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 would recommend, and it's absolutely stunning up there. Plus - genuinely very friendly. We're a mixed race family and found no problems at all (which unfortunately, isn't always the case)

She's Sheffield Hallam isn't she? Isn't that more than the Dore area?

I live in a village similar to what you describe but like many villages you need to be a certain type of person to be part of the community. We have a primary school which is under subscribed, mainly due to the fact houses are not affordable for young families and the majority of residents here are over 70. There’s always a lot of things going in if you’re willing to join in and you don’t disagree with the old right wing residents. We chose not to take part in most of the village activities because we don’t really fit (we are not rich or right wing). Bus services here are awful, job opportunities are almost 0 (most work from home or are retired). Our village is about to almost double in size which for most people is a disaster but for some it could bring more opportunities and things to do for younger people.

I think Buxton is nice, not too twee or pretentious and it's steadily improved over the past 15 years or so - I remember when it really was a bit run down. What a shame you have to leave!

So,, what are your thoughts so far, @flutterbye88 ? Is it Beverly or Aberdeenshire?

Hathersage is lovely, but admittedly I only know it for short breaks, no idea what it's like to live in.

Unfortunately I think your wish list isn’t achievable because too many villages are essentially retirement homes or second homes. Village schools are also rarely suitable for all dc as small. I would widen your thinking to market towns /large villages eg up to 30k residents so there is a choice of primary schools, a secondary school and plenty of facilities, services etc - even a decent health centre is rare in villages. I would also suggest that you reduce your focus on pretty and instead more on community, the two rarely seem to fit together.

I love where I live but theres 27k people and lots of new builds, £850k buys a a big 4 bed detached here though not much land

There's a lovely primary school, I think the nearest secondary school is in Hope
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We're defo going to visit Beverly and the surrounding areas when I'm in Yorkshire at Christmas and we're about to book a long weekend in Bath and visit Box, Bradford Upon Avon and Corsham :)

I have a loooong list of gorgeous places recommended to me on this thread - including Aberdeenshire (I'm intrigued!). But I'll need to work through them all when the kiddies allow😊I have a weekend full of childrens parities. It never stops!! xx

Totnes is the place that pulled me back to Devon!
I was born in Torquay, and we moved to Leeds when I was 5. My husband (born and bred in Yorkshire) and I would visit my family members in South Devon and Somerset, and do holidays in Cornwall and we just felt so at home.
Across the South West we felt that warmth and friendliness that, by and large, we haven’t experienced outside of the “North”. Such a beautiful part of the country, too.

We found our dream home in Totnes and don’t regret the move at all.
Yes, sometimes walking through the town, we feel “out-hippied”, but generally, we feel like we’ve lived here all our lives.
Fits us perfectly even now that our children are grown/growing up. We’re all within a reasonable commute to our workplaces/education sites (Paignton, Newton Abbot, Exeter, and Plymouth).

Also, very happy to be relatively close to Trago Mills. I have many a happy childhood memory at that weird and wonderful place! Also managed to re-carpet the upstairs of our house for less than £1000, and they have go-karts that only seem to work one week out of 52… What more could you want?! 😂

As you can tell, I’m a big advocate for the South West.

Framlingham is great but I think public transport will be an issue for children when older. I might be wrong now though!

Yes, exactly this! I was trying to explain the North/SW thing a few posts back - so glad someone else gets it 😅
Honestly, I’d much rather feel a bit outhippied walking through town than how I feel in many other towns. We’re veggie liberals through and through, so I think we’d slot right in around Totnes (and probably be frog-marched out of a few rural villages 🫣).
When we were checking out Totnes, we randomly ended up at a worm-charming festival in a village called Blackawton - loved it!!
We also really liked Harbertonford and Ashburton.
Is there anywhere in or near Totnes you’d personally recommend? Xx

It sounds like Beverley or Box then, OP!
Good luck!

OMG Trago! I have nightmares about that place. Although I remember it when it was literally just a warehouse and it was soooo boring.

I grew up in a village like that. It was suffocating.

