Looking for a new home

[KPEP]

Hello,
We are living overseas but looking to move to the UK in 18 months or so. Although British, we have been overseas for 20+ years and have no real tie to any particular place any more. We are a family of 4, with 2 children who will be Year 9.
We need access to a good secondary school. We hope for a laid-back, relaxed place to live. Pleasant lifestyle, good community. Edge of village, maybe small town. Enjoy the outdoors - rivers, woods, mountains, coast . . . Local swimming pool a plus. Relatively modest funds.
We'd welcome suggestions of places to consider.

Do you need to commute to work or to London for meetings, or both WFH? Do you need regular access to an airport? I know with covid you probably don't need either of those things in the short term but in a few years a day-long trek to get to Heathrow might get very annoying if you're regularly going back overseas to see friends or for work or whatever.

Tamworth has The Snowdome with Deming pool and swimming club, climbing wall, ice skating, skiing, snowboarding and sometimes shoots and flumes in swimming pool. There are also reasonable shops. Tamworth has a castle and Pleasure Grounds park. I would not.like to live in Tamworth itself however I live in a village about 3 1/2 miles outside of Tamworth. We have a large lake, with ducks and geese, for walking and cycle paths around. Part way around there is a skate park. There are several villages within 10 miles of Tamworth. Some are more rural than others. Drayton Manor I'd close by too. In my village there is an indoor trampoline park, supermarket, beauticians for nails and make up, hairdressers, fish and chip shop, newsagents, sewing shop and industrial estate on outskirts. There are several primary and high schools and college in Tamworth. There is also a canal close by. It is located in Staffordshire where house prices are moderate. I like it but you could look up houses on Rightmove.

Thanks Xiaoxiong. Working from home, so that's not a problem. I don't think we will be flying frequently; maybe once or twice a year? So distance from Heathrow is not a major factor.

Hello @caringcarer, we hadn't really considered Staffordshire. What do you know about the schools? And do you recommend certain villages over others?

Well we're just about to buy in Cornwall and it doesn't get more outdoorsy than that. Truro College and Roseland Academy are both Ofsted outstanding if you go state, and Truro School and Truro High if you go private. DH grew up there, his family is there - if you choose a place where people live year-round and get involved, then the community is fantastic. There is an understandable frustration in some areas where second homes have killed off community life but I think that's changing fast now more people can WFH, the food culture is wonderful, and the internet down there is fantastic now with the EU paying for fibre - it's better than we have now near London!

What is your modest budget and what are your essentials for that also presumably state schools or do you need private?

Leicestershire has really good schools overall. Plenty of nice villages around Ashby De La Zouch

Downside is that many schools start their GCSE curriculum at the start of Year 9.

Budget is the key here OP.

That was across England about the Year 9 curriculum BTW.

Some areas have different systems to others with middle schools rather than just primary and secondary. So something to consider so finding spaces for 2 DC in a "good" school may not be straightforward and finding the information out at school level prior to applying can be difficult too.

Thanks for the responses. @RandomMess and @LeaveMyDamnJam, I guess 'modest budget' means probably no more than 300k for a house.
What I'm coming across is the idea that we need to get accommodation sorted out first before the school. We have previously done things the other way round; arranged accommodation once the schooling is sorted out.
If that is the case, I guess we need to plump for a place we like, with a couple of reasonable schooling options.
Essentials are access to a good state school; some local amenities (shop, cafe/pub, church), a sense of community, access to countryside for walking, I guess medical facilities in the vicinity. A swimming pool nearby would be nice but not essential.

School starting GCSEs in Y9 is a shame but not an insurmountable problem.
I will look closer at Truro and that area, and around Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Open to Wales and Scotland as well as England - any views on that or is the field now too broad?

Thanks @Xiaoxiong for your input. I will definitely look. Do you reckon around Truro is the best place to look in Cornwall?

Certainly I think if I had teenagers I'd be looking in around the Truro-Falmouth area, as well as south and west of St Austell. Then depending on where you find a house, then you'd have a chance at Roseland, Richard Lander/Truro College, Penryn, Penrice, Falmouth, and the private options of Truro School/Truro High if that is a possibility for you. I know some of those are oversubscribed but at least if there are quite a few options that are all pretty good then there are more chances of ending up somewhere you like.