Thinking of moving to Somerset
Discussion
So recently (Past few years) I've felt a bit stuck in a rut.
We got married in 2018 in Wales, and while there looked at house prices and was amazed at how cheap they where compared to where we live in Essex.
This sparked the thought process of moving with a view to clear to clear the mortgage and taking a different approach to work. Currently a quantity surveyor of 13 years, and its draining life slowly out of me.
We also had our daughter in 2019, and working full time I only really get weekends with her, which only reinforces the idea I need to get off the hamster wheel.
Recently started up a side husle detaling cars, thinking if this takes off in a few years I could drop work and do this.
We have kicked a few ideas around, moving out to Canada, spain even Czech republic (Wifes family is from there)
Then we've just come back from a weekend in Somerset, my Brother and Dad live down there and the Wife's brother and his family has also moved down there, and for some reason mvoing there was never really on the cards.
If we sold our house we could afford a house for 250-300k with no Mortgage.
Really looking for a bit of advise or other stories of others that have had this plan and executed.
I know i will need to work to pay bills etc, but i feel this move would free me up massively
We got married in 2018 in Wales, and while there looked at house prices and was amazed at how cheap they where compared to where we live in Essex.
This sparked the thought process of moving with a view to clear to clear the mortgage and taking a different approach to work. Currently a quantity surveyor of 13 years, and its draining life slowly out of me.
We also had our daughter in 2019, and working full time I only really get weekends with her, which only reinforces the idea I need to get off the hamster wheel.
Recently started up a side husle detaling cars, thinking if this takes off in a few years I could drop work and do this.
We have kicked a few ideas around, moving out to Canada, spain even Czech republic (Wifes family is from there)
Then we've just come back from a weekend in Somerset, my Brother and Dad live down there and the Wife's brother and his family has also moved down there, and for some reason mvoing there was never really on the cards.
If we sold our house we could afford a house for 250-300k with no Mortgage.
Really looking for a bit of advise or other stories of others that have had this plan and executed.
I know i will need to work to pay bills etc, but i feel this move would free me up massively
mr2turbogts said:
ElectricSoup said:
Buy something above sea level. A lot of Somerset is prone to flooding.
Good shoutOut of your options, Canada would get my vote or if you have some skills then look at New Zealand.
About 8 years ago we sold up in London and moved to rural Devon, where my wife's family is. We're not mortgage free, but we're mortgage light. We did this when my eldest was 9 months old, and the youngest was born down here. I have zero regrets.
I took a massive pay cut, but we got by. In the last few months I've got back to where my salary was in London, excluding inflation, but the bonuses aren't the same. It doesn't matter. Life is much better. With remote working we're looking at putting me an office in the garden, but there's no real rush. We're 15 minutes from the beach, about the same from some great walks in the woods, and have a great little community in the small town we live on the edge of.
My wife's parents are about half an hour away, which is perfect because they don't drop in unannounced, but can pop over easily. They help with childcare now and then, which is nice.
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If Somerset is right for you from a family and house perspective, then go for it. Work out your geography based on the family and your hobbies, and look to see what works for you. There's going to be someone on PH who will be able to help out with location ideas, but you'll need to know where roughly you want to be, and whether you want a village, town or city, for example.
I took a massive pay cut, but we got by. In the last few months I've got back to where my salary was in London, excluding inflation, but the bonuses aren't the same. It doesn't matter. Life is much better. With remote working we're looking at putting me an office in the garden, but there's no real rush. We're 15 minutes from the beach, about the same from some great walks in the woods, and have a great little community in the small town we live on the edge of.
My wife's parents are about half an hour away, which is perfect because they don't drop in unannounced, but can pop over easily. They help with childcare now and then, which is nice.
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If Somerset is right for you from a family and house perspective, then go for it. Work out your geography based on the family and your hobbies, and look to see what works for you. There's going to be someone on PH who will be able to help out with location ideas, but you'll need to know where roughly you want to be, and whether you want a village, town or city, for example.
We just moved from Warwickshire to Glastonbury and bout our first house
All my girlfriend's family live nearby and having visited lots over the last 3 years it was the only place that ticked all boxes of affordability and a nice place to be (Although there is plenty of weirdness in Glastonbury itself!!)
Housing market has gone a bit mad,the closer to get to Frome/Bruton or the Devon/Dorset borders but it's still more affordable than lots of places down south
We've loved visiting all the towns we've gone to so far apart from Yeovil and Taunton which are not nice town centres but I'm sure there are villages nearby that are nice enough
Being less than 2 hours from some of the best beaches (and half an hour from some of the worst..) in the country was a big pull and having so much good local produce to cook with!
All my girlfriend's family live nearby and having visited lots over the last 3 years it was the only place that ticked all boxes of affordability and a nice place to be (Although there is plenty of weirdness in Glastonbury itself!!)
