Moving back to the UK - but where? Help us!

[LadyBrienne]

So we've been away a while (years in fact) and we're moving back

But we need help knowing where - open to anywhere in England, Scotland or Wales

Preferences:

1. in or near a small town (thinking York / Worcester size)
2. very good high school
3. very good university
4. good train links
5. good hospital

Any bright ideas?

Wilmslow in Cheshire? We used to live here and DH commuted down to London 3 days a week. Train is 2hours.
Altrincham in Trafford also up that way. Some of the highest performing schools in the country. Excellent commuting into Manchester. But not cheap, similar prices to lots of SE commuter towns.

I live near Worcester, and I love the area. I'm in Pershore which has a very inclusive high school (nb, we are a middle school area so they start in yr8) which has an autism base if that is of interest. We have a train station (cheap but takes 2 hours to London) and a new parkway station is being built which may get an express service and will have trains to Birmingham as well.

However the University question depends on what subject. Worcester isn't bad, but not a Russell group - however if commuting is an option then Birmingham uni is on the direct rail line

Winchester meets all criteria. Lovely small city. Good state and private schools. Very reasonable hospital. An hour to London.

I know you mentioned York. It is lovely and fits all of your criteria. It's 2 hours to London on the train.

calon I went to Hereford Sixth Form, it's excellent, but the secondary schools have taken a massive dip in recent years and I wouldn't be happy sending my kids to any of them, perhaps St Mary's/Whitecross at a push.

Middle East to Kent here. Canterbury ticks all of those boxes, although it is obviously a small city. We chose Folkestone as we loved the proximity to the beach, countryside and London. We haven’t been disappointed - it’s idyllic!

Sheffield ticks most of your boxes

wow - lots to look at - thanks so much - this gives me some great material to research

Op just to say that a lot of the places mentioned here are NOT small towns, Sheffield, York, Oxford, Nottingham, Leeds, Bristol are all cities, some of those are among the biggest cities in the country actually.

OTOH if you want to live near a very good uni then you probably are looking at a city, unless you fancy Warwick (Leamington Spa, deffo a town) or Loughborough. But if you want to live somewhere like York then you want a city anyway. Not trying to be clever btw, just flagging up some inconsistency. I have lived in small towns (Whitby, Spalding) and would not recommend it 😀

@clary - those cities have satellite towns though! The one I mentioned is a few miles outside of the city

I would also say somewhere near Bristol, if you want close transport links to London. Swindon is also good for transport links but not from the Uni side (although Cirencester has the Agricultural Uni!).

Bournemouth near the sea, has a uni, grammar school system two hours by train to London.

If you are commuting to London daily for work and live over an hour commute/ outside M25 factor in the cost of your season ticket when calculating your costs.

You mentioned York in your OP. It pretty much meets all of your criteria. If you choose to live centrally then it’s very much (small) city life but you could live in one of the smaller towns or villages just outside if you wanted to live somewhere smaller.

I don't think many small towns have amazing universities and hospitals.

Go for a nice part of a nice city - like York as you mentioned :-)

Yes flumpy, West Bridgeford lovely!! Bit ££ tho

I also think it's a bit unusual in that it is a nice separate town. Sheffield is a big city. The small town might be Chesterfield actually - in fact that's not a bad idea OP, decent hospital, close to unis in sheffield and Nottingham, good schools, train to London hmmm 2hrs maybe?

Stirling / Bridge of Allan / Dunblane

Depending on where you need to be in London have a look at the closest stations and where they would take you.

Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 bigger houses for more than half the price! What about ayrshire? Surrounded by the country side and 20 minutes from Glasgow our unofficial capital!

@missmoody - I'll add it to the research list - thx

Something near Oxford or Cambridge. Another weightful factor you how or where do you work also matters here I guess.

Exeter
Bath
Bristol- less amazing links to London but still a good shout.

All three are big hearted small walkable cities which meet all your criteria. Great neighbourhoods, schools, health care. Also close to some lovely countryside and coasts.