Those that work in London...where do you live and how long is your commute?

I used to work in St Albans which is a nice place and commutable. Berkhamsted is nice too although more expensive even than St Albans.

When I lived in London, we lived in the SE - Blackheath area. T'was lovely, and a quick commute in.

I've got good friends who live in Reigate and commute into Canary Wharf, although it doesn't appeal much to me...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daily-Telegraph-Guide-Commuterland/dp/1845134796/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242940994&sr=8-1 Get this book- it's brilliant. Reviews pretty much every town and village within a commute of London, lists everywhere by train line (ie in terms in commute) with info on vibe, house prices, schools, you name it...

We live in Leigh-on-Sea (just outside Southend) and it takes H an hour door to door for his job in canary wharf. Upminster's also very nice, if you want somewhere nearer London. Or you could look at places on the Liverpool Street line. We used to live in Gidea Park, which is about 40 mins to canary wharf, or there's brentwood, shenfield, billericay. Lots of nice places that way

I work at Monument and live in a little town in Kent near Sevenoaks. I came out this way a year ago from South London and I find the commute is not to bad it is 1 hour door to door but the cost is somewhat crippeling. And the lack of trains out of the rush hour is a pain if you go for frequent nights out work long hours.

Try looking at the Lea Valley area (all the way up to Hertford) They have trains to Stratford which links with the DLR to where you want to be.

I live in zone 2, walk to work in East London which takes about 45 mins but I can get to work in 15 mins on the bus if needs be.

I fear reading your Qu this won't be much help to you if you're planning on moving out of town.

As someone has said, the Liv St line is fairly quick - but M11/commuterville is expensive. I think Bishops Stortford/Saffron Walden are nice.

Chelmsford also goes into Liv St.

My H not me - Oxford, 5 hour return journey. I don't recommend it ?

We have just moved to st albans from Pimlico. We love it here. we are in the city though, and to be fair buying wise we could trade our 2 bed house in SW1 in for a 3 bed house here, which is not that great a compromise considering the 3k train ticket! ATM we are renting out house out and renting here, which is profitable.

I am not a suburbs fan TBH, I'd rather live in a "proper" place than settle for somewhere suburban. With CW you do have the choice of the cheaper parts ofLondon (SE) but, you have to live there. I have lived in Charlton and quite liked it; thats one stop on the jubliee line from cw. The only reason I don't still live there is the surrounding areas.

I really dislike the whole "estuary" area, but I can be a bit snobby. I'd go for hertfordshire and drive in. You can do the commute from anywhere on the A3 easily though

Bishops Stortford/Sawbridgeworth are in Herts and on the Liverpool St train line.....

St A's is also Herts although train line doesn't get you where you want to be.

ETA also not a suburbs fan. If we weren't happy as Larry where we are, I'd prob go for a town like the above properly out in the country surrounded by fields. <apologies in advance for offending anyone> somewhere like Enfield is my worst nightmare in terms of where we end up <again, apologies>

I thought those places were in essex! <aside> isn't that were the Beckhams have a house? <aside> I'm trying to stay as far north as I can ?

We live just north of Milton Keynes and H works near the Gherkin. The train he gets takes 45 minutes in to Euston (some are a bit quicker I think) and then he goes Euston to Bank.

In the mornings he gets a train at 6.35 and is in work at his desk by 8.00. hth

We live in Twickenham and it's 25 minutes into Waterloo, and then another 20 or so to Canary Wharf on the Jubilee Line. Best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned as it's lovely and green, right on the river and very pleasant, but really quick into central London.

Sawbridgeworth is right on the border with essex, but is officially herts I think. BS is definitely herts.

Hertfordshire has some gorgeous areas, and some that are not so great. Avoid stevenage ?

I live in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire and I work in Shepherds Bush.

An hour door to door on the train to Euston then tube to the Bush.

Or there is now a direct train straight to East Croydon via Clapham Junction and Shepherds Bush which is still an hour.

I used to work in Westminster and nearst tube station was Holborn, I lived in Redhill in Surrey, on the London /Brighton mainline and used to take 30 mins by train into London Bridge or Victoria then another 30 by tube to Holborn

Live in Greenhithe Kent and commute into Waterloo - its 45 minutes on the train and about an hour's journey door to door. You would have to get a tube as well to canary wharf though so would take longer. The area is nice where we live but the trains are expensive (my season ticket is just over £1600 a year - that's trains only)

Dartford Kent, work in Mayfair, so a train into London Bridge or Waterloo East and a tube, or walk from Charing Cross in the summer. takes about an hour door to door if no delays.

For Canary Wharf you could change at Lewisham and get the DLR, possibly Woolwich Arsenal now I beleive it has a DLR stop. I've lived SE all my life I like it but don't know any different.

