does this place exist?

[gingerhills]

DC have grown up and DH is retired so we can now move away from the expensive London commuter village we've lived in for years.

We are prepared to move anywhere in England, pretty much, if we can find these things:

4 bed house with large garden for £650k or less

on the outskirts of a small town/big busy village as DH insists on having rural views and I insist on being walking distance from centre

town with lots of life - theatres, cinema, swimming pool, market and loads of community stuff going on

Not too cliquey - not too 'you have to be born here to belong here'

Ideally not Tory heartland. Diverse, bit left wing/arty eccentric.

ideally not more than 2 hours from London as we still have lots of friends there and I still have work meetings there a couple of times a month.

Does this place exist?

Lots of lovely places around Cheltenham too.

Lancaster is two and a half hours from London, fits your bill, and you can have a house with country views and 10 mins walk to town. Wait for one to come up in Aldcliffe.

@gingerhills

Yes, I'd not feel comfortable moving to Wales. I'm not sure the Welsh want English moving in, raising their house prices and I don't blame them.

I do feel that this is quite an interesting view. This is the same wherever you move, Wales is not unique in this feeling of resentment! I live in Frome (not born here), and there is a clear point in time when people started to appear from London/South East bringing money and of course raising house prices. Obviously, these people have made the town more desirable in turn, bringing lovely markets, community art events etc. But for locals, this comes at a hefty price. The town that I come from in Dorset is the same. A previously run down seaside enclave has recently had a LOT of people moving in with money. This of course brings great investment and it is a much nicer place for it, but sadly, the vast majority of locals don't stand a tiny chance of buying the sort of fisherman's cottage that was once the life that was possible. I would never tell anybody that they shouldn't move somewhere that they like, that's crazy, but thinking that anywhere apart from Wales welcomes London money with open arms is fairly naive. Wherever you end up will feel like home because of other incomers building the community that you're after, and there will always be a simmering angry resentment from 'born and bred' locals I'm afraid.

I'm too lazy to go looking at political leanings all over but most of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire could both fit your requirements in terms of budget, size and distance to London. I only know that Bedford is a swing voting area and central Bedfordshire is always Tory. Milton Keynes is labour and Lib Dem. Although I wouldn't call Milton Keynes or Northampton arty, they both have brilliant theatres with lots on. DH and I recently went to look at a house in Towcester near Silverstone and it was lovely.

Mayfield Valley and Fulwood in Sheffield.

Labour MP
Has high number of graduates
Edge of the Peak District
Diverse
2 hours to London
Voted 8 the best place to live in the U.K. a few years ago
10 mins bus journey or walking distance to city centre
Ultra safe area
Outstanding schools
Loads of walks and history round the various rivers.

Chipping Norton? Within 2h of London. Nice pretty town but lots of nice houses on the outskirts with rural views

I'm in a small Cheshire town 20 minutes by train from Liverpool. We have a 4 bedroom house with a large garden , in a very desirable cul de sac with no passing traffic . A ten minute walk to a railway station and a 2 hour commute to London .
I'm not selling though

How about the areas near Brighton?

Hove. £700k but might take an offer if you're lucky.

This place doesn't have rural views but it's very close to the South downs which are stunning.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119758844#/map?channel=RES_BUY

Saltdean, just outside Brighton to the East. This place has sea views and you can just about see the downs. Also £700k

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117968888#/?channel=RES_BUY

Also Saltdean, rural views, £700k
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118558430#/map?channel=RES_BUY

Saltdean, £650k, stunning sea views and also views of the downs.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118720334#/?channel=RES_BUY

Brighton is Labour and Green, and very arty! (Not sure what constituency saltdean is in).

Or, have you considered Lewes? It's a stunning little town, loads going on, direct train to London. Right in the Downs.

The MP is Tory but it's for a much wider area than Lewes - Lewes council is Green. And it's right next to lefty Brighton, if you are after like minded people!

@WhatAWasteOfOranges

Chipping Norton? Within 2h of London. Nice pretty town but lots of nice houses on the outskirts with rural views

Tory central.

Mark Steel’s In Town is a good listen.

Another one suggesting Frome. Also consider Taunton, castle Carey, Somerton, villages around Yeovil, Sherborne, chippenham, Warminster (I think this is going to be the next gentrified place in the area, every time I go there is a new independent boutique type shop on the high st).

