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?

Kings College Chapel, definitely.

Quite extraordinary, I agree, but definitely not a cathedral.

Cathedrals are the 'seats' of the bishops who lead dioceses. Like county towns e.g. Warwick being the location of the County Hall even though other towns and [now] cities within the county being bigger and now more important.

I believe that it used to be that cities had to have cathedrals to be cities, though that is no longer the case. So Cambridge was once a town while Ely would be a city. The very small cities of St Davids and St Asaph in Wales are possibly at the more absurd end of this, as they have Anglican cathedrals while Cardiff does not.

Oblomov, I'm not so keem on Windsor. Yes, the walk along te river is nice, and the Castle, but otherwise..you can finish the sentence
As for the other places, I know you say this but you don't say what makes Clifton that much different!? I haven't been to all the mentioned places, so you know better. I think 'nothing like' is an exaggeration but if not, can yo upinpoint it? I'd say 'not as good as' about those I've been to, but for example, I wouldn't say Bath is 'nothing like', for one, architecture and cafes/food/people are similar though yes, not villagey.

Kingston is nice

No idea if it's like Clifton sans Bristol

But I like them both

yes, I know about cities as opposed to town based on cathedrals in situ. But Cambr is now a city isn't it.
It's mightily big and impressive for a 'chapel', ime chapels are never very tall for starters.

I lived in Clifton briefly, and have spent a lot of time there in the course of my life (grew up in Bristol, and moved back here a few years ago). Currently living in BS6 rather than BS8. The only other place I have lived that was at all similar in architecture, greenery, atmosphere etc to Clifton was Blackheath. But it didn't have the suspension bridge or the zoo (having Greenwich just the other side of the heath was almost as good, though). And of course Blackheath is unlikely to be much cheaper than Clifton.

Kingston on thames? no..so crowded and very bad traffic, the old high street is nice but so many modern blocks. The surrounds are nice, again along the river..Clifton has a sweet air to it and a sense of space being on a hill! sorry if harsh, I know many people are happy in Kingston.

(and if you don't like having the rest of Bristol attached to Clifton, then you probably won't like Blackheath's appendages of Lewisham, Deptford, New Cross etc. But really posh enclaves like Clifton don't exist in isolation - where would all the cleaning ladies and builders and plumbers live?)

haha exexpat - Blackheath is a LOT pricier than Clifton (especially just off the village) being London! I don't like the journey to the centre from their - pita to charing cross and then on, I need easy access to South Kensington for courses.
I stay in BS6 too, but it's literally on the border to clifton by whiteladies, village 20 min walk though. redland is nice too even though quiet.

IF just off the village

there

Where did you grow up OP? Where are your family now?
Maybe look at Sevenoaks.

I don't mean in total isolation, as i say redland is fine in bristol, and Park street etc, but I'm looking for somewhere I could walk to the station and be in london in 1.5hrs or less. As i say it doesn't haveto beexact replica, a similarity wd be fine. Clifton is not all expensive - lots of rundown inside building divided into studios/bedsits where students rent cheaply. cleaning ladies may live on the outskirts of a small city but the centre may be nearer the station - a bit like Salisbury. Surely that's not a 'poor' place but they have a lot of cleaning ladies/manual workers from surrounding villages etc. There aer a few modern low rise council places in clifton too btw. Why would that be not ok.

[waves at pinkredandpurple from somewhere very nearby]

It is possible to get bargains in Blackheath - my SiL bought a 3-bed house in the Cator estate, short walk to heath, station etc, a couple of years ago for less than £350k. It is quite tiny though, and was the Guardian's 'wreck of the week' on the their real estate page.

Mushroom, it's not very relevant as I lived abroad as a child, but in London from when i was 19. Looked at Sevenoaks - v.expensive (much more than clifton) and v.snooty. did get the right 'feeling'. Looked at Tunbridge Wells too, which has its pluses, but wd rather be in Bristol and commute for longer.
Give me a chance to look at Salisbury and other places on my new list! I travel around the UK so that's why Kent is out really as too far to most places.

I live and breathe the Glos Road as my local shopping street. Exotic....are you mad- best butchers, bakers, veg shops, shoe shop, charity shops, independant shops including some lovely little clothes shops, the two best toy shops in Bristol, what more can I say and I think I am qualified having lived in and around Bristol for the last 25 years. Glos Rd is the longest independent shopping street in Europe apparently. The things that have spoilt it are the things like Costa which are splashed all over Clifton Down (plus Starbucks, Boston Tea Party etc. It has fantastic coffee shops for all tastes including Tart and Coffee No 1, La Ruca and even the top end is improving with Grounded. I count myself very blessed to have access to such a lovely diverse shopping street.
Sorry rant over- I have refrained until now to rant!
Oh and very well said exexpat! Thank you!

