Artsy liberal places to live in the U.K.? (But still beautiful)

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We live in London but our work is going wfh pretty much completely. We both wfh part time, but now it looks like it’ll be permanently that way, with maybe one meeting a week in London.

DH and I like living in London, but open to moving and our young DS does not like living in london. Whenever we go to the countryside for the day he says “can we move here?!”. So now we’re thinking maybe we’ll try out living somewhere else.

We are from London so actually don’t know much of the UK!

Can anyone suggest a liberal, artsy place to live that is beautiful and has a great community? The thing I like best about london is how easy it is to find a very friendly community.

No idea where to start!!!

Our family is London or SE, friends London or SE / SW so somewhere easy to get back to for that.

Any suggestions welcome! And we will start taking day trips!

Leigh-on-sea

Totnes

I think you will find your people wherever you go. Also you will find people with different views, but that’s no different from London. I think in your position I would seriously consider schooling (If state whether you want to undertake the 11 plus or not) and also how rural you want to be- if you’re trying to accommodate your family would they be happy with a house in a small town, or are you looking for a village location or the middle of a field?

As soon as you said Artsy ithought St. Ives?

Hebden Bridge.

Bridport

Buxton

Folkestone is very arty and has high speed train to St Pancras.

I also thought of Hendon Bridge

I immediately thought of both Frome & Totnes - lol yoghurty types Both have a very liberal bent, independent shops, markets, but also a lot of hippy-esque vibes too.

Hebden Bridge (autocorrect fail)

Frome or Bath?

If you want liberal, maybe look at areas that voted “remain” outside of London. York did and York is lovely

I immediately thought of Hastings too.

Hastings \ Saint Leonard's

Another one for Frome.

Cambridge
Oxford (absolutely stunning countryside around it)

There is perhaps a slight distinction to be made between what might be called (tongue firmly in cheek) ‘crunchy’/hippy places (Frome, Totnes, Hebden Bridge I think) and places with lots of culture/bookish types (York, Oxbridge, Bath, also Norwich which I don’t think anyone has mentioned).

Crossover criteria would be Labour/remain voters - and obviously some places are large enough to fit into both camps - (Bristol, Edinburgh, many more).

I’m sure there are exceptions to this distinction (Brighton maybe? Bridport?) and perhaps my examples are nonsense (I don’t know every place intimately) but I do feel the two are getting a bit blurred so far!

God no. I would probably die of claustrophobia and boredom if I lived in Hebden Bridge.
You could call it artsy - if we were still in 1990. Compared to other parts of the country suggested above, the feeling of HB is dull and dated as anything. It feels a bit sad.
Don’t get me wrong, the surrounding countryside is great to visit for the day.
There are some amazing walks very close by and we drive out to visit them regularly but honestly, it’s wet, grey and transport links are not good.

Yellow
There is perhaps a slight distinction to be made between what might be called (tongue firmly in cheek) ‘crunchy’/hippy places (Frome, Totnes, Hebden Bridge I think) and places with lots of culture/bookish types (York, Oxbridge, Bath, also Norwich which I don’t think anyone has mentioned).

Without a doubt this!
London ‘Artsy’ is very different to Hebden Bridge ‘Artsy’ I fear...

Apart from the farmers market there is nothing special about Stroud, unless you like groups of young drunks wandering the streets, drug problems, horrendous traffic and graffiti. Do these people that recommend Stroud actually live there, or are they going on here say?

*hear say

Totnes may be too far for you but it’s fabulous! Arty, lefty, real sense of community. River running through it with seals in the estuary further down and surrounded by stunning countryside and easy access to beaches. On a main line to Paddington but it’s not commutable.

I guess the other thing to bear in mind is what sort of house you'll get for your money if you move out of London

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-90728315.html

Cambridge great for arts/intellect in a different way