Where is your dream village in the UK to call home?

[flutterbye88]

Hi everyone!

After a year of googling, reading posts and mini breaks to check out areas - we're still lost in our search for a forever home/area. It's so hard to get a feel for a place in a short amount of time!

We've discovered many beautiful villages, but we're holding out for 'the one' - one with like-minded sociabe folk and utterly charming!!

So I'd love to put the question to the Mumsnet Hive -

Where is your dream village in the UK to call home?

Who we are and what we're hoping to find:

We’re a family with young children (aged 6, 3, and 1½). hoping to find our forever place, somewhere we can put down roots and be part of a warm, lively community.

We don’t have much extended family around us, so we work on building that sense of belonging from within, for us, and for our kiddies.

We’re the kind of family who love travel, adventure and a bit of fun, but we’re also very grounded and homely.

We love the idea of raising our kids somewhere they can have a proper childhood - muddy knees, village fêtes, neighbours who become friends for playdates AND wine!! Somewhere, the children will feel they have proper roots and people who know them, once we pass.

What we’re looking for:
✨ A beautiful, friendly village with a really strong sense of community. Somewhere where people get involved and look out for one another.
✨ Good schools
✨ Close enough to a safe, interesting town so they’re not climbing the walls as teenagers!
✨ Somewhere that feels special/charming - pretty, welcoming, with that hard-to-describe “spark” that makes you fall in love with it.
✨ A place where, one day, our children will feel proud to come back with their own families.

We work remotely, so we’re flexible on location and can choose anywhere in the UK. Our budget is up to £850k (for a 4-bed house)

Do you live somewhere like this, or know a village or small town that sounds this dreamy? We’d LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear your suggestions, stories, or tips.

We’re ready to build a life somewhere special. 💛

Thank you so much in advance! x

I think your difficulty is probably that some of your bullet points are exclusive. Generally, pretty villages are losing their sense of community as houses are bought for holiday homes. Once you get too many holiday homes the community is destroyed.
So my advice would be to seek out a village set in pleasant countryside, but specifically without pretty views. Look for places not popular with tourists.

That makes complete sense @TheRolyPolyBard thank you so much for your input. We came to this conclusion (amongst other reasons) whilst looking at pretty harbourside villages but I hadn’t really considered this aspect when it comes to country villages, so thank you!

We were seriously considering a move to Morpeth on Northumberland, we've visited a few times and love it. There's loads to do and feels like a lovely community. It's only a short train ride into Newcastle city centre or about an hour to Edinburgh so plenty for teens. Countryside, beaches etc all close by. We're down South so it was too big a move for us away from all our family and friends but the houses are so much cheaper, we could have got a really nice house or been mortgage free if we went for a like for like to our current house.

I think asking for the names of the rural idyll wealthy posters live in, is potentially very outing may be misused.
Reply with caution!!

While most villages will have a primary school, not all have a secondary school. I live in a market town and the kids that live in the outlying villages have to be dropped off and collected by parents or catch one of the school buses/use public transport.

I think this is a bit mad, OP. Some of these things you just can’t legislate for. We lived for eight years in a prosperous, pretty village with a Saxon church, a Victorian inn, and a charming Main Street of straggling 17thc thatched cottages, set in attractive, rolling countryside, but not in an area that attracted tourists. It had an excellent school, a lot going on, a strong sense of community, was a short distance from the nearest city etc.

But it was an awful place to live for strangers coming in from outside, even for friendly, socially confident people with young children at the school, who got involved in community stuff.

I was utterly miserable living in this ‘deal’ village that meets every one of your criteria. ‘Proper roots’ and ‘strong community spirit’ can translate into ‘insular’ and ‘no idea what to do with strangers as have always known everyone else here since birth’.

This sounds like where i live. But I'm not giving that away as we don't need more population.

I think Box in wiltshire is like this ( home of Peter Gabriel’s studio Real world) Lovely stone houses, 2 decent shops, a post office, 2 nice cafes, 2 gastro pubs and a boozers pub , an indian restaurant , a beautiful primary school, a petrol station with a good 24 hour minimart that sells ‘cook’ - 2 miles to Corsham one way, 6 mines to Bath the other way. Cottages, flats, big detached houses , and lots in between . Lovely countryside surrounding too .sociable place, village hall has film nights and other stuff too .

