is there a town equivalent to Cilfton Village in Bristol but without the rest of Bristol attached?!

[pinkredandpurple]

I love Clifton village: lots of green spaces around, a view over the river, warm atmosphere, period architecture, lots of delis, cafes and small shops. BUT the connection to main Bristol station not great, having to take connecting train or PITA buses, so travelling to London or anywhere is a bother and adds a lot to the trip what with connections etc.
I wish there was a similar place, well ok, minus the views maybe, without the rough part of Bristol attached and much more compact with easy access to a rail station, or with a quick bus to a station with many connections.
It has to be ideally SW or SE and not too far from London (i.e. not as far as the coastal towns). But if it's somewhere towards Derbyshire it's still doable. I don't like Norfolk, sorry, too flat a landscape.
Property prices not too crazy, sort of like Bristol prices would be ok.That is, you can get a good large 2/3 bed flat (or house!) for under 300K. But if lower, than even better!
It doesn't have to have lots of theatres/shops /chains/big megastores on the doorstep. But must have a good few cafes, I've been a Londoner so far!
I would like a simpler, more compact life, but not ready for rural/village, I don't like driving and not having people around.
Is this a silly utopia?
Any ideas, please?

OBface, I already commented on the house - so light and spacious! are there good parks in MH that you can walk to? (to add to the question of what are the people like - friendly/snooty?)

I don't think you've visited anywhere in Cheltenham apart from the city centre by the sound of it! As well as Montpellier, there are lots of lovely independent shops in Tivoli, Bath Road, Charlton Kings and other places. And not too far from the station. Good schools, great parks, festivals galore....However, house prices might be a little steep for you. Having said that, I'm not sure where you would get for what you want for your price - unfortunately what you are after comes as a price.
Bradford on Avon is lovely too - yes traffic isn't brilliant but if you lived there you probably wouldn't need to drive through it too much. My parents live there and walk everywhere.

RSC in SoA and they do have things going on there in the town in the summer, it is a pleasant town but tbh I don't go over often.

park

leamington main street

The house I linked to is literally a few minutes walk to 2 parks. Rutland is on your doorstep for nice countryside etc and you're not far from either Northampton or Leicester though you can get most things you need in town.

I don't actually live in MH but in a village very nearby having moved back after living in London and elsewhere. I find it a great place to bring up children, we have a 1 year old and there is plenty to do plus great school options in both private and state. Locals are a mix of horsey and normal types. Hope this helps.

I live in Norfolk so can't really help and it's not all flat!, Clifton is lovely though. Cambridge is great but really expensive. Personally I'm not that keen on Ipswich, not much difference really in landscape to Norfolk anyway. I love most of the places that have already been suggested, especially Winchester and Stratford. I guess you don't want to be further from London or would say Exeter, went to university there and would move back in a heartbeat!

I've been to most of the places suggested and would agree that the majority are lovely and (if they were in the North!) I'd be happy to live in most of them.

Sadly the compromise of the midlands or south would be too great

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39098333.html

because it does sound like you don't really want to move out of London :) and this would suit all your requirments?

Salisbury
Henley - might be too expensive? But there's this
Dorchester
Shaftesbury
Hitchin
Ely - this is awesome.
Stratford on Avon
Farnham in Surrey is a Georgian market town - might be too small though?

Love the name of the Ely house

Actually, I've just seen you're planning to commute to London for a course - why don't you just go for somewhere in Blackheath village or Wimbledon? There'd be lots of greenery and open space around, but you'd basically have lots of facilities and no huge commute, and there are lots of the period conversions you are into.

Blackheath
Raynes Park

If you could swap London for Manchester or Leeds, then Hebden Bridge would be ideal.

When I read the original post Hebden was the first place that sprang to mind. Wetter than Leamington etc though!

Letchworth

Also Hitchin in that area is dripping with cafes and parks.

Alresford in Hampshire is nice looking, although Alton is the nearest train station.

We have bought a 3 bed Victorian semi with decent sized garden for the same price as a two bed first floor flat in Wandsworth (£380k).

Not sure if you have kids or how old, but part of our reason for coming this way was st Andrews park, it's just fab. And there's obviously lots of playgroups and three outstanding rated schools.

Tile shop is called bishopston tile. It's further up Gloucester rd. you ought to venture further up as it's not as gritty as bottom end (near costa etc). This is the bit I prefer - there's also a fun reclamation yard even further up the road which I'm spending too much time at too! Another good coffee shop is coffee %231 (other one is in the village) and a nice restaurant/canteen style place called zazus kitchen just opened. As I say, the further you venture from arches the more you'll find!