We live in Brentwood (Essex). Shenfield to Stratford(fast train) is 12 mins & then you have the DLR or Jubilee Line to get over to CW (which is about 14 mins too). If the Liverpool St line is bad, we can use the Fenchurch St Line to Upminster

MrJMP drives in to either CW or the City from home - It's easy for him, as he leaves before the first train from the station.

We live in Apsley, Herts, 35 minutes into Euston and then I get the tube round to Liverpool St. Get on the 7.38 train, am at my desk exactly an hour later. If its Canary Wharf you need to get to somewhere like Bushey, Stanmore could work - right on the other end of the Jubilee line.

I live in Surrey, Weybridge/Woking area. I work in Blackfriars and have a 35 minute train journey to Waterloo and then a 15 minute walk to Blackfriars. It's pretty easy. I used to walk in Canary Wharf and lived in Surbiton at the time so 20 minutes to Waterloo and then the Jubilee line to CW. I hated it, the Jubilee line is so busy and when it's suspended it really is quite shit trying to get back to Waterloo. My current commute is much less stressy.

I live in Surrey and work in the City, takes me 40 minutes to get to London Bridge and then is a 10 minute walk to work.

If you want to be somewhere nice, green, with good local shops and a nice high street and an easy, quick journey into Canary Wharf you really need Shenfield / Billericay / Brentwood - it's why we moved here.

I can get to Canary Wharf in just over 30 minutes (via Stratford) and Oxford Street in about 45 minutes or so - trains are so regular, I couldn't tell you how often they run but during peak times I've never waited more than 10 minutes (usually no more than 5). I often travel home late and the really nice thing about being out here is that the trains are always busy and always full of "nice" people, I know that a real snobbish thing to say but I've never felt unsafe even at midnight etc.

The downside is, house prices are OTT and my season ticket costs almost £3k a year.

I live in Southfields - inbetween Wimbledon & Putney and work in Canary Wharf. Bus to WImbledon, 15 mins on train to Waterloo, then 15-20 mins on tube to Canary Wharf. All quite easy (unless tube is down but there are other options).

Takes me about an hour door to door if a good run, but I leave at 7am. Monthly travelcard is £116.

Love where we live - right by wimbledon common and wimbledon village, lovely & green but close enough to central London.

We used to live in Putney, and it would take 45 minutes on the district line for me to get to Westminster and an hour for H to get to Canary Wharf on the mainline train and then the jubilee line. That was on a good day, but more often than not it would take an hour and a half for him to get home.

We now live in Lewisham and I get the train to Charing Cross which takes me 20 minutes then a 10 minute walk and H gets the DLR to the Wharf which takes 20 minutes. On the days when the DLR breaks, he gets the tube to North Greenwich and then gets a bus home which takes about 45 minutes or so.

I'm probably not the OP's ideal example, as I live on the South Coast and it's two hours door to door. ?

That said, it works brilliantly for me - I get two 90-minute sessions every weekday when I'm entirely uninterrupted by anyone apart from the ticket collector, I get a seat 99.9% of the time and a window seat with a table 95% of the time, and I spend much of that time keeping my freelance writing career going. Without the commute, I'm not sure I'd be able to write anything like as much, and I'm usually paid by the word.

I live in Benfleet, Essex. I commute to city - 45 mins door to door, h2b to CW about 70 mins door to door, and he pays a bit more than me too.

Used to live in Romford and hornchurch and takes about 20 minutes off train journey for me and about 30 mins quicker for OH.

Brentwood, Shenfield or Upminster would get my vote.

Why does it cost your H more to go to Canary Wharf than for you to go to the city? Surely CW is in zone 2 so he only needs a zone 2 return. It's much cheaper for my H than for me (I have to get a travelcard)

Thank you all so much for replying. I am searching houses, schools and commutes after sending this message!!! I guess I want it all - a BIG house, in a nice area with fantastic schools and a really easy commute.........don't we all though :-)

I'd echo the recommendations for Brentwood/Shenfield/Upminster areas.

I live in Chelmsford and used to work just off Oxford St. Fast train was 32 mins into Liverpool St, then 10 mins on Central Line into Oxford Circus. I could also walk to Bond St/Tottenham Court Rd if Oxford Circus had issues.

We're still in Chelmsford now, although on the outskirts so nice and green; but I'd love to move to Brentwood. Unfortunately prices for what we'd need (decent sized 3 bed) are way out of reach. Maybe once I go back to work when the children start school.................(dreams)

I only use the one train so only need a c2c season ticket and no travel card, he needs a zone 2/3 travel card as well as the c2c season ticket so pays an extra £200 or so per year. When we were in zone 6 it was cheaper for him has he had a 2-6 travel card and I had to have a 1-6.

I live near Shad Thames and work in the city, it takes me about 30 mins to walk to work (much quicker than public transport). We're only 2 stops away from CW.

When H and I decided to live in London we wanted to live central so we wouldn't have to pay for travel it pretty much evens it out as we don't pay much for travel (tops £50 a month each), but we do have to pay more for our flat.