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Thought experiment: where to move out of London to?

I must say that a lot of suggestions are pretty superficial.

Whatever your money buys you in terms of property and surroundings, it doesn't follow that you will enjoy living there. If you want to be part of the fab trendy lot who choose property and location like they choose shoes.. then go for it. If you want a life.. find a community you can belong to. identify and grow with. and raise kids in.

I have brief moments where I think I'd love to live in Selworthy, or Turville or a few other 'quaint' vilages I've encountered in my time.. but mostly a bit of reflection says no.

The OP is not asking what he could have done 30 years ago.
 
Assuming that job is no restriction, I recommend moving to the outskirts of a town which is within easy reach of a city. The town should be large enough to have its own hospital though. Also look for nice scenery on the doorstep so you can go for walks in something called Fresh Air, which you probably have never experienced before.

Choose a city which has good cultural facilities, maybe an orchestra, few theatres, although they'll all go bust soon. The town should have a good set of the usual supermarkets.

If you don't eat chips then check for availability of whatever strange dietary requirements you have.

Chester: good fast links to Manchester but might be too expensive - Cheshire set and all that
Congleton: as above but its become commuter belt for Manchester
Greater Manchester: Getting more expensive but you probably won't notice. Good culture but roads are too often clogged. Moors are close but you might discover a body.
Birmingham: no cultural life at all, plus the architecture is sh*t
Nottingham: good cultural life but might be on the slide after Boots and Rolls Royce job losses and covid-19
Leeds, York, Sheffield, Bradford: full of people who will not be able to resist taking the p*ss out of your accent. Some are downright bastards, carefully vet your neighbours. Lots of inverted snobs so I hope your accent isn't too posh
Anything North of the above: too wet, cold and miserable although very cheap
Norwich: access to anywhere else is really crap
 
Fortunately for us, no-one knows where Herefordshire is. When asked for my address, I frequently get told I must mean Hertfordshire. So, it's pretty quiet here on the whole. You probably wouldn't like it.
 
You'd really have to balance what you want the move to achieve and what you don't want to let go of from your present area.
I suspect any large town on a main train line, within 45 mins of Olde Londinium would do the trick.
e.g. Guildford

We moved out to Somerset but rarely had any need or urge to visit London, it was approximately a two hour drive for us.
 
For a bit of perspective on property prices....I moved to Southampton after my divorce because property prices were cheaper, then when Mrs ks and me got together a decade ago we looked for a property in Southampton on the grounds that it was all we could afford. However, when we widened our search we found a 4 bed detached in a new forest village for much the cost as a 4 bed semi in the city.

We’ve been here for a few years now and there isn’t a day goes by that I don’t thank my luck.

London is an easy hour and a half drive, and wild, unpopulated wonderfulness is a 10 minute walk

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Newark-on-Trent

reasonable link to London ( Hour and a quarter to London)

A castle, a river, an array of antiques and a waitrose. Very pretty area, surrounded by little villages. Considered expensive from where I live, good value I guess if moving from the south.

Agreed, I'm in one of those little villages. Actually I'm 2 miles out of one and my nearest neighbour is 1/3 mile away. Perfect.
 
Agreed, I'm in one of those little villages. Actually I'm 2 miles out of one and my nearest neighbour is 1/3 mile away. Perfect.


I have a cousin in Kelham and know folk in Southwell, nice roads around there.

I hope you are away from the flood prone area.
 
I have a cousin in Kelham and know folk in Southwell, nice roads around there.

I hope you are away from the flood prone area.

I'm further east than that, roughly 8 miles east of Newark but know the area well. Kelham floods quite well though. If you know the place even the rugby club was flooded last time.
Southwell is not a cheap place to buy a house although coming from London wouldn't feel too bad.....
 
I'm further east than that, roughly 8 miles east of Newark but know the area well. Kelham floods quite well though. If you know the place even the rugby club was flooded last time.
Southwell is not a cheap place to buy a house although coming from London wouldn't feel too bad.....

I am not a fan of Southwell myself. It is yummy mummy, range rover paradise. The architecture is great though. My wife goes to a 'Tap' (dance) class in Southwell.

