Chocolate box pretty places to live - that are also family friendly, community friendly places?

[Whereto]

DH and I are moving with young children, and need to commute back into (or stay in?) london 2 days a week max.

We have no idea where to go!

So we wrote a list of criteria.

We both want pretty! Neither of us have lived in a “pretty” place before. But we also really want schools and community (places where the kids would be welcome to trick-or-treat on Halloween, and there’s a sweet local school, it’s still liberal, etc).

Please inspire me! Where can we start looking?

Saffron Walden is beautiful, very chocolate box. 40 minutes to Liverpool Street, lots on for young kids and fantastic schools. The station is about 2 miles outside of the town centre but people bus/cycle/moped/drive (the pub next to the station does v reasonable parking). Market twice a week, things often going on in town or on the common. Beautiful countryside with Audley End House on the doorstep. Cambridge is 25 minutes away (there's great park and ride).

BUT it is a Tory stronghold. The MP is Kemi Badenoch (touted as the next education secretary). Although as the mean age decreases in the area things are certainly starting to feel more liberal and diverse. The town and district councils are currently run by Residents for Uttlesford (who are, obviously very community oriented, and definitely more left leaning) who also hold 2/4 county council seats for the area.

How far are you prepared to travel? Some very good friends who are same-sex parents moved to Norwich a few years ago and have been very pleasantly surprised at how artsy and liberal they have found it to be. It’s a long commute though.

I think you need to say yout budget op.

Sadly, more rural settings and liberalism don't tend to go together. Unless you're moving to one of those hippy places in Devon! Someone else will probably be along to contradict me but it's not my experience.

Our budget is around £1.1m, could spend more - but less is better!

We’re prepared to travel quite far for somewhere that we’d be really happy as it isn’t full time commuting.

Have even idly thought about Scotland! I do love it there. But maybe a part time commute would be impossible?!

Saddleworth, 20 mins to Manchester. Like a small Lake District

In my experience a chocolate box village with a sweet village school often doesnt have a lot else (maybe a pub and a shop) probably not a station, or a high school, or reliable bus service....

Oxford
Cambridge
Berkhampstead
Amersham
St Albans
Harpenden
Mentioned above are all towns (with a mixture of pretty, and not as pretty housing) and I'm pretty sure not all are liberal.

Excuse you, St Albans is a city! A small one, I grant you.

As are Oxford and Cambridge of course.

We've just stayed in Youlgrave in Derbyshire and I could definitely move there. Not chocolate box exactly, but very attractive with some lovely houses. It had two great village shops, a bakers/pie maker, cafes, 3 pubs and some wonderful riverside walks.

Wallingford
Goring on Thames
South Stoke
Whitchurch on Thames

Can I join the easy to be offended brigage please, I rarely comment on the race threads but I’m somewhat bemused by some of the comments regarding villagers who vote Tory are racists! I’m part of a mix raced family, live in a village and vote Tory! Pretty sure not just myself but my entirely family will be offended at that comment

On a different note some of villages and town’s around Sussex are chocolate box and easy ish to get to London such as mayfield and crowborough

Histon- 2miles north of Cambridge city. Gorgeous village, lovely village green, lots going on, a few country pubs, cafes, greengrochers etc, outstanding primaries and secondaries.

@fizbosshoes

In my experience a chocolate box village with a sweet village school often doesnt have a lot else (maybe a pub and a shop) probably not a station, or a high school, or reliable bus service....

Oxford
Cambridge
Berkhampstead
Amersham
St Albans
Harpenden
Mentioned above are all towns (with a mixture of pretty, and not as pretty housing) and I'm pretty sure not all are liberal.

OP hasn’t asked for villages, though. She has just stipulated ‘pretty’.

as the mean age decreases in the area things are certainly starting to feel more liberal and diverse

It feels like this is what’s happening in our town. I will be really interested to see the census data when it’s published next year. It’s very middle England but fully half of DD’s class in juniors are from non-white or mixed heritage backgrounds. I have certainly found that our proximity to universities, big teaching hospitals, and a few key big employers brings in young families with professional parents and a generally liberal outlook.

