Where to move to once we retire

[AppleCherryBlossom]

I’m looking for any advice or suggestions on possible places to move to when we retire in a couple of years. Where we live now is convenient for work but we would like to live somewhere with a bit more going on. We are not restricted by family commitments so can move anywhere.
Ideally we would like a town or city (somewhere with a train station), easy access to music, films, theatre etc, a bit of a creative vibe, close to water for canoeing and near a good hospital. We are thinking of a 3 bedrooms house with 2 bathrooms and a garden. Ideally we’d like to be semi detached or somewhere where the soundproofing is good (we’ve had very noisy neighbours before and don’t want to go through that again). Our budget is £800,000. Cambridge would have been great, but it is out of our budget for what we want. Any ideas would be gratefully received!

Literally anywhere in the UK, or have you narrowed that down a bit?

Lancaster fits the bill so long as you are happy with the theatre offerings - we have 2. Mainline station, river, canoeing, rural if you like that, ok hospital.

You may want a bigger city though.

We’re open to anywhere. I don’t want to rule any areas out as there are places I don’t know and I thought I could spend the next couple of years visiting different areas. If I had to narrow it down, it would be places nearer to the eurotunnel for holidays, but that’s not essential. We like Norwich, Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh, but I feel there are probably loads of great smaller towns we don’t know much about.

@RandomMess Thanks, I’ve visited once and really liked the location, will add that to the list.

Lewes in Sussex is gorgeous. Lovely vibrant town and just over an hour to London Victoria.

With the budget you have I'd be prioritising a detached house tbh, then start looking at areas where that requirement is met. Imagine landing yourself with another set of awful neighbours!

Lincoln fits the bill

Malvern

If you’re willing to come north you could look at York or somewhere in Northumberland.

Bury St Edmunds. Then you will be convenient for London, Norwich, Cambridge and the coast.

Canterbury seemed to be lovely when I visited as was Stratford Upon Avon.

Oxford fits the bill. You would get a detached house but with nearby neighbours for your budget.

Wouldn’t you rather stay near to where you are because of friends. I’d hate to move somewhere where the only person I knew was my OH, especially if I wasn’t working. Anyway, I’d suggest Suffolk.

How much canoeing do you think you're going to be doing in retirement?!

Anyway, I'd suggest Helensburgh.

Guildford and close surrounds. Theatre and lots going on. St Albans has a few things in budget and a busy town with several stations that feed London covering your theatre needs. Possibly edges of York.

Start with a UK map of major trainlines and motorways - accessibility (in and out) is everything. Airports too if you want to fly.

Then narrow down by listing towns and small cities by population size and amenities, add scores out of ten for all your key criteria.

Put it all in a spreadsheet and let us know your results!

Chichester.

Saffron Walden, then you can get to Cambridge.

Leamington Spa/Warwick good train links, not far from Stratford upon Avon for theatre, River Avon. Lovely villages nearby. Easy access to M40, close to Cotswolds, very central.

Henley-On-Thames
Pangbourne
Goring and streatly
Reading if you go to Caversham.

All have good doctors and tend to use Royal Berks or Oxford John Ratcliffe.

We're retiring next year and won't live anywhere without a shop. Check food deliveries too, Ocado and waitrose. Our adult DC wanted pizza access!

Shrewsbury is nice

You have a reasonable budget so I think you need to narrow down options. The UK is huge when you can literally go anywhere. First and foremost, if this is a 'final' move, access to good medical care and nearby hospitals should be given serious thought. Also one floor living, detached bungalow ideal. Non-hilly access to shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas etc. On a good bus or train route. You might be fit and active now but in 5 years time it could be a different story. Easy access to and from the family.

We have done the above, moved to the south west for beach and town living. With your budget I would buy a bungalow in a thriving community but also a city flat to use while you are active.

Sorry, absolutely no help with location!

@IMissSparkling my Dad is still teaching canoeing and kayaking in his 80s!

Thank you all so much for those suggestions, they’re all great and I’ve added them to my list. I haven’t heard of quite a few of them, so am quite excited!

The plan is to do lots of weekend trips over the next couple of years to narrow down where we want to focus on. I genuinely could live anywhere. I love Scotland, Wales and England equally which probably doesn’t help. We're not from the UK and our family are abroad, so wherever we live won’t make that much difference to them.

@cramptramp our friends are all over the UK so we all tend to meet up for weekends which will mean travelling wherever we’re based. I am hoping to do volunteering and join groups etc when we move, so will hopefully make new friends there.

@EdisinBurgh I will get my husband to do this, he is Mr spreadsheet man.
@columnatedruinsdomino I don’t think this is the final move. We are retiring earlyish so would like to get settled in an area and then downsize as and when we need to.
@IMissSparkling and @RandomMess Hopefully we still have a few years of canoeing left in us, we’re not extreme canoeists 😂.

Deal, Canterbury, Folkestone, Whistable, Broadstairs.

I live in Deal and it is a lovely seaside town with a nice little high street and a lot of creative people live there. There is a hospital in Canterbury & one in Margate. Deal is 1.30 minutes to London by direct train.

With your budget you would get a great house here!