We're in our 50s and, after almost two decades of happy Northern Ireland living, are considering a return home to England to be nearer family - and we need help identifying places in the South West to look at. It will be a tough move for us, as we have a pretty good situation here, and property is much more expensive over there.
We have family in north Somerset (Wells area) and we are looking at Somerset and Devon as options. We're looking to be in a slightly less rural situation than we are now (driving to get the milk, all our neighbours are cattle) so we are thinking a village with short-ish drive to a small town.
We want to be within a reasonable commute to a hospital (ideally, no more than an hour) as I'm on biologics and have semi-regular check ups. We don't want to be on top of family either, just more accessible than we are now. Main family in North Somerset but there are others in Bideford and Looe I'dlike to reconnect with.
We both work from home and like walking so inland is fine but, ideally, we'd like an easy-ish commute to the sea (we're both coastal rowers and would value the opportunity to continue this hobby plus we have beach-loving dogs). We'd like to avoid second home land, we want to be part of a community.
As much as I love Cornwall, I suspect its a bit too far away but I'll be delighted to be on its doorstep.
We're in the early days of considering whether this move is feasible, its not urgent but for a number of reasons, feels inevitable. We think, once we sell up here, we'll have a budget of around the £300/£350K for 2/3 bedrooms. Zoopla suggests this is feasible if limited on choice. I'm not a fan of new builds, we currently live in an old stone cottage which we renovated. I realise, we'll not get like for like, as we live in a much cheaper area, but we're hoping to find something similar if smaller. Any areas to look at or pointers welcome! Thank you.