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

My heart hears you! (and my mother would love you for saying this)
We do drive around villages and small towns when we visit my folks in Yorkshire. But many seem a little conservative, elderly or dull - albeit v pretty. I just can't find the village with the right vibe for my family. I think we've lived near Brighton for too long! x

That’s why Saddleworth is a good shout.
Used to be Yorkshire (some people still say it is!) and it has everything on your list.

Plus you’re really close to Manchester.

I don’t understand how your catchment area isn’t a bit smaller? Don’t you have to consider being close to anyone else at all? I am a foreigner and so moved here only knowing one cousin and about three other friends from my original country but even I had a narrower area in which to look!

@TearsforBeers whilst I love the Saddleworth villages , uppermill and Delph are really lovely , and we go a lot as have work connections there , every single one of the people we know moans about having Oldham as the nearest big place which they all hate and having to go there to the supermarket - 2 couples ended up sending their kids private at secondary level ,

Take a look at Elvington, or Sutton on Derwent

My sister used to live in Grasmere, her friend had young children there. And I always thought it would be a wonderful place to raise a family.

You can easily avoid Oldham. I can't remember the last time I went there! Maybe to the cinema last Christmas.
All the major supermarkets deliver and Uppermill has two butchers and a greengrocers.
The primary schools are all excellent and Saddleworth School is a great high school. Some people choose private or opt for the two local church schools but the vast majority of Saddleworth kids go to Saddleworth School.

If you've kids the the amount of extra curricular activities available is amazing. Most of the villages have their own Brass band with thriving youth and training bands. Whit Friday is something special. There's a youth theatre theatre group and a lovely little theatre in Delph.
They also have the Saddleworth Olympics which gives children an opportunity to try different sports and represent their village by competing against other villages. All run by volunteers and free (or very cheap) for the kids be be involved. It's the most community spirited thing I've ever seen.

For the adults there are some lovely bars and restaurants in most of the villages.

Definitely worth having to make the odd trip into Oldham!

Please do check out Yorkshire as a whole. There’s some incredible places to live and 99.9% of people are friendly and welcoming. Hovingham is a stunning village with lots of community but fairly rural and I would also echo Beverely if you wanted something a bit closer to civilisation!
Us Yorkshire folk up north don’t worry too much about ‘outsiders’ 😉

Again bit of a fantasy. Pocklington has had 200+ houses built in the last year and is desperately trying to get the infrastructure to keep up. Still building and with flat fields all around it will continue. It’s a different place to the one I moved to 5 years ago.

I have to go to Malton fairly often. I find it quite depressing. Some of the cafes and restaurants are very down at heel. A lot of charity shops. Very dirty swimming pool. A nice little cinema but otherwise I would have thought much worse than the villages around Lewes.
i am not certain though if your post is genuine. It was your comment that Wetherby is near to Beverley, it must be around 60/70 miles depending which sides and takes a fair time to drive between the two. Although maybe you just meant near as opposed to where you are now?

Hi OP - another vote for Wiltshire here. Gorgeous villages, good schools, train stations give you easy reach to Bath, Bristol and London. Lots of people moving into the area from London which doesn’t always suit those who are local but it does mean you wouldn’t be alone as a newby.

kineton

its a village where there are outsiders, so outsiders are not shunned. It is close to Banbury, Stratford and Southam, but also good links with M40 and central to get anywhere

`there is a primary and high school in the village to serve the local villages nearby

lots going on in the village and a few shops, great cafes, fantastic bakery

open waters swimming up the road sports events scarecrow events

Kirby Stephen?
Todmorden?
grassington?
Haworth
Clapham (Yorkshire)
Mytholmroyd

not sure how big/small you want?

Yorkshire is obviously the answer! Sheriff Hutton seems to have a lovely community and I hear good things about the Primary School.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160133114#/?channel=RES_BUY

Why on earth don’t you go back to Yorkshire? Loads of pretty villages, cheaper than the South and you’ll be seen as less of an incomer as a local-ish lass.

Ive found that some of my friends have settled in villages near to University towns. The local unis attract more diverse and non- local residents, making it easier to get involved and integrate.

As an aside, be prepared for your children to not fit in to your idyllic plans and appreciate your efforts to find a perfect family home. I grew up in the countryside in a pretty village next to a market town and a large forest. I spent my early childhood bored out of my mind riding my bike round the country lanes where boy racers were frequently ragging their dad’s cars round blind bends, and my teens bunking off school and getting pissed and smoking in fields with local friends. I got out as soon as I could, going to uni and bringing my children up in a city where they were able to get public transport to persue safer activities such as cinema, shopping malls and bowling. They thank me for it regularly.

I wondered if she meant Willerby not Wetherby

What classes a village these days? We have No bus service at all. No school, no visible police service, no shops. We have a church, a run down village hall and a pub that has a 1star hygiene rating (yum) and many huge pot holes.
Filling up with people who move here then destroy the house they bought and build a new one.
Good luck with our kids ever being able to afford to live where they grew up.
oops rant over 😬

Ah that would make more sense!

I live in Scotland in tiny village; 160 people, I wouldn’t describe it as picturesque but it’s not unattractive we are surrounded by stunning scenery and we are next to the sea. Most importantly we have an amazing community, a community shop, everyone is friendly and people care about each other (I’m not Scottish, and some would say no privacy, we have a primary school with 25-30 pupils and secondary schools (450ish pupils) at nearby towns (20-30 mins away). People here seem happy with the schools but IME Scottish parents are less pushy about education than their English equivalents.
We have an exceedingly low population density so it’s very very quiet here, and that’s why I and many others love it here, but there are limited activities if you don’t like walking and other outdoor activities. We have no proper cinema/theatre etc and no decent shops for 2 hours. We do have cafes and restaurant but if you’re from the south east for example it will appear limited I suspect.
For 850k you could virtually buy the whole region let alone a four bed house. 🤣

I’m afraid such places barely exist now. The U.K. population is about to hit 70 million (it’s probably already well over 70 million if you include illegal immigrants), and the demand for housing is insatiable. My village has been destroyed by developers. My local woods have been hacked down to make room for two new estates and a second massive estate has been built at the other end of the village. Now we’ve been told the fields in the centre of the village are going to be built on as well. But even that won’t be enough. It just never ends.

Have you looked at Rutland? Lots of nice villages and easy access all round the country, trains to London from Peterborough can be as quick as 50mins, close to Oakham/Stamford/Uppingham towns.
Barrowden for example: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159859577#/?channel=RES_BUY

Why are earth wouldn’t you go back to Yorkshire then?
There are some lovely villages there and I have found people very friendly when I have visited.

I have family who live in Barton-under-needwood in Staffordshire and its lovely. Its quite a big village and has a lot going on, we went to a teddy bear festival in the summer! There's a primary and secondary school, and a marina which has a small cinema, a few restaurants, lots of nice pubs in the village serving food. I believe its welcoming and there is definitely a community feel to it. Its close to lichfield and burton and easy to drive to Derby or Sutton Coldfield/ Birmingham from there. There's also smaller villages around there which are also beautiful such as Rolleston-On-dove which have a community vibe with less amenities

Have a look at West Yorkshire- in particular the wharfedale valley villages.
also you may consider wrea green near lytham.

sorry unfortunately you’ll hardly find anywhere where your welcomed by locals. Mainly for the reason you’ve just said as where I’m from it’s people from London pushing up property prices. However we call them “blow ins”.