To leave UK due to weather and cost of living

Ghastly, isn't it? I will give this country one more year to shape up and then I'm out.

I honestly don't know why any of us stay.
It's been life limiting this winter, utterly awful.

Our retirement plan was always to have a 'main' home somewhere hot and a small place here in UK that would be holiday let whilst we were in our main home.
Unfortunately Brexit has ruined that so we're now trying to work out how to make the aim of living with no socks a reality

My nearby neighbours downsized from a large detached house to a very modest semi and also bought a flat abroad. Both still work part time from both countries but are miffed about not being able to spend longer in the sun due to crap Brexit deal.

I also know a billionaire who moved to a stunning area in Switzerland who was not impacted by Brexit. He got one of those tax sweetheart deals…

South of France is fine. You may like Portugal too OP. Learn a language and follow your dream. If it goes wrong you can always come back. Thats not to say it will though, people move all the time. I live in UK part time now, in the Summer months. I pop back for Christmas sometimes as I like UK Christmas style. Its fine. I can't deal with the cold for long though so I just do a week or 2. I did similar to what @Comfortablechair has mentioned re renting out homes

Agreed.

Plus, winter is getting harder to deal with now that infrastructure has taken a bit of a dip - roads and paths aren't maintained and I don't fancy a 12 hour wait for the ambulance that will take me to my no mod cons hospital trolley on the day I go arse over tit on an icy path and break my hip, in the dark, on my way to the job that the government tells me to work till age 68.

That's also a great plan and a good compromise. I just get annoyed by people stupidly saying 'well the cold doesn't bother me'. Bully for you, but it does bother a lot of people!

You're not the OP. OP, I don't blame you at all and I have been considering the same thing. While the people on here are correct that you should be cautious and consider your options carefully, I think you should at least make a provisional plan. Start by booking a long vacation in one of the places you might consider: at least six weeks, preferably eight, so you can get a real feel for the place. While it is true that the COL is higher everywhere than it used to be, we in the UK are getting especially ripped off because of Brexit. Plus the weather is far warmer in Southern France and Spain, people who are saying 'it's weird everywhere' aren't really being accurate. While what you have in mind is harder than it was pre-Brexit, it is still not impossible (plus I think we will at the very least rejoin the Single Market in the next twenty years or so, or possibly even fully rejoin the EU)

Summers are becoming intolerable (I live in Australia). It is not fun only being able to go outdoors early morning or late at night and then huddling under the air conditioning the rest of the day

Not where I live, for at least three years the summers have been indifferent - Melbourne. There's no such thing as Australian summers as you describe them, but summers in regions.

So you don’t speak any languages, what about passports? Dual nationals or just U.K. ?

Finland or any other Northern European country.

My nephew, half French, moved out to France in 2014, started a holiday accommodation business. He’s doing really well but he struggled and he speaks fluent French. Brexit made it even harder.

personally I’d look at my finances, think about renting my property, or down sizing, then go on holidays throughout the colder weather.

Just throwing a spanner in the works OP, but would nipping back and forwards in a Motorhome be an option?
I don't blame you for feeling this way, the weather has been abysmal for about a year where I am. Apart from June 2023, it's rained at some point nearly every day where I am. I know this as I'm out in it twice a day, every day with the dog.
I often fantasise about moving a repair bit in reality I probably never will. I can't speak a foreign language and the summer fires in Europe would bother me. Also I'd miss my kids too much although we don't live in each others pockets. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Do either of you have Irish ancestry? If so you can apply for Irish passports and consider an EU country.

Costs are up everywhere, blame the Russians and global warming. Honestly the grass isn't greener, you are better off considering renting your home and going travelling where it's considerably cheaper and allow the relevant visas.

Strongly suggest you go on a long holiday to wherever you look at.

I lived in Portugal near the coast for two months for work, July was unbearable, it was around 40 for two weeks running. The only thing you can do in that heat is hide.

Hopefully Labour will win the election and scrap the £38k idea!

How interesting, OP.

Only a few hours ago, my husband and I were complaining about the weather. We were lamenting the fact that on May 2nd, we are already having 90F/22C temperatures. It was also pouring with rain and the temperature has risen, not dropped, due to the humidity and there's localized flooding. Summer is already upon us and will only get hotter and will remain hot until early November. We do have a beach 70 miles away but it's not quite like other beaches along the Gulf Coast. We live in Texas.

Additionally, it's election year and it's going to get crazy. We are so dissatisfied with rising costs on everything and just general malaise about life. Both my parents are deceased and our adult children are moving on with their lives. We are also in our 50's.

We agreed that we have had enough and are seriously considering moving to England. My husband is English. The weather isn't as drastic as it is here, my in-laws are there, it's a change of pace. I'd also love to be closer to Europe for holidays.

But there's so much to consider. Unlike you, I don't need to learn a new language but I certainly have to have a lot of money, Firstly, we have to apply for a spousal visa for me. The qualifications for the visa are truly absurd! My husband and I own our own business so he would have to leave for a minimum of a year to rebuild it in England and apply for my visa once he has one full year of accounts. He also has to have enough profit to meet the minimum income requirement of £38,700. If we decide to simply use only savings and leave together, we must have £112,750 in an account for six months. Plus the visa costs over the next five years are currently over £14,000. I also have to be prepared for leaving my children behind and like others have said, growing old in a foreign country.

I know I could just move from my current city and move to another one in my country but it strangely doesn't appeal. Politics will be the same, the cost of living in temperate weather places are higher than where I am now and I'll be apart from my children anyhow. I suppose I either take the chance and go to England or make the best of my current place.

Good luck with what you decide, @Blossompink

Having done so myself I'd say go for it. There's always going to be difficulties, I'm sure you know that. But life is for living, give it a go.

I would do it. You only live once! I want to retire in france or spain

That's true, but the best time to go away where circumstances allow is the Winter time. No excessive heat or drought then really.

I realise that many are tied to Summer and school hols for getting away, but for those who aren't any time outside the school hols is great. High Summer is torture in the Med, but I suppose some people love the intense heat!

I work as a community nurse in Ireland. Obviously moving here is not a better option weather wise so not suggesting it!
I have lost count of the many retired English people I have visited through the years. The reality of being widowed in a country you have retired to can be desperately lonely and sad and a huge worry to the adult children in the UK. Navigating beaurocracy in your own country is challenging enough but even harder in a new place. I'm fascinated that anyone would suggest France as a destination to escape cost of living increases!
Just spend your 90 day EU allowance in the winter to escape the worst of what these islands throw at us in jan feb march

Where do you live in the U.K.? We’ve had the worst weather for this time of year in something like 100 years so it’s not exactly the norm. Could you move further south?

If you voted remain, yanbu. If you voted for Brexit, yabvu... and need to face the shit show and lack of free movement.

yanbu. But as others have said, Brexit...

Personally I wouldn't move to Spain or Portugal. Climate change is already causing significant issues in terms of water shortages and seriously damaging heatwaves.