Where would you live and why?

[BrightLightTonight]

Hi all

I have a massive dilemma - I am old, free and single. I am looking at retirement and have no geographical ties, so can move anywhere in the UK. My budget is around £300k.

Areas I have ruled out (no offence to people who live here) Cornwall, couldn’t cope with the tourists, Wales - far too hilly (I have dodgy knees), North East England - the one part of the UK that I don’t have any friends/or relatives. Scotland, probably too far north. The rest of the UK, I have friends or relatives within 2.5 hours.

I would like to live within 30 mins of the coast, in a friendly community.

Where should I move to? Help

Have you ever lived there?
I appreciate it’s all whether the relative and I would not live in Wales due to the green green grass
But the Wirral is very wet

Lots of areas in Wales are relatively flat. Look around the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales. Very flat, Cowbridge is especially a lovely town and very close to the coast. Not far from Cardiff which is really lovely - you have the Bay Area and city.

@boundaryspongeis correct - Wirral is not very wet at all, it escapes much of the rain surrounding areas get and is much less wet as well as having much less snow. I grew up there and have lived there as an adult.

Well, I’ve lived there for a long time and as I say it is all relative but it is the wettest place I’ve ever lived in the country.

Permanently pissing down was my experience

With your budget perhaps South Wales. Ogmore, Porthcawl or even down to the Gower. You would naturally get more for your money than the SE places that have been mentioned.

OP, how do you propose taking the next step? I can recommend visiting as many places on your list as you can. I did it across a two year time frame visiting circa six places -some for 2-4 nights- to rule them in or out. I ended up relocating over 300 miles. Walking the streets and picking B&Bs or Airbnb in the actual districts we favoured was the most valuable pointer in coming to a decision.

Wareham. Great little friendly town. Good train service to London. Easy to get to shops/hospitals etc. in Bournemouth/Poole area and regional airports and ferries. Handy for beaches but not full of tourists like places right on the coast.
Just noticed folks have been suggesting Bridport. It's a nice town these days (used to be a dump!) - but it is isolated. One main road which fairly frequently has problems, no local train service. Frankly I think it's got a bit over run by the arty, up themselves crowd.

Agree
my parents live in Parkgate, I spent my teenage years there
good for walks/ restaurants/ beaches. accessible for Chester, Liverpool and Manchester
loads of country parks

And miles of bridle paths on the Wirral way
train to London only takes 2 hours from Chester

I'd suggest East Suffolk. Woodbridge. Saxmundham and Framingham are all lovely little market towns with a great community feel. Easy access to the coast, also great countryside for dog walks and horse riding.

Avoid Aldeburgh, which is probably out of your budget anyway. It's lovely fr a holiday but it is full of second homes, it's fairly dead in winter but jammed full of tourists in summer

I would also look at Felixstowe. Right on the coast, good sense of community and quite a lot going on.

Hi, I am retired and live in the New Forest. I suspect it depends a bit on what your thoughts are on what sort of home you want to have. You could get a retirement flat in Brockenhurst on your budget, or, just about, a small house in Lymington, or a slightly bigger place in New Milton.

All these have a station, Brockenhurst has very good connections to London, about 90 minutes to London Waterloo, handy for the theatre etc. Your budget might well go further if you look at villages without such good transport connections.

Lots of people retire here, they are very friendly communities full of lively people interested in the arts, keeping fit, all sorts of hobbies and activities locally. See what is going on the the local village halls/ community centres.

Lymington and New Milton have good shops, Lymington also has a Saturday market. There are quite a few independent butchers/ bakers/ greengrocers etc locally.

The surroundings are of course very beautiful, and the sea is close by. Being in a National Park has its downside if you want to extend your house! but it is lovely to be so close to so much beauty - and I think it doesn't matter so much if your garden isn't huge as there is so much nature on your doorstep, and the ponies helpfully keep the grass short etc.

Bournemouth and Southampton have big hospitals, a variety of shopping, big theatre and music venues.

Christchurch is indeed also very beautiful and has a lovely feel to it.

It would be a good idea to come down for a weekend and have a look around. That was what we did, and my husband took one look and was determined to move here...

@kerstinawhich town are you moving to? I'm curious as I'm from north Pembrokeshire. DH and I are hoping to semi-retire there.

Parkgate = midges due to the rain 😂

For that budget I would look towards the north west.
Lytham St Anne's is lovely & amazing for older folk. I know numerous people who have retired happily there and love the community although it is pricey.
For cheaper go further up the coast

If you think all of Wales is hilly you can't have been there at all. That's a pretty poor excuse to rule out somewhere.

East Suffolk is indeed lovely.

This maybe a big no for you. A friend of mine in her late 60s decided to downsize to a ground floor flat sold only to people over 55. She said it is so freeing. She says locks up and travels to family/ holidays whenever she feels like it. She says feels has future proofed self as a complex with support if needed. She is in a popular village with good trandport links. Area not for you as not near coast.

Agree with Bridport and also possibly Dorchester, Crewkerne or Sidmouth on the East Devon coast. SE is much pricier, although probably affordable pockets near Rye (not Rye itself) and Winchlesea. Parts of Kent - Faversham, Deal, Hyde. I wouldn’t rule out Wales - Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan. Market towns - pretty sure Winchester is too expensive, but Petersfield is worth a look - easy run to Southsea for the coast. Somerset - Clevedon, Watchet, Porlock? I don’t know the East Coast of England at all.

i would imagine that Somerset and Wales would be the cheaper options.

Good luck - exciting to have all of these options.

It is Newport I know it is one of those places that is a high proportion of holiday let’s but there is a good community there also . I like the fact that as a non driver I could walk round the town and down to the estuary and sea easily and there is something very special and uncommercial about it. Would you consider it Minnie Mountain?

East Yorkshire. You could probably pick up a little property for £300k but it’s not a fortune. Might have to be Hull way ( Beverley is nice) rather than York way.

@kerstinathat's a lovely place. I have a sibling there but we're not close and DH wants to aim for St David's so he can surf. I'd prefer Fishguard or Goodwick as St David's get stupidly busy now, but I expect we'll end up in St David's.

The Lake District? Very beautiful and lots of great communities, although not great for services and amenities as a rule.

Peak District is very pretty and people are friendly (although it can be hilly)

I would have to take weather in to account if I was to move.
I couldn’t move to somewhere wetter or colder than where I live now.
where are you living now @BrightLightTonight

The problems with Norfolk (I know it well) are:

• if you don't want to move to Cornwall because of the tourists, don't move to Norfolk because it's the same;
• the winters are cold and muddy and the roads are filthy;
• getting anywhere takes ages because the roads are nearly all single carriageways; in summer they're clogged with caravans and combine harvesters and in winter with tractors and sugar beet lorries.

But it is a very popular place for retirees - one of the most popular, in fact.