Where should we relocate to?

[Elz58]

I live near Luton with DH and two DS aged 2&5. We originally moved here for work, but we’re now both fully working from home. We don’t love the location and we’d like to move.

We could move anywhere, and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the choice as I’d like somewhere to settle. Please help me narrow the search down.

We don’t want to be more than a couple
of hours from family in the Midlands. We’d like to be within 30mins of a big city like Manchester, Sheffield or Birmingham, but not right in the centre. Not London or the Home Counties.

We’d love somewhere with things like cafes, bakeries, a library, butchers, good schools. But also within an hour’s drive of countryside like the Peak District, as we both love hiking and biking.

We have a top budget of £800k to buy, although would prefer to spend less than that. But we’d probably rent first…

Any thoughts?

A village somewhere in the triangle between Manchester, Sheffield and Stoke, I would say.

Trafford. 20-40 mins to central Manchester on the tram, international airport, easy into the peaks now they have opened the new bypass, and Grammar schools with some of the best results in the country. Altrincham, Hale, Sale might meet your needs and budget

Newcastle / NE coast.

North Cardiff would fit the bill nicely