How can I choose where to live - sounds crazy

[NomadicMe1]

Long story short - we relocated to South Devon 5 yrs ago to raise our family (3 kids - all primary/pre school age) and I m totally miserable here. Living here has ruined me - I’m so anxious now and full of worry over everything - I’m desperate to move.
My husband doesn’t see the problems and is impossible to talk to about anything.
I would live anywhere (originally from south east) - never in a small village again though but how do I pick an area?! I need to go armed with info and positive reasons to show him that South Devon is not the place before us! Please help me ....

Why don’t you like it?

So many reasons - the small village gossip, the lack of amenities for adults and kids, the fact you have to drive so far to do anything , can’t even take the kids on a bike ride as the roads aren’t safe enough and they aren’t proper pavements! The worst though is the terrible attitude of the locals. Never experienced such craziness and I don’t want my kids to experience it. I was brought up in the Home Counties and loved it - such a mistake being here and now I’m trapped 😩

What's your budget? And are DC settled in school? Or coming to an age where one would be starting secondary? Is being near family a push or pull factor?

Yes, sounds about right. Ditto

Budget isn’t too much of a worry - kids have only just started out in school so I wouldn’t mind moving them at this stage - family live all over the place so they aren’t too much of a factor; most still in south east/ London .

Winchester, Farnham, Guildford?

What kind of craziness from the locals are you talking?

There are so many nice places in the SE but really do need a budget. Four beds here start at a million if you are lucky...

I would move there tomorrow - I love all 3 of those places and have happy memories there. My husband sees moving back to the SE as going backwards - I just don’t get it.

Where else is amazing for raising a young family - other than SE? All ideas are greatly received 😌

There are some lovey places in Buckinghamshire... Amersham or Hertfordshire... Harpenden, St. Albans, Hitchin.

But you'd need a big budget for a decent house in those places. All commutable London. Good schools. Get the best of both worlds... city and countryside.

Could you stick to the same name, so that your posts are highlighted ?

Do you (as a family) need to be somewhere for work ?
Or, if you work from home, does that mean you need good internet / phone signal etc ?
You are going to need to narrow it down. The UK is a big area.

My husband is self employed but needs to get to London fairly regularly - I sold my business when we moved here as it involved lots of travel (did nt want to raise a family and then leave them to work away) - we have terrible internet now so anything better than crap would be ideal!
I would want to stay within 3 hrs of London (by car) - sorry I’m so vague 🤦🏽‍♀️.
Good schools are a must, community, green but close enough to a bustling town/city ....

Again if you could give a budget and house requirements that would be easier...

What does your DH think is so good about where you are, that he cannot see the problem? Meeting his needs too seems key to getting him on board...

Bristol is your solution! Great city. Lots going on but fabulous countryside on your door. The trains are quick to London (between 1 hour 5 mins and 1 hour 37 mins) or less than 3 hours to drive. Your husband won't feel like he's gone back to the SE. Good schools and lots of lovely people!

We moved 8 years ago. Once we decided what was essential picking somewhere was fairly easy.

1. good schools
2. we could afford a house
3. we could walk to school, GP, shops, facilities etc
4. we could access the proper countryside easily
5. there was a good range of things to do for teens
6. access to jobs was good enough

We picked 2 market towns that had all of these, visited both, moved to the second one. It's lovely here (but not in the south).

Look at Winslow Bucks. Its a small town so maybe rural enough for your dh but big enough for you. Four bed houses currently on rightmove vary from £345K-£595K. Currently to get to London it would be a 20 min drive into Aylesbury then about 1 hour on the train but Winslow should be getting a station soon once the East/West link is completed. It has some good schools, Bucks still operates the 11 plus system. Its 11 miles from both Milton Keynes city centre and Aylesbury.