Where to live in SW England

[PhoebeMcPeePee]

We're looking to down-size and relocate for a better quality of life & have narrowed it down (ish!) to the SW of England although probably not as far south as Cornwall. We hoping for:

Nice friendly village with good state primary & secondary schools.

Reasonably priced housing stock (£375k wanting 4 bed preferably period detached but can be flexible on this)

Relatively cheap cost of living (ie less than current SE commuter belt area where c/tax is £250pm, children's swimming lessons £90 a term each, childcare £12-14ph for 2 children)

Drivable to decent town for shopping, leisure centre & jobs etc

Day-trip distance of the coast would be a real plus

We have no ties to the area, confident we can both get new (albeit lower paid) jobs, make new friends etc & family already live miles away from us so very open-minded about location but not even sure what we're hankering after exists!
Anyone?

Tisbury in wiltshire might fit the bill. 17 miles from Salisbury , about 10 from mere. My grandchildren live there . I also lived there in the early seventies for a while.Southampton about 50 minutes drive and Exeter is only 90 miles away.Tisbury village is only a couple of miles from Salisbury plains. There is a lot of beautiful countryside very nearby. Mere is the nearest town large supermarket . Tisbury has a small supermarket. I was a very happy bunny when I lived there .

Ps weymouth is less than an hours drive , and yeovil somerset is only a short drive

The SW is a wonderful place to live. How about:
Totnes
Penzance okay, so it's Cornwall but fits the bill in other ways

Good luck

CHEDDAAAAAR!!!! :) or basically the cheddar valley.

Thanks I'll have a look at all those places roneik your link doesn't seem to work

If you want something a bit bigger than a village, I can recommend Portishead.

By the sea (well, Bristol Channel!)
25 mins drive to Bristol
On the M5 - excellent access to all directions by motorway
Excellent primaries and secondary school
Marina - posh yachts!
Lovely scenery and walking
Heated open air pool
Good community feel
Property of all ages (new build, 60s, period) to suit all tastes and sizes

But
No train yet (planned for 2019)
Growing fast - some facilities under strain but being addressed
Not desperately diverse, culturally speaking.

I could go on...

Bumping for you

North Somerset:-

Portishead (as above)
Backwell (outstanding primaries and secondary)
Nailsea (a little cheaper than above, but more facilities than B.well)

All near to Bristol and great accessible facilities with the coast very near. Just a slightly frustrating 'country' attitude to get over and very 'who you know', or more realistically, how many generations of your family have lived/still live in the area. Think you'd find this anywhere in the SW though!