Do you know any villages or small towns I could live in as an ethnic minority?

[amidreaming]

I hope my title doesn't offend anyone.

Due to personal circumstances, I really want/need to move. I dream of living in a village, or perhaps a market town, but I don't know where would be ok given I'm an ethnic minority and I'm also a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf. I do get stared at when visiting the countryside, and have been yelled at and even almost attacked once. So, I'm aware there will be some places I can't consider, but would love to find somewhere that would accept me. I dream of buying a home I can escape to, somewhere I can go on country walks, or perhaps somewhere near the coast. I imagine a little cottage somewhere like Grantchester, with a view of the local church from my garden!! I know! I'm asking for a lot! I did see somewhere just like this on rightmove, but it was out of my price range, which is another issue. If I could get somewhere for £150k, that would be perfect, otherwise I could stretch to perhaps £300k with a loan.

I don't need to be near schools, but would like to be within a two/three-hour drive of London, if possible.

Would welcome any suggestions.

Thanks for all these suggestions - you are right, it will be hard for me to know where would be a good fit unless I actually spend some time there, so I'm thinking I will probably need to rent first and see how things go.

I don't really need access to a Muslim community, but just need to be somewhere my ethnicity and religion won't pose a problem, so either somewhere that already has other minorities living there, or somewhere closer to a more multicultural area perhaps.

Access to halal food isn't an issue as my diet is mostly vegetarian. I really don't need much at all!

It's interesting to read the comments on village life being quite insular, regardless of ethnicity. I guess any 'outsider' could find it hard to be accepted, though ethnic minorities do have additional difficulties. Perhaps people worry about their villages/small towns changing.

@sashh Actually, that story has reminded me of someone I knew whose mother visited her from Poland. She'd never seen anyone of a different colour before and kept pointing them out when she saw them in London!

Hmm...a couple of people have mentioned Luton!

The villages and towns in Leicestershire, whilst less diverse than the city, have many families and individuals who have moved from the city. Market Harborough is under an hour by train to London.

Bedford. Not a village but a market town. Diverse and ( if it matters) just returned an Asian MP. Supposed to have the population that most closely mirrors the population as a whole. Some really nice bits , too.

@Drag0nflye, I agree about the area around Haywards Heath, there are some lovely places. I have a very soft spot for Lindfield - incredibly pretty, good range of shops for a small place, some nice pubs, and the staff in the local Co-Op are among the most helpful and friendly I've ever encountered in a shop.

And HH itself has good shops for a small town - big Sainsburys and a lovely new Waitrose, M&S, huge Boots and a terrific Waterstones with knowledgable, helpful and friendly staff. Plus some useful independents and a good fruit & veg market in the precinct at weekends.

If you need to commute to London, there are many worse place to live. I know, I used to live in Croydon!

Not the South West. It sickens me the level of racism/outsider syndrome here

Friends of ours live in Market Harborough. One is white, from London, the other is Malaysian. When we visited much earlier this year I noted a large-ish South Asian community. Our friends have no hassle at all. It's a fairly quiet town, generally, and you can get to the country easily by bike or car.

“ It's interesting to read the comments on village life being quite insular, regardless of ethnicity. I guess any 'outsider' could find it hard to be accepted, though ethnic minorities do have additional difficulties.“

Sadly I think this is true of some places. A few people have mentioned Cambridgeshire on this thread - and I’d agree it has some lovely countryside and plenty of horses :). I’m a rider too.

However...attitudes can be very different between one village and another. I worked in a Cambridgeshire village for several years. One day I walked into the pub that turned out to be the locals‘ local - silence fell, and everyone in the room turned to stare. They didn’t relax until I left.

I made a friend who lived there and she said after six years she still didn’t feel welcome or included. We are both white British, but I guess any outsiders would have a similar or worse experience.

A couple of miles up the road is a village with a train station, where lots of people commuted to Cambridge or London. The feel was so different and just thinking through the people I met there, there was more ethnic and religious diversity. It was still a proper village with a local shop etc.

Cambridge itself is a vibrant city with lots to do, and it has at least a couple of mosques (if that’s important to you). I love Cambridge and much of the surrounding countryside, but there are still pockets where outsiders aren’t made welcome

Good luck - I hope you find somewhere friendly, with the lifestyle you are looking for.

I'm in Bedford. It's not a small town but there are quieter outlying bits. I live in north bedford and to be honest it's got a village feel - you can be walking through the countryside in 10 minutes. It's also very diverse, huge Asian/Muslim population, much like Luton (one of my good friends here is a Bengali lady who wears a headscarf and she attracts literally no attention whatsoever). Afraid we are nowhere near the coast though :) my 3 bed house was £240k to give you an idea, you could get a smaller place for less than that.

Oh and it's about 1-1.5hour drive from London, roughly.

LakieLady it's agreat area for commuting to London and to visit Brighton, but isn't HH and surrounds hugely expensive? OP s got a small budget (but I'd love to know if there are places which fit into that budget).