My parents are currently in the north east, where I grew up. My partner and I and our two kids (3 and nearly 2) are in SE London. We'd like to stay here long-term, though the classic secondary school issue may force our hand a bit - that's obviously a few years off, though. Regardless, I can't see us leaving the south east in general, and probably not even London specifically - we both love it here, work here, etc.
For various sad reasons my mum is looking ahead to a time where she'll be on her own, and would like to move closer to us. I'm wondering about places she should consider looking.
I imagine she'll have a budget of around £400k. Priorities - somewhere safe and relatively calm. Good public transport links - she does drive, but isn't the most confident in areas she doesn't know/ on very busy roads, and of course this may/ probably will change as she gets older. Some outdoor space - of course a garden would be the holy grail but a balcony or a communal garden would be ok too. And, of course, being within easy-ish reach of us. Given the scale of the move and the fact that she will be on her own it will also be important for there to be a good sense of community and things for her to do - she loves gardening, goes to dance and exercise classes, a creative writing group, things like that. She's a relatively fit and healthy 70 and of course I hope she'll be able to keep up those interests for years ahead.
She claims she would consider London itself. I'm a bit skeptical - she's lived in the countryside for the best part of 40 years so it would be a massive culture shock - but perhaps the right quiet neighbourhood? She did live in London for a decade and loved it - but that was back in the 1980s!
Her sister lives in Suffolk so somewhere between London and Suffolk might be good too, or the Kent/ Sussex/ Surrey direction that's more doable from where we are in London. If my partner and I do end up relocating within London itself I imagine we'd still be generally east.
Any ideas?