Wisborough Green in West Sussex is beautiful, a real mix of people live there so you'll meet all sorts. 2 nice pubs, great primary school in the village and good secondary school a short bus ride away.

If you have somewhere to stay in London, lots of people commute to London for a few days a week from Devon and Cornwall. The fast train is 2 hours to Exeter, after that it gets very slow (some people drive to Exeter) but the route has both sleeper trains and a silver service Pullman dining service, which makes the journey less arduous. It can be quite sociable.

Is that too far?

Despite having a Tory MP, you can't get much more liberal than Totnes.

If it doesn't have to be rural, how about Brighton?

Can I join the easy to be offended brigage please, I rarely comment on the race threads but I’m somewhat bemused by some of the comments regarding villagers who vote Tory are racists!
Yes, I too am by the assumption that the Tory-voting shires are uniformly racist, and I'm not even a Tory.

I live fairly rurally and beat on a local shoot (doesn't get more rustic than that). One of the blokes who is very involved with the organising and running of things is BAME and nobody bats an eyelid.

There are also quite a few gay couples who are well-integrated into local society (including some who are Tory voters themselves). IME the 'Tory shires' are actually quite socially liberal these days.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

Can I join the easy to be offended brigage please, I rarely comment on the race threads but I’m somewhat bemused by some of the comments regarding villagers who vote Tory are racists! Yes, I too am by the assumption that the Tory-voting shires are uniformly racist, and I'm not even a Tory.

I live fairly rurally and beat on a local shoot (doesn't get more rustic than that). One of the blokes who is very involved with the organising and running of things is BAME and nobody bats an eyelid.

There are also quite a few gay couples who are well-integrated into local society (including some who are Tory voters themselves). IME the 'Tory shires' are actually quite socially liberal these days.

Awww you beat! I actually shoot (not for sport unfortunately as our area doesn’t have a shoot but I do it for conservation purposes)

Yes our village has a mixed bag of villagers and one Asian family in particular who I get on well with votes conservative as they would apparently rather shit in their hands and clap than vote Labour (their words not mine but they aren’t wrong) why do people on MN think villagers are medieval white bumpkins! I run two businesses in a very cultured environment in a very cultured area! It’s just small and picturesque

@Dogmum40 tory voters might not be racist but definitely blinkered and haven't got a clue about life in non affluent urban areas though. Why on earth anyone would be proud of voting tory when you see the state of the country. Might not be medieval white bumpkins but definitely couldn't give a s**t about anywhere else but their posh little bubble

We were in Great Missenden today, that's very pretty.

[quote Effybriest]**@Dogmum40* tory voters might not be racist but definitely blinkered and haven't got a clue about life in non affluent urban areas though. Why on earth anyone would be proud of voting tory when you see the state of the country. Might not be medieval white bumpkins but definitely couldn't give a s*t about anywhere else but their posh little bubble [/quote]
I spent 15 years poor and in the bottom percent of the pay divide, I relied on my family and food banks just to survive and lived in a very rough urban area where I personally experience crime from burglaries (4 times) car theft and unprovoked attacks, I worked damn hard to get myself out of that and as soon as I could afford to move I wanted countryside and peace and I’ve found it.

I’m proud of where I live and actually where I came from and we still have a sliding scale of earners in our village, villagers aren’t living in a “posh little bubble” we still have a few social houses here such as church houses, and about 8 council houses (it’s a small village) we are lucky to own our own home but please don’t judge me and tell me I’m posh and don’t give a shit about poor urban areas because I’ve lived it and still have a lot of family and friends in those areas!

Most members of the Tory govt have come out with dodgy racism at some point so if you're voting for them then you have made your bed whether you like it or not...

@SD25

Most members of the Tory govt have come out with dodgy racism at some point so if you're voting for them then you have made your bed whether you like it or not...

And Labour have been the perfect party ( er does Jeremy corben and his anti Jewish remarks ring any bells) no party is perfect but I’d never vote Labour if they were the last party in the uk, I have voted independent and even lib dem before but this time it was conservative and I’m not a proud conservative, all parties are total shite bit this time around they were the best of a bad bunch