Moving South

[Samothrace]

Hi, we are moving south in the next year or so and I'm looking for a place with a great community feel within 5 miles of a big city but walking distance to some lovely pubs, restaurants and a supermarket? All the nice areas I've looked at so far are either too rural or are basically housing estates with no pubs or restaurants close by.
We currently live between Headingley and Meanwood which is 2-3 miles north of Leeds. The place has a lovely small village community feel but we are also spoilt for choice with many pubs and restaurants right on our doorstep. Would love to move to somewhere similar in the South. Is there such a place? Thanks very much

I suppose you don’t really get big cities close to London. Somewhere near Guildford maybe? Or Tunbridge Wells. Do you mean the South-East? Is your budget unlimited?

Hi, ideally Winchester Eastleigh, Southampton area. Budget is flexible but not unlimited. Thanks

Good luck!
In general, I think a community feel and walking distance to good pubs and restaurants is easily doable, but I tend to associate a community spirit with quite small places that don’t have a supermarket. I don’t know Hampshire very well.

look on right move or some such to get an idea of the costs involved. If you want to live in the kind of place you've described you are going to know what it's likely to cost or you could be disappointed

Petersfield, Godalming? Are they just too small? Fast into London for city trips but nice places to live.

I'm confused. Rural village or surburban housing estate is it if you want community feel, surely? City centre or surburban terraced/semi's you tend not to interact with neighbors much if at all. If you want a choice of lovely pubs and restaurants within walking distance you need to be town/city centre in a big enough town to have a selection and a posh enough area for them to be "lovely". Big supermarkets aren't designed to be within walking distance of anywhere, that's what smaller supermarket convenience stores are for, big ones you're supposed to bus/drive to. Unless you happen to live nearby, in which case you won't be within walking distance of all those pubs and restaurants.

You are right FluffyWhiteBird. There are rich villages in the London commuter belt with a couple of pubs, but not a huge choice.

The south is a big place - are you looking in a more specific part? Big cities/towns could be London, Oxford, Brighton, Bristol, Plymouth....

There's a lot of South (as well as South East and South West) between where you currently live and the English Channel!
What's your requirements and budget in terms of a property? What about work? Access to motorways and the rail network?