Wiltshire/Hampshire/Dorset/Somerset/Gloucestershire help!

[tapandteacake]

Hi everyone, would love some inspiration or suggestions for our relocation. I'm finding looking across multiple counties so difficult and am spending way too long on google maps.

We are looking to move out of an expensive part of Surrey, hoping to significantly "downspend" as the current monthly mortgage payment has just become too expensive, but not downsize. We will have a budget of £800,000 and will need a 4 bedroom detached house. We are looking for a rural village vibe, ideally I dream of being able to go for a lovely walk in fields or woods without having to get in the car. I love a good farmland vista.

DH can mostly work from home although may need to commute to London (by train) or Bristol (could drive there) once a week. I work from home. We had narrowed it down to areas around Pewsey in Wiltshire and that would be an ok drive back to Surrey and an ok drive to Gloucester where our parents are. However I'm not sure we can get a 4 bed house for £800,000 there. We also really don't want to do any building work as we did our current place up and absolutely swore never to put ourselves through it again.

We have a 1 year old and are hoping for more children so need to bear in mind good state schools too.

Would love to hear any suggestions of locations I should check out.

Thank you!!

You can easily get a 4 bedroom house in Pewsey for £800K.

You’d have plenty of change.

Agree. What makes you think you can't op?

We moved to Nailsworth, Gloucestershire 8 years ago. We have a 5 bed, 4 bath detached 60's house in great condition. You could definitely buy something like this around here for 700-800K

I’d be amazed if you couldn't get what you wanted in the majority of Wiltshire at least. Unless you are after something very specific.

I just feel like scrolling through Rightmove there isn't much stock and lots of them need renovation work. I know it's a sought after area and so I just feel like possibly we haven't got a good enough budget for a good size house in good condition there. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic?

I'd take most of the nice areas of Hampshire off your list as it's similar pricing to most of Surrey. But Wiltshire you would 100% be able to get your list and some parts of Dorset.

Which bits of Hampshire do you mean? Villages surrounding Winchester?

Yes the Winchester surrounding, we have a small 3 bed in that area that was £850k we do have some land.

if you can come this way - do it it's a fantasy area for schools and road and rail links but pretty expensive.

Look at alresford and surrounding areas.

OP I am in a market town about 8 miles away from Winchester and we have a detached 90s build 5 bed house for £600k. It is not characterful but it's a "desirable" area and very easily commutable to Winchester. So unless you after somewhere like Stockbridge you would be okay with £800k.

So is Stockbridge no more desirable but just with period properties? I did have a look at Stockbridge on google street view this evening and it looks nice.

You could look around Taunton/Wellington/Tiverton Parkway area - direct trains to London in under 2hrs & trains to Bristol too.
You'd get a decent house for that money & many local state schools are good or outstanding.
Surrounded by farmland, moors & hills; nearest beach is 40mins away, North Devon beaches are only an hour or so.
M5 links you down to Exeter up to Bristol & onwards to Gloucestershire; or on to M4 towards London.
But it might be a bit far than you were thinking.

That area does look great but it's a bit too far from my parents in Surrey. I'm hoping that if we're under 2 hours drive away that I might be able to rope my mum into helping with childcare from time to time!

Stockbridge is very nice but avg price there £750k so if you are looking for a bigger house you might struggle. There are small towns around there with slightly less eye watering prices though!

Look along the GWR railway line from Cheltenham to Swindon - there are direct trains to London here, and Gloucester is on that line. The nicest areas in my opinion are around Cirencester/Tetbury, which would put you about 10 minutes from Kemble station (1hr 10mins to Paddington), and an easy drive to Bristol (though traffic closer to Bristol is busy if you try to use traditional commuting times). This is the area I live in, and I am in Bristol for work about once a week. You would definitely get a 4 bed detached for your budget - we have exactly that, and it would probably be around 500k in today's market. The villages are fully rural, but with good transport options. We are near Tetbury, which is lovely to live in if you fancy a small market town surrounded by countryside, and between us over the last 20 years we have commuted to Bristol, Bath, Swindon and Cheltenham for various jobs, all in easy reach, as is Gloucester.

I think your wording is maybe off- you would prefer a 4 bed detached but you don't 'need' a 4 bed detached. You might well be able to get a nice 3 bed detached for £550 in many areas and look at extending if the right house in the right area - we live in Bath but certainly I would think places like Frome, Salisbury , Warminster might suit- I would say Devizes area too but not on train- depends if that matters

Where in Surrey are your parents? I’m not sure anywhere you mention is two hours away!

You're right, I would prefer 4 bedrooms as I'm planning to have two more children and I'd either like each child to have their own bedroom or to have two share and have a spare bedroom for visitors. Building work is really a dealbreaker for us, had a terrible experience with doing our current house and swore never again.

Yep I do understand that Here's an example of one not too far from us in corsham - it's 4 miles drive to Chippenham station- great for going to Gloucester area -only 8 miles from Bath too - really beautiful small town/ very large village. Dominic west lives there - I think you maybe after something like this- I'm a right snob and I love corsham

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/146771687

Intrigued why you’ve picked Pewsey out of the many lovely villages in Wiltshire? It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, which is maybe what you want, but I’d be thinking of the practicalities, especially with a child/children. I don’t think the Secondary school there is up to much. If it were me, I’d choose to be closer to Salisbury for great train links to both London and Bristol, close to the A303 and generally more choice with everything - schools (including two top state Grammars) hospital, theatre, activities etc. Salisbury is a small ‘rural’ city, surrounded by countryside, so you don’t have to go far to reach your rural idyll, if that’s what you want, and £800,000 would give you a huge choice of large properties within a 10 mile radius or further out, if you wished. I’ve just looked on Rightmove!

Sorry I didn't mean right in Pewsey, I sort of mean anywhere around Marlborough, Pewsey, Devizes, Hungerford down closer to Amesbury. I have looked at Salisbury but my experience of army type areas is just Aldershot, which isn't the nicest! Do you know of any particularly nice villages surrounding Salisbury?

Near Cobham, I had hoped that Wiltshire would only be sort of 90 minutes drive or so. We did go and check out Cranleigh again today but the houses within budget need lots of refurbishment so that seems too expensive an area too.

Had you looked OP in Newbury area- that is good for M4 and London too and has nice village areas

@maudelovesharold I agree about Salisbury - we often pop there from Bath when we fancy a change- I like it!

I know someone about to move to a brand new 4 bed eco home in Romsey for £750k. Not country village vibe, but you’d be in the countryside within 20 minutes walk.

Definitely take a look at the villages south east of Salisbury nearer the Hampshire/Wiltshire border. Straight into the New Forest, close to the M27, great primary schools and catchment for grammar schools etc.