A matter of time
The golden hour–every commuter’s dream–is within your grasp. Eleanor Doughty explains where and how to live in bucolic countryside that’s only an hour from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol or Edinburgh
Eleanor Doughty finds bucolic countryside only an hour’s commute from London, Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester
NORTH of the capital, bargains abound. According to new data from Jackson-stops, Luton is the ‘number one’ commuter location and, just 45 minutes from London Blackfriars station, it is rather convenient. But there’s more to the A1 than the airport circuit; if you drive a little further up the motorway, you’ll come across the pretty Northamptonshire towns and villages that surround Kettering: Corby, Market Harborough and Oundle.
There are plenty of good schools in this part of the world—at Oundle, Uppingham and Oakham—and there’s lots for countryhouse devotees to explore: Boughton House, the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate near Kettering, and Deene Park, nearer to Corby. Plus, there’s the Land Rover Experience at Rockingham Castle and the Saunders Watsons’ Norman castle a mile from Corby, from where it is almost freakishly easy to commute into Canary Wharf.
Fifty miles away from Kettering is Cambridge (above), itself a 50-minute train journey into King’s Cross (right). If you needed any further evidence that Cambridge is the place to be, there’s a branch of The Ivy opening this spring. Demand is high for properties in the centre of town, but the stock is worth the wait. Fine & Country is presently offering eight-bedroom Roebuck House, with its own river frontage and mooring, just off the high street, for £2.75m (01223 363700).
Down in Saffron Walden, where the train station, Audley End, takes its name from Audley End House, the former home of Lord Braybrooke, you can enjoy the spoils of market-town living and still make it into Liverpool Street in 55 minutes. The surrounding area is pretty, too: look to the village of Debden, where the cottages come with thatched roofs. Five miles up the road, the Shortgrove estate is currently for sale via Savills Cambridge for £7.5m, with 715 acres, a well-established shoot and a ninebedroom house (01223 347000).
‘Southend-on-sea has lately been through a revolution and trendy millennials are moving east’
THE east side of London is awash with pretty seaside towns, cathedral cities and a bundle of good schools that arguably make east-side story the best-side story. Canterbury (above), 56 minutes from St Pancras by train, is the star attraction, with everything any city could need: a good public school, a cathedral and a Roman museum. The property stock is tempting: a three-bedroom townhouse on Blackfriars Street is on the market for £550,000 and, up the road, Petham House has 10 acres, at £2.95m, both with Strutt & Parker (01227 451123).
For those who do like to be beside the sea, Southend-on-sea has lately been through a revolution and trendy millennials are moving eastwards to get a slice. Also try Leigh-on-sea, with its artisan gelato houses and what The Guardian once described as an ‘authentic Ealing Comedy feel’. Just off the coast, a train from Pitsea gets to Fenchurch Street station in 39 minutes; inland, at Wickford, it’s a 37-minute journey into Liverpool Street. In the other direction, keep heading towards the sea until you reach Folkestone, the port town overlooking the Channel with trains to St Pancras in 54 minutes.
Then, look south and south again to Tunbridge Wells (57 minutes from Charing Cross) and western Kent for the grammarschool experience, as well as a choice of top public schools—tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Benenden are nearby, plus the stateboarding Cranbrook School. Sissinghurst isn’t far, former home of Vita Sackvillewest, and there’s the rest of the High Weald AONB to explore by bicycle, foot and horseback.