“Whatever happened to Monday to Friday, nine to five?” asks Tim Palmer in the Sunday Times. “If you are able to work in the office two or three times a week, buying a house outside the standard one-hour commuter zone is a far more attractive prospect.”
The article listed a top 10 for part-time commuters (including Tiverton in Devon, pictured left), based on transport connections, broadband, house prices and a more subjective ‘why we love it’.
Alnmouth in Northumberland has ‘some of the best beaches in Britain’ and a ‘fabulous quality of life’. It’s a 3.5 hour commute, but if you are only doing it once there and once back from London, and you can work on the train, it’s a worthwhile trade, says The Sunday Times.
The West Country town of Bath – pictured left – was praised for its schools, with a dozen featuring in The Sunday Times Parent Power league table, and described `as ‘arguably the most attractive city in England’. Petworth in West Sussex was recommended for its ‘winning blend of tradition and sophistication’, for the Petworth Festival and the beautiful coast and the chalk hills of the South Downs.
The article said that a huge proportion of properties that changed hands in Chester last year were acquired by buyers from London, attracted to its easy links to other major cities, its schools and accessible countryside.
The full list of ‘Best places to live for part-time commuters’: