Where can I live in the UK?

[Holidayhavanas]

Hello

i’m fed up where I live in the Home Counties. It’s really congested and we want a change. Want to get slightly more for our money too. Currently in a “nice” part of Surrey. Two girls in state school aged 6 and 8 - we are not averse putting them into private school. Any ideas?! Literally open to anywhere although DH occasionally had to go to London.

Also Dedham

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85770462#/?channel=RES_BUY

Wow! These are beautiful, thank you. Just think it’s going to be too far out for us.

Never heard of Dedham before will investigate, thank you.

Winchester, Cambridge, Cheltenham and Oxford all seem appealing too

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124299188#/?channel=RES_BUY

Sussex could tick all your boxes. This house is walkable to excellent primary schools and an OFSTED outstanding secondary. Direct train to London and Brighton from nearby Hassocks station. Shops, pubs, other amenities and South Downs National Park on your doorstep.

Here's some nice ones in Somerset and also stroud area which is handy for both Cotswolds and bath

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118311185

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126930764#/

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126625454

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126418019#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124470647#/?channel=RES_BUY

Where can I live in the SE should have been the title

Bradford on Avon are both lovely.

Sorry, I'll try again! Bradford on Avon and Frome are both lovely and they are near Bath.

Shropshire?

Im moving!!! what's your budget ? 4 beds, garage, garden, north Oxfordshire

sorry there's more, 1 hour train to London and easy access to M40

Oxford is one of the most expensive places for housing in the South East, because of the University. It’s also got crushing traffic problems, which are being exacerbated by the council determination to ban wheeled transport except for bicycles from the city centre. Virtually all the shops are shutting because customers can’t get there,

Cheltenham is not as good for rail links, but it still has shops and a decent cultural life. Cirencester is nice too although also very traffic ridden these days.

Have a look at Malvern in Worcestershire. Fantastic hills, lovely town with sports centre and a theatre, railway station. Not sure about schools though.

South coast, either Sussex or maybe Hampshire. Fairly easy to get to London, good access to motorways, A3 etc.

If you need to be able to commute to London, I'd look at what train lines/stations you/DH need & work back from there.
For example, if you need Paddington then the Paddington-Penzance line would give you lots of options from Reading, all the way down through Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon & Cornwall.
The Bristol-Paddington line, similarly, would cover Bristol, North Somerset, Bath etc.
with your budget you could be mortgage free potentially, depending on what you're after location wise. Obviously any of the cities will be more expensive, but if you're happy to look at towns you'll get more for your money.
I'm in Somerset btw, on the Somerset/Devon border. I can get a fast train into London from Taunton in under 2hrs. Access to beaches, moors, forests, local attractions, culture (both local & regional in Exeter, Bristol & Cardiff) & have a great town community where we are. For your money you could get a big house & land.

Where in London will make quite the difference. It takes an hour on the Piccadilly tube from Kings Cross to our offices.

Stroud, in Gloucestershire. It has a great train service to London and also still has state grammar schools if that would work for you.
There are some lovely primary schools around too.

Exactly.

I sympathize OP, but I'm not sure if there is anywhere you can run to. The UK is becoming unbearable, especially England. I live in rural Essex, where they seem to build a new estate every year. My local woods have been hacked into for houses (and not just houses but hideous great blocks of flats). Those woods used to be my refuge from the world. Now they've been colonized by kids from the new estates, who ride motorbikes in there, deal cannabis and even draw graffiti on the trees (!!?). There are also two big new estates being built at the other end of the village. It just doesn't matter how many of these ghastly rabbit hutches they build, it's never enough. It's happening everywhere. My cousin spent years saving up to escape London. He finally got a little house in Norfolk, and a few years later they built 2,000 new houses on his doorstep!

It used to be so quiet around here (I've lived in this village since 1992), but things are really changing. The roads get busier and noisier every day (I can hear screeching engines and the explosions of modified exhausts as I type), and the atmosphere seems to be more nasty and toxic. When you cram too many people on top of one another, they get on each other's nerves.

Don't expect any sympathy from the politicians. The Tories are on the side of the developers and builders. In fact, they want to de-regulate, allowing more rabbit hutches to be built on what's left of the green belt. Anything to maximize profits! And don't expect any sympathy from the left either. They think anyone who complains about overpopulation or overcrowding is a small-minded NIMBY.

I'd give anything for peace and quiet and space. It's actually getting so bad round here that I now do my weekly shop either late at night or super early. I have to. You literally can't get parked. And the traffic is becoming scary.

Winchester, Newbury, Hungerford, Marlborough.

I’d recommend Warwick or Leamington Spa. Train to London is just over an hour and with your budget you’d find something lovely. There are quite a few indie schools in the area too as well as grammars. Being in the midlands it’s fairly easy to access so many other parts of the country as well.

Diss is 1hr 34mins to Liverpool Street, and there are many nice villages near there in all directions. You can go closer towards the coast, or inland; towards Norfolk or Suffolk. Weather is kind too.

Cheshire? It really is a lovely part of the world and we've got HS2 cutting a swathe right though it so you can get to London in a hour so they say😁
You'd get a pretty good house and land for that budget if you keep out of the golden triangle.

That’s such a sad post to read.

My friends moved to the Midlands 19 years ago and bought a house overlooking fields. Not only were the fields sold and built on but there’s now a whole big estate around them. When we drive around the countryside, we see endless construction sites and more “ exciting “ developments of houses and apartments

Hastings. You'll def get more for your money, and a beach, and it's an easy train to London. The schools are nothing to write home about though, unless you are Catholic - but there are good private options.