Where would you retire to that is picturesque?

[Grimshadylady]

Where in the UK would you find a lovely house (preferably detached) with great views to retire to? Views could be rolling hills, sea, river, lake, etc.

A detached house with sufficient land around it. Even better if I'd need to drive a couple of minutes to be able to find a neighbour to have a dispute with.

Are there property sites where there is an option to search for properties with views?

It would be good when you're fit , well and mobile. Not so good when you no longer drive and country public transport is awful . If you need an ambulance in an emergency you don't want it an hour away . Access to groceries , DR , entertainment all make sense .

I also think you have to bear in mind where la rayner will build her 1.5m houses . The view you thought you were buying may not stay like it for long .

This. Hate to be all doom and gloom but in the course of my work I have met multiple elderly people who retired to little rural villages and scenic areas only to find that on hitting old age and developing age related health issues they were stuck hours away from doctors and hospitals and the hospitals that were there didn’t have departments dealing with their medical conditions so they had to travel for miles. The saddest one was a woman who’d bought a lovely cottage on a hill only to find herself completely housebound unless her adult children - who lived five hours away - came to visit. The hill was so steep and gradually her mobility had reduced so she had become frail and she was terrified of falling down the hill so avoided leaving the house completely.

We also have the retirement discussion quite regularly, especially as we're both now mid 50s.
One of the things I struggle with though is our children.
There are loads of places I'd consider moving to but I don't want to move hundreds of miles from them (where ever they may settle), or move somewhere so inaccessible it's a PITA for anyone to visit for weekend.

They're at uni so I might feel different once they're more adult/settled. But I wonder if anyone else feels this way?

Shrewsbury is lovely i agree.
I rate Abergavenny but the hospital situation is dire now.

@Adamante yep it's why my FIL at 85 bought a good size bungalow but with small garden 12 miles from us in mid sized town and moved 150 miles. He now has a modern cottage hospital, GP and a minor injuries unit within 4 minutes walk, all on same site- 2 good sized general stores within 2 minutes with post office , a regular bus route outside the door and town with lots of cafes, chemists, shops, pubs etc about 8 minutes walk or 1 minutes drive away. He was very aware that where he was would become a real problem the minute he couldn't drive.

London zone 1. 100 percent. Everything on the doorstep. Convenient infrastructure like GPs hospitals, supermarkets and smaller speciality shops.

Walking distance to great art and culture with lovely heritage buildings quiet and accessible during the week. Free transport. Loads of free activities on the doorstep - choirs/private views/clubs/community. Quiet if you pick the right area (iykyk!).

Plenty of trades to come and sort stuff out. Nice and central with good transport links for people to come and visit you. Yeah. All of that.

I was recently talking to an elderly friend who was retired in London (we were at a swanky club she is a member of). She said a friend of hers retired to rural Herefordshire and says it's 'like death'.

OP I live somewhere very remote and the points made by previous posters about transport and health care are really important. Because almost everyone in this remote area needs (and has) a car, there are no taxis. None at all. The nearest are based over 30 miles away. There's just one bus per day, which gives you around 3 hours in the nearers town with taxis/food shops (a limited range) /dentist/physio/podiatrist/ library/hairdressers/vet. That's not a lot of time to fit everything in.

The nearest big hospital is over 3 hours drive away; the roads are hilly, snowy/icy in winter, busy with tourists in summer and dangerous all year round. If you rely on public transport, a simple half-hour hospital appointment can mean an overnight stay away from home, and hotels and B&B are often fully booked, and expensive. Some GPs hold face-to-face surgeries at remote villages - but typically just twice a week. If you were old and unwell, how might that affect you? As everywhere, carers (if needed) are in short supply. Ditto skilled plumbers, electricians, handypersons etc.

You also need to consider where you will do your shopping - and how you will get it home. (Little village shops do their best but prices are sky-high, ranges are limited, deliveries sometimes uncertain - therefore empty shelves - and fresh fruit and veg often stale.) Some companies refuse to deliver here; others charge a lot extra. Couriers do not make deliveries every day. Nor does the only supermarket that delivers food around here. There may be no mains gas - oil and electricity are more expensive - and patchy mobile and/or radio reception. Broadband can be slow. And there will be power cuts. Rural restaurants, pubs/hotels and coffee shops etc are few and far between, and mostly closed all winter. Where will you go to the cinema? See a play or listen to a concert? Occupy your time/learn a new skill? How will you meet and make new friends? There are local interest and social groups, but you might need to drive miles in the dark on unlit steep narrow roads to get to their meetings.Etc etc etc.

If you are young and active or have the money/fitness to drive, and plenty of local friends and/or family, then there are ways round all the above problems. And the scenery/environment is fabulous. But if you grow less active or become unwell, then life can be lonely and difficult.

