Hello all! I've really enjoyed the information found here the past year or so as we have been negotiating a move to London and deciding whether or not to go. Thanks for all the useful information!

We have decided to go, after all, and will (hopefully) be there early June this year. We have decided a commuter town would best suit our needs,(work will pay for rail tickets and my husband can work from home 2-3 days/wk) and I have done a *ton* of research about schools, commute times, house prices, etc. online, through books, asking people who have lived there or do live there now, etc. I have found lots of areas that look good online, but thought opinions of people who have actually been there would be much better. So... what are any thoughts you might have about the areas of (or near) St. Albans, Hitchin, Chelmsford, Hornchurch/Romford, Grays, Orpington, Esher, possibly croyden, sydenham/penge... We are kind of leaning towards the ones in Herts since it has a direct train line to the station we need, but the others are just as long of a commute from what I can tell. Chelmsford also goes to a station near the office. Also, there will be a lot of client-visiting on the days into work, so going straight to the office isn't as important. We are looking for more of the family-friendly aspect, not as worried about pubs or nightlife ; )
Any thoughts or insights about these places would be useful.

Now, also about schools. We will be sending our primary-aged kids to state schools, and it looks like quite the process to get accepted. (Not like the US where you move into a house and are within a school's boundaries, so that's where you go.) I am unsure whether we should use our househunting trip to check out areas and schools, apply to a lot of schools, see where we get accepted, and then live in temporary housing until we can find a place to rent near that school... or.... go on our house-hunting trip a month or so before our move, find a house in an area we like, lease it, and then apply to schools near there and hope we get into one. It kind of feels like the chicken and the egg scenerio to me, not sure if the house or the school should come first. Does anyone have any advice into that?

Sorry if this post is kind of scatterbrained, the kids seem to get loud and obnoxious whenever I try to type, just like whenever the phone rings. ; ) I really have done a lot of looking into these questions, especially since this move has kind of been a year and a half process to get going so far! So, thanks for your help with all the topics others have posted, and for any thoughts you have to offer into these matters!

-Dana

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