The cousin in Kelham is not on the flood plain, an old council house I think.
 
The further (from London) the better.
We moved 20 years ago from the 'A4 corridor' up to Northumberland.
No regrets, though you have to be prepared for lack of public transport in rural areas.
Even the climate is way better than forecasts would have you believe (lots of sunshine).
Bonus of course is way lower house prices.

On the rare occasions that I have to go down to London I am always struck by the horrendous traffic and air so polluted that you can both see and taste it.

Good luck
 
Decent train connection to London for friends, culture, etc would have to be high up on the list I think.

Splendid isolation sounds very appealing some days - I've always fancied a meadow of my own (with perhaps a colony of very rare beetles) - but also aware the reality could be a backwater where tractors and heroin are the main local amusements..

Set a journey time. Say, an hour. Puts you in reach of Hampshire (near London prices but great) Suffolk, a tad cheaper, Northamptonshire, cheaper still but bits are Midlands industrial (avoid the A14 corridor), Oxfordshire but prices so close to London forget it and JUST the east end of Dorset.
Depends who you are really.
New Forest is one of the 'right places to live', whereas Salisbury isn't (and mentioning crime and drugs....!). However Shaftsbury is great, Winchester ditto but pricier etc etc. If you want a small community to get welcomed into, and to live in and contribute to, then find a village. The change from London life where no-one knows who you are, and village life where everyone knows when you sneeze may or may not suit you and needs thought. Midway is the small rural town, and our best compromises were always found on the edge of a small town, where you can hide if you want or get involved if you want.

I'd have a close look at Northamptonshire. I know it well. Get North of the A14 and it's really good in bits. Look at a map and draw the triangle between Stamford, Uppingham and Oundle. Anywhere in there is lovely (with beetles), the weather is kind, all 3 of those towns pretty, old and interesting, and London is about an hour on the train. If we'd not chosen Scotland, that would have done me just fine.
 
Hertfordshire

We regularly get mail with "Herefordshire" in the address. At least RM ignores that element of the address, and delivers correctly to us, rather than some random in bumpkin land.

as for the OP, we'd go somewhere in Norfolk/Suffolk
 
Stay away from the north of England.... we hate Londoners :D

In all seriousness I doubt you'll get an answer that you can rely on as if you've lived in London for as long as you have only you know what you love about it and what you don't hence what you want elsewhere. There is nowhere else in the UK like London and anywhere else will take some getting used to.

A reverse example is me.... I am originally from London, but have lived most of my life in NW England. About 4 years ago I met my new partner and moved back to London.... put simply I hated it... I assumed it would be like Manchester but bigger and more diverse, but it's just too busy for me and poor value for money (IMO)... I thought I was buying the chip shop the first time I asked for cod & chips there ;) My partner's house may be worth a fortune but it is overlooked by numerous other properties has no drive or garage and you have to pay to park on the street... wtf???? Anyway I appreciate some love it, but it wasn't for me ... however I did notice how immeasurably better the weather was compared to Manchester so we bought a place in rural Norfolk and now can't see any neighbours have lots of land, can park wherever we like and it's rarely raining for days on end... however ...it's not for everyone and I get that. You have to drive or cycle to get anywhere, but we love it and we're getting fitter. We still have to go in and out of London for various reasons, but it's good as now I feel like a visitor and that (again IMO) is the best way to be in London :D
 
Depends how far from London you want / need to be. Chilterns are lovely. Marlow, Henley etc. Further west you’ve got Marlborough. Lovely town and some absolutely gorgeous villages around, Ramsbury, Aldbourne etc. Further out and you’re into Cheltenham / Cotswolds towns and villages. Very nice but can be very busy. If you’re cashing in London real estate, I’d stay invested in the south personally. Yes, you get less for you money but there are reasons for that. I’m well out of it all in rural Wales in splendid isolation. Love it but we’re actually thinking of moving to a smaller place closer to family, had EA out last week...
 
We regularly get mail with "Herefordshire" in the address. At least RM ignores that element of the address, and delivers correctly to us, rather than some random in bumpkin land.

as for the OP, we'd go somewhere in Norfolk/Suffolk

Told you no-one can find us!
 


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