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Planning on upping sticks from London next year, but still want easy access to all the wonderful stuff going on in the capital? There’s actually plenty of choice.
Lifestyle site Muddy Stilettos has gone on a road trip of Britain, searching far and wide for the best places to live in 2026. The result is a list of 260 city spots, towns and villages with brilliant schools, wholesome communities, great places to eat and drink and, in the case of the Home Counties, convenient links to London.
The publication chose seven to eight places in each Home County as part of its best places to live list, meaning that there are 48 places within a commutable distance of the capital city that it reckons are well worth the move. So, let’s get into it.
In Berkshire, it picked Cookham as one of the top places to live for its ‘village life that’s got more going for it than your average rural idyll’ and Twyford for its riverside location and access to the Elizabeth line, which runs from the town to Bond Street in less than an hour.
Saffron Walden, which was the Sunday Times’ best place to live in the whole of the UK for 2025, was one of Muddy Stiletto’s picks for Essex, while Amersham, recently named one of the UK’s best places to retire to, was a top pick for Buckinghamshire thanks to the surrounding beauty of the Chilterns, the top-notch restaurants (including one Michelin-starred) and its collection of National Trust properties and period cottages. Milton Keynes also made the cut for its ‘blend of London energy and leafy calm’.
Over in Kent, Faversham got a shoutout for its growing reputation as a foodie destination and easy train to London St Pancras, which takes just over an hour. In Surrey, the villages of Brockham, Ripley and East Molesey all made the cut and in Kent, the top picks included Wye, Marden and Ramsgate.
The best places to live near London for 2026, according to Muddy Stilettos
Berkshire
- Caversham
- Cookham
- Kintbury
- Pangbourne
- Sonning
- Sunninghill
- Twyford
- West Ilsey
Buckinghamshire
- Amersham
- Bourne End
- Marlow
- Milton Keynes
- Penn and Tylers Green
- Taplow
- Tha Chalfonts
- Turville
Essex
- Bocking
- Bradwell-on-Sea
- Buckhurst Hill
- Chelmsford
- Leigh-on-Sea
- Little Oakley
- Saffron Walden
- Stock
Hertfordshire
- Berhamsted
- Bishop’s Stortford
- Hitchin
- Knebworth
- Much Hadham
- St Albans
- Ware
- Welwyn Garden City
Kent
- Cranbrook
- Faversham
- Marden
- Plaxtol
- Ramsgate
- Sevenoaks
- Tunbridge Wells
- Wye
Surrey
- Brockham Village
- East Molesey
- Farnham
- Godalming
- Haslemere
- Oxted
- Ripley
- Weybridge
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