To want a house with walks 'from the door'?

[VanityWitch]

Not through busy roads?

DH thinks this is a wild expectation. I think it's common in lots of areas.

We are considering moving further out from London. We are in the Home Counties having moved out once already. I want proper countryside. He thinks this is some crazy and impossible dream , city boy !

Budget is £400k-ish to be comfortable. Up to £500k if we were feeling a bit more daring. Anywhere in the south half of England really.

AIBU?

We have this - beautiful cottage and walks straight from front door to countryside in a larger village which has the school in and a supermarket also walkable. DD does it as a run in the morning and comes across deer and squirrels, we have lots of beautiful birds, greenfinch etc in the garden and squirrels. You can get beautiful chocolate box cottages for £400k here and in the south.

YANU - easy once away from the London belt

Even within the London belt. Not central London obviously but many of the outer London boroughs fit the bill.

We’ve got countryside walks from our door in surrey and London 40 mins away. I grew up in deepest Somerset and I wouldn’t do the same for my kids, just so few amenities close by.

The myriad of stunning walks from our door is what made lockdown a pleasure for us!...we do have a foot path which crosses our land...but if we didn’t we wouldn’t have direct access to the network😆...no more 2 or 3 people a week use it though.

Not at all. My childhood home was on a farm so I had unlimited walking opportunities down lanes and over our land. It's the one thing I miss. We're in a town atm which is fine, but would love to move back to the country in a few years.

I live in Gloucestershire (not the Cotswolds) and have wonderful walks from our front door. Open country or forest with small lakes - absolutely beautiful. Thirty five minutes from large city, five minute drive to market town and in a village with two pubs, post office and fish and chip shop and an excellent primary school. Also on a main bus route. Bought a lovely four bed detached non estate house with two reception rooms, garage and two bathrooms for under £300k about eighteen months ago.

We live in a Home Counties town. You can walk 5min through a super useful but ugly industrial estate to miles of beautiful waterway maintained by the National Trust. It was bliss through lockdown and I wouldn't want to live without 'walks from the door' again.

Yes. Live in a totally unfashionable area of the country, but we have this.

We moved from London to a nice little Wiltshire village that seemed fairly idyllic. On paper it looks great. Countryside for miles around.

All the walks involve fields which are pretty unusable at this time of year as they're so waterlogged and you'd be wading through mud halfway up your shins. There's one sort of country lane but it's completely unlit and pitch black after about 4:30pm this time of year. Other than that you're limited to laps of the various housing estates. The roads out of town are far too dangerous to walk even in daylight - 60mph speed limits on winding roads with poor visibility. I rarely bother going for a run anymore as there's nowhere nice to do it unless I drive further afield. And there's no proper park. I long for a park with paths.

I come from a seaside town in Ireland where you can walk for miles along the coast, or veer off and head up into the mountains or out into the countryside on relatively safe roads. My step count multiples exponentially when i'm home for a visit because it's worth bothering to go for a walk or run.

Do your research before you move.

Look at villages around the Oxon/Bucks border, here is one example, www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/74139000#/there are lots of nice walks in this area. Central London is less than an hour by train from Bicester.

Right on the edge of a small shire town. Gate in the back fence onto a field; we are in open countryside in 5 minutes in most directions, and down into our v picturesque town in the other.

Sigh @evilharpy, maybe I'm just yearning for Ireland, (well NI in my case, but the island of ireland iyswim). Don't think that's commutable to London is it?

@CheeseCakeSunflowers

Look at villages around the Oxon/Bucks border, here is one example, www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/74139000#/there are lots of nice walks in this area. Central London is less than an hour by train from Bicester.

Just down the road from a friends house

Lovely area. Loads of walks

We moved from a big house in a popular village to a smaller house in a less popular area a few miles away because the new house is right on the doorstep (100 metres away) of a national cycle route, woods and Nature trail.
I can cycle on bike trails and along canal paths for quite a distance, walk down the trail into the nearest town centre in half an hour, see deer, foxes and buzzards from my back yard. It’s been the best decision we made.

We just moved from London because of this - will have walks and the Cotswolds from our door and still be less than 80 minutes from Paddington. It’s super important to me having spent lockdown with our parents in the countryside and being able to go on walks or runs before or after work and immediately be in nature.

Definitely possible! We’re on the outskirts of a commuter town, in a little hamlet. Lots of countryside walks from our house and half an hour to central London on the train. Can also walk to a nice pub in a few minutes. House within your budget.

Parts of where I grew up in north London also had lots of countryside.

It's the reason I moved (and for a view out of the window)

I can walk out of my door and not have to leash the dogs. It's heaven, for them and for me!

We have pretty good walks from the door. Can do river, hills and woods in various directions. We're just where the Thames path and Ridgeway Path cross in South Oxfordshire. We're also within walking distance of station and easy commute to London so not exactly super rural (or super cheap I'm afraid - you won't get much for your 500k).

I'm in the north east in a village not far from the local town (15-20 min drive to supermarket). The walks from your door are better than the south east where my DH grew up (often have to walk along countrylanes and everyone drives at 60+ mph) or Yorkshire where I grew up (decent walks and quiet roads, but not many walk options).

I live in London. Three huge commons, a heath, a wetlands and a park full of deer all within a short walk.

Apply for Escape To The Country

www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/take-part/escape

I’ve got walks from the door from a house in London, it’s achievable even in the Home Counties.

Yup got that here too - not unrealistic at all!
Although to be honest we often do still pop in the car for variety but was lovely in lockdown to realise how much we do have on the doorstep (Hampshire/West Sussex/Surrey border area)

Lots of lovely suggestions on here. My friend recently moved to Hockley. I don't know it too much but fast train to London, based in Essex, 10 mins drive to a lovely quiet beach. Apparently lots of forest walks and a river (crouch) nearby. She raves about it, and has 2 kids under ten. X

@Haffiana

I live in London. Three huge commons, a heath, a wetlands and a park full of deer all within a short walk.

Where in London do you live? Sounds lovely, I am essex/london borders, which I like but not exactly beautiful..not the part I am anyway!