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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to live in Hampshire

113 replies

Garbanzo · 02/10/2021 23:25

Dream is to live in Hampshire i a detached forever house, lovely garden, balmy evenings, bbqs and outdoor dining.... probably around a £500k - £600k house.

We currently live in Scotland, work for NHS, DH works for local authority. Age 48 / 51 £100k joint income, no kids. £250k net worth.

AIBU to plan to move to Hampshire and find a lovely house and work ?

OP posts:
FWBNC · 02/10/2021 23:27

I live in (north) Hampshire. It's nice enough, but I think there are other lovely places to live that aren't as expensive!

Original poster
Garbanzo · 02/10/2021 23:33

Should say, my sibling and family are all there and I miss them.

OP posts:
IncessantNameChanger · 02/10/2021 23:38

Kent is cheaper. The part near Surrey is getting as expensive as Surrey and some parts are frankly a bit grim. So it depends on your area of interest.

FinallyFluid · 02/10/2021 23:42

Aldershot is in Hampshire, HTH Grin

Original poster
Garbanzo · 02/10/2021 23:50

I only want to live in Hampshire so I can be close to family there. This is a dream and possibly not achievable... I just love it down there. Looking at Gosport, Fareham, Southampton ... but the dream is lovely suburban place by the sea. It's just so much more expensive and I'm not sure we could get jobs.

OP posts:
WomanStanleyWoman · 02/10/2021 23:55

£500k for this dream house in Hampshire?! Grin

MiddlesexGirl · 02/10/2021 23:59

£5-600K can get a decent house. Not got much time to get a £250/350K mortgage paid off though. How are you planning to do that?

Original poster
Garbanzo · 03/10/2021 00:04

My dream house is probably not as high spec as others! That's my unreasonable bit Smile

Exactly. I think we are too old and the opportunity to move has passed sadly.

We could rent for a few weeks in summer as a compromise.

OP posts:
ducksalive · 03/10/2021 00:05

Ok, I'll admit to being Scottish but I'm a little perplexed that your dream is to leave Scotland to live in Southampton.

But if your family are there and it works for you then I hope you find somewhere suitable.

I've actually moved abroad and finally get decent summers, I didn't find London ones that great, although they are better than Scottish ones I guess.

If you want to move you should make it happen.

Original poster
Garbanzo · 03/10/2021 00:11

I really mean Fareham and the area around there to live it's just that I have family near Southampton.

DH and I lived in London and Gloucestershire before in our younger years and loved it but moved back to Scotland to look after parents.

Now, for our 50s, 60s and then retirement, we would love to live in Hampshire.

OP posts:
CiaoForNiao · 03/10/2021 00:12

My brother lives in Hampshire. That's enough to put me off!

GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin · 03/10/2021 00:13

@FinallyFluid

Aldershot is in Hampshire, HTH Grin
As is Portsmouth, just so as you’re warned…
thegcatsmother · 03/10/2021 00:14

Gosport and Fareham aren't lovely. You'd need to be in Lee on Solent for OK nice by the sea. If I had to live in Hampshire again, it'd be Winchester.

Original poster
Garbanzo · 03/10/2021 00:16

Winchester is gorgeous

OP posts:
LimitIsUp · 03/10/2021 00:19

There are lots of nice little market towns and villages - it's not all - yuck you have to live in Portsmouth malarkey!

bethabean · 03/10/2021 00:21

I live 20 minutes from Winchester and can confirm Winchester is lovely!

WhatsTheEffingPoint · 03/10/2021 00:22

I'm on the Dorset/Hampshire border it's lovely with the new forest and beaches right on the doorstep, plus only 30mins from central Southampton.

LimitIsUp · 03/10/2021 00:23

I love Dorset (although live in Hampshire on the Hampshire / Wiltshire border)

EBearhug · 03/10/2021 00:50

It depends where. I've lived in Romsey and Whitchurch, currently in Basingstoke, mostly for work/ cost reasons. Your experience of Hampshire will vary a lot, depending on where you are, what you want. There are big towns and cities, there are chocolate box villages. You've got the New Forest and part of the South Downs, and the coast. Some of it's beautiful, some of it is... not. There are some good roads and railway connections, and there are other places with winding, slower roads, which are fine when you're visiting once in a while, but might be less so in winter, or if you're near the coast on a sunny day. Although Fareham would probably be okay for that.

Dorset's better, though.

Speakuptomakeyourselfheard · 03/10/2021 01:36

We moved to Wales from Hampshire 6 years ago, because we'd grown to hate the way that everywhere you go is getting so built up. It used to take us over an hour to travel 3 miles into the nearest town. Where we live now it takes us 15 - 20 minutes to travel 8 miles into town, there is hardly any traffic and it's bliss. We live in a beautiful house with a holiday let in our garden, and the surrounding countryside is gorgeous. However, like you, we are now thinking that we'd like to move back as family is still there, and while we can afford to make the move, the cost of living down there is much higher, for example Council tax for our large house, works out about £600 a year cheaper than for a tiny house in a built up area down there. Plus we can't bear the thought of the traffic and new build developments everywhere you go. We could live in a village, but again, would have to put up with neighbours, and after the horror stories I read on MN about neighbours, and the problems we experienced with bad neighbours before, we are really having to think carefully, whether being closer to family is really worth it, when we could end up being very unhappy with our everyday lives, so think VERY carefully would be my advice.

waltzingparrot · 03/10/2021 01:53

@thegcatsmother. Fareham not lovely! How very dare you Grin

RoseRedRoseBlue · 03/10/2021 02:10

Southampton and Gosport are the absolute pits! Dirty, high crime and a constant sense of missed opportunity.

Porcupineintherough · 03/10/2021 03:38

Well you quite clearly can't afford the dream so what's the compromise? Hampshire in a 2 up 2 down? Somewhere else on the south coast? Or yes, renting there for a month or two a year.

Imicola · 03/10/2021 04:22

I think it's totally achievable OP. DH and i did the opposite move recently, back to Scotland after a long time in Hampshire and i really miss it... although i must admit it got a bit too hot for me in the summer. With that budget i think you could get a decent house, particularly if you look at the town's and villages away from the main train lines into London. We lived in the meon valley which can be a bit (a lot) cheaper than the likes of Winchester. I probably wouldn't go for fareham though. How about warsash, hamble or titchfield. Or further inland somewhere like bishops Waltham, botley? Of course it does depend on how grand a home you are looking for...!