Commuterland Book Review

Today we’re reviewing one of our most popular aids for those people who wish to commute into London for work, whilst living in either the countryside or a leafy commuter town.

The Sunday Telegraph Guide to Commuterland – Finding a home within reach of London is brought to you by Caroline McGhie.

The book follows the trainlines out of mainline railway stations such as Liverpool Street, Fenchurch Street, Kings Cross, St Pancras, Moorgate, Euston, Marylebone, Paddington, Waterloo Victoria, London Bridge, Charing Cross and Cannon Street.

You can expect to find out the following pieces about over 1200 different towns and villages that feature on train routes on the commuter map into London:

• House Prices
• Property Types (e.g cottage or modern apartments)
• Schools
• Local shops
• Local activities and societies
• Ticket prices into London
• Journey times into London
• Frequency of trains running into London
• Area profiles to help readers decide if they would fit in

If you don’t yet work in London, then you can read the book with a completely open mind and choose pretty much anywhere in the home counties or outskirts of London that appeals to you based on your preferences and budget.

If you already have a job in London, then you’ll probably want to choose to live on a commuter rail line that terminates vaguely near where you work, so that you don’t have to trek half way across town on the tube once you arrive. So if you work in the City for instance, then you may simply use the book and read through the different stations all the way along train routes running into Liverpool Street for instance.

The book lists locations from around 30 minutes commuting time to up to 2 hours commuting time into London.

The book is revised and updated regularly to reflect the most recent house prices, commuting times and train routes, which as you can imagine are all changeable factors.

It’s all very well us telling you that this book is great, but if you don’t want to take our word for it then take a quick peek here.

Buy the The Sunday Telegraph Guide to Commuterland for around £10.17 with free postage (price correct at time this article is printed).

If you liked this article, then you might be interested in more of our articles about commuting:

• The Best Places to Commute to London from
• Commuting into London for work

Barclays Cycle Hire in London

Something very exciting is due to happen at the end of the month….
Barclays Cycle Hire is commencing in London on Friday 30th July.

With the huge increase in cycling fans in the capital over the past 5 years, it’s about time that a decent cycle hire scheme was introduced.

For those of you who have travelled to cities such as Paris or Amsterdam, you may already be familiar with the concept.

Basically, it’s a cycle sharing scheme for the public. In short, you pick up a bike at one of 400 docking stations in the capital and return it to another.

The bikes will be available at all times as it’s a self-service system.

The drawback is that this is not a free service, however, it’s an extremely affordable way to get around town.

You’ll be required to pay two costs in order to use the bikes:

• An Access fee, giving you the right to use the cycle hire
• A Usage Fee, which will be based on the duration of your journey

The access fees are:

• GBP1.00 for 24 hour access
• GBP5.00 for access for a full week
• GBP45.00 for annual access (this option is only available to members

The usage fees are:

• Less than 30 minutes for FREE
• Less than 1 hour – GBP1.00
• Max. 90 minutes – GBP4.00
• Max. 2 hours – GBP6.00
• Max. 2 hrs 30 mins – GBP10.00
• Max. 3 hours – GBP 15.00
• Max. 6 hours – GBP 35.00
• Max. 24 hours – GBP 50.00

Additionally, if you see yourself being a regular cycle hire user and fancy taking out a membership, it costs GBP 3.00 as a one-off, which will give you access to a membership key which is chip-enabled and will give you a fast-track access to the bikes.

You will be penalised with some quite strong charges if you return the bike late (GBP 150.00), damage the bike (max.GBP 300.00) or don’t return the bike at all (GBP 300.00) so there’s no room for chancers with this cycle hire scheme. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the 400 docking stations will be fully protected by CCTV footage.

In summary, if you’re looking to take quick, short trips around London and don’t fancy being stuck on a sweaty tube or greenhouse effect bus this summer, then the Barclays cycle scheme could be great for you. It provides you with an additional choice and unlike many other types of London transport, it’s available at any time of day or night.

For more information, please visit Transport for London.

You might also finding another of our cycling articles to be of interest to you:

Ways to blend in as a Londoner

When you first move to London, some of you might take to it like water off a duck’s back, others of you may feel that you stick out like a sore thumb.
We’ve created a list of ways to blend in as Londoner, so you don’t feel out of your depth. Many of them are related to the public transport system and some should be taken as being tongue in cheek, but we’ll let you try and work out which are which!

