People moving out of cities but wanting all the things that a city offers

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Messages go something like this;
Hi, my husband and two kids and I are moving out of our one bed flat in x city and would like to find an area we can afford a four bedroom detached house. It MUST have great transport links to a neighbouring city, a thriving home Ed community, vegan bakery, great Lebanese food, a variety of brunch places and cool live music venues.

But that's why we all live in cities?!! There is no magical semi rural place with all the nice, cultural bits, jobs, facilities, public transport with cheap houses.
City life isn't for everyone so you either compromise on space or location. If you move out to the suburbs or the countryside then you know that you will no longer have those things in walking distance.
This is not just on mumsnet but in real life too. I work in a much cheaper area, bits are nicer, there is more green space but it's just not worth giving up the job opportunities, museums and like minded people you get in a city. My friends that have moved out have changed their whole life styles, more driving, more countryside, more meals in chain restaurants in retail parks, I'm not judging it at all! As someone who can barely afford to live here, I can't afford to eat out at all so all the new, cool pop up street food places are wasted on me anyway. But I still love being here.
AIBU

@kaka. I don't disagree- but £450k is still well over what many MN are looking at. What I was trying to say is that the 'better' areas of Manchester aren't that cheap relative to some areas in the south. (Leaving London out the equation which is a law into itself) Yes you can get better value in other areas than the obvious- but a lot of mumsnetters do want 'the obvious' areas - I like Manchester, I'm not knocking it- but unless you are very open minded it's no longer that cheap

As an example here are 2 houses (semis) as you mentioned them- in prime spots here in south/south west one in Stroud and one on edge of Bath (where we live) - there's really not much in it these days unless you are comparing solely with London

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/141300311

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140831018#/?channel=RES_BUY

Not as big! I'm not far from Anderby Creek. (For those suggesting Skegness as my town). Skegness is a METROPOLIS for Lincolnshire villages.

@PyongyangKipperbang Fab, we lived on the other side in Stretton briefly when I was very young. If you're on the South Derbyshire border, that's great for a trip out to the Peak District too I keep meaning to go to the Uttoxeter Vintage Tearooms.

Anyone who moves to the countryside in search of more space is going to be disappointed. Maybe things are different in remote parts of Scotland or Northumberland, but where I live (rural Essex) there is less space every year. The traffic is now so bad I hardly go out. In fact, I'd give it five years before we have to book time slots to use the roads. A giant new estate is being built at the other end of my village, and my local woods have been hacked down to make way for houses and flats. When I hear people say they're going to "retire to the country for some peace and quiet" I want to laugh. I nod politely, but all I'm thinking is "there won't BE any countryside by the time you retire, just a sea of ghastly new build estates and roads clogged with traffic."

Rural living can be a full time job. Land and reno house require a lot of work. Have to drive everywhere. But I love it.

Our nearest neighbours are elderly, he drives but has ambulance our regularly for his heart. She doesn’t drive. Have no clue what they think will happen if he passes away before her!
We do get grocery deliveries thankfully.
We will move to the town when we retire.
We are in northern Scotland.

@StillSmallVoice Faversham??

I'm an expat living in Europe, and we live in a rural village with only one shop, 1 bar/Cafe, a tiny church and a post and mayor's office. It's only 10 mins drive to town though although if I didn't drive I would feel a little isolated.
Prior to this we lived in South uk suburbia and I hated it! It was a town in decline though but the city was very close and I someetimes miss the ability to walk to more things but much prefer life in a rural setting.

I live in a large village 20 minutes from Bristol 35 from Bath. Good buses, 10 minutes drive to 2 train stations. 10 minutes to supermarkets, several pubs, couple of takeaways, deli, local artisan shops, food shops, beautiful countryside and walks. It’s not cheap but there’s definitely reasonably priced housing.
I do laugh at people just going from one extreme to the other. Central London to some remote Devon village and y to run complaining about everything they can’t get.

That made me laugh out loud OP!
That said, we moved from a city to a village which just happens to have an absolute fabulous dance/singing/drama school. 5 minutes walk and a much higher standard of teaching than either of the dance schools we attended in the city.
Villages can have a lot to offer, just not all of it at once!

Only the other day I was getting slated by those on here as my 17 year old daughter drives... "why does she need to drive at her age?" What's wrong with the bus?" etc etc... Now everyone is moaning about those who live rurally who DON'T drive! Make your minds up!
We are surrounded by ex city folk in our village who complain about everything rural life has to offer... no public transport, no street lighting, mud, horse poo on the roads, tractors on the road, tractors working late at night, chainsaws, trees dropping leaves (then spend the best part of everyday making more noise than the tractors with their poxy leaf blowers) One neighbour even chopped down all his trees, within 6 months of moving in, including a lovely orchard as the mess of falling fruit and leaves was too much. Sheep baaing, cockerels making a noise. The list is endless! I think magazines like country living have a lot to answer for, painting it as idyllic when the reality is far from it. It is hard work, wet, muddy but truly beautiful. I have known no different and neither have my family. It's not for everyone. But neither is city life.