I won't give away my specific location as I live there, but we are in the Cotswolds. Only problem is 850k doesn't stretch as far as some areas with, I'm sure, equally great facilities and beautiful views.

This sits fine with us @MrsMoastyToasty 😊

Our village does most of what you say you want, until the part when you say safe interesting towns and cities for your teens. Sadly, our small town is infamous for drug problems.

I think you have a very romantic view of village life! . It all reads a bit Joanna Trollope. Hope you find somewhere suitable soon OP.

My inlaws live in a large village in Suffolk, deeply rural, they HATE newcomers! So do beware.

Do you have any existing roots at all? Any connection with a particular part of the UK? What you describe sounds like a bit of a fantasy, tbh. People generally feel rooted in a particular place because of their existing personal connections, not because of the place per se. You say you're 'grounded and homely' - what does that look like in the place you currently live? Have you succeeded in building any sort of community around you there?

The two villages I loved and spent much of my life in are ruined.
Pavenham in Bedfordshire used to be a proper hub with everyone knowing each other, local shop, river, green fields, beautiful homes and a thriving village community now stone dead. Full of wealthy retirees and young people and families completely priced out. New golf course and no affordable homes.
I grew up there with my grandparents. I can't go back there anymore it's too upsetting.
Alfriston, East Sussex. Same again. Superb views on the South Downs, views of the sea and Cuckmere Haven, absolutely idyllic. Used to be full of families with an amazing community now full of holiday homes and wealthy retirees. Ruined.
Good luck finding anywhere that this hasn't happened to.

Here’s a couple of lovely one in Box under budget

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160704875

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/166581254

Box sounds really fabulous @Crikeyalmighty . Perfect on paper for what we're looking for. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. We'll get checking it out! 😊

You had me until a ‘proper childhood’. Lots of kids have a proper and amazing childhood and don’t live in a village. Your unrealistic romantic views are straight out of a novel.

My in laws live in a nice village but have to drive an hour every day to take their kids to senior school and the kids absolutely hate it. Their friends aren’t really around and they can’t go anywhere.

I hear you @Gettingbysomehow and I appreciate hearing your point of view. Perhaps we need to look for something less picturesque and focus on the community and safety elements! I actually live very close to Alfriston (Lewes) so I understand what you're saying first-hand.
.. the search continues ....

Arundel.

However, I brought my children up in London and it was wonderful. Full of excitement, activity and opportunity.

Ok, “mad” hurts a little, lol, but I’ll get over it! 😅
I totally understand what you’re saying, and it’s really helpful to hear about your experience. Maybe I’ve got this rosy vision of just being welcomed straight into the locals’ fold! But it’s starting to sound like I might be slightly rose tinted.

Where we currently live, there’s been a lot of what locals call “DFLs” (Down From London) moving in and pushing prices up for locals. Personally, I’m a DFY (Down From Yorkshire!) and feel very lucky that I’ve managed to make mostly local friends. But I appreciate that in smaller villages, my luck might run out!

I hope you’ve found somewhere happier to lay your hat now.

I'd say Alnmouth ticks a lot of your boxes, definitely for the natural beauty, though I don't know anything about the schools.
I think you might have to take off your rose tinted specs though when thinking about village life, but I wish you lots of luck in finding your idyllic village home.

Is Yorkshire an option, if that's where you're from originally? If a sense of belonging and rootedness is so important to you, you can't beat building on the roots you already have.

We don't live too far from Arundel, we pass through it now and again. We once visited the castle and stopped off at a local fete outside a pub. I remember the locals being fun and joyful! I'll check it out, thank you!

I'm happy to hear you've had a great experience raising your kiddies in London. I lived in Herne Hill for 5yrs and thoroughly loved it!

Teenagers need freedom.
The abiliy to go and see their friends under their own steam and to be able to get to and from school without the bus / relying on parents.

Rural public transport is horrific - which is why so many families move into larger towns.

A market town with a Secondary Comp at least five miles from the sea and a mainline train station might work for you.

Look at villages in the Surrey Hills