Hi! I am an American (live in AZ) and my husband just got a job transfer with Dept of Defense for Loud Water England. We will be moving there for three years in August. Any ideas on nice places to live that are close to London and close to a tube line but not too far from Loudwater?
Thanks!!
do u want to livew in london??
there is no tue in loudwater... but a train will go form High wycombe or beconsfield to paddington in about an hr...
there are some nice villages around there (i used to go to uni in the chalfonts) its not a cheep area to live !...
What is MOD?
The American Govt is paying for our whole move, and will put us in temp housing for up to 90 days while we look for housing. They pay for our housing too, turns out to be about 3750 a month in dollars for utilities and rent.
I guess we aren't sure what we want more- a cottage in a cute englsh countryside town that's unfortunatley isn't too close to London (but not too far either) or live in London and live far from work but be close to all the "action"....
tough call-any opinions??
That will depend on what kind of things you like to do. I'm a Londoner, I lived there from birth until my early 30s and I will never go back there to live. London is HUGE - with a big variety of housing and things to do - it is also (IMHO as a Londoner) expensive, dirty, noisy, busy and depressing. Its okay for a very occasional visit but I'm always happy to get back home.
Most cities and towns have railway links to London and even some villages do. Why not look at the towns and villages around the base your husband will be working at and see what rental properties are available. There isn't such a place as Loud Water in the UK but there are two villages called Loudwater, one near High Wycombe and one near Rickmansworth - both those places are not too far from London.
MOD is what us brits call our Ministry of Defence, like you Defence department I guess.
That sounds a good amount of money for rent too. We live outside Manchester, we used to live in the centre, which I hated, too impersonal, and we found it impossible to make friends. Now we live 3/4 of an hour outside Manchester in a little village. I'd really recommend village life.
Once you get here you can do some day trips and work out what is best for you, the beauty of renting is, if you move to a village and don't like it, you can always head to the centre! At least your not committed to a property. That's what we did. I was from a small town in Australia, and we gave an apartment in Manchester a try to see if I could cope, and then we found I couldn't, and came out here to the country!
Living 'out in the sticks' is ok if you have transport but otherwise....
My Aunt had great ideas of moving to the country until I reminded her that if she could no longer drive she would be stuck. She would miss zipping into London with all the variety of shops (I am speaking about China Town and all the material shops she loves) but I guess it depends on the individuals.
As I said in another post she would not like to live in Suffolk because she hats the produce sold there.
Best to get a good map of the surrounding areas because then it would give you an idea of where to look for.
If you are interested in buying a place look on www.findaproperty.co.uk which is not just London but everywhere in UK and also abroad. That'll give you an idea of house prices.
Do a google on the areas you want to live in - a lot have a local website.
"two villages called Loudwater, one near High Wycombe and one near Rickmansworth - both those places are not too far from London."
There are TWO Loudwaters??? I believe we are going to be in the one near High Wycombe....how far is Rickmansworth from THAT Loudwater? We were just looking at Rickmansworth because it was on the tube line and looked cute and looked like it had cottages....didn't realize it was a different Loudwater!
Thanks for all the advice everyone! I know this is not normally what this forum is for-so I appreciate all your help! (I am thinking that once I get to europe it will be difficult to stick to my diet because I will want to try everything!!!) : )
Peacock-thanks for the website-am currently going through each one for all the good info on where to live : )
Kyrakee-beware of the C food!!! I was watching a Samantha Brown show on England and she was eating the clotted cream-looked SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait, looks like I will have to lose 30 lbs before August so I can spend the next three years gaining it back by enjoying myself ; )
Where in Arizona are you? My MIL lives in Yuma and we travel there every couple of years or so. My DH is originally from the Pacific North-West though.
Moving to London!!
I'm a Londoner too, I've never heard of Loudwater!