• Don’t wander around obviously clutching your A-Z. If you need to carry it, then try and be discreet about it. Or if you have an I-phone, you could just use that instead to get about!
• Try and hide the fact that your snot is currently black and sooty – we promise it’ll go away.
• Get an Oyster card – real Londoners don’t buy paper tickets, they’re more expensive.
• Never stand still on the left side of an escalator – always move to the right. In fact, most Londoners are often in a rush, so feel free to charge up and down the left side of the escalator.
• Always avoid eye contact with strangers and don’t even think about exchanging niceties – we don’t do that in London or else people might mistake us for psychopaths.
• Walk quickly everywhere and try and look like you’re extremely angry at all times.
• In a supermarket, use the self-service checkout – remember that you’re in a hurry and don’t have time for queues.
• Don’t scream in alarm at the tiny amount of change you’ll get when you hand over a fiver for a pint of beer
• Stop carrying cash altogether and rely on using cards everywhere
• Scream like billio if you see a mouse in your house, but don’t bat an eyelid if you see 10 of them whilst you’re waiting for a tube
• Roll your eyes and be completely devoid of sympathy if someone commits suicide by jumping on the tube tracks and ruins your journey across town
• Start sniggering (and/or exercise an eye roll) if your train is delayed or cancelled due to leaves on the line or the wrong type of snow
• Always carry Nurofen, Berocca tablets, eyedrops and chewing gum with you on Friday mornings to help you deal with a crazy Thursday night out.
• Learn the names and respective colours of the tube lines. Nothing will make you stand out more than if you say you’re taking the yellow line to work. IT’S CALLED THE CIRCLE LINE!
• Don’t bother going out in Central London unless it’s for work drinks. Instead find the best pub in your new area and claim it as your local.
• Start acting like the rest of the UK doesn’t exist

PS We didn’t mean the last one – we’re not originally from London either!!!

Definitive Guide to Moving to London

As we’ve now written 100 articles on our Moove2London blog since we started writing in October 2009, it seems as good a time as any to recap through some of those articles and use them all as a
‘Definitive Guide on How to Move to London’.

Things to Consider Before You Move to London

Before you move to London, you should think carefully about whether or not it’s for you. Obviously, here at Moove2London, we’re pretty biased and think that everyone should live in London, if only for a short period, so that you have experienced everything our capital city has to offer. But you need to come to that decision by yourself, so read

• Don’t move in with your parents, move to London
• My Favourite Thing About London
• 10 reasons to move to London

If it’s your parents rather than you who have doubts about you making the move, then let them read

• Moving to London – the Parents Guide

which is designed to help put their minds at ease.

If you’re considering moving to London from abroad, then you might want to prepare yourself for some homesickness (don’t worry, everyone gets it and most people get through it!) by reading

• Dealing with the culture shock of living in London

In particular, if you’re an American who is moving to London for the first time, then read our popular articles on

• Americans moving to London
• How to move to London from the U.S

Looking for accommodation in London
Once you’ve decided that moving to London is the right thing to do, then you’re probably going to want to work out where to live and who to live with.
Don’t worry, these are extremely common questions and we have many articles on the subject including:

• Where to live in London
• Where do Young Professionals Live in London
• North or South London
• Property Guardian Schemes in London
• The Importance of Using a Flatmate Finding Service

If you’re considering living on the outskirts of London and commuting into the capital for work, then you’ll need to read:

• The best places to commute into London from…..
• Commuting into London for work

Looking for work in London

Usually at the same time as looking for accommodation in London, you’ll also be considering how you’re going to pay your bills. Our Working in London page has heaps of information on this, but you should also read about:

• WEXO – Work Experience and Internships
• Survival Jobs in London
• CV Writing Tips when applying for jobs in London

Finances in London
Once you’ve actually moved to London, you’ll be concerned (don’t worry – we all are!) about your finances in London. Luckily there are loads of ways of saving money when you live in London and it really is extremely manageable to live an exciting lifestyle on an average salary in London. Let us help you put your mind at ease with our articles on:

• Ways to Save Money in London
• Living in London on a Budget
• How Much Does It Cost to Live in London
• How Much Money Do I Need to Move to London

Getting around London
We have full information about London’s public transport system available on our Transport in London page. However, these articles may also be of interest to you:

• Cycling to Work in London
• Car Sharing in London
• Driving in London
• Tube Etiquette in London
• Free Parking in London
• Oyster Cards
• Re-opening of the East London line

Socialising in London

So, you’ve made it! You’ve moved to London, you’ve find a great job, accommodation and you’re managing your new London budget brilliantly. There’s just one thing left to sort out… your social life!
Never fear, we have some great articles here which will keep you busy for the foreseeable future!

