Aspirational Places to Live Outside London?

[Catycity]

Just curious and wanted to canvas opinion. What do you consider to be aspirational places to live outside London?

London is up there, but there’s a lot of talk that covid has changed the dynamics a bit. Also, London is a big place and not all parts of London are aspirational places to live.

Outside of London, where else would you consider as an aspirational place to live? It could be towns, villages or cities...

Aspirational? . But I’ll play.

Poole...Sandbanks to be specific. Oh to be able to afford a house there, beachfront naturally

Otherwise Cotswolds. I live in Scotland though and am perfectly happy here tbh.

@Lightsabre

St Albans and Surrey are great but for any dynamic events or entertainment they have London just a train ride away. Do they have much going on their own doorsteps?

Edinburgh has it all in one. A price tag to go with it. Cold though too...

Cheltenham has its own festival scene as well as being a sought after location.

I guess we all aspire to different things. A mix of everything sounds good, hence why Brighton or Bournemouth we’re good ideas as they’ve got the seaside too!

Wokingham was very well to do when I lived there.

If jobs/family/money were no limit, I’d probably live in Sandbanks. Or alternatively, if I had a decent budget - Winchester, Cotswolds or Bristol. I also love York.

My Dad lives in Poole and there is always lots going on.
I'm from Oxfordshire and Oxford town centre is very cosmopolitan but also expensive. In my fantasy life I live here with this view over the Otmoor nature reserve. In reality I actually like living in a market town and walking to the shops.

@MoirasRoses

I’ve known two different sets of family friends who moved to York. They were fine for a few years and said that York is a great place to visit with loads of Interesting history. But they didn’t want to live there any more so they left. Apparently they struggled to establish good social groups of friends.

@Namechangetoshowhouse

I love the spiral bookcase in that lounge!

Maybe this Daily Mail (sorry!) article has answered my curiosity.

Do you live in one of the 50 best places in the UK? A pretty part of Hampshire that's steeped in history and includes a Cathedral city takes the top slot

Many of the places listed are ones suggested. Winchester came first place.

Winchester is nice.

Round Manchester/Cheshire I'd say Altricham, Hale, Lymm, Knutsford, Alderley Edge.

St Albans has a good theatre and is on the rounds for lots of shows, but for say opera then London or Milton Keynes are better. There are good restaurants and lots of bars and pubs, nightclubs, great parks, national forest. I can’t say the shopping is great, but it has some nice boutiques and bigger chains.

Westerham, Tunbridge Wells, Cranbrook, Sissinghurst, Rye - lots of lovely villages in the Kent Weald.

Harrogate, York, bath, Edinburgh, Cotswolds, oxford,

I know people who have stayed in York and love it. The roads are awful though

I live in South Cambridgeshire, number 6 on that daily mail list, with the large mortgage to show for it LOL