How to make the move out of London

Main Blog Image for - How to make the move out of London

Bee from Life After London is our guest blogger this week, with hints and tips on how to make the move out of the big smoke of London to a new area:

 

I was chatting with a lovely lady this week and she reminded me of how daunting it can be if you’re looking to move to a new area. It’s hard enough if you know where to go but imagine the feeling – “we need to be one hour from London but that’s our only guide lines”. Since starting lifeafterlondon.com I’ve become more and more aware of how many people really do this. “Enough of London let’s go...but where on earth shall we move to?” I am always delighted when they find us because we can offer a bit of support in what can be a really daunting task.

Step one has to be to buy a map – either a road atlas or area map so you don’t have to keep trying to remember places you’ve seen/heard of! The next key task is to spend some time on http://www.commutefrom.co.uk/. From this you can narrow down areas simple by train times. It saves hours going onto every train company website and working out distances from your office.

Once you’ve got a few areas in mind you can then start getting a bit more specific. If you’ve got school aged children The Good Schools Guide http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/ has a great map on their website and it’s a helpful place to start. Distances from school are important both for catchment but also your time spent ferrying back and forth!

The key factor which people need to consider is actually the next stage of education. When you’re stuck in Primary selection it feels a long way off to start thinking about your child aged 11 but it’s critical to work backwards. It’s almost always the case that really good senior schools have good primary schools in the same area but the same is not true the other way around so if you can face it look secondary first and then pick your primary school. Easy to say I know!

From this initial research you might find you’ve areas circled that seem to tick a few boxes and that’s when you start to look at what your money can buy in each area. You can look at the property websites as they all have great search facilities and this can help narrow it down. If it’s more space or bigger gardens remember to be clever in your search – don’t get too hung up on fashionable areas and counties. If you can find a secret shire or hidden place which suits you all the better! Luckily we don’t all have the same needs so there are places out there for all of us – it just takes a bit of hunting.
 
I set up lifeafterlondon.com specifically with this in mind – to help with research. It’s daunting moving to new areas and sometimes you just need to ask others who’ve done it, or who live there already. Our website is free and simple – we connect you to locals who give their time for free and answer any questions you might have. We really can help with research so if you’re feeling a bit bogged down in this process pop by www.lifeafterlondon.com and see if we can ease the path a little! 

Belinda Aspinall
Life After London
www.lifeafterlondon.com
www.facebook.com/lifeafterlondon
#lifeafterlondon
 

 

Go Back

GL&Co properties also appear on the following property portals