Help! Where should I live!?

[northchesterforest]

Our budget is 650-750k. We want a minimum of 3 bedrooms, period features.

It's the location that has us stumped!
We would like to be within 1hr of London ideally on the train for work. Ideally it would be north or west of London as we have family in Birmingham (but doubt let that put you off if you have the perfect place in mind otherwise!)

We love places that are beautiful to look at (the kind of place you might visit from abroad), cool restaurants and cafes. A couple of nice gastropubs. In a dream world I would like to be able to swim outside in summer (sea, river, lido...anything!)

We like to be in the action vs. always having to use the car, however we don't have to live in a city.

We are in Birmingham now and despite our best efforts we just aren't feeling it.. people are lovely, but it just doesn't have that kerb appeal and there is too much traffic.

Not to sound like a complete knob but I love a yoga/Pilates class and life's little luxuries. I would like to live somewhere where everyday felt like a treat and I felt quite inspired.
Cotswolds is a thought, but not sure where and if our budget would be enough.

Any suggestions are most welcome.

Windsor is lovely and easily commutable to London.
Beaconsfield is great too.

In terms of value for money north of London, then somewhere like Peterborough (50 mins on LNER into Kings Cross) is hard to beat. Peterborough to Birmingham is 1hr 45 mins direct. For example, this Edwardian home which is half a mile from the railway station for £650k, it's a bit too done up for my liking though:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147380357#/?channel=RES_BUY

Or this Grade II listed former farmhouse with oak beams and a thatched roof on about a third of an acre which is 4 miles or about 12 mins in the car from the railway station, £650k:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145253378#/?channel=RES_BUY

The downside though is that Peterborough has none of the other things that you are looking for eg

"We love places that are beautiful to look at (the kind of place you might visit from abroad), cool restaurants and cafes. A couple of nice gastropubs. In a dream world I would like to be able to swim outside in summer (sea, river, lido...anything!)"

Although it does have an outdoor lido that dates back to 1936.

If all of that is more important than the house itself then perhaps look at somewhere like Cambridge. Trains go to Kings Cross in about 55 mins or Liverpool Street in about 1 hour 10 mins. It's slightly longer from Cambridge North. Cambridge to Birmingham is about 2 hrs 45 mins with two changes.

But to be frank, if you want period features then you're looking at a terraced property. For example, this is about 2.5 miles from the railway station a 3 bed terrace for £750k

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145511822#/?channel=RES_BUY

Or this one which is 2 miles from Cambridge North station, 5 bed terraced for £750k

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147418169#/?channel=RES_BUY

Have you tried Hemel Hempstead/ Berkhamsted?

Reigate?
(South of London, but I understand that's not a deal breaker)

images.app.goo.gl/vC3DnFR3dZLQeRH49

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148071152?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148777232?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145795184?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145099805?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

not The side of London you want but Tunbridge wells

Horsham - south of London but nice little town good train links to London and on the Thameslink so even trains through and out the other side. Lovely countryside and you can get down to the coast at the weekend.

Period property near the station
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148212650#/?channel=RES_BUY

M1 corridor
Or M4

So Maidenhead , Windsor , reading

Or

Watford , Hemel , berko

St Albans
Bushey

More towney vibes but green not too hard to find and all with excellent schools

Hitchin would probably fit your bill. It’s pretty, has an outdoor swimming pool and is 25 mins on the train to Kings X.

Watford and Hemel? Really? Berko or Tring. Or Thame or Amersham. Beaconsfield is very expensive!

We have just had an offer accepted on a house in a Cotswold town. It has a lot of what you say you want (gorgeous outdoor pool, swimming lakes nearby, good food/drink, very pretty), we are less than ten minutes drive from a train station with trains that are usually just over an hour to Paddington.
However, our budget was similar to yours and we struggled to find any period properties that worked for us in that price bracket. (We needed parking and wanted quite a large house so as not to have to get rid of a lot of our belongings.)

OP: ‘I like beautiful and inspiring places, a touch of luxury and somewhere people from abroad would admire’
Mumsnet: have you considered Hemel, Watford and Reading op?
👍🏻

@Adventureplease which town? Sounds perfect for us