If you retired this week where would you move to in the UK (South maybe).

[MonumentalLentil]

Would you want peace and quiet? Coast? Busy town?
North, South?
I am particularly interested in places which are quiet, but with shops, vets etc. but if you have any better suggestions please go ahead and suggest.

No schools needed - unlike most of the where shall I live threads on here.

(I am not actually retiring this week but wishful thinking and looking ahead with hope, and South would be easier and closer to family).

[DaisyWaldron]

I'm happy where I am and not likely to retire until I get too ill to work, but I did move somewhere for retirement it would probably be London because of ease of international travel and because I have a lot of friends there or else Edinburgh or Glasgow because Scotland seems like quite a nice place these days. Or possibly Hebden Bridge or Todmorden but I think I'd like easy public transport to a big hospital in my old age, which makes cities more appealing.

[MsRead]

I’d retire to St Albans, easy access to London, plenty going on with the Theatre etc… rather pretty in places and imo very overlooked. Grew up there and have travelled the world and still think it’s a pretty awesome place to live.

[woldscotsma]

Another vote for Cirencester. Lovely town - big enough to have lots going on, small enough to be able to walk to most places (if you live fairly centrally).

Don't like Stroud at all. Don't get the MN love for Stroud at all. I personally find it quite run down.

If I were going further south, I like Ringwood and Chichester.

I personally like market town size places, rather than cities.

[Elipse]

We moved to a small town in Perthshire. Can see the mountains from our house

The town has a thriving high street: great cafes and restaurants, the best general practice I've ever known, dentists, hairdressers, greengrocers, ironmonger etc, a bus services for the years to come, and a train station 3 miles away with free parking. The vet is a short drive away, but other than that, we'd have no need to leave here if we didn't want to!

There are also many community groups and clubs to join. It's pretty perfect really.

[Morganchristie]

I’d go North - I live in Cambridgeshire at the moment. Ideally Newcastle/Northumberland but I’m waiting for my kids to finish secondary education.

[Groutyonehereagain]

Suffolk, in the area around Dennington. It’s beautiful around this part of Suffolk with endless countryside and very pretty villages. It’s also not far from the sea.

[MonumentalLentil]

I also said South would be closer to family, so do have reason to move - near support network not away from.

[MonumentalLentil]

@SweetBirdsong

@GinIronic

Stay where you are when you retire. Why would you want somewhere new? If you hate where you live - move now whilst you’re still young enough to enjoy it.

I don't get people moving when they retire either. As a few people have said, stay with your support network and near everyone you know. Obviously if you have no-one and very little support network, then I guess that changes things a bit. But surely people have a few friends, and a familiar GP, and dentist, and neighbours they know etc.

I never 'get' people swanning off to Spain and France etc, or even further away. Actually out of the country. Rarely see their (adult) children, rarely see their grandchildren (grandchildren don't even know them!) and leave their friends behind, and everything they know. They move to somewhere strange and faraway at a time when they need those closest to them - (and the people closest to them need them too.) I don't get it at all.

I know several couples who moved to Barmouth (from Staffordshire/ Shropshire/ West Midlands area,) and they have regretted it, as it's such a ball-ache to travel to see people in Wolverhampton and Birmingham and Stafford and Cannock. Takes 3 hours sometimes. They are also 2 hours from a normal hospital (with an A & E department.) Came as a shock to them when they first needed a hospital.

And if you hate where you are? What then?
If you are near retiring and want to move you don't have much option to move before you get that old or retire early.

More and more built up, developed, noisy, GP's overwhelmed and always refer you somewhere else where you can't get an appointment anyway, assuming you actually manage to speak to a GP, can't get a blood test without fighting various systems that don't work, so end up going private.

No vet close by. Shops closing down, no DIY shop any more, no pet shop, no health food shop, no supermarket, no bank or building society any more, moved here for those, plus garden centre, which is also gone.

People so invested in their little cliques that there are few people that fit in and those that are friendly keep dying or, guess what - moving away.

