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

My husband used to live in Shere and I can honestly say is is just as beautiful as it was seen in 'The Holiday.' He moved to where I am in Hampshire (a town which isn't picturesque at all) as I have a daughter and we didn't want to uproot her but to this day we regret not moving to Shere. It's beautiful and has such a wonderful community. We are going on Christmas Eve for the Carol singing, I can't wait.

We still go there regularly as my DH sister and nephew still live there and we go on amazing walks to nearby Newlands Corner or walk to visit DH brother in neighbouring Gomshall, which is also a very pretty place.

The Surrey hills are a magnificent and beautiful place to live. Wish we had our time again and we would have done things so much differently!

@jackshitus Haha, same! I’m still in the fixer-upper falling-down house with very small children phase, wistfully picturing moving to a chocolate box village without bringing any Lego with me.

Cockington is beautiful, but very touristy in the summer.

I lived close to Shere and it is lovely but overrun with tourists and traffic weekends esp since The Holiday.

In contrast to a PP experience we moved to a lovely hamlet and have made so many fabulous friends. It all started with the local pub !

Lurgashall, Singleton and Bosham in West Sussex are gorgeous.

So many places in the Cotswolds - especially those within touching distance of Stratford.

Port Sunlight has some beautful houses and fantastic green spaces, as well as a beautiful art gallery.

Many of the villages along the Wales/ England border in Cheshire and Shropshire.

Bledington is beautiful. Although priceyyyyy.

Kent is lovely and cheaper than Surrey.

There are some lovely areas around Canterbury like Wye or you could head across to Headcorn (main railway station - London in an hour), Tenterden/Pluckley which were used in the David Jason Darling Buds of May (Pluckley also has a railway station and is on the Headcorn line) are lovely. Tenterden is bigger and has a lovely high street. I think Greg Wallace lives near Headcorn now??? So that area is liked by TV people - out of the way but accessible to London.

Benenden is the village that houses Princess Anne's old school and Goudhurst is picture box pretty as is Cranbrook.

Going across into Sussex, you have Northiam, Rye, Brede.

Ashton near Oundle is beautiful (was a Rothschild model village) - has village pub that is named after the local butterfly 'The Chequered Skipper' on the main green.
Fotheringhay nearby also fits the bill.

Can walk to Oundle (1/2 hour walk/5 min drive) which has Waitrose, town shops such as butchers, post office and GP surgery.

Villages around Stamford and into Rutland are also pretty and not isolated.

An hour's train journey into London and just over half an hour drive to Cambridge for culture fix.

Around Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk also has lots of thatched cottage villages and I have lived in one near Norwich (although I felt a bit of an outsider to the highly local inhabitants at the time-30+years ago!).

Yorkshire and Lake District aren't thatched cottage territory, but certainly have gorgeous villages in a different way. Depends if you more dramatic countryside or the quintessential English village feel with village green. Prepare for more frequent rain in the North West certainly.

As you have such a wide search area I would say try some weekend stay cottage visits and search the local area and get a feel for where you feel comfortable.

I lived in Castle Combe for a while. It certainly ticked your box of chocolate-box pretty. So much so, in fact, that it felt almost Disneyfied — kind of unreal, in a way.

The big downsides for me were lack of services, and the endless tourists. Most of the year I lived there you’d have bus loads of tourists arriving pretty much on the hour. We had them trying to get into our cottage, taking photos through the front windows, all sorts. It was like they thought the village, and everyone in it, was a living exhibit that they could interact with at will.

I couldn’t wait to leave and I will never go back.

Clare and Lavenham on Suffolk are just gorgeous. Lots of the surrounding villages to these are as well.

Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter, Bibury all in Gloucestershire. In fact anywhere in the Cotswolds.

Grassington and Gargrave in the Yorkshire Dales

Staithes - N Yorks coast
Alnmouth, Barmburgh, Seahoises, Craster Northumberland coast (admittedly a long way from many places).

Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire. Beautiful houses, village green, wonderful pub (with gastro-restaurant); award-winning village shop (with Sam in the Post Office). Village hall, WI, good primary school. Just off the A1 (for road access); Huntingdon station 20 mins away (commuter service to Kings Cross/St Pancras).

@Headunderthecovers i used to live near Ashton. The Chequered Skipper was my local! Of course it's famous for the. World Conker Championships, great fun and completely eccentric.

Chipping Campden meets your brief

There are some lovely villages around Banbury.

Beverly and surrounding villages - Walkington, Cherry Burton etc.

Beverly is a small town rather than a village, but it is picturesque, medieval market town and has plenty of amenities.

I've driven through loads on my way to places but always end up thinking I wouldn't want to live in a village with a main road through it!

lots of beautiful suggestions here. I would add Rothbury in Northumberland as another. Not as touristy as some of the places mentioned but very pretty.

I've worked in quite a few chocolate box villages around Stokesley in N. Yorkshire
Some are in the NYork moors national park so development is even more restricted than usual so they retain their character.
Makes my job harder but they do always look very pretty.
Stokesley is a lovely market town too.

West Oxfordshire has some stunning villages. Thing is, though, you get used to the prettiness and they all end up looking the same.

I grew up in Thornton-le-dale in North Yorkshire and it's ticks these boxes. For £800k you could get something amazing.

40 mins drive to York for city fix and 25 mins drive to Scarborough/Whitby for the seaside.

I made a move to north Essex two years ago, from a very busy area. I still wanted links to main areas but rural enough to find peace and relaxation. The villages of north Essex are beautiful. Finchingfield was rated one of the prettiest villages in Essex. Other beautiful places are Great Bardfield, Thaxted, Great Sampford, Bardfield Saling, Debden. Bigger beautiful town is Saffron Walden. Lots of beautiful lol. I am of similar age. You will find plenty of thatched cottages in that price range. I have a 500 year old cottage that is lovely. I feel finally settled. Community is great, some brilliant walks and Pubs and so much going on for my children. Good luck, you will love it x

Not my experience of moving from a city (Sheffield) to a village at all. Or DM's experience of moving to the same village 20 years later, although she'll always be "Ibiza's mum".

Don't rule out Oxfordshire. There are some amazing villages and good rail links back to London. Woodstock, Bladon, Charlbury, Chadlington - all around there. You do need to prepare to drive everywhere you need to go.

Cambridgeshire and parts of Suffolk are great for this. Lots of little rural villages with thatched cottages but that are also on or near train lines into Cambridge and London, good hospitals and transport links. Downside is the countryside is very flat, but still pretty.