Nuthatch Gardens, London, SE28 0DJ

Why buy a flat when you can have your own front door?

If you're buying your first home in London, the assumption is usually that you'll end up in a flat.

Shared entrance.

Service charges.

Someone living above you.

And perhaps a balcony if you're lucky.

Nuthatch Gardens offers something refreshingly different.

Your own front door.

Your own house.

Your own private garden.

Your own parking.

And a location where you can walk beside the river or around the nearby lakes, yet still get into Canary Wharf and Central London surprisingly quickly.

For a first-time buyer, that's quite a combination.

And if you're downsizing and want something easy to look after without moving into an apartment block, it makes just as much sense.

Easy living downstairs

The ground floor is simple, practical and works really well.

The main living and dining room gives you enough space to properly separate relaxing from eating without dividing everything into smaller rooms.

There's room for a decent sofa, television area and dining table, while the wood-style flooring runs through the space and keeps everything feeling clean and cohesive.

It's also presented in really nice condition.

Not one of those houses where you collect the keys and immediately start writing a list of jobs.

You could move your furniture in and get on with living.

An archway leads through to the separate kitchen, which offers a good amount of cupboard and worktop space without taking over the living area.

And from here, you've got direct access outside.

A garden without the gardening becoming your weekend job

The rear garden is exactly the sort of outside space that works brilliantly with a house like this.

Private, enclosed and predominantly paved, so you've got somewhere to sit outside, eat in the summer or enjoy a glass of something at the end of the day without sacrificing every Saturday to mowing and weeding.

There's also a substantial storage shed, which means bikes, tools, suitcases and all the other things you don't necessarily want indoors have somewhere to go.

For someone coming from a flat, simply having your own private outside space could be a pretty big upgrade.

Upstairs, there's a surprise

The bedroom is a comfortable double with plenty of natural light and enough room for the furniture you'd expect.

But the clever bit is next door.

The walk-in wardrobe is huge.

Not a cupboard somebody has optimistically put a clothes rail inside and renamed.

A proper walk-in space with extensive shelving, hanging space and shoe storage.

It means you don't have to fill the bedroom with bulky wardrobes, leaving the room itself much easier to enjoy.

There is also a first-floor bathroom with a bath and shower over.

Everyday essentials right on your doorstep

One of the things that makes West Thamesmead so practical for daily life is that you don't have to travel far for the basics.

The Heronsgate Medical Centre on Goosander Way and Thamesmead Health Centre on Thames Reach are both close by for GP and health services.

For everyday shopping, there is a Tesco Express in West Thamesmead within easy walking distance, so grabbing milk, bread or the bits you've forgotten is straightforward.

And for families, you're well served for primary schools. Heronsgate Primary School on Whinchat Road is an Outstanding-rated community school just moments away, and Discovery Primary School on Battery Road is also nearby in Thamesmead. Both are within the local catchment area.

It's the kind of location where the school run, the shops and the doctors are all part of the local neighbourhood rather than a drive away.

London life with somewhere to escape to

The location is where this one starts to become much more interesting.

West Thamesmead offers something you don't necessarily associate with London living: water and open space.

The River Thames and Thames Path are nearby, giving you somewhere to walk, run or simply clear your head without heading to a gym.

There are also lakes, parkland and green routes throughout Thamesmead, so getting outside can actually become part of everyday life rather than something saved for the weekend.

Morning run along the river.

Evening walk around the lake.

Coffee in hand and nowhere particularly urgent to be.

It's a very different feel from living in the middle of a dense town centre.

And then there's the commute

Having all that greenery would be far less useful if getting into London was a nightmare.

Thankfully, it isn't.

The arrival of the Elizabeth line has transformed this part of South East London.

From Abbey Wood, Elizabeth line services reach Canary Wharf in around 11 minutes, Liverpool Street in under 20 minutes, Tottenham Court Road in around 25 minutes and Paddington in around 29 minutes.

Woolwich also gives you access to the Elizabeth line alongside DLR and National Rail services, giving commuters several ways of getting across London.

So you can finish work in Canary Wharf or the City and come home somewhere with water, greenery and your own front door.

That's a pretty good trade-off.

A first home that doesn't feel like a compromise

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That's probably the biggest thing I like about Nuthatch Gardens.

It feels achievable without feeling like the property you buy simply because you couldn't afford what you actually wanted.

You still get a proper living space.

You get a double bedroom.

You get an absurd amount of wardrobe space.

You get your own private garden.

And, subject to legal confirmation, you get freehold ownership rather than the lease and service-charge conversations that often come with buying a London flat.

For a first-time buyer, it feels like somewhere you could genuinely settle into rather than immediately start planning the next move.

Downsizing without moving into a box

It also works from completely the opposite direction.

If you're coming from a larger house and simply don't need all the rooms anymore, this offers a way to simplify things without giving up your independence.

There's still outside space.

Still somewhere for storage.

Still your own front door.

Still a proper house.

Just considerably less of it to heat, clean and maintain.

The best of both worlds

This isn't a huge house.

And we're not going to pretend it is.

That's actually part of the appeal.

It's manageable.

It's nicely presented.

It's got some unexpectedly brilliant storage.

And it gives you something increasingly difficult to find at this end of the London market:

your own little place, with outdoor space, water and greenery nearby, everyday amenities like doctors, shops and good primary schools on your doorstep, while Central London remains comfortably within reach.