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!

In my village there is everything you need on a day to day basis. Collingham is also like that but as a pp said don’t rely on public transport if you want to live in a village. We have 4 buses an hour into Lincoln but you can’t get a bus back after 7pm and not after 4:30 on a Sunday.

MrsP, well I wasn't saying I wanted a village specifically, but included that as I know some villages to have good buses (possibly villages which have almost morphed into suburbs of a large town - like where I live). It's more the case that I don't want to excliude villages but prefer a town. I had a look at Collingham and there's NO property under 200K apart from one shared ownership place! You were saying you go to Newark rather than Lincoln, so is that by driving or buses available?

crystal Ah Stoke - that's too far away from 'nice-ish' sadly, I've been thereto W edgwood museum - very smart and impressive (love ceramics), but the rown centre is sadly so down, I'd not feel saf walking from station in the evenins. I hope it gets better for the town's sake, it's the story of many industrail towns but nice to know cermacs aer still being made in small factories and that might be on the up. Re nicer areas of Crewe that you mentioned (thanks) - are they connected to the station by buses?

sorry, crystal - shocking number of typos!

I drive to Newark, I couldn’t survive where we live without driving but I have a child that does a million activities.

How did your visit to Crewe and Nantwich go? I hope you had a great weekend and you found your visit useful.

It’s going to be really tough finding a 2/3 bed house for under £150k within 2 hours to London with good public transport in a picturesque town. Although somewhere like Nantwich might offer you most of that there will be a compromise somewhere.

hi Happee, good to hear from you.
Yes it's tough so that's why I started the topic in case there aer hidden gems - and there are some ideas I need to look into. It doesn't haev to be a picturesque town - just not too boring, or fine if it's a bland place but within 30min to a picturesque town/city! Also I COULD srtetch to a bit over 150 (or at least asking price can be a bit over that).
I've managed to see Nantwich but ran out of time for Crewe! I would have had a quick ook at the town centre but was given wrong directions by a station staff who sent me along Nantwich rd, haha! So would haevto go back.
Nantwich is very nice - it wasw a sunny day so all lookedgreat, and also various shop people were surprisingly VERY friendly (I say that because I didn't notice that in Chester especially). I'd be quite pleased to have that as my nearest nice town but not necessarily to live there - prefer faster train to london nearby so Crewe still remains an option. I;ve asked you earlier what parts of Crewe are seen as safe and yet not far from station or a quick bus to station, if you happen to know? I was there just at the rush hour so Nantwich rd was chocoblock but as I saym, I didn't go the right way to see the centre.

I've just come across Telford - also cheap, does anyone know it? Not far from Shrewsbury which is nice.

Don’t forget East Anglia
Colchester, surrounding villages, Suffolk. Colchester main line to London under an hour

Bit late to this thread, but how about Cinderford in the Forest of Dean. Regular bus service to Gloucester and then under 2 hrs train to Paddington.

Telford is growing massively at the moment, and it does, surprisingly, have some nice areas but you do need to be careful. Probably a pain in the backside to get to London though as there's no direct train (change at Wolverhampton).

There's no issue with Telford town centre, largely because there isn't one! It has a shopping centre with a multi-story, but no outside shops or High Street. There are many satellite towns to Telford, i.e. Wellington (train station), Ironbridge (no train station), Shifnal (train station), Madeley etc, all are ok. And of course Shrewsbury is lovely and only about a half hour / 20 min drive. Wellington has the potential to become a trendy place, given time... but it's not there yet. It also has some pretty good schools in the area.

You could do a lot worse than Telford, actually. It has lots of new builds at the moment but there's a good mix of older properties at the lower end of the market but still in fairly nice areas.

Evesham, in Worcestershire? Under two hours to London, shoos, supermarkets, moderately attractive and a stone's throw from some lovely Cotswold villages and towns. Lots of two beds on Rightmove for £150k or less.

Shoos? Shops!

thank you for latest replies! Will read through properly tomorrow, but a quich one to FlatterNow
I thought of Evesham and was thinking of mentioning it, never been but I know it's near Worcester and fits my travel criteria - is there a catch? seems to be stragenly cheap for a place that ticks many boxes - crime rates? basic shopping?

I would look at wistaston, surrounding villages like haslington, and the new developments around the station - these areas are more expensive as they are considered to be the “best” areas of Crewe. Personally I like flag lane, the name of the road is pretty and the terraces are cute but they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Flag lane isn’t as posh as wistaston but totally safe and your budget will go further. It is also an easy walk to all the main areas you want - the town centre, bus station and train station. I would avoid the west end (which for some reason is towards the north of the town) and streets around Alton street.

The transport around Crewe is pretty good, busses go round the residential areas about every 15 mins like most major towns.

The town centre isn’t as nice as Nantwich and there isn’t as much to offer, that’s why most people go out in Nantwich but the transport is good and houses are affordable. Once HS2 happens it will be even quicker to London.

Crewe is a great location, it was built as a railway town with easy access to Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham and it still is an easy commute to all of those cities (and stoke). In my opinion it is an underrated town - there aren’t many areas of the uk within a commutable distance of most of the major cities in the uk where you can still buy a 2/3 bed house for under £100k in a “good area”.

Worcestershire person here - Evesham would tick your boxes. There's nothing wrong with it at all - it's just a bit quiet - so most people would either opt for a bigger city or town experience around here ( like Worcester, Warwick or Stratford) or go all out village/countryside.

It's not convenient for my family (we're Herefordshire side of county) but I'd definitely live there.

Mrs thanks for the ibfom so is it a bit of a pensiober town? (not that I mind really). Warwicxk I likewe but way too expensive. I need a bit of space so can go for tiny old cottage/small flat. I'd live in Worcester probably andsome property is around 150K but I'm assuming not in good areas? Also what do you think of Shrewsbury - again some house within budget but possibly transport links not that great.

Happee thanks for the detailed info - you do know your facts! So is around Nantwich rd not good/safe? How the heck do you pronounce Winstaston - what a word to trip your tongue over! I'll haev a look at Flag lane on map. Yes I asn't expecting much from the centre but still wanted to have a look because I"d still want some supermarkets or good chain places in any town I lived - even if the picturesque one is next door (nantwich). Just needed to see if it's ok at least.

Bessie thank you, I think I'll rule out Telford as no high street, but will look up Wellington - though if this is also via Wolv. to London, then it is as you say, pain in the backside.

bionic yes, thanks I did think of possibly Suffolk, but thought Colchester is expensive now! I'm wary of Suffolk (and ruled out NOrfolk) as they aer notorius for being cut off from the rest of the countyr kind of, slow trains etc. Yes London is ok from some, but as I understand trains go to Liverpooll st which is no good to me - I mainly do stuff around the SW/centre of London. But if you know of any that go to King's Cross let me know. I m not a fan of essex that's closer to london - and anyway it's even more expensive. Suffolk from what I've seen does haev very lovely little towns but sadly I can't rely on a car.

Mrs sorry I don't know what went wrong in my first paragraph with all the extra letters! and of course I meant 'can not go for a tiny cottage..'

Also, what about Lincoln? It sounds really nice but doesn;t seem to be popular (I suppose london connection not good).

Shrewsbury is lovely- I’d move there in a heartbeat! Lovely shops, lots of independents etc, but trains to London takes about 2.5 hours

What about Hartford, Northwich in Cheshire? 2hr 1min to London. It has 2 stations on 2 lines. Hartford to London or Greenbank to Chester or Manchester? Nice village.