• How to be a great housemate in London
• Finding love in London
• How to meet people in London
• Gay Hotspots in London
• Circle Line Pub Crawl in London
• Throwing a House Party in London
• Come Play Sports

We have many other articles that may be of interest to you, so feel free to look through the category archives. We’ll see you in another 100 articles for our next recap!

Circle Line Pub Crawl in London

The term ‘pub crawl’ has been used in the UK since the late 19th Century, along with variants of the phrase such as ‘beer crawl’ or ‘gin crawl’. It describes a gathering of people (unless going on a rather anti-social pub crawl) moving en masse, from one pub to the next and so on.

Pub crawls are quite common in England and it seems fitting that our nation’s capital has some of the most famous pub crawls in the whole world. One of these is the Monopoly Pub Crawl where drinkers visit a pub in every area featured on the Monopoly board. However, an equally difficult and notorious pub crawl is the Circle Line Pub Crawl.

The Circle Line is the most central of London’s tube lines. The line formed a loop until December 2009, when a non-circular extension was added onto the northwestern side of the loop. For the purposes of the pub crawl though, the Circle Line Pub Crawl includes pubs near stations which are only featured on the loop of the line.

*One thing worth noting is that although there are 27 stations on the loop section of the Circle Line, Blackfriars station is currently closed until late 2011, whilst Mansion House is only open from Monday to Friday, so if you want to include it on your crawl, then you’ll need to make sure you skip the weekends.

Before we mention the stations and suggested pubs on this route, we should provide you with some sensible advice before embarking on this mammoth pub crawl. Everyone has their limitations when it comes to how much drink they can handle. As there are 27 pubs on the route, you’ll need to drinking small measures in each pub (e.g half pints, single shots of spirits rather than whole pints and doubles) and frequently ensure that you switch to soft drinks unless you want an ambulance to pick you up before you cross the finishing line. Take care when crossing the road after you’ve had a few and try and plan your route home well in advance. Under no circumstances should you consider driving home, instead get a cab or take the nightbus.

Ok, now the lecturing is out of the way, let’s list the stations and suggested nearby pubs on the Circle Line. We’re going to start the list at Victoria, but you can start and end up at any of the stations – that’s the beauty of the Circle Line pub crawl.

1. Victoria Station – The Shakespeare - 99 Buckingham Palace Park Road, SW1W 0RP.
2. Sloane Square – The Antelope - 22 Eaton Terrace, SW1W 8EZ.
3. South Kensington – The Anglesea Arms - 15 Selwood Terrace, SW7 3QG.
4. Gloucester Road – The Stanhope Arms - 97 Gloucester Road, SW7 4SS.
5. High Street Kensington – The Prince of Wales - 8 Kensington Church Street, W8 4EP.
6. Notting Hill Gate – The Churchill Arms - 119 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LN.
7. Bayswater – The Rat & Parrot – 99 Queensway, W2 4QH.
8. Paddington – The Mad Bishop & Bear – The Lawn, Paddington Station, W2 1HB.
9. Edgware Road – The Chapel – 48 Chapel Street, NW1 5DP.
10. Baker Street – The Globe – 43-47 Marylebone Road, NW1 5JY.
11. Great Portland Street – The Green Man – 383 Euston Road, NW1 3AU.
12. Euston Square – The Crown and Anchor – 137 Drummond Street, NW1 2HL.
13. Kings Cross – The Dolphin – 47 Tonbridge Street, WC1H 9DW.
14. Farringdon – Sir John Oldcastle – 29-35 Farringdon Road, EC1M 3JF.
15. Barbican – The Old Red Cow – 71 Long Lane, EC1A 9EJ.
16. Moorgate – John Keats – 85 Moorgate, EC2M 6SA.
17. Liverpool Street – Dirty Dicks – 202 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4NR.
18. Aldgate – The Still and Star – 1 Little Somerset Street, E1 8AH.
19. Tower Hill – The Minories – 64-73 The Minories, EC3N 1JL.
20. Monument – The Ship – 11 Talbot Court, EC3V 0BP.
21. Cannon Street – The Banker – Cousin Lane, EC4R 3TE.
22. Mansion House* – The Hatchet – 28 Garlick Hill, EC4V 2BA.
23. Blackfriars* – The Blackfriar – 174 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4EG.
24. Temple – Walkabout – Temple Station, Temple Place, WC2R 2PH.
25. Embankment – The Ship and Shovell – 1-3 Craven Passage, WC2N 5PH.
26. Westminster – St Stephen’s Tavern -10 Bridge Street, SW1A 2JR.
27. St. James’ Park – The Feathers – 18-20 Broadway, SW1H 0BH.

