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

@flutterbye88to add to this, can I suggest Sedbergh in Cumbria? It used to be Yorkshire 😂

We have family there (quite a lot actually, you have a 1 in 100 chance of bumping into one of them. One has just moved back from a city to raise kids. Has a primary and secondary school, but also the option of going to high school in Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale. Or if your budget can run to it when they are older, Sedbergh school is private, mostly boarding, and generates a lot of income in the town. Some holiday lets but also real people live there too. Very pretty and I know there are various toddler groups because so many of our family have or had kids over the last 7/8 years!

I'll check the areas out, thank you! Sage advice re. shop. I tend to look for villages with at least 3 pubs in walking distance too, to give room for one or two closing down. Not that we get to the pubs so often atm! :)

@dynamiccactus We’re actually quite interested in Totnes - we stayed there for a weekend in spring and absolutely loved it. We met lots of friendly parents, many of whom were newcomers themselves.
We did meet one family who, although they loved the alternative vibe of Totnes (as we do), felt “hippied out” after ten years of living there. They didn’t see it as their forever place and craved, in their words, somewhere more “real.” That’s given us something to think about, though of course, that’s just their experience!

My first boyfriend went to Sedbergh school. I remember him and his friends being so posh, our first date was at the races with all his Sedbergh chums.. I felt quite out of place lol.
I'll check it out, as well as Kendal and KL. I do love Cumbria :)

You all sound settled and happy and Brighton will be great for your kids when they become teens. I’d hang on in there. Kids are not young for long and teens will be better off in the area they grew up in and love. Very few teens will thank you for moving them to a village in the middle of nowhere.

I see you like a maypole . How about Bournville village ? Lots of green spaces and excellent community.

No, we actually have four bedrooms, but downstairs feels quite small. We’ve just got a kitchen/diner and a lounge (we knocked down some walls to make it more open).
As soon as my son builds a train track or the girls set up “Happy Town,” we’re all tripping over things trying to get through the lounge! They really don’t have enough space to play. On top of that, like most homes in this historic, tightly-packed town, our garden is small and on a slope, which my husband mainly uses for his studio.
We know that with a budget of £800k, we could find a house where everyone has room to breathe - especially once the kids start growing into teens.

lol .. I do! I grew up in a village with a maypole. What can I say, it's hard to get Maypoles out of your system 😆
Bournville village looks pretty! and linked to Cadburys - yum!

The town is very different to the school. It benefits from the school being there with wealthy parents visiting, but the folk that live there are pretty normal and down to earth. My SIL moved there in the late 90s and has created quite a dynasty there with kids and grand kids. My in laws moved there into a HA bungalow during Covid but only my FIL is still with us.

Much more remote but still picturesque is Dent, which is about 8 miles east. DNs wife taught in the primary school there for a while and loved the village.

@Etatauri Thank you so much for sharing all of this! it’s really helpful and gives such a lovely picture of the area! It sounds like you’ve settled in beautifully and the community vibe sounds blimmin marvellous!
I’d love to pick your brain a bit more, I’ll DM you - thank you 🙂 x

Ripley and Send near Guildford are lovely- all the small villages round there are beautiful and near to Epsom/Guildford/Dorking.Not sure your budget would stretch though. Lostwithiel in Cornwall has a proper community and is 'posh'. You'd get a lot for your money.

@AdaColeman Alnmouth has very little for teens & local state schooling not good.

What about the South Hams on the south Devon coast? Ivybridge, Dartmouth, Modbury; Ashburton is further inland and less hippie than Totnes, between Exeter and Plymouth.

Embleton, or Alnmouth (Northumberland) or Consett (Co. Durham).

Addingham West Yorkshire. It has grown in the last 30 years but is still a village, there are two nurseries, a primary school, 3 pubs and a social club. Scouting, football, cricket, a MUGA and a park. Doctors surgery and dentist. Library, a few small shops.
3 miles to Ilkley where there is a top rated secondary school which many families move to the area to be in the catchment for.
Train station in Ilkley to Leeds or Bradford (30 minutes).
Less than 30 minutes to Leeds/Bradford airport.
Currently houses under your budget on Right Move.

Abinger Common. Slap bang in the middle of the beautiful Surrey Hills.

Bekonscot Model Village

I'm not sure many villages have all the things you imagine anymore. Pubs and schools have often closed.
I would opt for a leafy suberb of a nice market town like Shrewsbury which has a thriving community, lots of schools to choose from. Has beautiful countryside and Wales Birmingham and Manchester a short train journey away.

