Where would you retire to?

[Remaker]

I am Australian, DH is English. We have always lived in Sydney but the dream is when our kids have grown up (around 8-10 years from now) to downsize in Australia and buy a place in the UK that we could spend a few months living in each year and also rent out some of the time.

DH’s extended family is in Nottingham (his parents have both died) but I don’t think we need to be that close to them given we will have been on the other side of the world for 30 years.

The ideal is a village location with a pub, shopping etc but being practical not too far from the amenities of a decent sized town. 2-3 br for around £500k.I don’t even know where to start looking so it would be great to have some suggestions to narrow it down. Post covid we will try to visit every couple of years so we can look at a few areas while we are there.

So, if you could live anywhere after retirement, where would you go?

@Girlwhowearsglasses

Lake District? Exmoor South Hams in Devon Weald of Kent Winchelsea (incredible village near beach and town of Hastings) Villages near Bath Cotswolds

All have villages that are beautiful enough to be a tourist attraction - with a good rental home culture. You need to feel comfortable that someone can fix stuff for you when you're on the other side of the world.

Yes we need to consider the appeal as a rental as well. I’ve been to some of these but not others. Will put them on the list!

I aim for Somerset or Hampshire or North Dorset. Close enough to airports, coasts and lovely countryside

we will try to visit every couple of years

What is the point if you can't even manage to visit your retirement home for a good part of EVERY year?

It'll be cheaper and less hassle just to rent somewhere to live short term for 6 mths or a holiday let for a few weeks than to spend £500K. This will enable you to be flexible as to where you stay/visit around the UK.

If you need a UK mortgage, it would be more difficult for non UK residents regardless of whether anyone is a British citizen.

Malton is lovely www.yorkshire.com/places/north-york-moors/malton

Arunde lwww.visitarundel.co.uk/

I was going to say that, if you are hoping to rent it out for approx half the year, then that might influence where you buy. You need to be near attractions of some sort to secure enough bookings to make it viable.

Norfolk (as suggested upthread) has some beautiful coastline, but not great access across the country (East to West).

My instinct - like many others - is to look around the Peak District. Lovely walking and still convenient for major Cities - not just for airports but also important facilities such as hospitals.

We are thinking of Oxfordshire. Oxford is a great city with easy link to London, and there are some lovely villages/ market towns around there.

Bristol rather than Bath. My cousin moved out of a beautiful area they had lived there about forty years and said it was spoilt and too busy.

Some lovely villages outside of Bristol. Bristol is cosmopolitan with lots of parks and the canals in the centre make it a lovely shopping place with independent shops in Gloucester Road and Clifton.

In the north I would say North Yorkshire like Hawks, Middleham, Thirsk.
Leeds airport isn’t far.
Otherwise Lakes watch the flooding but beautiful villages. Northumbria coast is beautiful and Newcastle airport is fantastic to fly from.
Scotland Edinburgh or Inverness.

@sansou

we will try to visit every couple of years

What is the point if you can't even manage to visit your retirement home for a good part of EVERY year?

It'll be cheaper and less hassle just to rent somewhere to live short term for 6 mths or a holiday let for a few weeks than to spend £500K. This will enable you to be flexible as to where you stay/visit around the UK.

If you need a UK mortgage, it would be more difficult for non UK residents regardless of whether anyone is a British citizen.

Did you not read my original post? We WILL live in it for part of every year. The mention of visiting every couple of years is to see different areas while we are doing our research on where to buy.

No we will not need a mortgage. Who gets a mortgage when they are retiring?

@Redsquirrel5

Bristol rather than Bath. My cousin moved out of a beautiful area they had lived there about forty years and said it was spoilt and too busy.

Some lovely villages outside of Bristol. Bristol is cosmopolitan with lots of parks and the canals in the centre make it a lovely shopping place with independent shops in Gloucester Road and Clifton.

