Kent's got the best of both: high-speed train links and better value homes for commuters swapping London for Ebbsfleet

Londoners are taking advantage of the lower property prices and high-speed rail links in these commuter towns.
David Spittles30 April 2019

HS1, the high-speed rail link through north-east Kent, has been a game-changer for the county’s commuters, cutting journey times to the capital to under an hour from what were the previously “longhaul” locations such as the Medway towns, Folkestone and Dover, the cathedral city of Canterbury and the historic Cinque Ports.

With the motorway network also improved, people are relocating from east and south London to take advantage of lower property prices that have yet to catch up with transport upgrades.

Kent is one of England’s most diverse counties, with raw and refined areas — countryside and coastal — plus a former industrial swathe around Ebbsfleet that is benefiting from ambitious regeneration and lots of new homes.

King of the castle: Lydia and Pete Elder with their sons Teddy and Arlo made the move from Stratford to Ebbsfleet 

Lydia and Pete Elder moved from Stratford in east London to Ebbsfleet, upsizing to a four-bedroom house for their growing family, to accommodate sons Teddy and Arlo.

Pete, 28, works for a City insurance company. His commute to Liverpool Street station takes 10 minutes longer, but he says the trade-off is worth it.

“We’ve been able to double the size of our property, and we feel we have the best of both worlds: we are close to London yet almost in the countryside.

Castle Hill: the development in Ebbsfleet, Kent, where prices start at £354,995 for a three-bedroom detached semi

Formerly quarry pits, Ebbsfleet has 18-minute train links to St Pancras and is a location for one of the Government’s new garden cities. It is also getting “next-generation” high-speed fibre-optic cabling.

The couple used Help to Buy to purchase their home at Castle Hill, where developer David Wilson Homes is building a neighbourhood.

Prices start at £354,995 for a three-bedroom detached semi. Call 0844 777 0057.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in