Help me decide where to relocate to in semi retirement

[Splendud]

DH and I are starting to think about where we might like to move to as we downsize and move into part time work / part retirement. We won't be moving for 3-4 years but would like to use this time investigate options.

We currently live in the Midlands and are not likely to be restricted to a location by adult children or ageing parents.

We are looking for:

Large town or small city
Theatre, cinema and decent restaurants
Good train connections
Likely to need to be within 3-4 hours of London for occasional trips for future work / consultancy roles
Within an hour of the sea (this is super important as we are currently 3 hours from a beach and this is the only thing we don't like about where we live)
Able to get a 3 bed detached house for £450-£500k

Other things we like about where we live:

Active social groups - chess and tennis clubs for DH, book club and history society for me,
Festivals - our city has loads - food, fringe, literature, jazz, folk plus a large arts festival

So far we have shortlisted Norwich, Salisbury, Lincoln and Chester to look at.

Where else should we add to our list?

Suggest starting an excel sheet with rows for all your criteria:

-including some not mentioned here such as access to health services, a hospital, and perhaps later-life care, distance from loved ones, volunteering opportunities, walkability in case one day you can no longer drive, access to community support in case one of you is widowed (sorry a bit bleak but important to think of).

Then add all these places suggested here in columns and give them a score out of ten for each criteria point. Maybe visit each one in person before scoring (you could also do in person research by chatting informally to locals eg cafe, charities, estate agents etc)

Let us know which place scores most highly for you. Good luck!

Ps v sorry if this scoring idea is teaching grandmother to suck eggs.

@EdisinBurgh I would also count in access to other nice places within 30 minutes - the problem with some places is they may itself be perfectly nice but there’s not much else around the area close by of interest and if you have a fair bit of time on your hands that may count.

Thanks for this thread! My criteria and situation are almost the same so have got some great information from it.

Walmer in Kent

Absolutely not true about Chester being run down!
We are getting a Harrods beauty shortly and there are loads of new shops and restaurants.

York is great, loads to do and like a previous PP said, about an hour or so to the coast and 2 hours into London.

Or Beverley in East Yorkshire, it’s about 3.5 hours to London on the train but the East Yorkshire coast is within an hour and Beverley is a decent sized town with plenty of shops, restaurants and bars and about an hour to York. Property prices are reasonable too for what you’re looking for.

Any recommendations for surrounding villages?

Barnham, Yapton, Aldwick, Birdham, Selsey, Hunston, Walberton, Rustington, East Preston, Ferring, Lavant, Bosham ( more expensive, but beautiful), Southborne, Rowlands Castle, Angmering, Shoreham.

That’ll do to start.

https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org

I’ll be honest, I don’t know what Cheltenham is like to live in, but it does gave a lot of festivals.

Kent - located on corner of England, so lots of coastal areas are accessible within in hour, plus London is nearby. Also handy to hop across to the continent.

Lots of festivals occur - Sweeps festival, Rochester, Hop festival, Faversham, Leeds castle holds several events, Maidstone Mote park has concerts etc. Theatre at Tunbridge Wells, Folkstone, Bromley etc. Margate is hosting a lot if huge stars also.

Towns to consider - Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Faversham or coastal towns such as Deal, Folkstone, Whistable (more pricey), or any of beautiful villages, or hop across the border to Rye.

Great, thank you. I’m looking for a three bed with nice garden , preferably semi rural in that general area, up to £800,000. No busy roads, not too overlooked preferably. I’m having real difficulty finding anything I like. I want a village or small town with lots of community activities and good services . Help!

@Gundogday nowhere near the sea though - otherwise I love Chelters

You’re entitled to to your opinion, but plenty of empty units and much rowdier and less nice that it was in the 2000s.

Err, surely that can’t be the reason why it regularly appears in top 10 places to live, see also Waitrose July foodie (actually reading it now) magazine p78 for a nice write-up…
EzCestrian 😉

Hi OP , I agree with others Chester is not rundown, it has very few empty shops for example. In August 3 of us have decided to return to celebrate a birthday and there are great places to stay. It is our second visit this year and we stay a few days, go out for breakfast ,get some snacks for evenings. The river is always worthwhile and the city is worth a visit.