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.

To be honest you'd get a 3 bed for 250 k just about anywhere (with a few exceptions) in the UK outside of London and commuter belt.

Oakham is really nice. You would get a 3 or 4 bed detached for £250k. There are only 3 secondary schools in Rutland and all of them are rated as "outstanding" by OFSTED. The one in Oakham is very, very new and has a lots of sporting faciilities. There is, also, a brand new primary school in Oakham town centre, amongst many others, which are all very good.

Oakham is a small market town. There is a selection of shops, a library and a few cafes. There are parks scattered around, a castle and a museum. Further out, about 2 or 3 miles is Rutland Water. There you would find watersports, bird reserves, osprey nest there each year, cycle routes, walks, lots of parks, climbing wall, high ropes, boat trips.

Seks that's true, but I think OP wants somewhere naice, and the distance does matter.

sorry, that shld be Selks

allchange exactly. I want to live somewhere that is affordable possibly because it doesn't have good rail links to London not because it is a hole.

Schools (both primary and secondary) are also very important. So ideally I would love to have a recommendation of an area that can be reached by car from London in an hour maximum which has good schools.

So far in terms of proximity I think Reading and Horsham would probably be close enough but I know nothing about schools.

In the North East that would get you a lovely 4 bedroom place in the rural villages, which are nice, but probably not 'naice', so nevermind.

In York you could get this (wuth a small kitchen) or this or this which is about 30 metres from a lovely primary school. The quality fo life is excellent and train links are good though expensive to London.

You could get 5 bedrooms up north

Anywhere in Wales You could buy a lovely house with that sort of budget.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35389384.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38958053.html?premiumA=true

in catchment for good schools
park, shops woods nearby
WEst Quay a bus ride away
London 1 hour away

Shrewsbury / Ironbridge or Telford ( but you could get a 4 or even 5 bed for that in Telford)

We bought 4-bed, nice garden with decking, walking to school, shop, park, brownies etc, bus ride of 20 mins to Glasgow city centre, great neighbourhood, for £167k.

Highly recommend it!

Caterham, Surrey

Most of Derbyshire and lots of parts of Sheffield would fit the bill (and are great places to live)

Wiltshire - you'd get 4 beds in Warminster.

Sheffield.. or Chesterfield... Peak district on your doorstep!

Lincolnshire.

Stroud?

If you are looking at Reading you want East Reading / Wokingham borders for the best schools. Earley / Lower Earley / Woodley all have good schools and houses in your price range, good rail links into London - 30 mins to Paddington or 1 hour 20 to Waterloo (stopping train) and handy for M4, M3 and M40. I have found it to be really friendly here, loads for the kids to do, very near nice countryside and excellent shopping and eating out in town and surrounding country pubs.

Also west London by car from east Reading is around 45 minutes.

Another vote for Suffolk, but I did also live in Rutland for a while and it's on the 'nice places' list for us.

We did want to move closer to family but DD1 will be starting school in Suffolk and we might as well decide to stay here. All the schools in the small town where I live are good, it has enough shops to get by and the larger towns aren't that far. Good rail links to London/Cambridge if you want.

You'd get a lush place for that in or around Leeds.

dumbelina Yay for another Reading vote, us Readingites and very welcoming. Just to follow up on Reading, we are in Shinfield which is South/South Reading right on the M4 Junction and benefits on having a catchment for Schools in Lower Earley which as dumbelina says has good schools.

Horsham has got great schools. It's a town with lots of families - not terribly exciting for teenagers / young adults, but very nice.

Leicester or Warwickshire villages near Leicester market harborough or rugby stations would see you in London in an hour yet with a castle to live in! Pm me if you want to know specifics