We also looked at southville but I found it had less soul than here. And westbury park is near downs and has a waitrose, but not much else. Lovely houses though.

strandednomore, no the prices in Cheltenham aern't bad as I take Clifton as benchmark, they are about 10-20K less. I looked at a flat on Evesham rd which was huge and under 300K but it was on that busy rd, and yes, I couldn't find any shopping areas apar from the centre. Could you name some streets so i can look on Google street view? thanks. To be fair posters already suggested less priocey but nice places - I m surprised at Salisbury where you can get a 4-bed house for 275, and they are period, not unmodernised, houses. I don't know nuances of the area, but I don't even need a 4-bed. Also posts above with beautiful houses in Derby and Market Harborough, and again Leamington, where there also nice big period flats (but not on hte market atm apart fron ground floors).
My list to visit is so far:
Salisbury,
Leamington Spa, possibly Warwick
Market Harborough
and will look at the others mentione by FairPhyllis though it's be great if you could describe Shaftesbury and Hitchin more. Henley is too expensive, and also my ex moved there !
ivykaty, that park is beautiful! thank you for the photos! I can tell you LOVE your area. the High street is a lot like Salisbury so like both! it sounds like there is more going for L.Spa than Warwick?

FairPhyllis, I can't get anything decent for under 300K(preferably 275) in good parts of Wimbledon and Blackheath, I do know london very well. It's hte long tube journeys that I don't want - hot, crowded and dispiriting! Great westren is so much more civilised . You get a Quiet Coach there! Also it would just be a small ish 2-bed flat on top of someone, so no. Prefer to be in Bristol and commmute 1 extra hour to compare to wimbledon (blackheath is even much further from my course) but have space. My course is only once a week and i have a nice place to stay in London for a night. I do travel around the UK for my work (self employed) and i find getting out of london can be slow, whereas smaller towns with good links make it all easier. I suppose I'm also tired of London crowds, even though I will always need my London fix!

PRP,

Cherltenham shopping streets:

look at
Bath Road (further out from centre past Cheltenham College)
also Suffolk Road just round the corner
Montpellier Street
Church Street / East End Road in Charlton Kings

Loads of parks near all of those.

thanks LittleMilla - see the prices are still high. I'm mid-30s and may well have a child later, but I also need for now an office space at home, so I need a three bed, and I could afford a big place in clifton/redl I may have gone for Bristol despite the longish trip to London. But the combo of not big enough property AND commute more than 1.5hr is not ideal at all. I can afford a nice big two bed flat in a period building, but the thread is for looking at other options which may be better. I can rent for a bit so want to make sure I buy in hte right place. Don;t you love Clifton architecture though (not only the village) - I tend to walk and gawp at those Victorian buildings, when it's sunny you can see all the detail of sculptured flowers, etc etc! agree very impressive houses in westbury park but too long to the station.

thank you teacherwithtwokids! will look. So these areas are not adjacent to centre but hidden away!? are there any other pros/cons of Cheltenham?
Charlton is far from the station though.

'and IF I could afford' (to LittleM)

Clifton is beautiful, not knocking it for that at all. I guess I was making family assumptions and I don't think it has the same vibe. We have gorgeous stained glass windows. But we don't have the double height rooms. We were renting a two bed flat at the top of redland next to downs with them tho- ruddy nightmare to heat and regulate temperature! So what we've lost in ceiling height we've gained in lower heating bills!

Good luck with the hunt.

OBface 'horsey and normal types' !

It's on my list in the first three! sounds like it's very green and charming houses. I've hearnd NOrthampton is nice. How far is it from London again?
Any cons?

Just to add, renting the flat for 6 months helped DH and I get over Clifton and redland as we realised that as beautiful as many of those places are, long term upkeep and heating would cost the earth.

Not to say this house is cheap, it's a money pit. But that's because we doing it up. Not just trying to heat it .

Bath Road is almost like a 'small town high street' all by itself, about 10 mins walk out from the centre. It has pubs, cafes, lots of independent shops and a couple of supermarket branches. There is also a thriving 'network' around that area, for example of local people who work from home or for themselves and get together once a week.

Commute to London is a bit painful. DH does it every now and again (commutes daily to B'ham on the train) and prefers to drive down to Swindon and then pick the train up from there. It's perfectly possible from Cheltenham direct, but it's quicker (and gives more return options) to go to Swindon.

Cheltenham is 'patchy' in terms of nice places to live - do your research carefully!