And you’ve made it back to the start…. hopefully in one piece!

Best places to commute to London from….

As much as we’re very passionate about living in London, we realise that it’s not for everyone. Some people prefer to live in a quieter location with more space and then commute into London during the week to take advantage of the wide variety of jobs that London has to offer. People commute into London from far and wide, with the home counties being particularly popular. It’s not only families and middle-aged people that live within a commutable distance of London. Plenty of people in their 20s live on the outskirts as they consider it to be a more affordable and relaxing way of life.

Here are 5 places that we consider to be amongst the best places to commute to London from.

St. Albans – a small city in Hertfordshire with incredible train connections into London. It’s a reasonably expensive town to live in as it’s so popular with commuters. The city has an old cathedral, a bustling market and some great, historic pubs including ‘Ye Olde Fighting Cocks’ which is one of on a handful of pubs claiming to be the oldest in England. Trains from St. Albans go down the Thameslink line into St. Pancras in as little as 19 minutes, before continuing to Farringdon, City Thameslink and Blackfriars. An annual season ticket costs £2668 per year.

Colchester – the former capital of Roman Britain is located in Essex, about 60 miles to the north-east of London and is surrounded by lovely villages and countryside. It’s a military garrison town although the army barracks are now located on the outskirts of town, leaving an exceptionally pretty and historic centre of Colchester, packed full of tudor buildings. Some claim that Colchester is the ‘safest town in Britain’. Trains connect Colchester to London Liverpool Street, with services taking as little as 51 minutes. A season ticket costs £3940 per year.

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, through which the River Medway runs. It’s an old town, which is extremely functional in terms of shopping and amenities. There are some really lovely pubs and bars in Maidstone, although travel the short distance to any number of neighbouring countryside villages just outside of Maidstone and that’s where the real treats lie. Trains from Maidstone East go into London Victoria in around 56 minutes. A season ticket costs £3208 per year.

Amersham - a market town located in Buckinghamshire amidst the Chiltern Hills. The town is divided into two parts, Old Amersham and Amersham-on-the-Hill, which is next to the railway station. The high street is filled with medieval buildings and two of the historic pubs featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Amersham is technically part of the London Transport Zone and is situated in Zone 9. Amersham Station is also the final destination on one of the branch lines of the Metropolitan tube line, allowing easy access into London. It’s also possible to get the train from Amersham to Marylebone in as little as 38 minutes. A season ticket from Zones 1-9 costs £2708.

Guildford - the county town of Surrey has it’s roots in Saxon times. It’s constantly named amongst the top 10 places to live in the UK and has also been linked with one of the safest places to go shopping in. It’s a very attractive town that has a monthly farmers market. Guildford isn’t exactly cheap to live in; in fact it’s one of the most expensive places to live in outside of London. However, if this doesn’t both you and you’d like to travel into London Waterloo in around 34 minutes, then it could be the place for you. A season ticket costs £2728 per year.

For further ideas on where to live within a commutable distance of London, take a look at the ‘The Daily Telegraph Guide to Commuterland’ which is extremely popular with many of our Moove2London followers.

Young Person’s Railcard

If you’re moving to London from other parts of the UK, there’s probably going to come a time, when you want to go and visit family and friends from your home towns. Obviously there are various methods of transport you can take – you can drive, or take a coach, but possibly the most popular way of getting home is to take the train.

Now, if you’re new to the UK, you’ll have to learn the unfortunate fact that train travel in this country isn’t cheap. But there are ways around softening the blow and getting more value for money from your rail fare. For a start, many train companies offer really low advance fares, if you book your tickets a few months in advance. However, this isn’t exactly great for spontaneity.

So, if you’re aged between 16 and 25, the answer is to invest in a 16-25 railcard, formerly known as the Young Person’s Railcard.

