Advice: moving London to Bath

[Sunway769]

Hello,

we are two older parents and two young school age children who have rented in a “villagey “ part of central London for many years. We are belatedly looking to buy our first family home and coming to terms with being priced out of the part of London we know.

We have always been interested in Bath - we grew up nearby and have family in Bristol. I’m wondering if there’s anyone reading this who has done the London to Bath move, and/ or lives in Bath who can give us any tips/ thoughts/ personal experience…

Our house budget is 650 max although ideally 459-500. We want 3 beds, a nice garden, probably an older house. We would be looking at proximity to good state schools, the station and green space.

our interests are v much in film, literature and the arts. Walking, canoeing, nature. We love the London international arts scene and honestly our identity is built on being part of a big city, but we just cannot afford the kind of place we want to live in here.

Our options are a small ish 3 bed flat with no garden in our London area - access to our current jobs, current excellent primary school & the routine we are used to vs hopefully somewhere that gives us more space and doesn’t tie us to a huge mortgage.

Has anyone else gone through this type of decision? Thoughts?!

Thanks ☺️

I live in Keynsham. It's ideal because it's midway between Bristol and Bath. It has direct buses and trains to both cities and a direct bus to airport. There's several primary schools and a couple of secondary schools.
You'd also get more for your money.

Would you be looking to relocate your jobs as well, or can you work remotely? What sort of industries do you work in and how far are you willing to commute if not remote workers?

You’ll very much be looking more towards the £650K end of your budget for the sort of property you want in the more village-type feel areas of Bath. It’s a lovely part of the world (I live in London, grew up in Bath, parents still live there) and has a lot going for it, though the most suitable areas will depend on your work.

It would clearly be a nice lifestyle, but jobs have got to be the main question here. If you need to keep commuting to London, that's a big lifestyle commitment of its own. Wouldn't do Bath to London more than once a week.

If you don't, are you confident you could get the same salaries in Bath? Depends on what your jobs are, but in some industries the lack of availability or lower pay of many careers cancels out the saving in house prices.

Bradford on Avon will give you lots that you want, but housing is scarce there, moving out further you could look at Corsham, Devizes even, or up to Stroud, if you need to be on direct train then Chippenham’s is practical but has few houses with character. South of Bath housing is more available but less practical for commuting or similar.

Thanks for all the thoughts. We are fine re jobs - we’re lucky that our work can be anywhere. One of us will need to be in London every week or so and we have very much factored this into our budget.

I’ve been looking for a month or so now and there seem to be lots of lovely properties at 400/450 in places like Bath Easton/ Coombe Down/ Weston.

I think my question was more about the experience of moving from London in terms of day to day lifestyle and the country vs big city question. How we might fit in/ settle.

my parents live 20 minutes away so we know the area, but not first hand and not as parents.

Keynsham has come up a lot but it’s not for us - I think we want to be a walk/ electric bike/ quick bus.

we looked at Bradford on Avon a few years back but it was one step too small for a first move from London.

I should add that we are happy with a small house - we will struggle being away from a city centre after two decades in central London. We’re aware of the property we could get if we left Bath, but we’re not brave enough for that at this stage.

Bath is a beautiful city we visit regularly as daughter is at university. Cannot say what it’s like to live there but it’s a city we would definitely consider if we needed to move. There is so much to do there and easy to get to - we regularly use trains. Also trains are regular and direct to London.
Good luck making your decision

Just to add Bath shopping centre is really good 👍