Can anyone please recommend a nice-ish town/large village to buy on a low budget (under 150K)?

[CatAndHisKit]

Would be very grateful for suggestions, if such a place exists!

Needs to have:
good public transport (essential), can be either a train station or a GOOD frequent bus service to a nice town and/or a major train station;
access to London under 2hrs, ideally about an hour;
some shops if it's a large village or suburb, and some eateries, also not miles away from a proper supermarket;
low crime rate;
either a picturesque location or not far from a nice town with old architecture - something attractive about the area rather than totally modern estates or dull landscape with no parks;
a nice park or area for walks/fresh air nearby.

Schools not important, but prefer it not to be a retiremen location, or at least have a bit of mix of ages there.

Must have 2 beds and ideally 2 bathrooms (or bathroom + cloakroom) if it's a usual sized house, but extra storage (i.e. loft or outbuilding) needed if it's on a smaller side. Small garden fine.

I've travelled around quite a bit but it tends to be cities and towns and don't know / impossible to visit all the large villages!

If anyone wants to DM me instead of advertising their location, please do!

How often would you want to travel to London?

A frequent and reliable bus service looks very different if you are commuting every day compared to visiting friends and family on a regular basis

Swindon, or at least the surrounding villages for something not new-build soulless (Highworth, Royal Wootton, Purton, Wroughton etc)

Train = 1 hour to Paddington, 25mins to Bath, 30 mins to Bristol, 30 mins ish to Reading

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E27466&minBedrooms=2&maxPrice=220000

Hastings? This place is a bit over budget but maybe you could bargain it down? www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55232856.html

Loughborough?

Parts of Nottingham, e.g Long Eaton/Beeston meet most of your requirements. I think you're unlikely to get a village location with the rest of your requirements for that budget unless you'd consider flats.

Bit left field but Doncaster? It’s not got the best reputation but some parts of it are lovely and have a very village feel, tickhill, Sprotborough etc

You can guy a lovely house for your budget. It is very close to York for a more historic and cultural feel and less than two hours into Kings Cross

Wellingborough?

Look at Melton Mowbray area, prices have gone up but still property around £150k.

If you’re on FB there’s a great group called Newbies in Folkestone which will have the answer to many questions. Also We Love Folkestone is popular with people considering making the move. Both of those are worth a lurk 😁. There’s always plenty to do for all ages and a lot of it is cheap or free as it is subsided by The Creative Foundation. They have a new and good website called Folke.life which showcases the town. Many people have either moved down from London or across from Brighton (similar vibe I believe to Brighton as it was ten or so years ago) so v easy to make new friends. Trains are expensive; DH pays approx 6k a year for HS1 (I think about 70 a day peak, but not 100% sure and I’m and I’ve gone up off peak for less than 30 with a railcard from memory) but service is v good and he always gets a seat which is more than can be said for when we lived in London. However, the consensus on those FB pages say the trade off for the high commute costs is more than offset by cheaper rent / mortgage repayments. We have beautiful downs and countryside behind us, the most glorious coastline and Europe on our doorstep for weekends. Personally, I love the diverse architecture here and even a walk around town just looking at buildings is interesting. As for amenities, everything we could need is walking distance, plus Caterbury and Ashford are 10 / 15 minutes drive away (with frequent buses) so I feel as well connected as we did in larger towns/cities. Best move we’ve ever made 😁.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55415157.html

How often do you need to go to London? I live in a village about 20m drive from Newark and I go down once a week or so. I leave home at 6:15, get the 6:45 train and get to Kings Cross by 8:15. It’s a long day but I get to live in the countryside with a very low crime rate.

There is supposed to be a major redevelopment of the town centre of Crewe (but it hasn’t happened yet), most locals go out in Nantwich which is really close and has nice bars/restaurants and the picturesque market place that you want.

Crewe isn’t far from Manchester/ Stoke so people go shopping there for the major chain shops or to the nice little boutiques in Nantwich.

Crewe is very good value for money with excellent transport links but the town centre doesn’t have as much to offer - there are quite a few shops, but a lot like Next, M&S and Boots have moved to a big retail park.

Nantwich doesn’t have a station like Crewe so that’s your main compromise (together with price - you may get something for £150k but it won’t be anything like as spacious as Crewe and probably on a more main road). sandbach is probably the middle ground between Crewe and Nantwich,it has the picturesque town centre but less shops, does have a train station and arguably the best schools in the area.

If it was me I’d choose Nantwich or sandbach but for £150k you would be looking at a 2 bed terrace not a 3/4 bed house. It depends on what you see as most important on your list. If you are happy with a 2 bed terrace you can get one in Crewe for £80k and save the rest of your budget!

Tbh you need to visit a lot of the places and see what they have to offer - I wouldn’t buy anything without trying to live there first.