This railcard, which costs £26 for the year, gives holders 1/3 off rail fares around Britain, however, there is a minimum fare applicable on trains before 10am Monday to Friday, except during July and August. As well as receiving this ticket discount, you can also pick up a free StudentDiscounts card, which offers savings on great brands like Dominos pizzas, Faith (shoes), Peacocks,  Game.co.uk and many more.  With your railcard, you’re also eligible to free YMCA membership for 1 year and 15% off with Contiki holidays for 18-35s!

In order to obtain a railcard, you can either apply online or at a manned ticket office. You’ll need a valid passport or UK driving licence, a digital uploadable passport photo (for online applications, just a normal passport photo is sufficient when applying at a railway station) and to be between the ages of 16 and 25, or to be over 26 and be able to prove that you’re in full-time education as a mature student. Unfortunately NUS (National Union of Students) cards are not accepted as proof of age or of educational status.  Also, Open University or distance learning students do not qualify for the railcard.

For young people who are moving to London for the first time from overseas, investing in a railcard is a great way to see other parts of the UK. A great book to read is Time Out’s ‘Great Days out from London’ which offers an amazing range of things to do within reach of London. From beaches to woodland walks, canal boats to steam trains, the book is packed full of inspiration! Combine it with your railcard and make the most of living in the UK.

Cycling to work in London

Cycling to work in London has become extremely popular in the last few years. Since 2000, cycle journeys on London’s major roads have increased by 107% with a 9% increase in the past year alone. Why the reason for this surge in popularity? One reason is undoubtedly the 7/7 tube bombings. In the latter half of 2005, the BBC reports that there was a sudden decline in tube journeys with an unexpected increase in cyclists on London’s roads. There are many reasons why these cyclists might have continued to travel to work in this way and have attracted friends, family and colleagues to do the same.

First of all, you can save lots of money by cycling to work. Money that you would otherwise be spending on Oyster cards and train tickets can be spent elsewhere. Also, there’s no expensive congestion charge associated with cycling in London.

For the environmentally conscious, cycling reduces carbon emissions, noise pollution, helps to protect green spaces and reduces traffic congestion.

It’s also an excellent way to get fit. Rather than having to wait until lunchtime or after work to pop to the gym, why not use up that hour that you’d be spending crammed into a hot, sweaty train, actually working up a sweat from burning calories?

Of course, there are some disadvantages to cycling to work as well. For a start, you have to deal with the good, old British weather. You can obviously buy appropriate clothing to protect you from the rain, but no-one’s denying that there will be some deeply unpleasant journeys in winter.

Depending on where you live, you might have some steep, unavoidable hills on your cycle route.

Also, not all workplaces have shower facilities. So, you might not be comfortable going into an early morning meeting with scruffy hair, wind-chapped face and reeking of deodorant to try and mask your work out.

Most importantly though, you really need to take into consideration the danger aspects of cycling in London. In 2008, sadly 8 people died and 84 were injured whilst cycling on London’s roads. Lorries are often involved in accidents as they simply can’t see cyclists in their blind spot. The Transport for London website has some essential advice for cycling safely.

So, after you’ve weighed up and pros and cons of cycling to work and have decided that it’s for you, you’ll need to get kitted out.

First up, is getting a bike. You might already have one, but if you don’t, consider a foldable bike, as you can carry it easily on the train if you are only planning to cycle for a section of your journey to work. Also foldable bikes take away the hassle of deciding where to store your bike. Having said this, Transport for London aim to have provided 66,000 new cycle parking spaces across London by 2012. They’ve already installed double-tier cycle racks on platform 10 at Liverpool Street with 189 spaces for bikes.

If you’re an employee paying tax through the PAYE system, you may be able to save money buying a bike through the government’s green transport initiative called CycleScheme which offers tax-free bikes. It’s not possible to state exactly how much you could save, as it varies depending on which tax bracket you’re in, but typical savings are between 30-50%.

Protecting your bike is very important, as this is London and thieves do steal bikes on a regular basis. You should definitely invest in some insurance and also a lock for your bike. Actually it’s recommended that you put two different locks on your bike, so that a potential thief has double the work to do and probably needs to use two different sets of tools to set your bike free, which is hopefully far too much hassle!

Selecting what clothing you’re going to wear for your cycle to work is of the utmost importance. Whether or not you’re going to attempt to wear your work clothes is up to you and probably depends on shower facilities at work (as described above), but at the very least you’ll need some padded cycling shorts that can be worn under trousers or a skirt and some reflective clothing to ensure that everyone can see you.

Once you’ve invested in all this gear though, you will probably find that the benefits outweight the negatives and you’ll wonder why you haven’t been doing this before!

