Dream home or mortgage free?

[mamnotmum]

We moved in to our dream home 8 years ago. Renovated from scratch in a rural village. We love it. Nice neighbours, very private, amazing views.

Mortgage (250k) has just gone up to £1k a month. House is now worth £575k +

We could sell, buy a house on a decent estate for £350k in a town/village near us and be completely mortgage free. Bills would also drop by doing this making us approx £15k a year better off.

We want to stay where we are because we love it but currently (like everyone else) costs are rising and things feel tight. We have £25k savings but have started dipping into it regularly.

We have 3 kids so lots of outgoings but really want to be able to enjoy holidays with them, day trips and weekend adventures which as things stand will have to come from savings.

Anyone done this? Did you regret it? Any thoughts on what is best? Thanks.

Thanks everyone. It's great to hear other opinions.

We could have less trips and days out etc it's more the wondering whether having a lot more disposable income would make us happier than the house. I could work more as I'm part time 3.5 days but I've done that all before and value picking the kids up from school, doing housework one day to have weekends free etc.

I guess there's an element of the grass being greener too. We currently drive around a lot with living so remotely - nothing within walking distance and the more extra currics the children do the more driving!

We'd be giving up the gorgeous views and lovely location and big garden but could get a house of a similar size so I'm not necessarily talking about downsizing or living somewhere we didn't like.

I do remember the stress and expense of moving though and I do sometimes sit looking at the view from my garden and feel blessed.