Noisy, selfish, inconsiderate...it wasn't like this before. People buy a nice house, knock it down and put something hideous up, creating 2 years of noise per house, endless water leaks and drain problems, and cut all the trees down, then complain their garden is flooded. Build a barn thing at the end of the garden and shout and scream until late. Set fire to crap and wood chips so you have to shut the windows in order to breathe. Blast out thumping music every morning with the doors open, presumably to excercise, let put some other noise on for the children to scream to. Never any peace in the garden at any time of day, and if it goes quiet for a few minutes someone will set fire to something rancid.

If anyone lives somewhere that isn't like this please, please tell me where it is before I top myself. If you want a house in this kind of area please also let me know.

[Nofixedabodewell]

I would move near Bath or to the Stroud area.
I am living in a city with lots of interesting things to do but the traffic and the pollution is really stressing me out. I think being close to good transport links and hospitals etc is very important . I have one adult child nearby I see little of, and no real friends. My other children are miles away and I would like to be closer to them.
Being close to family and friends as well as facilities matters a lot.

[Allrightmylover]

If you get cancer and live on the Isle of Wight you have to go to the mainland for chemo, slight discount on hovercraft. If there is a major trauma you may have to get helicoptered to the mainland. Many shops don’t deliver there and many things have a premium price. Most of my family still live there. Enjoy paying £26 to cross 7 miles of water one way on the hovercraft, that’s what I paid last week. we also paid 150 pounds for the car ferry, round trip this year as and it was only that cheap because I had a voucher.

[Nofixedabodewell]

@Bluevelvetsofa

I’d probably do what I did, or somewhere near, which is West Sussex. We have good transport links, so can get to London, Southampton, Brighton, relatively easily. A few miles from Chichester, with museum, theatre and shops, though not as many as there were. South Downs on the doorstep, Goodwood, Weald and Downland museum, Arundel, Amberley, all within a short drive.

Where about sun W Sussex can I ask? I have been considering moving there .

[Nofixedabodewell]

@Spambod

Second Lewes if you have tons of cash it’s very well situated and just lovely but my god the prices.

I was there recently. The demographic seems to be mostly older people who are very wealthy. I found it rather twee and it is very expensive.

[SweetBirdsong]

@GinIronic

Stay where you are when you retire. Why would you want somewhere new? If you hate where you live - move now whilst you’re still young enough to enjoy it.

I don't get people moving when they retire either. As a few people have said, stay with your support network and near everyone you know. Obviously if you have no-one and very little support network, then I guess that changes things a bit. But surely people have a few friends, and a familiar GP, and dentist, and neighbours they know etc.

I never 'get' people swanning off to Spain and France etc, or even further away. Actually out of the country. Rarely see their (adult) children, rarely see their grandchildren (grandchildren don't even know them!) and leave their friends behind, and everything they know. They move to somewhere strange and faraway at a time when they need those closest to them - (and the people closest to them need them too.) I don't get it at all.

I know several couples who moved to Barmouth (from Staffordshire/ Shropshire/ West Midlands area,) and they have regretted it, as it's such a ball-ache to travel to see people in Wolverhampton and Birmingham and Stafford and Cannock. Takes 3 hours sometimes. They are also 2 hours from a normal hospital (with an A & E department.) Came as a shock to them when they first needed a hospital.

[SweetBirdsong]

@Verv

I wouldn't move to the south.
Id move to the Cairngorms - Ballater, Braemar etc.
It's my favourite place in the UK.

Nice area.

[Whyishewearingasombero]

@Pinotpleasure

@MonumentalLentil - we moved back to England after living overseas for 24 years. We always wanted to live near the coast and looked at various towns, starting from Exmouth in Devon and going eastwards.

We’ve very happily settled in Weymouth, Dorset - just voted the #2 beach in the UK. We live on the edge of town so we’re only 3 miles from the county town of Dorchester (where the hospital is located, although there’s a walk-in clinic in the Weymouth Community Hospital). The beaches (sandy and pebble) beaches are approx 8 minutes to drive to, although in lockdown I used to ride my bicycle to the beach on the dedicated cycle paths.

