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?

Marlborough is super snooty, vastly expensive, small, insular, no public transport to speak of and barely any independent shops, or shy useful shops whatsoever unless you want upmarket, midfkeaged lady clothes or twee chi chi house stuff

I'd strike it off your list if I were you

Tring is a lovely place - good little high street with some nice cafes and shops. Is not far into London there and attracts a lot of people moving out of London so has an upmarket and liberal vibe.

Cambridge is fab. Direct line trains into London, to kings cross or Liverpool st. If you follow the liv st line south there are some lovely towns along the route - saffron walden very pretty, lots of character. Loads of culture/shopping/nightlife in Cambridge.

it's like a Pandora's box isn't it ! more choice that i hoped for ha.
Goingforgold - I did laugh at your slaughtering of M., I didn't consider it, too small and now all the rest as described by you! Is iSalisbury less snooty? a bit worried about that.
I can't even start on Herts! I have to look at the places already suggested first and areas i rougly know. Herts somehow is a big gap in my knowledge.
Horsham i will look at Lulabellarama, especially as you like it being an ex londoner. did you live in sw london?
CAmbridge is not within 1.5hrs, is it? unless you mean to live en route Brand and to go to Cambridge when needed, but isn't Derby en route, or a diff train line?

Cambridge - although what was weird was for a while it seemed like everyone we knew was moving out of Cambridge to bristol = they are now all moving back - ha ha ha!!! Possibly on the larger side though

Saffron Walden (no trains though)

somewhere in Dorset???

I could tell you where not to move to to make your choice easier

Cov
Rugby
Saffron Walden - no trains
Bedford
Cornwall -to far on the train unless you want to sleep on it very night in which case don't buy a house
Bideford
and lastly Hull

HTH

I don't mind places on larger side, cazzybabs, I thought Cambridge is really quite small. To me it's more about distance and ease of access to the station so if a nice ir central area of Camb is near station I don't mind how big the rest of it is. Tell me more, what are these people coming back from Bristl say??

ivy, haha, def-ly not Cornwall! though I'd love to go for a little holiday there soon.
Hull! that IS rough from what i've heard, and miles away from anywhere!
ive I'm still going to look at leamington, though after Salisbury as this w/emd won't work as planned.

Cambridge is out as just had a look on rightmove and nothing appealing for the budget. Lots of modern flats. That's the nicething about Chelt and Bristol - great conversions (if a house is not an option). Salisbury has good houses for the price.
What i don't get is, if Derby isn't nice as someone said upthread, why are the (good value) houses on rightmove are in such good taste, it's not just the one - these people must live there and like it?

Rubirosa"s probably got it right.

If you're not familiar with the UK's cities Clifton probably seems like a super place, but every city has an area or three like it. Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, loads of nice places to enjoy.

Small towns and villages in the south of England are generally not like Clifton and if you've only ever been to London you might be amazed that such places with their astonishing delis and bars exist, but exist they veritably do.

Who'da thunk it, eh?

Cities in general are cool and groovy, not just London; go and explore and learn what the UK has to offer...it's not all living in Turnham Green and moaning about Oyster cards, or whatever those crazy capital-dwellers do (in between their incessant gallery-visiting and hanging out with rich people, of course.

Durham, the city not the county. Small but scenic, although maybe it's too far from London for you.

Sorry I didn't get back to you about Cheltenham but see that someone else did!
I'm very curious, can you really live anywhere you want? What about work? And schools? How old are your children? I assume (if you have school age children that is) you will need to make sure you can get them into a local school before you buy? Depending on their ages, some of the schools around here are completely chocka in some of the years - eg dd1's year is oversubscribed at her school.
Anyway I will be interested to hear where you finally decide on. Good luck!

I don't know what sort of thing you are looking for but a house like this in Cheltenham fits your budget and is walking distance to Bath Rd...here

Warwick?

I moved from Ealing. Where I had delis coming out of my ears. :)
Already I wouldn't move back. I never realised how much I'd love having access to such beautiful countryside. And no flight path!