@kindlyensure I personally would be ok with some nice zone 2/3/4 areas like Richmond/Chiswick/Hampton /Teddington , Belsize Park/Hampstead/Highgate etc

Plenty on tap but easier into London when wanted.

I've lived in all these areas before too

Happy to do shared ownership as well - son lives there too

How do you picture your day to day and week to week lifestyle in retirement?

Do you have family and/or friends you would want to be no more than an hour or two from?

Retiring to central London is my dream and plan.

I can understand the attraction of living in a place with a picturesque view but they tend to be elevated and hills are not good for the elderly. For me, I enjoy nice views on my UK holidays but after a day or so, it loses its wow and I stop registering the surrounds as I have my head down in my book. I guess I will need to get a dog to walk about more.

Culture, restaurants, amenities and buzz at my door step will always be a draw.

I'm already where I want to retire to,

Lovely views and decent amenities.

Malvern.

We are in our 60's and live very rurally.
In 5 years we will definitely move somewhere with better transport links and closer shops.

A beautiful view on its own cannot sustain you.

Absolutely!

I do not want travel to be an obstacle to seeing adult Dc / any grandchildren that might transpire, I would like to be an active, helpful and involved (respectfully, all MN MIL threads noted) grandparent - and I will not impose a difficult journey on Dc as I get frail having experienced my own parents grow ln in a beautiful but awkward to get to sort of place.

It's very dim to retire to somewhere massive with no neighbours. You want good support and v easy access to major hospitals. And somewhere you don't need to drive. Otherwise your idyllic estate becomes a millstone that you never spend time in because it takes a full day to get your angina checked. Even worse if you need chemo or dialysis. Retire somewhere that is in line with your age!

Surrey hills /Surrey/Hampshire border (Devil's punchbowl, Hindhead common, Frensham ponds). Only if money were no object though.

I live somewhere like your wish list could look. I’ll be moving before 60 to somewhere with a train station, a Yorkshire market town or even one of the York villages on a trainline - 2 miles into the city.

Growing old here (Dales) requires you to be fit, well, independent and driving, which I am but I also love culture, theatre, nice shopping and just getting out.

I’d hate it here if I couldn’t do that. I had a taste of it when I couldn’t drive for four months …. H I d e o u s.

Dalkey in Dublin
By the sea. A lovely little village.
I know 2 couples who have semi retired to there. Lucky them.
They might even bump in to Bono or Matt Damon or some other star in the local, Finnegans.

I grew up in the Lake District. My school shoes were wellies.

I've just chosen Teesdale but about 70% of Northumberland would fit your bill.

Can't imagine up rooting completely and going somewhere not knowing a solitary person, really hard to start all over again later in life. I've spent 25 years where I am and have built up such a wonderful network of friends and neighbours, no view could replace how special that is.

Be wary of retiring somewhere remote. You may be fit and healthy and able to drive now, but the nature of retirement is that it won't always be that way. I know more than one person who retired to the kind of location you described and now that they're not in great health, the distance they live and it's lack of easy transport to hospital appointments etc is an additional burden on their children

Yes, we have done this. Retired early but then moved a couple of years ago from a pretty north Essex village to central Cambridge.
We wanted an easy modern-ish house in a good location with a coffee shop, pub and convenience store close by, on a good bus route, with a drs' surgery, dentist and even hospital facilities handy! (Addenbrookes)
We are looking ahead to when we might have to give up driving. You need a car much more if you live rurally.
Luckily we achieved all this but at a price, our new, smaller house (3 bed 2 br det with garage + small garden cost us more than our large 4-bed 2 br semi with long driveway, dble garage and 1/2 acre garden.)
Cambridge is expensive but we love living here, it's diverse and lively with good restaurants, shops and bars etc as well as the theatre and other cultural stuff.
We're very happy and know we've done the right thing for us, at the right time. It gets more difficult the longer you leave it. But we have friends who are determined they will only leave their big, old (and frankly ramshackle) houses feet first.
The only things I miss are the open views from the old house. But city life is great after living in the country for over 30 years.

We’re in our 60s and live on the edge of a market town. We don’t have any picturesque views but we do have lots of amenities nearby so we won’t be moving in retirement. We’ll install a walk in shower and stairlift once we become less mobile!

Isle of Wight or North Yorkshire coast would be my choice.

In reality though, I think in retirement it’s even more important to have friends and social support close so I doubt we’ll move anywhere.

We aren’t a million miles from the Isle of Wight so have spoken about it but I lost a sibling last year so don’t feel I can move further away from family whilst my parents are still alive. Can’t leave all the supporting to my remaining sibling😢