There are loads of places for walking (with or without a dog) and it’s especially lovely on the coastal paths and cliff tops - the National Trust protects many of the coastal paths and bays/seashore around here. There is also the island of Portland (reached by a causeway)where the landscape is very different and the sea can be wild! Chesil Beach begins here.

There’s a variety of shops in Weymouth and Dorchester but like most British towns there have been closures of shops and banks. Lots of supermarkets though (and vets!). Housing stock is interesting and wide variation of prices - with older terraced housing, low rise flats, larger older homes converted into flats and upscale houses. Also cottages and manor houses in the conservation areas and a sign of the times, lots of new construction. Just up the road in Dorchester there are traditional older houses but on the western edge of town is Poundbury, the brainchild of King Charles with all kinds of housing….it’s quite an interesting place to visit with pubs, restaurants and coffee shops (and a Waitrose!).

Just steps from our house is lovely countryside (and public footpaths) in the Dorset AONB. At the top of our street is the main road with 2 bus routes and a short walk to the train station with direct trains to London Waterloo (including Poole, Bournemouth and Southampton) on the Southwestern Railway trains. The Great Western Railway trains go to Bath, Bristol, Trowbridge and Gloucester.

We love it here because we have the towns, the coast and the countryside and it’s not as sprawling as Poole/Bournemouth but they’re easy to get there if we want. It’s also a short drive to Swanage/Studland Bay/Corfe Castle/Lulworth and Durdle Door if we go eastbound. Just west of us is Bridport/West Bay/Charmouth and Lyme Regis (Jurassic Coast). Also lots of leisure and sporting activities here too (including groups for retired people). Dorchester and Bridport have arts centres With exhibitions, drama, talks, live bands and museums. Weymouth has a theatre (mostly tribute acts tbh) and there are three cinemas locally.

It’s definitely worth taking a look in west Dorset! :)

I live quite near you in West Dorset - absolutely love it!

[WhereYouLeftIt]

@GinIronic

Stay where you are when you retire. Why would you want somewhere new? If you hate where you live - move now whilst you’re still young enough to enjoy it.

I agree with this. And, having recently retired - I have no intention of moving.

[SweetBirdsong]

Glad it was the wrong thread @LIZS coz I got a bit confused for a moment there!

[LIZS]

Sorry not sure how that happened, wrong thread!

[LIZS]

Clearly if you think ds may have additional needs or that dss is setting him up to misbehave you cannot leave them together unsupervised.

[SweetBirdsong]

Currently live midlands. (semi rural.) I will never move as long as my DC are a stone's throw away, and easy to get to. If they were not in the equation/left the country, I would move further North. Berwick Upon Tweed or The Peak District or even The Lake District. Or by the sea somewhere in West or North Wales. Definitely not south.

[MonumentalLentil]

@SoShallINever

Why are you obsessing about GPs and vets. Everywhere in the UK has access to GPS and vets. Even the outer hebrides.

Why did you bother to answer if you don't have a sensible contribution?
Not everywhere has easy access to a selection of things. If you know everywhere in the UK surely you would be aware of that.

[SoShallINever]

Why are you obsessing about GPs and vets. Everywhere in the UK has access to GPS and vets. Even the outer hebrides.

[restisall]

I want to retire to central London and take advantage of the free buses and actually have time to go to all the galleries and shows etc. Also imagine it will be handy to have so many hospitals and services nearby.

At the moment I live in zone 3 and sadly my next move is likely to be out of London to have more space for children.

[Bluevelvetsofa]

I’d probably do what I did, or somewhere near, which is West Sussex. We have good transport links, so can get to London, Southampton, Brighton, relatively easily. A few miles from Chichester, with museum, theatre and shops, though not as many as there were. South Downs on the doorstep, Goodwood, Weald and Downland museum, Arundel, Amberley, all within a short drive.

[musixa]

If I had no family to consider, I might move to Filey, North Yorks.