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The best places to live for commuters: West Sussex

Two villages in West Sussex have been selected for our list of the best places to live near London for commuters.

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Lindfield

Commute: Haywards Heath (London Victoria, 44 minutes). Drive to station: about 5 minutes. Frequency of trains: 10 per hour (peak). First train in: 4.34am; last train home: 1am. Annual season ticket: £3,844. Annual car-park ticket: £1,166.

The Country Life verdict: Pevsner described Lindfield as having the ‘finest village street in East Sussex' (the county boundaries were later redrawn). It's won the best-kept village in Sussex title so often, it was once withdrawn to give others a chance.

Best address: Rupert Coles of Prime Purchase says the very attractive house overlooking the duck pond has to be the highlight on Lindfield's high street.

Alternatives: Haywards Heath, Ardingly, Horsted Keynes, Scaynes Hill.


Lurgashall

Commute: Haslemere station (London Waterloo, 52 minutes). Drive to station: about 15 minutes. Frequency of trains: 3 per hour (peak). First train in: 5.26am; last train home: 11.45pm. Annual season ticket: £3,900. Annual car-park ticket: £1,050.

The Country Life verdict: Typically English village set in the South Downs with an active cricket club, one of the best pubs in the area (The Noah's Ark), an excellent village shop-which sells fresh bread and local produce - and even a winery. It's a bit of a drive to the station, but worth it.

Best address: ‘The Old Rectory is very sweet, but, from The Malthouse, you could sit in the front garden and watch the cricket matches,' says Russell Grieve of Knight Frank, Haslemere.

Alternative: Lodsworth (an Archers-esque village in which the shop-the Lodsworth Larder-was started by villagers and sells produce from the nearby Cowdray estate.

** Read our selection of the best places to live near London by county

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Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.