350 and wreck of the week when you can get a good 3bed house in towns mentioned on thread for 290 (hopefully negotiable further) and in redland can get a house for that, much nicer one. Or a big maisonette in Clifton, a good one! My budget is under 300.
bs6 is quite big but if you aer near Whiteladies, yes, v.near! are you a sahm?

LOL (I think!) @ yr Derby comment OP. It's not that it's not nice (!) but that it is certainly not much like Clifton village.

However, as with many cities IME, there are areas that suggest that cafe/deli/nice houses vibe.

The house I posted is in an area next to one of Derby's lovely parks, a 10-min walk from town, with some nice shops and cafes; it also has a nice community vibe. A lot of people I know live in the area and do lots of good stuff. They also have good taste.

Here's another one, the view from the back garden is into the park, annual free classical concert plus fireworks held there every September.

The reason I don't is that with those town houses you don't get (much of) a garden which is a deal-breaker for me; also there is no parking and the streets are very narrow which would bug me twice a day, at least. But if you do without a car (possible there, esp with internet delivered shopping) then that's not an issue.

M44, everyone else acknowledged that it's full of exotic food shops, Vietnamese etc - anything offensive about that? what does it matter how long you lived there, i went to Gl rd a few times and saw it recently, I did mention good charity shops, yes there aer others as you say. So what? I happen to think it's nothing like as beautiful in the sense of great green spaces, view of the bridge, and tall graceful buildings - we all have different tastes and I wasn't talking anyone out of living near Gl rd, surely i can list my tastes on the thread where i ask about finding a place to live for me personally, without people getting offended?
I never said i want clifton in isolation, it can be attached to something nicer and smaller than the rest of bristol, that's all!
Cilfton down station is practical, and btw Costa is so clean and lovely staff there unlike most London costas, but i was comparing to the village itself not that area, which has more independent coffee shops, cafes, tapas cafe, delis, great fish and chips, and a mix of expensive and inexpensive homeware shops - many of the cafes are not at all pretentious just nice home made food. I prefer it, and so do many others - why don't you complain at Oblomov who is very extreme in his/hers views about Clifton? I said many times I 'm not against Gloucester rd, 'funky' is a compliment, it's not my preference though.

Clary you mean my loving that house? why is that lol - I'm sad! I wish hte rest was nicer (according to others it's not). That's my point - very good taste, so how Derby be bad if they like it?? is that what you lol at ? is it nicer than sheffiekd which i know (and is v.patchy)

Clary I don't mind a small garden, but narrow streets hmm not so great - is it green at all (the actual streets, not park)? It's not at the top of the list I must say, sounds like not much there in the centre, shame..

It's 'location, location, location' as usual. They preferred a smaller house (needing a bit of work - the 'wreck' description was actually mainly cosmetic) in Blackheath to somewhere bigger further out, for all the usual sort of reasons: beautiful area, all the greenery, near friends (they'd been living in the area for a while), keeping children at the same schools, etc. And their jobs are very much London-based; in fact they both cycle (or used to cycle) into central London from Blackheath.

I don't think you can get a house in Redland for £350k - nothing in streets round me goes for less than £500k. You could probably get a good sized 2/3 bedroom flat for that.

I am LOL-ing because I think you don't mean to be rude, you are just not really thinking what you are saying, which is fine.

You said (I am paraphrasing!) "goodness me how extraordinary - it's a nasty place apparently and yet some people with good taste live there! How can this be??"

I am taking it in good part

Not that I'm from Derby, but my kids are Yes, even in places which are not up to Clifton Village standards, some people have good taste! I don't think it sounds like the kind of place you would want to live, for lots of reasons (2 hrs to London for example, which is one reason why the prices are low.)

This is a nice place tho, I have lived all over and I rather like it here; nice schools, good shopping centre, cinemas, swimming pools, theatres, lots of parks, walk (from where I live) to open countryside, cheap housing, yes not so bad.

Have you looked at Cardiff?

Pontcanna has great cafe society stuff going on.

Or Splott perhaps.

had a look at your new link - not AS nice as the first one but still good and a lovely light garden! and park. My God - 239K for 4 bed! I just don't get it. Is it flood area though with the river close by? It's also near the Peaks , you dd think prices would be higher..

Clary I never said it was nasty - you really shouldn't quote if not accurate - someone else said it and i was surprised how can it be what with nice houses!