Searching for the perfect village- can you help? Long, sorry

[caramelgirl]

Right, so we ha( d )ve our hearts set on a fab village in Sussex. It seemed perfect but... prices have gone up four fold in the last 15 years. So, for our v v stretch budget of up to £800k we can get a manky chalet- 2 double beds, 3 dormer singles, can't stand straight in. Repossession offered at 550k went at 570k with a baby boomer bidding war.

Problem is it is full of old people who have tons of equity and no need to move. So prob no chance of a collapse in price, sob. We have posted leaflets and put up ad in local shop but nothing useful yet.

We know that we are unusually lucky in having this as a dilemma, but would be v grateful for advice.

We are thinking of giving up on the dream and trying to find another village. Our criteria are that the village has:

1. primary school (nurturing, not keen on hothousing one). Bus to decent senior school or private school with generous scholarships!
2. local shop- so no need to drive to get milk
3. sense of community- dream village has several pubs, good WI, active local committee organising summer festival and Christmas fair
4. near decent size town and with eg supermarket deliveries and train to London- tho' prefer not a commuter dormitory place
5. pref near natural beauty- original village is on the Downs
6. a fairly relaxed vibe, our home villages are a bit posey and very status and wealth conscious.

We are pretty easy re location, both parents are in Warwickshire, husband will retrain in engineering is the plan.

We are looking to move in next year or so. Can spend our weekends looking at ALL your suggestions!
Thank You!

An example of crazy pricing here

Leave the SE - I live in Worcs, and for £800k you could have an amazing house. Lots of lovely villages round here, and a train to London

Okay, where in Worcestershire, do you have any names I can rightmove? Thanks!

Brockham in Surrey? lookes more impressive inside than out

Is Alfriston the original villlage you were looking at? You have chosen one of the most ridiculously picturesque and therefore expensive villages. Think of the tourists in the summer though!

whereabouts in the UK do you want to live?

There are loads of lovely places - it depends whether you want tiny village, bit bigger etc etc. I live in a v small town as there is a pool, community cinema, range of shops etc. But one that I think is v nice is Ombersley, N of Worcester, or theres places like Peopleton which is smaller

Yes, super picturesque Alfriston. But all the less than a £ squillion houses are not picturesque at all. Tourists are generally quite naice walker types, hence deli village shop and Michelin starred resto run by Sophie Ellis- Bextor's dad.
Will check out Brockham asap, thanks!

spendthrift ideally south of Birmingham. But anywhere fairly well connected where they don't hate incomers with hippy names who might forget to mow the lawn. CMOT thanks, will check them out!

TeamE we stayed in a yurt near Winchelsea and Rye over New Year ( see, hippyish, tho' it was Glamping- with outdoor loo...). Will look it up too. Thank you!

Ooh, like the Winchelsea list, esp beach house, tho' deffo want to be in a village or tiny town. Still, could prob cycle out for a run and to exercise my ( not yet acquired as we rent in London) dog.
CMOT would you mind pming me your town to investigate too. Ombersley is looking v good. And recent price drops too..
Thank you all for your time, v grateful for all suggestions.. Keep them coming if you think of more, please!

Mayfield, East Sussex, has all the above you mentioned and more! Err but no train, nearest is about 4 miles I think. I love Alfriston too, not from from us but people not so friendly whenever I've been.

very nice

Goring (or Streatley)
Between Reading and Oxford (not the one by the sea). Lovely setting by Thames in Goring Gap between the Ridgeway and the Chilterns. Very active village. Convenient for commuting into London and getting up to the Midlands.

Charlbury in Oxfordshire is a nice small town, and less expensive than the some of the other rather twee Cotswold towns more generally.

We love Deal - despite the ghastly 1950s pier has best 18th century seafront IMV in the south.

Sandwich is charming but has rather a lot of well off OAPs - I think they need you... Good grammar school.

Have you thought of the Isle of Wight if you want a land that time forgot - v v safe?

How about round Chichester?

If you are not too fussed about having to drive to the station and could be E Midlands, the Derbyshire villages near Chesterfield are lovely. Look at Hathersage, Grindleford, Gt Longstone, Eyam. Excellent secondary school in Lady Manners. Chilly, though.

Right. Am loving all of these. Thanks, flyingt Don't need village train, as long as one we can get to so four miles is fine. Some of those houses are amazing. As a poncetastic Christmas lurkervI can totally imagine the wreath going up- whereas the Alfriston ones would look a bit sad tarted up when so grotty.
Yes, was a little worried re Alfriston as village shop has run a bit of a racist campaign against a new Indian convenience store. I can pass white but my Dad wouldn't and we are thinking should plan for their ageing future too.
Any experience of schools in Mayfield or Goring?
Would love to be near parents if was a nice place to live ( dreams of all that babysitting) so thanks lilym

Don't know if you want to move this far away from London but you could do worse than Broadclyst

Goring school looks good! And I think one of my criteria may be that people living in an area have the time to set up detailed webpage but are not techy or young enough to make it non clunky. Classic examples lilym and duchesse
Tons of suggestions spendthrift, thanks. We did check out Duffield in Derbyshire but it was cold and a bit too ribbon development with no real heart. Will look at those now, grateful for your help.
duchesse what do you think about incomers in Devon. When we, briefly, looked in Dorset we felt alot of hostility. Is Broadclyst open to new arrivals do you think?
This is so exciting, we were feeling so down about our options but loads of these look like real " family" homes. Thank you all

Sorry don't understand - you have budget of £800k but linking to a 2 bed chalet house for £415k?

We've just bought relatively nearby to that in Kent for similar budget. Managed to get a gorgeous period 4 bed with half an acre, doesn't need anything doing to it and close to great commute to London. What exactly are you looking for?!

Broadclyst is actually quite an exciting place to live now. It's a large parish- 16 square miles, making it one of the largest parishes in England. It has 3000 inhabitants, again quite large, and a lot of incomers who are all very active in village life. Most of the parish council is incomers below the age of 50, which is highly unusual.

Ten years ago it was a very different place indeed with a core of very set in their ways locals (historic links with the local estate seemed to have robbed all sense of individuality) but it has improved immensely in the last few years and is a really good place to live now. The primary school is very high tech- you might want to check out its website to see if it's the the sort of school you'd like for your DC. There is a decent secondary even, but also various good independent day schools in Exeter 6 miles away.

Only problem with Broadclyst is a large amount of development happening just south of it along the old A30 in what will be a "new town" eventually. Being fought tooth and nail by residents.

LL v little available on market. So 2 bed was just to show example of toppish price for so-so house. Would ideally like a four or five bed "proper" home. So not jemmied in rooms like in London or converted attic. But yes, period 4 bed with half an acre would be fab. But if it were a 60s ugly house but in nice village and good community then that would do.
Not just hung up on house, our other v important criterion ( sp? Singular of criteria, no) is being in a village we love. So want to have a house in walking distance of shops, dc can walk to decent school, catch bus to decent senior school, know most people by sight at least.
But if you have good tip then would be v grateful, tia

Great info duchesse, thanks. Not too fussy re primary school, tho' that looks pretty special, just don't want SAT obsessed head churning through syllabus to bump up stats. And yy to Parish Council, average age of Alfriston resident is 72 but parish council look to be older and tetchier. And horticulture society may merge with amenity society as most of latter have died.... Am talking self out of Alfriston now, hurrah!

Look around Evesham in Worcs.
There are really good schools there. It's a great location geographically. 10 minutes from super-expensive cotswolds (Broadway would be the beginning) but once you're Evesham side prices are slashed.
Evesham is a Market town with its downsides, but there are loads of very pretty villages all around it.