Imagine if, for less than £200,000, you could buy a modern two bedroom apartment with views over the River Thames. Imagine if your home was 10 minutes’ walk to the station and the journey was 40 minutes into central London (and Canary Wharf will be a 14 minutes’ journey when Crossrail arrives nearby in 2018). And you always got a seat on the train – not one of the last few seats available, but your choice of window seats. And imagine this was within the London travel zones. And, in fact, this is in a London borough: a small quiet riverside town with all the shopping and local amenities you could want (and free parking in the town centre) and some of Europe’s best shopping* is close by. And this town is only 10 minutes’ drive from the M25, an hour from the Eurotunnel, 45 minutes from one of London’s major international airports and about the same time to get to motorways to the north of England. Your apartment has its own parking space, so it’s easy to own a car. The roads for miles around are a lot quieter than in most of the rest of London, too. And we’re talking about a town with its share of larger properties on leafy avenues and Victorian cottages, if you prefer an alternative to riverside living.

This place exists.

It’s called Erith: www.erithtown.net/Erith/Gallery.html

*Bluewater