@Veggievic Saltford?

Tell them to come to the North - Lebanese restaurant in town, vegan bakery in my village, reasonable house prices, great live music available in the next village.

Transport links aren’t great but we are on the motorway junction so quick to go north/south.

They do have to “put up with” lovely friendly northerners though ;)

@kaka79 I know what you are saying and no I don't know all MN quite obviously- but I do get the impression that many in the SEast think of moving to places like Manchester but often want a leafy suburb and a typical big 4 bed Didsbury /Chorlton semi -but for peanuts (which they aren't). What they don't seem so keen on is Oldham, Bury, Rochdale, Bolton etc - would give them far more for the money- but what they want is mainly white, middle class, good schools , Waitrose etc- basically like they have in the south- but cheaper . They phrase it in all kinds of ways- but that's what many mean- and it's not a cheap option- in fact as pricey as many other areas in the south or south west

If we want cheap then it's Bradford, surely? Or is that a step beyond?

I too live in such a place. Two pubs (one with live music and good food), two buses an hour from the stop at the end of the village, plus another four buses an hour from the stop on the main road five minutes' walk from that. Co-Op, GP, convenience store, Boots, hairdressers, restaurants cafés and a garden centre (a small one, somewhere you just go to buy garden things rather than have afternoon tea) within a 10 minute walk. Houses rather cheaper than where you are too, I paid £130k in 2019. No vegan bakery but meh.

It is possible to have it all. The key thing in my view is that you have to pick a village that is conveniently on the way from somewhere to somewhere else, so that the through passengers on the bus justify a frequent service, you just latch onto that.

In Austria I found a solution to the issue of uneconomic village shops. It was a self-service shop, with no staff on site at all.

I live in a rural village, London is accessible within 40 minutes as long as you drive as I would have to walk 3 miles of country roads no path for 2 of those miles before you found a bus stop. I can drive in under an hour or train is 30 mins. You won’t find a 4 bed house for much less than £1m and certainly the most of that list doesn’t really fit with a countryside lifestyle I am afraid. I live within driving distance of decent amenities but certainly not this list…decent farm shops etc but not a vegan bakery…quite literally laughed out of town in this rural community 😂

I can safely say they will not find this unicorn of a location and if they do it is already overrun and therefore by the sounds of things they’ve already been out priced.

😁When I read that post Mad Max 2 :The Thunderdome, is what came to mind!

’We don’t need another hero…’

Houses are being bought here because it was voted the best place to live. Our local.health, dental and care homes are now stretched to the limit. A good few don't bring much that benefits the islands just their Motobility cars they drive or the troubles going by thecourt cases as can be found in the Scottish Court Roll online. You see we know our home grown baddies and their names over the decades.

If anyone wants all that and in the south- go and look at Frome. We live in Bath but pop frequently

It has lots of vegan and veggie stuff, cinema, train , artisan this and that, restaurants, bars, pubs and one of the best music venues out there in the cheese and grain- lots of activities for kids and it's borderline reasonable. It's not great though if you need local work unless prepared to travel 30 to 40 mins every day- here's a couple of example of typical houses

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139983308#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136275734#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/135908519#/?channel=RES_BUY

“I fantasise about leaving London. Then get annoyed when tube jumps from 1 min wait to 2 min wait and realise I’m not there yet.”

Haha this is me

You live in a council flat. It's not realistic. That property is provided by everyone else contributing to make it appear cheap to the person living there. It usually won't be affordable to the occupant if it's not paid for to some degree by everyone else.

We upped and moved from a bustling large town to semi rural and we do a LOT of driving. We are lucky in that there are lots of lovely nice independent places around to eat and so many farms with their own little shops attached.

Where we used to live driving 10 miles to get to work used to be seen as nuts, here, you drive 10 miles to get to the supermarket 😂

Can't complain though, the schools are fantastic and it's a safe area that I don't feel awful about letting my 12 year old go to the corner shop, or walk to his friends house.

There's tons of beautiful tiny cities and towns right next to proper rural areas.
Chichester
Winchester
Salisbury
Colchester
Dorchester

Etc

What?!

The rent is set by the housing association in order to meet their costs. They are not in it to make a profit nor are they held accountable by the bank that holds their mortgage. So they can charge what it actually costs to live in that house, not what a bank says they should charge or what they want to charge in order to live off the income or increase the equity as their pension.

There is no subsidy on social housing. Just as council houses are not free. Same as "immigrants get all the council houses" isnt true.

But dont let the facts stand in the way of your superiority complex.