Fancy waking up to the romance of Paris before heading to your high-flying London office? Meet the Channel commuters doing just that...

When the high-speed Eurostar link opened in St Pancras in 2007, it whittled the Paris-London commute to just two hours and 15 minutes, and made the possibility of living in Paris while working in London more than just a pipe dream. Property prices in France are now up to 30% lower than those in the UK, and in a recent International Living poll on the best places in the world to live, France came top (Britain came 25th, FYI) – suddenly, commuting from Paris seems an even more attractive prospect.

And a dual-city lifestyle is increasingly economically feasible, too. While train fares in the UK skyrocket, the success of the Eurostar is pushing prices down, and early-bird prices are becoming favourable. A train from London to Manchester can cost up to £180. By comparison, ‘Les Frontaliers’, as international commuters are known in France, can travel from St Pancras, London to Gare du Nord, Paris for just under €79 return. With this in mind, Stylist talked to three top London professionals who turn Parisian at the weekend…

Parisians are less stressed than Londoners

Kate Redman, 31, is a campaigns manager at Save The Children. She lives in the Montmartre district of Paris and commutes to her London office weekly

“My parents own a house in Toulouse and we used to spend every summer there, so I spoke French pretty well by my A-levels. After university, I persuaded my boyfriend to move with me to Paris where I got a job as a foreign policy analyst at the British Embassy. Even on our basic salaries, we could afford to eat out at chic cafes, trying new dishes and chatting for hours. However, after three years, I realised that I’d progress much faster in my career in London. People stay in the same positions for years in Paris, while in the UK everyone expects to be promoted or move on every two years. I was in my early 20s and I had to go where the opportunities were so I headed back to London.

I got a job at Save The Children, quickly moving up the career ladder. However, I always had one eye on Paris. My brother moved there and my parents were spending more time in Toulouse. When my now-husband got offered work as a journalist in Paris at the beginning of this year, I realised I might not have to make a choice. I made enquiries at work and they were happy for me to work from home one day a week. I looked at the Eurostar times and suddenly it all seemed feasible. So at the start of the year, we moved into a two-bed flat right next to the Sacré-Coeur.

From Paris to London: the most glamorous commute in the world