It sounds like you need Margate or something. Arty enough.

People suggesting Frome, can you say more about the pros and cons? I haven’t been but it’s somewhere I have earmarked for a possible future move. I’ve read that it’s ‘rough’ on here in the past.

@ILookAtTheFloor

It sounds like you need Margate or something. Arty enough.

That's the sort of place I'd love but it's too gritty for DH. He'd prefer somewhere like Whitstable which is too twee for me. We have quite different tastes so it's hard to find the balance. Frome and Stroud sound closest so far.

He won't consider Brighton either. Thinks it's too grimy. (Not that we can really afford Brighton or Lewes any more.)

@MuffinStrops

People suggesting Frome, can you say more about the pros and cons? I haven’t been but it’s somewhere I have earmarked for a possible future move. I’ve read that it’s ‘rough’ on here in the past.

I think that there was a period of time in the 70s, 80s, 90s where it was pretty grim and probably fairly rough. We moved here in 2010, and bought our current house in 2013. Since then, our house has tripled, maybe more, in value and quite frankly, almost every family that I know here did not grow up in Frome. 'Locals' are pretty much confined to a couple of council estate enclaves and these are pretty obvious sadly. The town centre has a lot of 'naice' independent shops, and although the high street has had its struggles over the last couple of years, it has faired much better then most similar towns. There are some nice restaurants and two theatres, an independent cinema and a sports centre. The town council are very active within the community, and the schools are average to good, especially the first schools. My friendship group is pretty much white, mostly middle class. I know artists, writers, yoga teachers, architects, and quite a few people who commute to London once a week or similar. If I'm looking for downsides, there is quite a lot of development happening in the area, which is bound to happen as the place is so popular, but of course this puts strain on services which bothers people. Obviously this is far from a unique problem. It's a lovely place to live with a family, but it is pricing out many. I'd say that Warminster could have potential in a few years, dare I say even Trowbridge in another decade? My sister is just moving to Gillingham and that seems to have some good potential too.

Redhill outskirts? 40 mins to London Victoria or l bridge.

My friendship group is pretty much white, mostly middle class.

Please tell me it's just a poorly constructed piece of writing that makes it sound like you are saying this is a positive?

Canterbury?

I lived in Frome for a few years, but left last year as it never felt right.
It is VERY white and the 'Londoners' that move there are not born and bred Londoners, but people who worked and lived in London post university.
The art and scene is not at all like you get in London. It's aging hippies making pots and canvases. It's very 'meh'.
When people say it's alternative and creative it makes me laugh. There are a lot of old people with nose rings and pink hair. If that's your kind of alternative then maybe you'll like it..

There is no diversity at all and there are a lot of deprived young white kids causing problems in the town with arson and vandalism.

There is some beautiful architecture but really that's all it has going for it. You couldn't pay me to live there now!

Brighton and Hove is a much better option.

@planningtomakeaplan

My friendship group is pretty much white, mostly middle class.

Please tell me it's just a poorly constructed piece of writing that makes it sound like you are saying this is a positive?

Yes, I didn't mean this as a positive point, simply an observation of my real life experience. It's obviously not a positive if you're looking for a diverse area, although I'm very aware that many people would possibly see this as a back-handed positive if they are worried about somewhere being 'a bit rough' sadly. Diversity is such an interesting quality, it's often desired by a certain type of left-leaning, artsy person, but very rarely achieved in any of the places they settle down in.

I'm going to make you laugh- come to Glasgow! Fits everything on your bill AND we're super friendly. Very quick trains and the sleeper is fantastic. Regular flights at all hours too. Seriously.

Otherwise I love Northumberland but probably a longer commute ebwn though nearer.

Merseyside. 2 hours on the train to London. Some Tory areas but majority left leaning.

Plenty to do, close to Manchester and Chester, North Wales and the Lakes. Big city, towns and beaches.

@Puffalicious

I'm going to make you laugh- come to Glasgow! Fits everything on your bill AND we're super friendly. Very quick trains and the sleeper is fantastic. Regular flights at all hours too. Seriously.

Otherwise I love Northumberland but probably a longer commute ebwn though nearer.

I bloody love Glasgow. It's my sort of place. But DH will say no.

I tried him with places in Northumberland, Newcastle and Durham but he said no to all of them.