In the north I would say North Yorkshire like Hawks, Middleham, Thirsk.
Leeds airport isn’t far.
Otherwise Lakes watch the flooding but beautiful villages. Northumbria coast is beautiful and Newcastle airport is fantastic to fly from.
Scotland Edinburgh or Inverness.

Yes will definitely have a look at Bristol, thanks. A friend told me it was worth considering. She only visited because they have friends there and was expecting it to be just another city, but she loved it

Yes, I wasn’t very helpful OP. Hard to dream about life post COVID when/if travel ever returns to some semblance of “normality.”

I’m also too pragmatic about the realities of managing a property hundreds of miles away (personal experience) let alone thousands of miles.

All that aside, the edge of a market town near the Lake District would do it for me. DH would prefer the SW coast (where he grew up).

We’d go to Cornwall. We’d have to downsize though!

@sansou

Yes, I wasn’t very helpful OP. Hard to dream about life post COVID when/if travel ever returns to some semblance of “normality.”

I’m also too pragmatic about the realities of managing a property hundreds of miles away (personal experience) let alone thousands of miles.

All that aside, the edge of a market town near the Lake District would do it for me. DH would prefer the SW coast (where he grew up).

Living in Australia it’s probably easier to be optimistic, although I guarantee you will be able to travel again long before we are!

Lake District is high on my list. It ticks a lot of boxes. And yes we will need some help with property management so we’ll need to factor that in to the budget.

I like to travel (not including Covid times)

I would not buy

I would do a mixture of camper van, boat, hotel, static caravan, airb&b holidays & short breaks

You can get some really good deals out of season for example not during school holidays

Plus you will not be tied to one area

"Lake District is high on my list."
On our way to the west coast of Scotland we stopped at the Lake District we were just out of the main tourist season and had chosen a lake described as one of the quietest to visit, to say to it was heaving in tourists was a bit if an understatement. Friends stayed in Windermere yes its beautiful but they just couldn't believe how many visitors there were.
We left the Lake District (picture 2) and stayed on the edge of a loch in Argyle's and Bute (photo 1) breathtaking scenery and hardly any tourists. I used to live in a place very popular with tourists form all round the world Im not disputing that they bring money/business into the local economy community and but tourists hotspots like the Lakes have a significant impact on amongst other things the types of shops available, prices in shops and and of course a bog bone of contention in many areas like the Lakes parking. IMO if you're living there rather than visiting an endless stream of tourists can become a little tedious after a while.

Ullswater isnt one of the quietest lakes....I’d say after Windermere and coniston it’s probably the next busiest. It has big boat trips round it! Couple of real touristy villages, etc.

I go to the Lakes usually 3 sometimes 4 times a year. Including once in the summer. I can hill walk most days and hardly see anyone.

But yes the towns are heaving which I guess if you lived there all the time would be annoying in the summer.

Oh and popular tourist destinations affects house prices too.

I didn't go to Ullswater!!

Oh sorry, that’s a picture of Ullswater isn’t it ? I thought it was a photo of where you’d been.

I guess it's all down to the individual, friends have just bought a second home in a big tourist hotspot in Cornwall personally I wouldn't go on holiday there let alone buy a house there. But they love the busyness, the little tourists shops and all the activities on offer in the area. although they don't have their own parking space so they may change their mind.

No just a random photo of the Lake District (which I admit is very beautiful) but I was trying to demonstrate there are other equally beautiful and significantly less busy places especially if you dont mind the rain .

Ahhh. Yes Scotland is very beautiful and definitely quieter. Also a lot colder though than even northern England. Not sure if I could cope with a Scottish winter!

The Op said:
"I hate being hot!"
and
"We’ve just had a week of rain '....... I am loving it!"
I would have thought that this makes Scotland her perfect destination or maybe Wales?

On the other hand she has said she needs rental appeal as well so maybe the west country would be better. We are veterans of holiday rentals and the prices in the west country are significantly higher than in Scotland and parts of the north for like for like properties and possibly longer tourist season in the west country?