Perfect looking English villages…

[Newyearnewus]

Looking for some ideas from fellow mumsnetters who may be in the know! I’ve name changed for this as people I know use this site and DH and I haven’t told anyone our plans yet in RL….

Our children have grown and are off doing their own thing. DH and I have decided now is the time to move somewhere new for a different pace of life. We currently live in a big town in the south of England but want to move to a picturesque, small countryside village. Something similar to the vibe in the film ‘The Holiday’. I know this was filmed in Shere, Surrey and was exaggerated but you get my drift….

Think thatched cottages, nice scenery, community feel. We’ll have a healthy budget of around £800,000. More or less happy to go anywhere in England- husband and I both work remotely. However we would prefer to not go towards Cornwall/Devon purely for distance more Home Counties, Norfolk, Gloucestershire, Yorkshire, Lake District.

We’d love if there was a local pub within walking distance, village shop etc.

Appreciate there will be loads of places that could fit the bill but looking for suggestions from people who live in somewhere like this or know of somewhere first hand. We’d love to do some research in the new year so we can start looking.

Thank you all

I live in Cumbria. You won't find many thatched cottages / villages up here !
You need to think of Hampshire , Wiltshire , Gloucestershire , ( see the link to these places - shire )
Also be prepared if you chose a beautiful, picturesque , chocolate box area , it will probably be a tourist honey trap so maybe not the quiet idyll you are expecting.

Ogbourne St George was very pretty when I drove through it last summer. And close to Marlborough which is a lovely market town.

Basically most places in the Costwalds would fit the bill, although I have no idea about property prices. 🤷‍♀️

Thornton Hough on the Wirral. Tudor rather than thatched, very nosy residents, pub.

One of the places that I've driven through is near Yarm, it's called Hutton Rudby. I think it's the prettiest place!

The villages around Andover are lovely - Abbots Ann and Monxton etc. ramsbury in Wiltshire is also gorgeous.

Stow on the Wold is possibly a small town but probably ticks a lot of your boxes.

Great Budworth?

Is this move also your long term retirement plan?

Factor in GP, distance to a decent hospital, village shop in walking distance, and travel time for your Dc if you want them to visit / help in future emergencies.

Some beautiful villages in Kent.
Positioned within a nice distance from the sea, Canterbury, London, airports ..good weather.

Lots of villages in Herefordshire there are so many 16th and 17th century timer frame houses with thatched roofs that there's even a walking trail named The Black and White Village trail.

Further south on the boarder along the Wye Valley is full of those towns and villages too.

Eardisland is a perfect example.

Beware of moving too far away from GP's, hospitals, supermarkets etc. When you won't be able to drive will you be a short walk from the essentials and have a good bus service?

Would the pretty house in the village be able to be adapted as you age and can't use the stairs, bath, pretty steps in the garden?

Many villages in Cambridgeshire are like this although many tend to have additional newer houses now.
I would clue yourself up about a thatched cottage though it does look pretty but it's also expensive and the ridge needs replacing every 8-10years.

Thank you for replies so far these are great. Will be looking through everyone’s suggestions later today.

For those concerned about us getting older and living remotely we are only late 40s. This isn’t necessarily our plan for retirement currently only thinking towards the next say 20 years and will re-assess

Low Bradfield at the edge of Sheffield in the Peak District ticks all your boxes. Cute as a button. Like something out of a film set.

Little shop, river with cute bridge, cricket green. It’s beautiful.

Pickering

Oh I love a chocolate box village!
Conde Nast Traveller suggests these ones: www.cntraveller.com/gallery/beautiful-villages-uk

I agree Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucs.
also East Anglia- Norfolk. Wales though has beautiful scenery on a whole other scale.

me I’d factor in the sea too, some of the Norfolk villages are fitting the bill but the communication links are poor and schools aren’t great.

I would go for the SW

Lacock, Castle Combe, Bradford on Avon. Lots of villages round that way that are chocolate box, often with thatch rooves etc.

I used to live very near shere so know what you mean. We moved recently to Dorset. One of the Tarrant villages. We are in a thatched cottage surrounded by thatched cottages. It’s as quaint as anything. We have a pub 1 min walk. We are 30 mins from Bournemouth (airport) and poole. We also have new forest about 30 mins away. It’s blissful. But, it is rural, no public transport. You can get to Salisbury in 30 mins though and turn its 90 mins direct to Waterloo.

It’s not quite as rural though as I first thought if you have a car. We can get to wimborne in 20 mins for waitrose and lovely shops. Also it’s a bit cheaper than Surrey/new forest. The house we bought here was £780k which would have definitely been over a million in those locations (I was looking for over a year).

I would say think very carefully, OP. Before you think I’m just raining on your parade, I should say that while I am not British, had lived in various bits of England for nearly 20 years and moved a lot internationally, and have never found friendships difficult — until we moved out of London to a pretty Midlands village with our young baby. Pretty thatched cottages, Norman church with brasses and medieval tombs, a shop, PO, village primary, picturesque pub, set in lovely rolling countryside — lots of community stuff going on. We did everything ‘right’ — volunteered, got involved in local events, went to the pub, had a child in baby groups and later preschool and village school, used local childminder for wraparound care, invited neighbours over — and it was the most miserably lonely eight years of my life. We just didn’t gel at all socially. It was a very insular place. Everyone had always lived there, and had no concept that new people might be worth getting to know.

However, research won’t help with this — so I don’t know how we could have known before we moved…

Much Hadham, Hertfordshire.

And public transport for when you’re nolonger able to drive.

Itchenor or Birdham or Bosham in West Sussex. Bosham in particular.

Have you thought about East Anglia? Nice villages close enough to get to Norwich.

Seems remote but train to London isn’t too much of a ballache.

(I always curse my shit life choices when I read threads like this, I am mid forties and we have only just been able to buy our first house - a cheap dump in a dump. Oh to be able to go back and do everything differently!)