Been busy so couldn't respond sooner but am reading all replies with interest - thank you!

Happee, I'm going to Nantwich this week to have a look, and Crewe obvs. Where in Crewe would you suggest is a better/safer area? I can see on map that the centre is quite a hike from the station, so would you say better to be closer to station, maybe off Nantwicg rd or is it v.busy there? and which side is the retail park?
No I wouldn't really want a squashed 2-bed terrace, 2-bed semi is fine or a 3 bed terrace but on a nice-ish street, not amongst rentals. I mean 2-bed terrace might be fine of there is extra storage or it's a wider house and a nice street (not busy).
I have travelled around a lot but the NW is my only 'gap' - don't know at all. Been to Chester only. I'm an ex-Londoner but lived in Bristol and elsewhere. The problem is I need to downsize for various reasons from where I am now (you can get this price in my town but only in rough-ish areas).

MrsPnut I should have mentioned that I def don't need to be in London daily! I go once a week max, but currently even less often, though would prefer an option not to stick to non rush hour trips as tickets are horredously costly once it's more than an hour of a trip!
Your situation sounds very nice - but am I corret in thinking there aer no frequent buses from any of those nice villages? Also I wouldn't want to be without shops so has to be a large active village. In newark itself - or in villages are there supermarkets (rather than have to dsrive to retail parks)? I did go to Newark to have a look and didn't really like it but may have been a bad day - I thought it was very small and people a bit grumpy, but the villages do sound good and the train times. So possibly should have another look.Lincoln might be nicer further out.

Lurks thank you for all the info - great to see someone being totally happy about their new place! I sort of like the idea of seaside towns, but my only issue is, they are so far from anywhere else (even if London connection is quite good) so you end up staying in your area all the time. But the ticketys not as expensive as I thought, esp for HS1! if it's 30 something peak, that's half of what I now pay for day off peak return! How long does it take - an hour? So yes - is Folke connected well to any other useful places, I suppose Canterbury. Otherwise does sound great in many ways.

Doncaster - haha it is quite left field ( sorry can't look at poster's name while on this page). I've never been, but isn't the crime rate high? been to York quite a few times. Strangely I don't thibkn I'd want to live there - not just because it's just too far, also it's too much of a museum-city. Nice to visit of course!

sorry, Happee, some words seem to be missing from my reply to you! bit late so haven't read before posting.

Be very careful of committing yourself to a village reliant on a bus service - these are being cut and timetables changed all the time.
When you find an area eg NW - I would rent somewhere for a few months before you buy - so that you will really know if it is for you....and you can check out nearby towns etc

DH felt exactly the same about being ‘away from all the action’ (he kept worrying about having ‘our backs to the wall’ before we offered on this place to the point where we very nearly discounted the area) but can hand on heart say it’s not been an issue at all. It’s less than an hour to St Pancras so he still goes all over the country for work throughout the week for much the same travel time as when we were in suburbia and we do also use the channel tunnel a fair bit for weekend breaks (Belgium, Holland, France all obviously easy reach). We still go into London for theatre, concerts, sports events - it’s really not been much different to living on the fringes. Another pleasant upside is that people actually want to visit us more as we live in what is becoming a pretty popular seaside town so it’s been lovely exploring with friends and family...some are even contemplating following us!

Godmanchester
Room in the utility to put in a downstairs loo. Godmanchester is lovely. Huntingdon isn't great but the station is handy and less than an hour to London. Lack of inside photos suggests a fixer upper but be aware its G2 listed so you won't easily be able to change the outside.

Should add that I have no idea about public transport from godmanchester itself (though unlikely to be an issue). 35 minute walk to Huntingdon station/bus station. Hourly bus to Cambridge, Hourly train to London.

Wistaston is considered to be the “posher” bit of Crewe or one of the surrounding villages like Haslington. You could also look round the station, there are quite a few newer houses there that would be within your budget.

Re. Newark, there's Collingham which has a decent train service. I think Newark comes across as kippish because they made a lot of noise at the Mercer by-election but I don't think they got anywhere.

Close to the station, Colchester
www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/49439554?search_identifier=37a2b3c08bc7910ccb488a308737ec21

I dislike Newark too...unsure why... I just don't like it! Some great villages nearby as pps mentioned. If you're after a town, Southwell is lovely and very naice, albeit expensive.

Isle of Wight?

In Crewe, some areas off Nantwich Road are considered a bit rough. Wistaston, Shavington and Haslington are considered better areas. Nantwich is higher end, but you will pay considerably more for a much better town centre and schools.

Stoke on Trent could be somewhere to consider - Trentham and Barlaston are lovely areas. Stoke needs more generation but there's a very rich cultural history associated with the ceramics industry and you can pick up period feature houses for extremely reasonable prices. Good luck!