Sorry - this isn't relevent to the original message, but have to weigh in to agree with LittleMilla about the Gloucester Road in Bristol. We often drive into Bristol, park at the top, by the fantastic Vietnemese shop, and spend a few hours walking down (including lunch at Robin Hoods Retreat), then catch the bus back up. We rarely go into the centre, and never into Clifton (too many parking problems and too crowded). Loads of charity shops, but so many other interesting independents as well.

strandednomore, yes i work for myself which involves some travel and work on internet at home, but I also do related courses in london all the time (not full time ones) and go to museums there as part of my learning (it's all history of art related), so to the somewhat agressive poster JandLandG, I need access to London, not only because i like it, but because NOWHERE can compare with the choice of courses on arts/history of art which are not full time Uni courses. Norhtern cities may be fine but they don't suit me plus yo u like what you like, I'm 35 and I'm used to SE/SW accents and 'character' and feel at home there with the people, going North is too much of an upheaval, even though I love visiting. If you read a thread on Manchester on here, it sounds quite scary, apart from footballer wives enclave which I wouldn't want either - but it really is about what you are used to and your own preferences. I like it warmer too. I don't know why you think i've only been to London! I've been to York, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield, Oxford etc etc, obviously in Bristol where I stay, and lots of small towns in the SW and SE. The thread is exactly to help me see even more options. I'm 35 and thinking of having a child soon, so again I don't want a big city as I've been in London for yons and want more space and less of crowds/use of transport. I don't have to like urban edge on eveyday basis, and the nice small areas of big cities you mentioned are probably not next to a station whereas in small places you can walk to the train which to me one of the main criteria. I want a quiet life near the coutryside but with weekly (or so) visits to London. And it's about a feel of a place to me (not what I 'should' feel) which is personal.

strandednomore, yes, that house looks nice, once it's filled with furniture it could look great. So what is on Bath road? had a look on street view - is it very long? I did like the look of Montpellier street in Chelt (which i missed when visiting) but I can't see much being on Bath road unless I'm looking at the wrong bit. I can see Sue Ryder and what's around there.
LulaBella - Horsham does sound nice. I know Ealing reasonably well, considered it but too expensive for what it is - it's all the distances in London and crowds (and planes in hte west) that yo get tired of..Isn't Horsham where Tim Wonnacott from Bargain hunt lives ?

lots of big period flats in Chelt, strandednomore, which is also an option. I've noticed the prices aer down from last year - interesting. I hope people aer not moving out in droves!!
Still no more responses about Salisbury? is it reasonable friendly or very cliquey? I saw someone saying it's not all military, but if anyone who lives there can give some more info on what the atmosphere is like? will see for myself on monday some of it I hope (only there for few hours).

Lula same question on Horsham (see prev post) - did you meet/made friends with the locals easily? or are there mainly ex londoners anyway?

List of shops on Bath Road:
www.bathroadonline.co.uk/add_list.htm

On Street View, find the main entrance to Cheltenham College (big Victorian Gothis building which looks like a church) and then walk South down Bath Road. Perry, Bishop and Chambers is the first shop on the left, Morans coffee house the first obvious one on your right. When you reach the roundabout at the bottom, you have gone down the main part of the street, though there are a few outposts on Great Norwood Street on the other side of the car park.

Why don't you just get a taxi? Cheaper than moving if only once a week (about£8) and you'll be at the train station in 10m. Tbh you cld walk from the village in 40m.

Final word on Cheltenham - take a little care with the location of those large period flats if you think that you are likely to still be there with a school age child.

At a very rough approximation, the secondary schools which serve priority admission areas south of the A40 are currently very significantly better regarded than those north of the A40 (with the exception of the super-selective grammar, which draws children in from a very, very wide area - certainly it would be unwise to base a choice of where to live on the assumption of your child getting a place there).

Primary schools are more patchy - there are good schools in the Northern half of the town BUT again at a very rough approximation a higher proportion of schools in the South are better regarded (whether they are genuinely better schools, or whether they just serve more affluent catchment areas and take in a higher proportion of kids with motivated parents and have a smaller number from families facing problems is a discussion for another day!).

I have never quite understood why the grandest houses in town seem to be in areas served by less good schools - perhaps they all go private, or all the houses are divided into flats so are not as grand as they seem? - but it is definitely worth bearing in mind.

Wandastartup what are you basing the fact that Market Harborough is not nice at all on?

We have moved nearby here (as have a lot of our friends) from a 'nice' part of London and really like it. Lots of high end boutiques and restaurants and a considerable 'well to do' element.

Just saying...