Where to move to in England which has these features

[Chocguzel]

Help me narrow down places DH and I should house hunt. We have lived in London most of our adult lives but we’re both raised rurally. We will keep a flat in London.

it needs to be within two to three hours of London as kids will likely live here and I want to see them easily.

it needs to feel rural and be an area you can walk for miles without seeing lots of buildings

it needs to have a bit of cultural life relatively nearby: a theatre, some nice restaurants

a friendly community which doesn’t mind new comers and is open minded and OK that we are not both English by birth. Somewhere we could get involved with the community.

a place we can buy a really beautiful detached period rural four bed with garden for under £1.2 million. Preferably Victorian or Georgian as we are tall so low ceilings are difficult.

Have you looked around the Bath/Wiltshire area? Some really beautiful villages with easy access to Bath city centre plus an easy journey into London. Worth speaking to an agent in the area to see what's around.

So you want restaurants nearby, but no buildings? Good luck with that.

No we would happily drive for the restaurants and theatre etc! Not expecting it to be in the middle of the next door field!

I don’t know that area at all. Can you suggest any village names for me to start by looking at?

Do you want to be in a village, or literally out in your own and drive to village?

Lewes?

Limpley Stoke, Rode, Bradford on Avon - these would be good starting points!

I think probably in a village or the edge of a village.

Prestbury?

Finding an area where you can walk for miles without seeing any buildings is going to be impossible within 2 to 3 hours of London. However, if you amend this to be able to walk rurally for hours ( so you might walk through a village and then back in into countryside) there are places within an hour of London where you can achieve this.
Many parts of Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, East Wiltshire and Hampshire will meet this criteria. They could also meet your house requirements. Whilst no where is going to be as multicultural as London the majority of this area has a mix of people from different cultural back grounds.
I live just outside Newbury ( North Hants) lots of lovely places to eat, fabulous walks, great rural location and Newbury had 3 Theatres and massively punches above it’s weight in the Theatre world with the Watermill having many shows making West End transfers. Plus if we want the big touring shows Southampton and Oxford are an hour for those. My town is not alone in meeting your criteria with a small compromise. Plus I went to Hengistbury Head yesterday ( 1hour drive) and had a fabulous beach walk.

This is a lovely house but I think it’s just a bit too far from where the kids will be in London. At the moment my maps app says it’s a 3.5 hour drive and that early on a Sunday morning.

Mendip area of Somerset? Easy access to bath and Bristol and lovely scenery.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160174310#/

Train to London from Chippenham, Bath not far at all. No idea about this specific location, but that area round Neston / Atworth might work.

Somewhere in The Chilterns or Surrey Hills springs to mind.

West Sussex. Lots of areas in the country that might fit the bill.

Here we go again.

Thanks for the positive spin on this area @NeedanadultgapyearI also live close to Newbury and struggling to see it in a positive light (although I am a fan of the Corn Exchange!). This has helped.

Yorkshire

I second lewes. Its near the coast, you can easily get to Brighton and London. The town itself is quirky and full of history and nice coffee shops/restaurants. You're right on the south downs and the countryside and coastline is stunning.

Its not particularly Conservative so people are from all over, and unlikely you'd have any issues in that regard. And it's surrounded by lovely little villages.

Check out this house for example:
found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159761078 4 bed in barcombe nr Lewes

I am not English by birth and live in Norfolk. I find it very friendly. Norwich is very active in the arts and has a good festival and you are close to Southwold and other places which also have a good arts scene. London can be reached from Diss directly in 1.75 hours and driving outside of rush hour London is 2.25 hours. There are good restaurants in Norfolk generally and Norwich particularly. House prices remain reasonable. Personally I would look at somewhere slightly west of Norwich. If you look at Wymondham draw a map with the villages within say 5 miles of the A11 from there.

Also agree on these areas (also based around here!) I found this one easily. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/161039840#/map?channel=RES_BUY
Nice and close to the Vineyard, and the woodspeen. Train into Paddington in 50mins from Newbury.
And beautiful town, with canal and river, lots of community events, theatre, comedy.

Suffolk villages close to Bury St Edmunds are worth a look. 😊

@EggandStress Newbury is a great location many people move here due to it’s excellent transport links - we live in the area as DH needs to be able to get to Farnborough airport, Milton Keynes and Silverstone easily and I work Freelance and will travel up to 1 hour for a shift. However, people stay as it is a great area lovely walks in the surrounding countryside, nice villages, great places to eat, the cinema and 3 theatres cover most people’s likes. Yes we don’t have all the shops, but we have a variety of markets, spring festival, open studios and many village markets.
Plus due to Vodafone we have many different nationalities and cultures my DD had 15 children in her year 2 class 12 nationalities from nearly every continent and most major religions.

Rural South Warwickshire and the Cotswolds

These are both 50k over (but market at this end is slow) but to give you an idea of what you can get within 10 miles of Horsham yhat fits your bill (Horsham isa small market town that has tons of restaurants etc, whilst still being very close to rural areas https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/161436014#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160308644#/?channel=RES_BUY

This is on budget
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160092197#/?channel=RES_BUY

Under budget
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160880702#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160511993#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159505970#/?channel=RES_BUY (nearer Dorking)