I have brought my children up in a small market town, where they have a library, shops, cafes, a pool, sports facilities, and can get on a bus or a train and go anywhere without me needing to be their taxi.

I think you’d be better asking for people’s experiences as village incomers.

I don’t get why people call it boring when the internet opens up access to the entire world. There are interactive games on PCs and phones, countless apps to chat with people far away, and so many chances to have fun outside. It feels like some people are just being negative for no real reason.

Teenagers don’t have to stay home all the time or get into trouble when they’re out if they don’t want to. It’s all about personal choices. Sometimes, it’s just a lack of creativity or motivation to choose healthy, fun activities over harmful ones that makes things more challenging, no matter where they are.

People seem to forget that it's 2025, not 1985.

I grew up in a village and absolutely loved it. It was just five miles from a market town, with a primary school in the village and a secondary school in the town. There was never a dull moment, always something to do. Growing up on a farm was definitely beneficial, especially since I also had access to my friends' and schoolmates' farms, making fun and informal work a regular part of life. During my teenage years, I didn’t form strong friendships with anyone who didn’t attend the same primary school as I did, but I did make friends. There was plenty of fun with animals and informal work on my family’s farm as well as others. It was the 90s, so no one completely new moved to live in the village.

Honestly, me too. A very confusing place for me. I do remember being dragged around the “warehouse” and wishing I was elsewhere. But I do remember the happier memories as I was older of handling shotguns (seriously); riding the go karts and “trago train”, and watching the donkeys, goats, and pigs live their beautiful Devon country life… And then I remember the sheer terror of the peacocks chasing me around the “forecourt” as I clutched my burger and chips. Terrifying.
Trying to pretend to my children that the peacocks were harmless was honestly one of the most challenging moments of my life. I think they call it “exposure therapy” these days. I had to remind myself that the current peacocks are probably (hopefully?!) not the violent peacocks I encountered in my youth.

Beautifully stocked Co-Op though. And cheap fuel!

Weird isn’t it, all our friends and family from up north that have visited say the same too! Had a pre-conception that everywhere further south than Birmingham was full of rude people! 😂 My best friend ended up moving to Bristol because she loved it so much.

My auntie lives in Blackawton, has done since she was 21 and she’s 92 now! I wouldn’t recommend it for those with teens, as there’s not much to do and the transport links aren’t great. Unless you’re able and willing to ferry them around.

I know it’s quite bleak to look at but honestly, Newton Abbot and surrounding areas would be ideal for those with a young family.
I mostly work in Torquay so on “big shop” days I tend to pass through Newton because they have big(ish) Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, and Lidl.
We did consider Newton Abbot as a place to buy, it’s relatively central to everything. 15-45 minutes to beautiful coastlines, Dartmoor, city shopping, and has much more decent transport links.
We did consider a house in Ipplepen but it just felt a bit too insular. I hope I don’t insult anyone but it felt like it was somewhere that people who want the convenience of Newton Abbot but feel too “good” to live in Newton Abbot resided…

We settled on Totnes because it felt “villagey” and friendly like we were used to; but still had a good train and bus line for our education/work sites. And I’m a slight hippy… 😂

Heads up, Buxton is a shit hole.

Do not move there.

You have a juxtapose which is why you're struggling to find a 'fit'.

You like the base honestly of the North, but you also like the 'hippy' vibe of the SW.

Which so you like best? Which honestly gets you in the feels?

It's difficult to find both, almost impossible.

So you have to have a truth. Who are you both? And what do you actually want?

Answer that, and you'll probably work out which area is best for you.
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Our answer was the North, and if you're from Yorkshire as you are, yours probably will be too, so I'm going to throw Sheffield out as an option for you, bit left field, but it's the most progressive and interesting place to live in Yorkshire. Think about it.

I'll second this.

I am a cleaner. Enjoy my work and in a position to turn customers down. I have all Box customers really difficult and not very nice. When I drive through there, lots of road rage and school run anger. think is is pretty but really wouldn't like to live there,