We are a family of 5 and as you know, finding housing in Central London is very expensive so what we did is stayed in Central London (budget Notting Hill Gate Hotel) for 9 days and at Tosi and Joel's house for 10 nights. We thought that would give us a taste of central life and what it's like to commute...and save money. This was definitely a sacrifice to spend 2hours + a day traveling back and forth to Central London but the savings helped it not be so hard, so as long as we had our iPods and books to read it helped. The home is very comfortable and Tosi's generosity to let our whole family stay in the large bedroom was incredibly kind and unexpected. We did laundry there, rested, used the internet, and made food which also helped our budget. There are lots of buses to get you to the train station but we found 97 was the fastest one and 158 was absolutely the slowest, take whatever night one you can get and hope there's no bus strike...as it does happen once in awhile, that happened to us.

The bed was great, no complaints there! Note you do share the bathroom with everyone in the house...didn't seem to be a concern though.

My kids loved being able to use the trampoline and run in the garden, even helped Tosi with her garden chores and loved that. Sainsbury's is a very short walk away, so that made it convenient for getting groceries. There's a cute Tea cafe within walking distance if you want some English scones...