For further information on cycling in London, visit Transport for London.

Car sharing in London

Following on from our recent Driving in London post, we’re now going to discuss the benefits of joining a car sharing club in London. For those that have never heard of the concept, a car sharing club allows you to become a member of a club and ‘borrow’ one of a range of vehicles from your nearest parking bay location. You can borrow a car for under an hour, or for several months at a time.

Streetcar is one such firm that operates this car sharing service in London. Registering for either £59.50 for 1 year or £99 for 2 years, provides you with full membership including fully comprehensive insurance, 24/7 breakdown and recovery support, support team available 365 days per year and a Streetcard and PIN which you’ll need to operate the immobiliser on the car that you’re driving. Streetcar also, amazingly, absorbs all Congestion Charge fees accrued during your booking.

Once you’re registered you can book a car from dozens of different locations scattered all over London. You can either book over the phone or over the Internet and bookings can be changed up to 4 hours in advance. The pricing for each journey depends on the length of time you require the car for.

With your booking, you’ll receive 30 miles of free fuel during the first calendar day of booking. Unless you’re planning an out-of-town trip, this is more than adequate for most Londoners. In short, Streetcar will save you money if you’re the type of driver that only requires a car for short periods of time once or twice a week to pop to the supermarket. If you commute to work every day, then it’s probably not for you.

Aside from the money-saving aspects of using a car sharing scheme in London, there are also significant advantages to the environment. Streetcar claims to have taken 20,000 privately owned cars off the road since launching. It has also saved more than 100,000 tonnes of C02 through reduced driving.

If you’re considering buying a car to drive in London, but aren’t sure whether or not it’s worth it, then why not try a car sharing scheme for a year first to see how much you really require a car. You’ll probably save money in the meantime.

Although we’ve used Streetcar as an example in this post, there are other schemes that operate, such as City Car Club or Liftshare which is slightly different as it matches up people who are taking a similar journey.

Commuting into London for work

Even though this site is for people who are living in London as well as working in London, it would be ignorant of us not to point out that over ¾ million people commute into London every day for work. Train services bring commuters into mainland stations such as Liverpool Street, Victoria, Waterloo, London Bridge, King’s Cross, Euston, Moorgate, Paddington and St. Pancras.

Whilst lots of people who live in London, love the hustle and bustle of city life, others like the draw of a London wage, but prefer to live in the more peaceful and picturesque surroundings of London’s neighboring counties. Luckily, London is the kind of place where there are living options for everyone. If you want to live in a studio apartment in the middle of town and walk to work in 10 minutes, then that’s possible, but if you don’t mind sitting on a train for an hour because you get to live in the countryside, then you can do that too.

As regular readers of Moove2London’s blog posts will know, living and working in London is all about weighing up pros and cons and affordability. Deciding whether you want to be a London commuter is no different.

You need to ask yourself some questions:

Do you mind spending quite a bit of money on train travel if it means that your rent/mortgage payments will be cheaper?

Are you an early riser? Or do you snooze your alarm clock 4 or 5 times before running out of the door looking rather dishevelled?

Similarly, do you expect to be home in time to watch Neighbours? Or are you the type of person who likes having a bit of time to themselves to read on the way home?

Basically, the further out of London and into the neighboring counties with their countryside lifestyle, you want to live… the more hours of your day you’ll have to sacrifice. You can put this time to good use of course, by catching up with friends on the phone, doing some work on a laptop (if you’re lucky enough to get a seat) or by reading a book or paper. You’ll also need to bear in mind that sometimes things do go wrong with the trains and you might find yourself stranded at your home station at 7am with no trains running and no alternative options for getting into work. You’ll need to have an understanding boss if this is a regular occurrence, or at least an agreement that you’re able to ‘work from home’ on these unavoidable days. If you have friends in London, or go for after-work drinks, you’ll also need to know exactly when your last train home is, or else you’ll be stranded in London, feeling a bit tipsy.

If you’re aware of all the above issues in advance and have managed to justify living in commuterland in your head, then there really are some wonderful places that you can live in, within reach of London’s workplaces! The Daily Telegraph publishes this book by Caroline McGhie and it is absolutely essential for anyone trying to work out where to live in commuting distance of the capital. The book lists stations on every train line from London stations within 120 miles of London (which is a little too far for the average commuter, but even so). There are descriptions of each village/town as well as ticket prices, number of trains per hour and journey duration.