Where would you buy a house if this was your criteria?

[location2021]

I need a real life Kirstie & Phil style intervention...

This time next year I should be in a position to leave London and could pretty much move anywhere in the UK (no significant family ties, no kids, self employed with work that isn't tied to a location). Currently live on the outskirts of London near a hugely polluted high street and high crime rates but overpriced housing... Main motivation for moving is to buy mortgage free somewhere quieter/cleaner/safer. I'm in my 40s so this is potentially a "forever home" at least for the next 20 years or so (I've moved a lot in the past 20 years and just want to settle down).

Especially interested in hearing about smaller places I may not have thought about?

Criteria:

• definitely a freehold house
• budget in the region of £200k-260k (have budgeted extra for moving costs, stamp duty etc. already so this is the price tag on the house itself)
• 3 bedrooms or 2 beds/2 receptions (to have workspace/office at home); ideally a semi or detached (although currently live in a terraced house and it's fine)
• not rural/isolated but not right in the centre either - an ordinary nice neighbourhood with basic amenities within walking distance would suit me perfectly
• open to considering different styles of houses from period property to new build

Other things I'd love to have:

• culturally diverse/open minded area (I'm not British although have lived here for nearly 20 years)
• no more than 3-4 hours on the train to London for the occasional (but rare) trip here for work or to see friends
• close to green space/nature or potentially a seaside location
• would love to be in an area with a creative/arts community or somewhere with thriving small businesses but this is not essential

Currently Nottingham is very high up on my list but have also considered the areas around Southport, Ormskirk and Preston. Yorkshire is also a possibility although I'm concerned about the flood risk areas of course. In the other direction, somewhere on the Kent coast? Not sure it's worth me paying the premium house prices to be in the commuter belt though as I'm definitely not going to be commuting...

Carlisle in cumbria

There are some terrific areas around Manchester - and I'd take nicer Manchester locations over e.g. Birmingham or Bristol or surrounds. In my opinion (only mine of course) Birmingham's claustrophobic and Bristol's too overpriced and miles from London if you want to travel back. That trainline has always been horrid too.. Manchester city beats Birmingham hands down for variety of shops and eateries and interesting character.

You'll get a lot for your money as you go past Birmingham and the landscape is do much nicer than the south east. I'd take a Lancashire town over Yorkshire personally.

Glad you mentioned Nottingham. I live near Newark on Trent which is a lovely little country market town. You’ll easily get a 3 bed detached house for your budget.
1.5hrs to Kings X.
Train to Nottingham, or Lincoln.
Easy access to countryside.
We love it here having moved here 12 yrs ago from a town a bit North of London.

South Manchester ticks all of those boxes imo

I live on the outskirts of leeds. Amazing walks and right next to a nature reserved/fields/river.

Easy to commute to London and great local arts cafes and wine bars! Leeds is very up and coming with tons of investment in the city centre.

Bristol

As in near to, not actually in Bristol

I would consider going north. Manchester, leeds or Sheffield. I love Northumberland but maybe more towards Newcastle if you want a bit of life.

Chester.
2 hours train to london
Bang on the north welsh border for nature/seaside (or wirral penninsula)
Big enough to be cultural with being a big city
Massive student population so ergo lots of diversity and not so 'little England's
Could just about squeeze a house it the city centre on your budget but would be terrace, however if you're happy to live a couple of miles out no problem at all

*without it being a big city!

Southport and Ormskirk arent very diverse at all

Come to Northampton

Shrewsbury ticks a lot of boxes except the flooding.

I’m not sure Newark and surrounding areas could be described as culturally diverse or open minded. Exactly the reasons I want to leave.

Cardiff.

By the sea, plenty of gorgeous countryside close by and culturally diverse.

Little enough to be cosy; big enough to be stimulating.

Leicester, Derby, Nottingham. East Midlands, anyway.

Swansea.
Direct train route to London in the timescale specified.
Countryside and fabulous beaches as the Gower is AONB.

Swansea is a city but not huge. It has theatres, art galleries, museums, free annual airshow over Swansea beach. Singleton and other parks. Tourist attractions eg Plantasia, Gower Heritage Centre.
Joes ice cream recently sampled by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Quite a few areas have their own little shopping centres, Sketty, Uplands, Mumbles for example.

It doesn't rain all the time and when the rest of the UK is blanketed in snow Swansea always seems to escape the worst.

Derbyshire

My first thought was Manchester or Newcastle

South manchester (although your budget might rule out many areas) - only 2 hours to London, lots of green space but still quite an urban and diverse feel

The trouble IME with rural/rural-ish is that cultural diversity hasn't usually made inroads (and I know this isn't true of everywhere) but small towns in Lancashire at least can be a bit on the culturally conservative side (I know this from personal experience). Kirkham is nice, though.

So I prefer a city-village, like South Manchester. All the benefits of the city without the noise and hassle. E.g. Altrincham - it's a market town 10 minutes' drive from Dunham Massey and 20 minutes' tram ride into town.

Check out the recent 'best places to live' articles in the Times (possibly others). Stay away from other big cities e.g. Nottingham, Manchester, etc. and go somewhere that is low pollution and is not likely to be flooded. Be aware that the further you go from London, especially if you go north and avoid cities, the less culturally diverse it's likely to be. I'd go for a medium-sized market town.

Heysham or Ramsbottom

York or Darlington?

Not Preston IMHO.

3-4 hours opens up pretty much all of England so long as you are near a mainline train station.

Not sure what Warrington is like?

Warrington is nice and with that budget could get something Stockton Heath way which would hit a lot of the criteria