I'm going to send you East as you said you wanted a small town feel and not somewhere trendy or hip.
When I met my now husband he lived in Wanstead and commuted into the city every day. He had a choice of the tube from Wanstead or the mainline from Manor Park as he lived right beside Wanstead flats in the Aldersbrook area. Wanstead has a nice front street with a variety of independent and chain stores, plus decent places to eat.
South Woodford is close by and has a bigger selection.
Epping forest is in that area and it's very green, with the turn of the century homes and older, as well as some new developments.
I loved visiting him there.
Somehow I don't think South Woodford or Wanstead will cut it for him/her.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
