UKgirlinCanada

Hi everyone
My husband, myself and my two young kids may be moving back to the UK from Canada to be closer to my aged parents (I am an only child). My parents live in north London. We would not be able to afford to live in London and I am looking for recommendations of places to live within about 2 hours of London. I work in healthcare and, despite the current state of the NHS, undertand that there are lots of jobs in my field. We would need to be within a fairly short distance of a hospital for me to be able to get to/from work. As we have young kids, we would also need decent daycare/schools. We currently live in Banff, Alberta and love outdoor stuff so ideally we would be able to have easy access to outdoor activities.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks

BritInParis

Sheffield is the UK's greenest city and is within a few miles of the Peak District National Park. It is also relatively inexpensive, has a large number of teaching hospitals and you could be in north London within two hours by car or train thanks to the M1 and the Midland Main Line.

Editha

Sheffield is a bit far -- I don't think you can do it in less than 3 hours.

But two hours of North London gives you a wide choice of places in the Midlands. Birmingham is two hours. Stoke on Trent and Lichfield likewise. Manchester is about two and a quarter hours.

A while ago, someone else on the forum was planning to live in Lichfield and use Lichfield Parkway station to commute to a job in London, which gives you an idea of the accessibility of London from Staffordshire.

UKgirlinCanada

Thank you for your replies and suggestions BritinParis and Editha. I will check out both Sheffield and Lichfield. I went to university in Stoke on Trent and have no desire to go back there but the surrounding countryside is lovely and I agree with it being within a decent travel time.
Out of curiosity Editha, where in Canada were you and how do you find being back in the UK?
Thanks

Editha

I was in Edmonton for eight years. Although I made a few friends there, I didn't like the city or the climate and I'm glad to be back.

Before we went to Canada, we lived outside Stoke-on-Trent, near Leek. I rather like Stoke, though I admit I chose to live outside the city. I still have friends in the area. Newcastle under Lyme is an OK place to live and there is the North Staffs Hospital. Lichfield is a lovely, underrated city. I'd look at Stafford too and Cannock.

holly_1948

Chester is a wonderful area to raise a family. An average of 2 hours 10 minutes by train to London Euston.

BritInParis

Possibly a bit most optimistic by car - more like 2.5-3 hours depending on where the OP's parents are based in north London - but it's only two hours by train from Sheffield to St Pancras.

quiltman

We lived in Grantham, Lincolnshire for 45 years. Train to Kings Cross takes just over the hour, local hospital in town, plus Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester and Peterborough within 40 minutes drive. Beautiful country in the Belvoir valley, houses reasonable prices, most schools OK - couple of iffy ones but easily identifiable! About 300 people per day commute to London and loads more commute to Peterborough or Nottingham.In the eveninig I could drive from Grantham to Bank , in the City within 2 hours. Heathrow 2/3 hours, East midlands 45 minutes.

verystormy

Leicestershire has some great countryside and some of it is fairly cheap to live / buy / rent. It is only an hour from Leicester to London - I commuted it for a while.

UKgirlinCanada

Thank you for all your replies and great suggestions. I have never been to Grantham but recently met someone who lives there so it was on my radar. I will check it and all the other great suggestions out. We won't be buying as we are not sure if the move is temporary or permanent at this stage. The place that I really like the sound of is Buxton but it is too far from London at this stage. Another question as I didn't get a straight answer from the real estate agents I asked, when renting do you have to provide your own dishwasher, washing machine etc, or do they generally come with the house? Thanks everyone for your help. p.s. it's currently -10C (at 6am). Brrr!

Editha

If you are renting, it can be either. In my experience most rentals will include the cooker, but not necessarily the washing machine or fridge. You will be lucky to find a rental with a dishwasher -- this is Britain!

Editha

If you like Buxton, check out Leek. It doesn't have a railway station, but it is a quick run down to Stoke station.

windsong

Only trouble with working in London and commuting to the northern parts is that you won't get home until 8 or 9 at night and will have to leave about 6 in the morning.

UKgirlinCanada

Great, thanks everyone. Yes, Editha I had thought of Leek. Will check it out too. True Windsong, however my need to be within a couple of hours from London is just to be closer to my parents who are in their 80's. Thankfully I have no plans to commute for work! Interesting point about the dishwasher thing Editha. Hadn't thought of that. Not a biggie, although the washing machine and fridge are. I'm sure we can make it work though.

quoll

The world is your oyster really - there are nice places in East Anglia - Ipswich, Norwich and Cambridge all have big hospitals and there are loads of commutable villages around - some more expensive than others of course!