To ask where is the best place to buy a cheap rural house?

[hibbledobble]

Looking for somewhere within 3-4 hours of London, 3+ bedrooms, character house, ideally with a decent size garden, under £200k. Is this doable?

Actually, you can still just get a 3 bed rural property for £200k near me.

15 mins to M1
30 mins to East Coast Mainline, turn just under 2 hrs to LKX
First/middle/high school system, most schools in the pyramid are Outstanding.

for example

I wouldn't want to move London kids to somewhere where other children will.mock their accents.
Good grief there was even a teacher mocking my son's accent in a 'rural' school.
Plus they could well be bored to death

Another vote for Lincolnshire.

I really don't think moving to some random place purely because it's cheap and rural is in your children's best interests.

You definitely need to think long term, country walks and a large property are appealing but as you have children you need to add to your criteria. Schools, job prospects, amenities etc. Tbh, Lincs is Brexit capital and rural poverty is often worse than in inner cities.

I really don't think moving to some random place purely because it's cheap and rural is in your children's best interests

Eh what now? Do you know her and her kids.

I live in a town in Worcestershire with train links direct to London.
Properties to suit your budget and criteria here but I'm sure many places with good transport links would be, Many have been mentioned.
I think you need to be more specific and direct in what you really want. 3-4 hours from London covers a vast area.

It depends on the age of the children.
Rural places with cheap houses have their own problems tbh.

How about this?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-88487669.html

33 miles away from Carmarthen and the M4.

What about schools, jobs, things to do? In the village I grew up in houses are expensive because everyone is moving out of the town to live there and lots of new houses have been built on farmland. The villagers are not happy at all.

No, bluntness, but children raised in a city are really going to struggle with the upheaval to a place with nothing.
And that means no facilities, no entertainment, no jobs, probably poor schooling. Lots of rural areas have problems with drugs, and people moving away because of the lack of opportunities.
There's a balance to be found between London and a cheap ie no-one want to live there rural place.

It's v nice Seren, but the schools checker suggests to me that those are all welsh-medium schools...might be tricky for most London families.

What about malvern area?

@IveSeenThings you’re making a lot of assumptions about the country there! As are a lot of horrified posters on this thread. The OP is only asking for advice- I’m sure they’re not going to buy blind, they’ll check these places out and see what fits their family. Lots of small places have lots going on!

Maybe rent first OP? There a thread in property about renting rurally that will give you some idea about practicalities.

Poor schools...lack of decent FE colleges..massive drug problems....

Property is a market like any other, and it stands to reason that if something costs £200k then there is something undesirable about the location or property.
Property is cheaper in places people don't want to live!

Isle of Wight is quite close, still a fair bit of reasonably priced housing around.

There's a few near Skegness.
This one is nice.

We moved out from near London to rurally and all much prefer it (kids were 10 and 12 then) but it is something you need to research a lot. We have the secondary in the village which makes a difference as kids can walk there and it has after school clubs as well as youth club which is based in village, air and army cadets so can walk to everything. Some rural locations nothing will be accessible without a car and public transport is not that reliable normally unless you have a train station.

Both mine much prefer it here to London but depends where you are moving from and to and your kids. Employment can be quite an issue in rural locations. Our area is really safe and far safer than the place by London we came from but again needs research. We were made very welcome here and our village is very welcoming but there's people come and go here whereas some other locations that may well not be the case. I'ld maybe consider renting first especially if salary is also likely to rise as that will give more choice as well as testing it out. We live in a thatched house and love it, daughter says its like an all year holiday cottage and loves her run in the morning seeing deer and squirrels, but it is something to only enter into after lots of research. Insurance is pricey as are repairs but they aren't often thankfully.

Yes on the house size but whether you can get much in the way of gardens or character is doubtful. Lincolnshire is cheap, Shropshire maybe?

@MissCherryCakeyBun

Alas Somerset isn't that cheap, £200k barely gets you a flat. £400k for a 4 bed house is still cheap

Northern Ireland. Fly to London in an hour.

My assumption is that OP is looking for a cheap rural second home, not a permanent move. Hence her priorities are price and distance

ivykaty44 in this case ‘village location’ is estate agent speak for ‘on a massive council estate that has a different name to the rest of the town but is still joined to it and nowhere near countryside’ it’s a VERY rough area. That is the problem I suppose with buying in an unknown area!