When I was pregnant we sold our house and moved from outer London / Surrey to Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire - initially as just somewhere that was close to London but we could rent somewhere nice for a good price until we returned to Surrey to buy a forever home. But we've just bought a house here and we love it. It's not a picture perfect village but it meets our needs and a few things that you have identified. What we love:

• We have a large house that we're renovating that's in your sort of price bracket and it backs onto open fields but is walking distance to the station where we can get thirty minute trains into London and can walk into the town
• But there are also really affordable areas - this was really important to us because neither of us grew up rich and where we'd lived previously and were looking in Surrey (Godalming) just seemed to be all wealthy people and no diversity. I really want my children to go to school with people from all backgrounds so I'm happy that this ticks that box.
• We stayed because when we had my little one everything was on our doorstep. We are within twenty minutes drive of so many places. It's great for teenagers because Milton Keynes has all the usual things like escape room games and cinemas and London is so close we can go easily for work and play (although we are remote also) but there're also villages like Tring and Berkhamsted which we go to all the time which tick our cute town and independent coffee shop requirements.
• As big travellers and holidayers we also love that we're in the middle of the country. Nothing is ever too far. Luton airport is right nearby but even Gatwick is under 1.5 hours drive and driving to other parts of the UK is very straight forward.
• I'm not sure about community but lots of people move here from London to have families so there are so many lovely people to connect with if you have children. And even without - I made a friend when pregnant who doesn't have kids. And because a lot of people move from out of area, most people are looking for connections (a common FB post is 'i'm moving to the area with a 5 year old...anyone want to meet up' and there are always lots of responses!)
• Similarly because there are lots of families there are clubs and activities galore for children which was amazing on maternity leave but still great now as my one grows up.

Overall - I'd highly recommend :-) Or equally Godalming and Carshalton were our two picks for Surrey...or some of the villages and towns near to Leighton Buzzard.

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All good. I would just say that sometimes life doesn’t work out like that. I had an amazing childhood and it’s deep roots and now live abroad. I don’t feel saddened by that at all.

Home is where the heart is and while it’s nice to have a sense of community for a lot of people there are a lot of negatives too - your neighbours on top of you, everyone knows everyone’s business, the distance for everything, no friends close by, not being able to walk to school etc etc.

You couldn’t pay me to live in a village so while I understand it’s amazing for some people, your children may or may not feel the same and may want to leave asap for jobs, culture, nightlife - whatever.

Other reason I suggested is it’s ’in Budget’ still fits in with a good sized house and it’s not remote- you have the train at Chippenham or Bath - both under 1hr 20 to London if that matters- and regular - and you have a big ( and nice) place on doorstep for cinemas, shows, nights out , kids festivals, kids theatre ( we have a specific one) etc -

Try Dore, South Yorkshire. 20 mins bus 10 mins train to centre of Sheffield ( Crucible, vibrant night life, very friendly etc.) also trains to Manchester Airport, Liverpool , Hull etc. Edge of Peak District and Ecclesall Woods, lovely walks, excellent climbing! You name it there's a club (or 2 or 3 ). Choirs, gardening, art, drama , active churches, annual show, annual fete, several sports clubs e.g. tennis, football, badminton, rugby etc etc.
excellent primary and secondary school. Very active Dore Village Society campaigning on local issues, quarterly local magazine, Women's Groups, Nursery, several excellent restaurants and cafes. Sheffield voted place most students want to stay in after graduating.

Herne Hill is my aspiration if I win the lottery!

I loved bringing Dc up in S London. Easy to get into fantastic countryside as close as Happy Valley in Coulsdon, and little kids don’t know that Dulwich Woods /Sydenham Woods is surrounded by housing.

Meanwhile the opportunities for teenagers are nothing short of phenomenal in London. Mine were long term members of youth projects led by world class artists. The fantastic public transport meant they could be independent and develop huge confidence

My extended family live in rural / coastal areas. Teens hang out in bus shelters or it takes huge parental investment to build their ‘cultural capital’. The need to rely on Mum and Dad Taxi was a constraint for everyone.

IMO / IME

@StewkeyBlue my son who is 27 would agree - he aims to stay in London even if means a shared ownership flat - he packs in an awful lot of stuff and a fair bit of it is free or cheap too -