England to New Jersey!

[kronenborg]

do you mean "looked at" as in you've been over on visit(s), or as in looked at online? morristown would probably suit you, but even that is far more of a smallish town than a large town/city (using UK terminology, anyway). same for summit...far less of a city, and more of an average sized town.

places which actually have a town centre, and shops you can walk between on pavement (UK pavement=US sidewalk) are few and far between, but both morristown and summit do actually have that. you might also want to consider madison, which is smaller than either, but very quaint. i work not far from where you will be working, and i chose to live out in the styx, but there are plenty of people who work in my office who live in either hoboken (lots going on, close to NYC) or montclair, so both of those may also be worth checking out.

to a Brit, the appeal of NYC is huge...its even better if you can work outside of the city, but be close enough to go in for entertainment, when you choose. im guessing most of the places you will consider living are likely to be under an hour's drive from manhattan (if you time it right), and if you ask around, there are some good priced car services which will take you in and pick you up again (often using your own car)...so my advice is not to necessarily limit yourself to places with train stations, especially if its only going to be occasional trips into NYC.

if you need any other advice from someone who has been through the same move you have, feel free to send me a message, and ill see if i can help.

[Boozy]

Thanks Kronenburg! yeah, we haven't actually been there yet, our first week there will be when we actually find the house, we've narrowed it down to five places we like the look of.
I like the idea of the DIY taxi service! not heard of that before! I think I may mail you for some tips and ideas, thank you to all who've helped so far!

[BergenCountyJohnny]

I'd recommend Ridgewood, NJ. It's a nice town, close to NYC by car, train, or bus; also near rt 80 to get you out to Whippany in about 25 minutes no traffic or 45 minutes w/ traffic. Very nice walkable town, most apartments are actually right on the edge of the center of town so you can just walk into town, plenty of banks, shops, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, etc. and it's a very attractive town. Also, there is no ghetto in or near Ridgewood, unlike Montclair which has a really bad ghetto section and the crime that comes from it. Morristown also has a ghetto, by the way.

Look into Ridgewood. Also, you'll be near Paramus which is the biggest shopping mecca in NJ.

[clevedark]

Maplewood would also be a nice choice, along with all the other towns mentioned above (Montclair, Ridgewood, Madison, Summit, etc.) Tons of Brits in Maplewood. Seems to be very popular maybe because of nice brick houses and tudors remind them of home?

[act2scene1]

My friend currently has a managed 2 bedroom apartment in a house in Summit available. It's on a tree-lined street and walk to everything location, including train station (midtown direct). If you're still looking and interested, email in again. It's also on realtor.com. Go to rentals. Good luck.