Mortgages -Pay more for a nicer property?

[Maxapple]

My partner and I live in a one bed flat that with some very high overpayments we can pay off in the next four years (ish) . We currently earn around £7k a month between us so can afford a larger mortgage.

have calculated that we could buy a nice 2 bed house / cottage for a mortgage of around £1700 (which is less than we pay currently with our current mortgage and overpayment and management fees ontop) but that would be over 20 years. (Assuming I can get a mortgage for that length as I’m 53)

we are 53 and 43 and have no children. The original plan was to pay off the mortgage so I could retire early - but she will probably want to keep working for the next 10 years. I can cope working for the next 7 years and will then have a good (public sector) pension of about £2k a month.

I feel like i want to enjoy our home more , have a garden and maybe in 20 years (if needed) we could downsize back to a flat to free up money / age proof if needed.

wools we be crazy to take on a big debt when we could be debt free. We don’t have to worry about children to provide for, so I see it as paying to enjoy our lives more while we can

Is there a middle option?

I am 54 and about to clear my mortgage. I really don't ever want to take on another one, let alone a 20 year one that would clear at age 73. I would want a retirement that was as free as possible from debt. At most I would have one up to retirement.

Have you worked out how quickly you could clear that mortgage if you overpaid to the current level plus what you save on service charges? I'd hate to have to pay service charges on a pension.
You may even be able to pay it down whilst you're working and then have a low mortgage to finish off that isn't much more than the service charges.
I'd find a way to justify it, I can't imagine not having a garden when I retire,

That’s a really good way to think about it. We’d be left with about £60k outstanding if we overpaid what we do now when I’m 60. Feels a bit more doable.

I'd go for it personally and overpay as much as you can. With a £7k per month joint income that will be no problem then worry about downsizing possibly in 7 years time