Where SW, train station, 30 mins beach, circa 2.5 hrs London, retirement?

[Mum5net]

Doing a recce next month for retirement in 2026. Ideally not as far as Exeter and not sure we have funds for Bristol.
Have eight days to just go driving and check out places - rather than actually visit houses and stalk Right Move. T
Looking for 3 beds, 2 bath semi or detached house for £700k with garden and garage. No flats as we have a dog and don't want to pay a service charge.
Want to be able to home exchange with others abroad for at least twice a year, so ideally near an airport (30 mins) and somewhere people abroad would want to visit.
Have previously eliminated Winchester & Chichester on our last explorations. Winchester was too spread out and a bit ££, and really wanted to love Chichester but didn't love the housing stock or get the vibe.
Interests are beach walks, woodland walks, pub lunches, DIY, garden etc need links to London for DC x 2, also have relatives on the LNER route to Edinburgh. Needs to be a town as have to give up driving in next decade. Public transport quite high up the agenda as don't want to rely on others.
Currently am a 10 min walk to a station and 10 min walk to Sainsburys, 10 min walk to fabulous park but poor northern weather and 5 hrs from London prompts move.
Hit me with your best suggestions, please.
I have an A3 laminated print out of the routes for SW trains, but no idea which stations are the gems.

Christchurch
Worthing

More south than south-west

Wimborne Minster.
Sherborne.

Dorset; wareham, lulworth, Wimborne minster, Weymouth (although Weymouth is a bit like the curates egg!) Lyme Regis is lovely but might be too inconvenient for an airport.
Somerset; villages on the outskirts of Taunton, Wellington and Wells all have nice areas. Further from London and airport, is Dulverton right on Somerset/ Devon border but it is lovely, and bit of a secret gem!

Anywhere near Wells or Cirencester. Both beautiful places.

Reigate- beautiful.

Horsham
Bridport
Yeovil
Brockenhurst
Dorchester

Wilton near Salisbury.

Brilliant, thank you.
Starting to google these in turn.
Railway station is non-negotiable as my parents ended up miles from anywhere and couldn't inflict that on DC.

Christchurch, lymington, Wimborne, bridport, Lyme Regis, Dorchester , I really like Salisbury too although around 45 minutes to coast minimum - sometimes more

@MrsSchrute neither are on the train though -

I would go Bristol. You will have all the ammenities and public transport. Possible Cardiff worth considering too. Dulverton is too rural for retiring thinking of stopping driving. Exeter should not be ruled out as it has a train station.

Wellington is a bit of a dump and public transport limited but might get a train station soon.

Would Bath work too as it's lovely? Expensive perhaps. I still keep coming back to Bristol having lived rurally most of my life I really see the benefits of towns and cities for ammenties as one ages.

Cardiff is a fabulous city, 2 hours from London on the train.
Cardiff Bay is a beautiful location to live, as is Penarth.
Youll easily buy with your money and have lots of change too

Shoreham? Beach and South Downs way/Downs Link so great walks. Can zip along to Brighton on train. Not sue if may be too £ though..

New Forest and Bournemouth are on the SW train line. Definitely worth investigating Lymington, New Milton/Barton on Sea, Highcliffe (Hinton Admiral station) Christchurch and Southbourne (Christchurch or Pokesdown stations).

The area south of Parkstone station is nice, or Poole old town.

Dorchester/Poundbury and Weymouth, or possibly Wareham also.

You could look at Chepstow. You can then drive / take the bus over to Bristol. It has good rail links and cheaper than Bristol.

Weymouth

Reigate is not within 30 mins of the beach.

Crewkerne and Axminster might be worth a look.

Sherborne.
villages outside Yeovil towards Crewkerne (but avoid chard)

I suspect Reigate, is too £££ but will check Rightmove!
Littlehampton, Shoreham & Worthing - will definitely research these and might book one night there.
I am interested in Poole/ Bournemouth but not sure about the summer traffic.
I thought around Parkstone would be good so @TianasBayou I will research that one. Lymington is on DH's list.
Going to research Weymouth as that is coming up frequently.
Bristol, Chepstow and Cardiff - will need to look closely. I just thought travel time would be too far, but they are worth checking.
I've criticised my DParents for not doing their homework - sadly I'm getting older, too and my wishlist is pretty huge @qwertyasdfgzxcv I see bigger town/city being the way to go

@qwertyasdfgzxcv definitely can't do 45 minutes to coast from Bath - unless at a big push you count clevedon or Portishead -

Most of Somerset is badly served by rail. I would also advise against Bristol as is rather dodgy.

Like other PP I would suggest that you look in the Exeter area- you can get a lot for £700K in & around the city. Exeter has excellent rail links, an airport near to the city & good bus services to the coast in Exmouth, Sidmouth, Torquay etc. You can get a train to Exmouth-about 20 minutes away & very picturesque journey.

I think Exeter too. Trains to Paddington and Waterloo.
Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch can be extremely busy not just in summer.
Having grown up in Portsmouth anything east of there is not the SouthWest!!