Where to live in Wilts, Hants, Dorset?

[Curiouskaz]

DH and I are planning to move and are looking for recommendations. We like the countryside but no longer want to live in a village as we want to be able to walk to nice cafes, restaurants and pubs. DH likes golf, I want a good gym and swimming pool. We both want to be able to make new friends. We have in mind a market town and so far Petersfield, Romsey, Lymington and Salisbury are on the radar. We don't have a huge budget (eg Winchester out of the question, Lymington looking tight), but we don't need to worry about schools or access to London so I'm guessing that gives us more options?

We're in Romsey, and it's lovely.
We have a summer and winter carnival, and outside carols at Christmas.
In the summer we also have the Beggars Fair folk music & dancing.
Currently the bollards in the centre have been 'yarn bombed'.
Romsey Rapids is a swimming pool & gym, but there is a David Lloyd Leisure < 5 miles away.
We have a Nero & a Costa, and a number of independent cafes.
The local Am Dram owns its own theatre.
Depending on your interests there are various groups that give talks, and there is a Men's Shed.
We walk out along the canal where we occasionally see a kingfisher.
There used to be a saying 'so drunk he must have been to Romsey'.

Romsey is lovely but very quiet in the evenings - most places (shops etc) shut fairly early. I preferred Haslemere to Petersfield; more "villagey". Sister lives in Bridport (West Dorset) which I love and if work wasn't a problem I'd live there, but is very far west.

Agree, Romsey isn't a late opening kinds of place.
That's one of its good points in my view!

Romsey is lovely and 15 mins from Southampton on the train for nights out. Lymington is lovely but seems a bit... retired. Lyndhurst also looks nice. Ringwood gets good reviews on here.

I agree with the above. You mentioned Dorset too - how about Wimborne / Blandford? Lovely market towns.

Lymington is fab but similar price range to Winchester I'd have thought.

Sherborne? Fordingbridge?

Lyndhurst gets gridlocked in summer, but is obviously much more in the countryside as it is in the New Forest.
You can get to Bath on a direct train from Romsey.

Salisbury is lovely with beautiful countryside and much better value than the New Forest. Good cultural life too with the Playhouse, nice pubs and bars, quite a lot going on music wise etc.

Christchurch is lovely as is neighbouring Southbourne

Marlborough, Devizes, Wootton Bassett, Cricklade, Malmesbury, Tetbury
All v nice in North Wilts.

Just over the Wiltshire/Somerset border is Frome, which might tick some boxes.

Salisbury and the surrounding area, Warminster, possibly Westbury, also all possibilities.

Stupid money for a home in Lymington, it's very nice living here but not sure it's "that" nice!

I had reason to go well into Dorset the other weekend. If you don't need reasonably easy access to London, I'm sure you'd get more for your money down there- it's a beautiful county, especially around Blandford. I had to go to Sturminster Newton, and there were some absolutely incredible views across the valley from there. No idea what it's like to live there, but may be worth some research, I went through some very pretty villages as well.

If the New Forest is an area that interests you, have a look at Ringwood. I think it's quite nice there.

I've always liked Romsey too.

Do you work? That might limit your options.

I lived in Romsey and loved it. The David Lloyd pool at Lordshill has a heated outdoor pool, which I miss a lot. (I also miss being nearer the sea, but work is where it is.) Romsey is close to Southampton, which means you also have the option of things like the Mayflower theatre and the city art gallery. There are some great walks up the Test Valley.

I lived in Whitchurch at the other end of the Test, which I also enjoyed, but while it is a town - Hampshire's smallest - it might be too small for you.

Dorchester could be an option. Good pool and gym, and Came Down golf club. Lots of walks and so on.

Lors of towns in these counties would be suitable at first glance, so do you have other criteria to help narrow it?

We go to Bournemouth and Sandbanks a lot on holidays and I would love to live in Sandbanks in the future when my daughter has finished school .

Trouble with Sandbanks is it's the 4th or 5th most expensive place in the world for property...

Marlborough is nice in itself (DH comes from there), with lots of access to countryside.
But the nearest 'big place' is Swindon which I don't think is as pleasant as say Winchester/Southampton which are close to Romsey.

Thanks everyone! Some really useful pointers there which have helped clarify the thinking. Lots of visits to some lovely market towns coming up then (obvs testing out local independent cafes, pubs and restaurants as part of the research)!

I lived in Southampton a while ago and have to go there quite a lot. There are nice and pricey suburbs to the north and west but most of the actual city is not very nice.

A lot of Winchester is very nice but the houses are very £, £1m does not go far. All the white flight out of London!

I live in West Wilts pretty much equi distance from Bath and Salisbury which suits us. The downside is it takes an age to get up to the M4, for travel further afield or down to the coast, which I miss.
Property is much cheaper here than Hampshire and Dorset though. Frome in Somerset and similarly Bruton are very popular on here and with escapees from London but personally I can't see the draw of Frome.