Best place to live in the UK

[crazyhorses3]

Where is the best place to live in the UK in your opinion and why? I am looking to move and have been searching for some time without success so thinking about looking in a new area. It's doing my head in. I want to live a rural/semi rural life but reasonably close to good transport links and culture. Friendly people. a decent airport within a couple of hours, good community. Half of me wants to live in a rural community with great views etc, but the other half does not want to travel too far for a culture fix/shops/airport/train station etc. I work from home. Perhaps I'm asking far too much.

Love Edinburgh, East Lothian and Borders. I have been looking there for a while , but can't find anything!!!

If you do look at Leicestershire look at Woodhouse Eaves, Newtown Linford, and Ulverscroft.

I'd say Chester or Exeter areas for me, but also North Warwickshire / South Leicestershire. From Rugby you're under an hour to London by train and half an hour to Birmingham. Birmingham Airport is half an hour by road or 20 mins by train and East Midlands is less than an hour up the M1. And within an hour you also have Leicester, Nottingham, Lichfield, Northampton, Warwick, Stratford for your culture fix. Check out the villages already listed by others.

www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/46711569 very popular village and what a view!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E313&maxPrice=550000&minPrice=400000&radius=1.0&propertyTypes=detached%2Csemi-detached%2Cterraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses&includeSSTC=false
A selection for you here near Chester!

Not even this with a seaview OP?

I live in south Worcestershire, and its great. I live in a tiny town, but we have a railway station with direct line to London, swimming pool, community theatre/cinema, and good food shops. Less than 45 minutes to Birmingham airport or into Birmingham centre with all the facilities there, but also close to Cheltenham, Worcester where theres a lot of culture

Carlisle - I moved here from Yorkshire and wouldn't move back.

Plenty of open space, loads of nature walks, close to Lake District.

It's got a lot of history, Carlisle Castle and Tullie House museum are good.

It's still a city so plenty of shops, decent rail links. 20 minutes from Scotland, 30 minutes from Lake District.

Another vote for Winchester. You must be able to find something at £550k. An hour to Heathrow and less than two from Gatwick. Less than an hour from London. It has its own theatre etc.

It's deffo only 2 hours. I used to go to uni in Aberystwyth but my BF lived west of Worcester. I used to leave just before 11 on Monday morning and get to Aberystwyth for my 1.15pm lecture. I was in a Honda Civic!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60534436.html

My brother in law lives in this area and it's great.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59531404.html

Easy to train into Bristol

I live in that area, and it is great! Moved from London a few years ago and get all my culture fixes in Bristol. Lush, green countryside on our doorstep.
We rented a few doors down from the second property Rhubarb has linked and so know the area well. From that property it's a mile and a half (approx) walk to stroud train station for trains to london or Cheltenham. And a great pub a few steps away from the front door.

Winchester is lovely (I used to live there) but £550k won't get you much, it's almost as expensive as London.

Have you thought about Oxford? That ticks the same boxes and it's a bit cheaper.

Tunbridge wells
Everyone who lives here thinks it is the best place on earth to live. Seriously. Practical Centre, beautiful pantiles lovely coffee and cake and boutiques, beautiful manicured parks (dunorlan for example) and also wonderful wild forests. All open to the public and free.
Good theatre. Good restaurants. Lots of independent bars and restaurants.
A real sense of community.
Bliss

Thanks for all suggestions. I have been to see some of the houses in the links, others i had saved on right move. At the moment i have just moved into rental and am not liking it much. Got to find a proper home. All suggestions gratefully received!

I moved to Edinburgh from London and love, love, love it. All the cultural fixes I want in walking distance, beach in 20 mins, hills in 10, mountains in an hour and a quarter. Perfectly possible to do it the other way around and live in countryside just outside the city. In fact, as another poster has said, much of Scotland fits your bill. Have also lived just outside Glasgow before - another brilliant city, better countryside but much wetter.

I've a lovely five bedroom house for sale in Great Lumley, close to Durham city, the coast and the countryside. Just a suggestion

crazy horses, have you been checking ESPC for Edinburgh and E Lothian ? Most properties not advertised on Rightmove. I also know a good property finder (think Kirsty and Phil) if you need one!

ideally, I don't want to spend more than £500,000, three good sized doubles and a nice garden. North Berwick and East Lothian are my main targets. I know the Stroud area well and have been looking there, but for family reasons Scotland is the best option. I know Edinburgh well, but am looking for something that at least gives the illusion of countryside but with good transport links and things going on. A lot of East Lothian is hard to access without a car, and i need to think about that for the non driver in the family.. I know Dorset to some extent, but find it a bit too sleepy. Bristol and surrounding areas are great, but it's a big commuter belt, and priced accordingly. I have an elderly mother in Edinburgh and other family members in the area so would like to be somewhere where we know some people.

If you want to message me, I will send you the name of my property finder

Roslyn is also worth a look - very pretty, close to Edinburgh and tonnes of buses so easily accessible on public transport

(South West) Sheffield
Peak District
Harrogate
Chester

Would whoever it was who sent me the link for the north Berwick house send it again? I had it saved on right move but can't; find it. I had seen the house already but it is a semi, and i would prefer detached. It looks good though so worth another look but it's disappeared!