Relocating from Kent to Somerset (or somewhere else in the SW)?

[happycamper75]

Hi all, I'm new here and wanted to pick MN brains on relocating from Kent to the South West in the next few years. We will both be early retired and are planning on renting for 6 months or so to get a lay of the land before hopefully buying. We don't want too large an area to be looking at houses in so originally thought of renting in Somerset and looking there.. probably north Somerset. .. we have up to around £180k for a 1-2 bed house. What we're wondering is, is this doable for a nice house / area? We want a small city or a town with access to amenities ideally and good access to hospitals etc.

We're open to thinking about Dorset, Wiltshire and Devon and Cornwall if needed for better house prices though... At this stage trying to find the best place for a renting base to then buy but don't want to do it in an area that we can't afford.

Thanks!

Somerset will probably have the cheaper homes out of the areas you listed - but not necessarily North Somerset as you get closer to Bristol and Bath.

Ignore the title of the series, but get some useful insights via the Turdtowns videos on YT for Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall. Some of the series reflect of the best towns too!

Agree re turdtowns, really like this guy and he can be very funny too, pretty honest and insightful as well. Am looking to move to Somerset too so following.

I don’t think you would get a house in North Somerset in a nice area anywhere near as low as 180k.

Thanks @XVGN we'll check out turd towns on YT.. good to see the good and the bad!

Where are you thinking of in Somerset @Lonelycrab ?

I think you've confirmed what we're thinking from looking on Rightmove @Moveoverdarlin accessibility to hospitals and motorways were part of our thinking too but I think Taunton way might work and they have a local hospital too.

I guess for now it's working out a centralish place to rent whilst we keep an eye on the housing market whilst getting to know the areas. We won't be in a chain which will hopefully help. Aware getting around is slower in Somerset than where we are now in Kent.

@happycamper75 am looking at Wincanton, Crewkerne, Bruton and possibly Frome areas although the last two are more pricey. I will have to spend a bit of time in these places before any decisions as I only know them in passing through them, but from what I’ve read these are ok areas to look at.

I haven't looked at Wincanton. The other places sound nice and Crewkerne seems reasonably priced. Good plan. We'll only be able to look when we move so will rent for a while to explore.

I moved from rural Kent to north Cornwall. We tried for 7 years, but it wasn't at all what we hoped for.

You're going to need to expand on that!

Beautiful scenery but...
Remote; boring; small minded and rude people; poor health and other services; no culture; noisy....
Shall I go on?

And yes, I have lived in many places in the UK and have never encountered this before or since.

Crikey @FuzzyPuffling did you move back to Kent?

I have heard that about Cornwall. We deliberately chose a non-tourist town of reasonable size away from the coast to try and avoid upsetting the locals! Everyone has been fine. Our first day in East Devon, a young adult actually said hello to us as we walked by. Pretty much unheard of in the SE.

If you want access to a good hospital but not pricier north Somerset then I would definitely say Taunton at least whilst you rent. It's well connected by road and rail with plenty of lovely villages nearby.

Glad you've settled into east Devon well. Yeh, even in rural Kent I don't think the young adults would say hello!

That's good @mateysmum it's been helpful to talk this out here, we're shifting our focus that way now. It will be nice to have a choice of reasonable prices property rather than scrambling to afford Frome or nearby.

Just had a quick look on Rightmove and 180k is tight for a house. There are apartments for that but few houses in decent locations. It's tight even for cheaper Bridgwater.

Thanks @mateysmum I just saw the same. We might have a little more but it does look a bit tight

I just found this map.. it looks like Devon or Wiltshire might be better budget wise...

It depends on where in Somerset/Devon. Eg North East Somerset will be more expensive than Mid Devon but South Somerset will be cheaper.

This is a bit more granular

https://builtplace.com/housing-market-maps/

I have other home buying tools on my thread here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4935470-tools-for-house-buyers?page=2&reply=144800444

Could try Chard… I think it gets a bad rep but better than it was 15 years ago.

Good point. I think we need a dig around to see more about areas.

Perfect. Thanks @XVGN !

Yeh, I have heard some good things about Chard too but think it's too out of the way for us.

No, we moved somewhere close to family. Not so nice on paper, but great facilities, music and museums, nearer the sea and nobody bothers us!

I've PMed you.