50 best places to live near London

Where are the best villages, towns and small cities which are a pleasure to live in, but still offer a decent commute to the capital?

For those who don’t want to live in London, commuting is a necessary evil. Dinner parties in town are set alight on the topic, for which the shorthand is ‘doing the BM’ (the Big Move).

‘These days, when both parents often work, the move to the country is more complicated,’ explains Belinda Aspinall, who set up the website lifeafterlondon.com, on which people can share advice and tips on where and when to move. ‘It’s not easy to juggle school runs with both parents doing long commutes.’

The good news is that it’s perfectly possible to find rural (and cultural) idylls within an hour’s radius of a London terminus.

For the purpose of this exercise, we’ve picked out the most attractive and convivial villages, towns and small cities that boast a fast and regular train service to the capital – that is, a choice of more than two trains taking less than an hour between 7am and 8am on weekdays – or amenities that simply can’t be beaten.

We’ve taken on board an assumption that no one wants to drive for much more than 15 minutes from home to the station and have only included places that aren’t just commuter dormitories, but which boast enough of a community spirit to support a village shop.

Season-ticket prices are for the journey to the London terminus only and are for standard travel (some routes have high-speed services that attract a higher rate).

The best places to live near London: Surrey

Discover the charm of Haslemere, Farnham, Chobham, Dunsfold, Windlesham, Frensham and Shamley Green.

View from Blackdown Forest where Lord Alfred Tennyson lived at Aldworth near Haselmere on the Surrey Sussex borders.

The best places to live near London: West Sussex

Lindfield and Lurgashall offer a commuter idyll.

London to Brighton cyclists make there way through the picturesque village of Lindfield.

The best places to live near London: Kent

We delight in Langton Green, Cranbrook, Aldington, Penshurst, Westerham and Otford.

View along Stone Street to the Union Windmill, Cranbrook, Kent.

The best places to live near London: Essex

There is much to enjoy in Great Waltham, Stock, Terling, Earls Colne, Saffron Walden and Clavering.

An arial view of the Essex village of Great Waltham.

The best places to live near London: Suffolk

East Bergholt and Nayland boast the best amenities here.

St Marys Church in the snow, Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk, Britain. The Church was Painted by John Constable.

The best places to live near London: Cambridgeshire

Discover the charm of Grantchester, Cambridge and Brampton.

Kings Parade and Great St Mary’s Church, Trinity College, Cambridge.

The best places to live near London: Hertfordshire

Much Hadham, Barley, Ashwell, Harpenden and Aldbury offer a commuter idyll.

Old village stocks in Aldbury, Kent.

The best places to live near London: Warwickshire

We adore Dunchurch.

Dunchurch Park Hotel, Warwickshire.

The best places to live in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire

We delight in Amersham, Long Crendon and Haddenham.

Overlooking Old Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

The best places to live near London: Oxfordshire

Sutton Courtney, Dorchester-on-Thames, Henley-on-Thames, Sonning, Stratton Audley, Great Milton, Hethe and Blewbury are the dream locations in this county.