If you could live (pretty much) anywhere in the UK with a baby?

[Babybjorn]

I've copied this over from 90 days only - hoping to get some responses here!

This is DH and me (both remote workers). Budget is around 700k max but obviously cheaper would be ideal. At least 3 beds. We have a baby and a dog. Family are in London, Surrey and Hampshire and we'd ideally like to be able to reach them within a day. We currently live in a city in Scotland that we love but we want to be closer to our support circle. We both really prioritise being somewhere beautiful - whether that be lovely architecture, coast, countryside etc. We are both outdoorsy but also love city life and could really settle for either! A big priority for both of us is being able to walk to all the local amenities (so whether that is city centre or market town or a well-equipped village). We like to avoid using the car wherever possible and would feel very trapped somewhere we could not explore on foot. Our big priority now of course is somewhere lovely for our LO, where we could easily fit into a community and make friends and with good state schools and lots going on.

Please inspire me!

New Forest? Maybe Brockenhurst there is even a train station? Would be tight on your budget but possible

Bishops Waltham ❤️

Amazing community and events for kids, Hampshire, everything you need to walk to in the town (drs, excellent school with pool (very small class sizes and rated outstanding), lovely preschool, small shops, Sainsbury's, countryside, cafe, lovely pubs, an old palace which is free with a little museum)

Plus 30 mins to Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester, the seaside, right on the edge of the south downs national park, not far too the new forest.

Newcastle, Durham, Lincoln, York or even Liverpool. You'll definitely get a much better house and lifestyle on your budget and a nicer community if you stay north. The southeast is not very nice on 700k and childcare costs.

Loving the suggestions! Lots to think about. York is somewhere we love, as is Oxford, although I'd assumed we'd be priced out. Bristol is somewhere we've heard great things about but a part of the country we haven't really visited. Lots of inspiration. Agree with the poster about south-east costs. It is so hard weighing up proximity to support with the realities of what we could afford in some of those areas. We are not motivated by a big house and would definitely be happy with a garden flat in the right area but do want enough space for us all and do not want to be settling for a less good area...

@HerculesMulligan can I ask what bits of SW London you're thinking? We adore London and if we had the budget it would be our easy number 1 but I don't think we do (and would be quite worried about ending up under a Heathrow flight path!)

@bobby81 I adore the Peaks and Bakewell! Have never thought about it for more than holidays though ...

@LovesFood1987 so funny you should mention BW, I know it really well as we have friends there! It's a lovely place but I think we'd need to use a car quite often.

@TheYear2000 I've been to Winchester a few times. It's truly lovely. Is there much of a community there? I'd worry a city of that size would be too small to feel buzzy but too big to find our community? Maybe I'm worrying over nothing though.

@SisterMichaelsHabit this is where we are moving from! (sob). We are both in tech. Working from home is a wonderful perk, certainly can't complain!

I know a few people who have moved to Winchester from London to be closer to family and they all seem to be happy! They get up to london fairly often but also do country things and obviously stuff in Winchester!

As someone who has lived with family a day's drive away and an hour's drive away at various points in life, I'd much rather be closer to the various family locations in order to enable more frequent (and casual!) meet ups, rather than being at a distance where you have to stay the night or have family stay!

To those saying Whitby, it isn't easy to get to and it would take time to connect to East Coast mainline.

Schools aren't great either.

For those saying Winchester, please, what a bad deal. Extremely expensive, more than most “normal” arts of London. You’ll be lucky to get a 2-3 bed terrace there for that. Such bad value and full of London money/attitude. No thanks.

If you have family who are keen to provide practical support (eg school pick up or babysitting), would recommend moving as close to them as possible. We don’t have much support from family and observing my friends who do it makes such a huge difference to them. Really reduces the stress of the earlier years.

Hi OP- I was thinking of Hampton and Molesey. We’re in Teddington which would blow your budget but both of those could work. Lots of green space, good schools, near the river, reasonable access to London.

Whitstable or Harrogate

Farnham is great! Good access to London, beautiful town and countryside, outstanding schools. Guildford is bigger but also more expensive.

Derbyshire.
Sheffield, if you want a city.

You could definitely get a beautiful house in York within your budget. Loads to do with children and lots of very good schools to choose from.

Oops saw this is from October. Did you choose somewhere @Babybjorn?

Southsea, you'll be in London in 2 hours and Surrey in 1 hour. You can walk everywhere!

Winchester. Close to the coast and the New Forest. All the schools are excellent.
Alresford as a smaller, market town alternative.

Deal in Kent. Beach, pier, lots of nice restaurants and shops. Small pretty town but lots nearby. Budget would buy something nice.

I'd love to live in Norwich.

It has the worst city centre, though. A mess. Also, clearly a problem with drug addicts staggering about.

I've just realised this is from some months ago! I hope you found somewhere nice, OP.

If you can, live within 20 minutes walk of the most helpful relatives. Failing that, the easiest train journey to a relative. Living more than an hour's drive away from family is likely to mean that you wouldn't just pop over for a lunch/ day. Some kids love the car, whereas with others it is so stressful and you just don't know how it will go.
Being in London with a young baby is a lot of fun and you could always move when they are 3 for schools etc but depends if you want one move only.