Why is Wiltshire so affordable in comparison to other southern counties?

[Craya]

This may sound very stupid. Dh and I are wanting to move out of Home Counties house. We live in a very unremarkable 60s house which we thought we’d like once done up. But it’s just depressing even though we live in what is a very desirable area (safe, well kept front gardens etc). We are paying way too much each month so looking to make changes.

We need to be in the south and commute into London a couple of times a week (we both are hybrid workers). I can go weeks without going into the office thankfully.

We’ve considered pretty much every southern county (barring Cornwall due to distance). And the only one place it seems we can afford is Wiltshire. Even the towns/Villages which are decently connected via railway.

Does anyone know why this is? Or is just perception we are moving away from a very expensive part of an already expensive area.

It’s decent value for money. Not many places are imo!

Because North Wiltshire is grim

Wilts is split by the plain, north of there is weird, south of them might as well be Hampshire or Dorset. Tisbury is absolutely tiny. I can't imagine anyone wanted to live there if you want anything more than rural.
North is also really far from the coast if that's an issue for you for the summer
The reason it's cheap as there's no big employers in Wiltshire really , outside Swindon

Literally 20 miles from the sea

Heroin

I'm from a town universally mocked and looked down on as an utter shithole, just outside Manchester, famous only for grooming sadly. I've never felt posh until I visited Calne.

Some posh bits are nice eg Bradford of Avon (near the Somerset bath border). And corsham. Frome.

some bits are badly linked and very rural and some are just plain nasty. It’s a mixed county

frome is Somerset and so up its own arse, not really a place you'd want to live in if you want anything but heritage carrots

Train fares are expensive. The train service is unreliable. It floods. Hampshire to London train fares are considerably cheaper. I’d be more specific about area. Swindon is very different to Crewkerne. If it’s cut off and rural there’s an effect on the people there.

As others have said, the nice bits aren’t commutable. Salisbury is nice with an excellent grammar school, but quite a long commute.

There’s rural poverty in Wiltshire, it’s very rural so not great for teens and schools are a very mixed picture. I wouldn’t want to live in Swindon.

I like Salisbury and Marlborough sounds lovely, but the poverty, mixed front on schooling and poor commute are why it is much cheaper than Hampshire.

The countryside there is lovely though and it’s an easy drive to Dorset, Somerset, Hants and Gloucestershire. Good activities in Longleat and Center Parcs, Stonehenge, Old Sarum and Salisbury. It’s an underrated county in my view.

Too far from London to easily commute... go a bit further west and it gets pricier because you have bristol and cardiff for jobs, or m5 corridor to birmingham. Its a no mans land with no cities and cities are what drive jobs/prices for housing.

I live on the Wilts Somerset border and love it. Been here 20 years. But no, it's not remotely a commute-to-London place. Easier to get to Birmingham! You can go direct on the train from Westbury to Paddington but the cost is eye-watering. My town has decent schools and is on a main train line. Easy reach of Bath and Bristol.

It is not that cheap though. Bought my 4 bed in 2013 for 175k and it is now worth 290k.

FWIW I grew up near Salisbury, spent a long time in Surrey working, and now live in Devon. Devon is massively more insular and backward than Wiltshire, IMHO. There are some really beautiful villages in Wiltshire, and the coast is only 30 odd minutes away. As others have said commuting would be a pain though. I personally would have no qualms about moving back there.

As pp have said, Marlborough is lovely as is Bradford on Avon and Tisbury is attractive.
Devizes is nice but it’s expanding fast and I’m not sure services are keeping up.
There are lots of pretty villages.

Roads are generally rubbish. Trains to London are crazy expensive. We’re often at least an hour from anywhere…

I wouldn’t live anywhere else though.

Bath Not in wilts but close to the border and Home Counties money ( I live here) however if you haven’t got Bath budgets, then lovely Corsham is only 7 miles away ( but you would need to go to Chippenham 3 miles away for train) or Chippenham itself - not the prettiest , but not awful, is only 1hr10 commute , 12 minutes to Bath on train for nicer shopping and social life and has masses being spent on it - huge amounts of new houses too if that floats your boat . Personally I disagree with the poster about Salisbury - I think it’s perfectly nice and has a lot of decent shops.

Bath isn't in Wiltshire it's north east Somerset. Wiltshire is cheaper on the whole than Somerset because it doesn't have towns like Bath, Bristol etc

Marlborough has very poor public transport. It’s also very small. I live not far from there and wouldn’t live there.

ha ha, my H described it as a giant scrapyard - with houses

Because there’s not much to do

I actually think Devizes is quite nice but it depends what you want - it’s not exactly party central but is a nice reasonably attractive small town if you just want a few nice bakers, a few pubs, coffee shops, an M&S food hall, a decent house- and it’s not remotely near a train station or an A&E . It’s not the best if you are wanting plenty of chain shops on your doorstep -

Oh, I think Devizes is pretty grim

Please don't let everyone know about Bradford on Avon! Property prices will rocket if everyone hears it is so close to Bath but with no pretension.

Well, FWIW IMHO if you believe we're so backwards in Devon you're more than welcome to fuck off back to Surrey, dear.

You won't be missed!

I grew up in same area as you, now live in Devon and haven’t found this at all. I’ve made lots of friends.

I think OP means Wiltshire is cheap vs. other south west places like Bath, Bristol etc, both are relatively expensive, with good reason as they would be lovely places to live.