Please can you suggest locations in the UK where I could buy a 3 bed house for £250k?

[CobOnTheCorn]

We're looking to relocate after a change of lifestyle. We've always lived in or near London and commuted and paid a premium for property at the same time. I've now decided not to work for the next few years while the children are young so I fancy living somewhere different.

I'd love to buy an affordable house with a garden and idealy walking distance to schools, shops and a park would be fantastic.

Norfolk

We're in SE London/kent borders and it's still possible to get a 3 bed house here for that money (2 houses in my street have just sold for that amount) so I'm sure anywhere slightly further out will be well within your budget.

What about Chelmsford/Colchester? Good schools and decent journey time to London.

Another vote for Lincolnshire, lovely villages and countryside plus beautiful city of Lincoln.

actually it's not its linked to the other link someone used... probably as I clicked on theirs first! oops

East Yorkshire? Beverley is nice (and the most expensive town! In my town you could get a huge detached period house for £250,000).

Thanks for the link QuickQuickSleigh. It seems that the nearest secondary school is 5 miles away though. A bit further than I would like.

Ok, to answer questions. I don't need to live near to London and in theory I could live anywhere in the country. But I have to admit to being a bit scared when I hear some suggestions that are very far away.

The two issues that scare me are access (it looks like DP and I are splitting, hence me relocating) but I would want the children to see him regularly.

Secondly the practicalities of looking. I could easily catch a train to Norfolk (for example) one weekend and line up heaps of places to see but I should probably set a limit in terms of radius. I've always liked the sound of Chesire but is that a bit too far?

No roots that I want to return to. I grew up in the Midlands and I could live there cheaply but I'm not close to my family and the reasons i left the area still apply.

Although property is cheap in the city I grew up in, there is a reason for it! It's not a place I would like my children to grow up in.

However when I think of counties like Suffolk and Dorset they sound lovely but I really don't know them very well. So I need to learn specifically about some towns and cities and the amenities therein. In particular schools. I'm right a the beginning of my search so I'm sorry to be so vague.

VelvetSpoon that's interesting. I watched an old Kirstie and Phil programme recently about Chelsfield which I'd never heard of before but they kept mentioningg good schools and outside spaces. Is that the kind of place you mean?

We're in Shrewsbury (Shropshire - midlands) which is a lovely town and you could get a fab house for your budget.

Suburbs of Chester. Good schools. Nice small City. 2 hrs on train to London. Close to Manchester and Liverpool airports etc

We bought our 4 bed detached house in Lincs this year for £165k. It is fully central heated and double glazed with 3 reception rooms, a utillity room, a downstairs loo and a garage with offstreet parking for 2 cars. We have views over open fields and we are a 10 min walk to the shops. The village has 2 schools ( primary and secondary ), a library, police station, numerous lovely shops, pubs and cafes including a butchers, two bakers and a greengrocers ( who deliver Christmas trees for free ), a leisure centre with pool, a post office, doctors' surgery, dentist, and churches. We are less thn 10 minutes to the nearest motorway, 45 mins to the seaside and 15 mins to a giant Tesco if required ( who also deliver). Come and live here!

We live in a nice part of north cardiff where you can buy a nice 3 bed for that

There is also a state grammar school with a FANTASTIC reputation 13 miles away as well as the local academy.

iloveblue I went to a wedding in Shrewbury once and it did seem lovely and coincidentally I know two people who have moved back to Shropshire.

I didn't mean to be rude about the Midlands as a whole, I always said that where I grew up was surrounded buy lots of other lovely areas but the city itself wan't very nice on lots of levels.

Suburbs of Glasgow - bearsden, milngavie, bishopbriggs. Stirling.

I used to love living in Chester. I would so move back there.

Shrewsbury/Shropshire is lovely, within your budget, easy links to Birmingham airport and on a direct train route to London. I also like the fact that it is lovely and 'green', but central to pretty much everywhere (it's why we are moving there!)

For £250K:

Spring Gdns

Mytton oak

Both of these are new builds, but there are some lovely places (Mytton Oak has 2 primary schools and 2 secondary schools in walking distance)

christmoss I was going to say north Cardiff. I live in a very cheap street in a nice area of north Cardiff, 3 bed houses in our street go for less than your budget if you don't mind flat rooves if you do mind that you can still get a house in your budget and Cardiff has good rail links to London, mega bus and all the shops you would ever want.

poshfrock wow, where you live does indeed sound great. This is really helping to open my eyes to lots of lovely areas that are not London centric.

North Wilts.

Balls, they didn't work (I don't know why?)

Rightmove, Shrewsbury, SY1 is Spring Gardens, SY3 is Mytton Oak. Lots and lots of properties for 250

some parts of sutton coldfield- west midlands.

We have sutton park. T'is fab.

And FANTASTIC schools

Agree with Lincolnshire.

We have a 3 bed house in a nice village with a stream (pubs, schools, shop, butchers, docs, park) 4 miles from city centre for under 200k.

250k would buy a large 4 bed here

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39353795.html?premiumA=true