I live 4.5 hours drive from the town in which I grew up in which my family and some school friends still live. I love visiting the town and keeping in touch with people. It's not a tourist / expensive town but is in a beautiful part of the country and I would love to spend more time there. We used to stay out of town in a holiday rental and visit a relative at their house where there was room for us to sit and socialise. Unfortunately my relative has now passed away and the house has been sold. Other relatives live in small flats so we can't really stay over / socialise much with them at theirs. Over the past few years holiday accommodation has doubled in cost and is often fully booked. We sometimes stay at a budget hotel which is fine but there is no living area to socialise in and if our whole family of four visit we then need to pay for two hotel rooms. I would love to be able to purchase a small property in the town and could probably raise the deposit but couldn't afford to have it sitting empty as a second home. Any suggestions re how I could make it work or alternative ideas for holiday accommodation would be welcome.