Do the continental! Homes near the Eurostar are hot property for cross-Channel commuters

Published 04th Mar 2011

Slipping across to the Continent for le weekend has been a treat for decades, but speeding over as part of a working commute is a more recent innovation — and an increasingly popular one.

Eurostar carried 9.5 million passengers last year, three per cent up on 2009, and the company says the increase in numbers was mainly down to escalating demand from business passengers.

Alex Maitland-Hudson, 62, from Camberwell Green in South London, is just one of Eurostar’s regulars to make the journey to Paris every week. ‘I catch the 8.02am that gets me into Paris at 11.17am — or 10.17am British time,’ says Mr Maitland-Hudson, who works as an international lawyer and also has a flat in Paris where he stays mid-week.

‘Coming back, I get the 5.13pm from Paris that arrives at 6.29pm British time. I see the same faces every week. It’s a chummy atmosphere, especially on the return journey on Friday when we are all coming home for the weekend.’

The possibility of being on the Continent within two hours has made owning a property close to the Eurostar terminal at London’s St Pancras International station, next to King’s Cross, a desirable proposition.

Until the 1980s, this was a distinctly sleazy part of London. But it has since benefited from a massive programme of improvements.

Now everything from tiny studio flats to four-bedroom homes and penthouses are being built among new offices and other commercial buildings.

Prices reflect the area’s urban glamour. You will easily pay over £300,000 for a single-bedroom apartment near King’s Cross.

Homes within a quick Tube or rail trip from the Eurostar are also much sought after. It takes Mr Maitland-Hudson just 18 minutes to get to King’s Cross from Denmark Hill railway station near his home in Camberwell Grove.

His neighbours, John and Sue Riley, also travel regularly by Eurostar to Paris, where they have an apartment in the Bastille area. They also own a Dutch barge, which is moored in northern Burgundy.

Camberwell Grove is the quintessential pretty, tree-lined South London street. The Rileys’ home — a four-bedroom Georgian house with three reception rooms — is for sale for £1.1 million. The couple now want to downsize to an apartment.

It is not only house prices in certain parts of London that are inflated by the proximity of the Eurostar. The high-speed train passes through Kent and has transformed the fortunes of Ashford.

‘The prospect of being able to get to Calais for a meal draws a lot of people to the area. Skiers like the thought that they can be in Moutiers in six-and-a-half hours,’ says Bill Lightfoot, at Hobbs Parker estate agents.

Kent is even starting to attract French nationals. Thierry Lardinoit, 49, and his wife Catherine are confirmed fans of all things British.

‘We’ve lived here for two years now and love to spend the weekends in the countryside trying your country pubs,’ says M. Lardinoit, 49, who has three daughters and a son, aged from 13 to two.

‘But the main attraction of living in Kent for us is the schooling. French schools are only interested in drilling children, whereas in England they are far more interested in children as individuals.’

M. Lardinoit is happy with his weekly commute to Paris, where he is a professor, teaching sports marketing at a business school.

‘Instead of spending seven hours every week in the car commuting from the Paris suburbs as I used to, I spend six-and-a-half hours on the train,’ says M. Lardinoit, who rents a room mid-week in Paris.

At present, the Lardinoits rent a five-bedroom detached house in Kingsnorth for £1,000 a month. Should they decide to stay in Kent for the longer term and buy a property, they will start looking in villages such as Smarden, Mersham and Brook.

Ashford itself is undergoing a £650 million regeneration scheme. The town is a mixture of old buildings (in the form of St Mary’s Church, the old market and the medieval quarter) and the new (in the form of shopping centres and housing estates).

However, it is this sprawl that is being addressed by the improvements. They will give the town a sense of structure by creating a High Street linking three distinct areas.

You can buy a lot of house for your money in this part of Kent than you can a comparable distance to the west of London.

In Ashford you can pick up a pleasant, four-bedroom house on an estate for £240,000. A four-bedroom farm cottage with half an acre of land, in one of the outlying villages, will set you back £495,000.

The economics of weekly commuting to Paris by Eurostar will make sense for many people. A return from King’s Cross costs from £69. A return to Liverpool from London can cost you more than £130, depending on when you purchase the ticket. But is the service a good one?

‘Eurostar don’t do a lot to reward their regular travellers,’ says Mr Maitland-Hudson. ‘And sometimes things go horribly wrong. When the volcanic ash cloud floated above the country last year, everyone tried to catch the train, and it took me 11 hours to get home using the train, ferry and, finally, a cab, which cost £150.’

What advice does he have for anyone contemplating commuting to Paris?

‘It’s only comfortably do-able if you have somewhere to live mid-week in Paris,’ he says. ‘Don’t go business-class because you will be surrounded by people on mobiles talking far too loudly.

‘Travel standard-class and you’ll be able to work peacefully and enjoy the journey.’

Source: ' ThisIsMoney '

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