How to know where to live??

[confuseddotcom23]

I have no clue where to live, young couple, no kids, getting married in a year so we need to find somewhere we want to live, currently down south but it’s far too expensive!
have lived very north, rural scotland and around Salisbury and I’d like somewhere in between. Kind of a criteria below -
budget £120,000 absolute max (small, i know)
2 beds, could do 1 but would prefer 2 in case we pop out a baby anytime soon!
near beautiful scenery
within 30/40 mins of a city (i’m a shopping addict but also love the countryside)
good for horses, showjumping opportunities
relatively safe, low number of break ins and violent crime!
job opportunities - i work from home so not essential for me but my partner is passionate about retail so some kind of job in that field would be good!
I did think areas of Northumberland seem nice and have what we want but any other suggestions would be good.

That is a really tiny budget tbh

Villages around Lancaster - more like an hour to Manchester for proper city.

Possibly around Carlisle but that is a small city too.

I never thought I’d say it but having visited over the years as a child and then several times recently - Weston-Super-Mare. Good access to Bristol as a major city, by the sea, lovely walks, feels safe. Like many seaside towns it’s still quite downmarket in places but is slowly attracting people completely priced out of surrounding areas. You’d get a decent two-bed flat.

For that budget you could get something small in parts of Cheshire with good links to lpool/manchester.

Littleborough www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115541861#/?channel=RES_BUY
Plenty of livery yards dotted about and easy enough to get to Croft top for competitions.
Traffic into Manchester is VILE but it’s on the train line that goes to Manchester and leeds

The Wirral? Lovely beaches and villages but a short metro ride to Liverpool city centre. Cheap housing in the less deluxe areas

You could get a 2 or 3 bed terrace for that budget in the northeast along the Tyne Valley maybe - nice countryside, easy to get to Newcastle/Gateshead and also the coast.