Renting -where can we find a cottage/country for under £1k pcm

[WhatFreshStartIsThis]

Me and DH have decided it is time to leave London and would like to see if the rural or coastal life is for us.

As we are hoping to buy one day we would like the rent to be as low as possible so we can save but because we both work from home would need at least a 3 bedroom property.

We would like to be in SE/SW UK.

Ideally somewhere that we can have a bit of space but there is a village pub and access to shops.

Is it possible?

You'll struggle to get anything in this part of the SE for under £1k (Kent/Sussex) - I've just done a quick search and it's mostly throwing up HMOs, although there are a couple of small cottages on farms. If you could stretch to £1100 then something like this place in Tenterden might do?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85589014#/

Tenterden is lovely, its a small town on the edge of an Area of Outsanding Natural Beauty. Good mix of indy/chain shops on the High Street plus pubs and cafes (and a waitrose). Also a leisure centre/swimming pool etc, not too far from Ashdford for proper shopping. It's surrounded by lots of picturesque little villages with great pubs and lots of walks too.

Good luck!

In the South Wales valleys you could have that. Areas just North of Cardiff up towards the Brecon Beacons or around Newport, Bridgend/Swansea etc. Lots of countryside around and near the sea.

Worthing and Littlehampton and surrounds would probably fall into that price bracket - although you’d not be on the seafront in a character cottage. My brother lives in Gloucestershire in a period cottage in a nice little village and pays within your price bracket - but says he often feels off the beaten track.

I think it’s also worth thinking about your future career prospects. You might be WFH now but you can’t rely on neither of you ever wanting to change job or not being made redundant etc at any point between now and retirement age - and you wouldn’t want to end up stuck somewhere with very poor job prospects or poor transportation however pretty it was.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and advice, some very good points made.

You won’t get anything for under 1k in Worthing that is 3 bed let alone cute cottage/house. Littlehampton maybe.

I'd look at something like National Trust tenancies or big estates that rent out cottages . You're unlikely to get a nice place anywhere in vague commuting distance London under £1k

Something like this in Petworth (which is lovely) would be lovely www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/93019715#/

North Dorset or South Somerset might be worth a look. I lived in a three bedroomed house with a big garden, fireplaces etc for £650 rent a month, near a town called Gillingham. I was ten minutes from the Exeter to Waterloo line and the A303 so I could be in London in 90 minutes by train or a couple of hours by road. Loads of people in the next big town commuted into London either daily or weekly.

Sandringham estate have properties like that for around the £700 mark.
I think there are a number of rules and regulations though

Kent here, you'll find the odd bargain that squeezes in to your budget, but there will be some sort of compromise, eg modern house rather than cottage, back of beyond. If you can go to £1200 you'll have much more choice.

Plenty of houses in that budget on the Suffolk coast if you look on Rightmove although you probably won't stretch to a cottage.

We’re less than an hour north of London. This is what you could get in this area.

High Street, Colne
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-76312758.html

I would think highly unlikely in the SE. Easily done in the South West if you look at Devon or Cornwall.

Suffolk. Most have direct trains to London in 1 hour

Wells

You would be able to get something in North Bucks.

Thanks everyone giving me plenty to look into