My wife is Scottish and we always planned to retire there.
We both are now but in the end the generally pleasant Hertfordshire weather won over so we've stayed where we are.
The weather in Scotland really is poor if you like dry, warm sunny days Sent from my SM-A736B using TZ-UK mobile app
Thanks. Your criteria sounds very similar to mine. Not really interested in school catchments as just not relevant to us any more. The only thing I would add is a level of ethnic diversity in or near to whatever the location is. Seems like a Uni city could help tick that box. Also being close to a large town or a city to be able to access “vibes” etc. Probably not that important to me, but I know it would be for Mrs Bambam and for when her friends visit.
Thanks for the advice re not panic buying!
I’m hoping to make a road trip this week, if I get my car back from repair so I don’t have to travel on Good Friday.
For anyone that’s been to visit a possible location for a day - any ideas or tips as to things to spend time on? I know the details will vary depending on the specific location, but any general tips would be welcome.
Oh dear.
This is a very good point that I had never really considered until last November when I had a serious medical emergency. We have a big hospital about two miles away and my wife was able to safely get me there in several minutes.
We will be moving, more than likely to a seaside village or town when our elderly parents pass, and this has greatly reduced the list of possible places we are considering. The difference to being near a hospital and a half hour plus drive away down tourist infested lanes can so easily be life and death and often is.
And it's not just emergencies, required repeat treatments can become a major logistical and expensive problem in old age if there is a forty five minute drive to the nearest main hospital.
Well I managed to make a trip to Exeter earlier in the week. Was only there for a short while but liked what I saw of the city centre.
Now if I was to go back for a longer look, are there any locals or those that know that area well that could recommend a few places to check out?
I live and really like Portishead too, its perfect to be near Bristol but also far enough away, has a lovely harbour, good pubs, restaurants, coastal walks, right on the M5 with M4 junction not too far and Devon and Cornwall are only a few hours down the road, same can be said for Clevedon too, only downside is holiday traffic on the M5 during the summer/bank holidays, £800k should get you something nice..
the Bristol area appeals to me for when i downsize and possibly relocate. I go to lots of gigs and comedy, and don't plan to stop either and presently go to either London, Oxford or Bristol. Realistically I'll need to cut down on this kind of travel, focussing on one area and the Bristol area (inc Bath) has loads of great arts venues. I need to investigate some of the public transport links as Bristol is very anti car; hopefully that is reflected in a superior PT service.
Also has excellent train links back to London if needed.
Thanks. I spent many nights in Bristol many years ago when a company I worked for had a base there. Can’t say I got to know the area very well but at the time I did know a lot of the bars and restaurants.
It’s great to have a few specific areas in the Bristol area to look at.
I’m still planning another trip to Exeter to look around a bit more.
Bit of an update:
Apparently Exeter is too far away! Shame as there were some nice looking properties there.
Anyway, had a look around Oxfordshire the other week - Didcot; Grove; Wantage and Chipping Norton. Nice areas but the town areas were pretty quiet, obviously not a city “vibe”. But good info overall and maybe an option..
Also managed to get to Salisbury which was nice and there seems to be a choice of properties as well.
Discussions at home are leading me to think that we will need to stay within an hour or so of London on a train due to kids university etc. That limits the options somewhat and we could just be swapping one commuter place for another which is not ideal.
Have added Bradford on Avon to my Rightmove list as well….
A friend also suggested East Grinstead.
https://open.xploria.co.uk/app/know-...bDXF*elcAu7IT4
Always pretty accurate for decent places I’ve found.
Basically, green = good, red = bad.
Nothing against East Grinstead............. but you might as well stay where you are.
I spotted the earlier Okehampton suggestion, and after going there this morning I was about to give it the thumbs up. But then I spotted your post about Exeter being too far.
If you want to free up equity but wish to stay within a close distance of London - take a look at Kent. There are some expensive areas, but there are also some relatively affordable areas when compared to Berks. Transport links to London, Gatwick, and the rest of europe are hard to beat.
Last edited by catflem; Yesterday at 14:27.
I guess one question is "Do you need to be able to get to London easily?" - This seems almost to be an unwritten assumption in a lot of the answers.
When I read the OP, my first thought was Exeter, but I'd like being close to the sea.
Bournemouth/Southampton/Portsmouth are options, but they're all pretty expensive ones these days if you want to live in a relatively pleasant area (And, honestly, Bournemouth has become a bit of a dive in recent years).
Bristol is a good shout if getting to London is an important factor, but, while it's on the Bristol Channel, the coast around there isn't as nice as Devon, IMO.
If you don't want the coast, how about Salisbury or Winchester? (the latter is another place that's getting expensive, though).
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
I think some of the residential areas of Bournemouth and Poole are still nice but I have been shocked at how the shopping centre of Bournemouth has declined since the pandemic. I think it was very much built around its three department stores so losing all of them meant it lost a lot of shoppers and all that has been left is boarded up shops and rough sleepers.
Back in the 1990s Bournemouth centre was smart and Poole was the dump. I’d say Poole, although still a bit rough, has fared better than Bournemouth.
To answer snowman's question - it does look like we will need to stay within reasonable reach of London/Heathrow. Our son is due to start Uni in London this year, our daughter will likely do something there after Uni and my wife works at Heathrow. So some places that I had looked at would be too far to get to London easily - like Exeter.
I know what you mean about places like Winchester and East Grinstead, they can be just as expensive as where we are now.
Even Salisbury, which I quite liked, is probably too far from London via train, even though its probably doable to Heathrow via car. This is why I started exploring places like Didcot and the Oxford area.
This also means we are unlikely to be able to get that 'uni town/city' vibe which was quite important in the initial discussions.
We are also talking to a financial planner to explore options - one of those will be the impact of staying where we are. Mrs Bambam is happy about that, but its not ideal from my perspective as it will probably mean that I have to go back to the type of work that I've done for years and it would be good to have the option to do something else.
Hmm...
I haven’t read the whole stream
but I moved from Surrey (Croydon borough) -> Portugal, Algarve. No regrets at all.
If you want to work - pick up a Digital Nomad visa and work near Lisbon or Porto. Plenty of flights from Gatwick / Heathrow.
Last edited by MartynJC (UK); Yesterday at 19:35.
“ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG
If your wife wants to carry on working at Heathrow then your options are pretty limited as far as I can see.
If, however, she’s more flexible about her options then you could really be anywhere; your kids are unlikely to need you much when they’re at uni, certainly not enough for you to have to be close to them (unless they have special needs?). Most kids want to be as far away as possible from home when they go to university.
Have you considered Cheltenham or the immediate surrounding area? Very quick and easy access to the M5, not far to the M4. Lots going on and some very nice areas, but then I'm biased as I live in Cheltenham.