Housing market has gone a bit mad,the closer to get to Frome/Bruton or the Devon/Dorset borders but it's still more affordable than lots of places down south
We've loved visiting all the towns we've gone to so far apart from Yeovil and Taunton which are not nice town centres but I'm sure there are villages nearby that are nice enough
Being less than 2 hours from some of the best beaches (and half an hour from some of the worst..) in the country was a big pull and having so much good local produce to cook with!
mr2turbogts said:
So recently (Past few years) I've felt a bit stuck in a rut.
We got married in 2018 in Wales, and while there looked at house prices and was amazed at how cheap they where compared to where we live in Essex.
This sparked the thought process of moving with a view to clear to clear the mortgage and taking a different approach to work. Currently a quantity surveyor of 13 years, and its draining life slowly out of me.
We also had our daughter in 2019, and working full time I only really get weekends with her, which only reinforces the idea I need to get off the hamster wheel.
Recently started up a side husle detaling cars, thinking if this takes off in a few years I could drop work and do this.
We have kicked a few ideas around, moving out to Canada, spain even Czech republic (Wifes family is from there)
Then we've just come back from a weekend in Somerset, my Brother and Dad live down there and the Wife's brother and his family has also moved down there, and for some reason mvoing there was never really on the cards.
If we sold our house we could afford a house for 250-300k with no Mortgage.
Really looking for a bit of advise or other stories of others that have had this plan and executed.
I know i will need to work to pay bills etc, but i feel this move would free me up massively
I did the opposite to you, lived in Somerset most of my life (25 years) and moved out Oxford way for employment reasons (Both myself and Mrs CO work in Motorsport & Engineering). I'd say the most tangible benefit for us is being able to get about the country easier. Somerset is devoid of any motorways apart from the m5 and getting to London / Heathrow etc can take quite a while. That said however, the roads (in my experience) are generally better as a result, much quieter and generally less damaged, especially compared to the roads around Oxford anyways. If it wasn't for the need to move for work I wouldn't have left, I miss the countryside, good roads and scrumpy. Yes parts of it can flood but so can parts of any county. One thing to keep in mind is there aren't really any big cities nearby, Bath & Bristol are the main ones and Bristol is the only decent airport. We got married in 2018 in Wales, and while there looked at house prices and was amazed at how cheap they where compared to where we live in Essex.
This sparked the thought process of moving with a view to clear to clear the mortgage and taking a different approach to work. Currently a quantity surveyor of 13 years, and its draining life slowly out of me.
We also had our daughter in 2019, and working full time I only really get weekends with her, which only reinforces the idea I need to get off the hamster wheel.
Recently started up a side husle detaling cars, thinking if this takes off in a few years I could drop work and do this.
We have kicked a few ideas around, moving out to Canada, spain even Czech republic (Wifes family is from there)
Then we've just come back from a weekend in Somerset, my Brother and Dad live down there and the Wife's brother and his family has also moved down there, and for some reason mvoing there was never really on the cards.
If we sold our house we could afford a house for 250-300k with no Mortgage.
Really looking for a bit of advise or other stories of others that have had this plan and executed.
I know i will need to work to pay bills etc, but i feel this move would free me up massively
mr2turbogts said:
Pretty open to areas, ideally want to be located close to a decent town.
Brother is in Taunton,
Brother in law is Axminster
Which one do you prefer? Brother is in Taunton,
Brother in law is Axminster
Chard and Ilminster look to be reasonably close to both, Chard seemingly a bit more choice in your price range. I don't really know either to be honest, but this looks OK:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110140448#/
Although you could go more Honiton based, (Devon) and up the budget slightly for a do-er-up-er barn conversion...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108512915#/
Another that recently relocated to North Devon from the Essex/London borders.
No regrets but it’s only a sound move if at least one of you can secure a job first unless you’re self-employed, IMO. I’m not actively looking for work but had a quick glance the other day and there’s not much about that I could do without quite a travel to Exeter or one of the bigger towns.
No regrets but it’s only a sound move if at least one of you can secure a job first unless you’re self-employed, IMO. I’m not actively looking for work but had a quick glance the other day and there’s not much about that I could do without quite a travel to Exeter or one of the bigger towns.
J8 SVG said:
We've loved visiting all the towns we've gone to so far apart from Yeovil and Taunton which are not nice town centres but I'm sure there are villages nearby that are nice enough
I live in Yeovil and I can vouch for the above, the town centre has suffered with high rents and there are some areas that are a bit rough looking, but thats also a hangover from having the guts of it ripped out concreted over in the 60's, There is a plan to re develop the lower half of the town centre in the offing though.I live on the outskirts and in a few minutes I'm out in the countryside, there are plenty of rural little villages in the nearby areas, Montacute, Stoke Sub Hamdon, Odcome, Tintinhull, Ash, Mudford that the OP might want to look at.
it doesn't take to long to get onto the M5 / A303, and you aren't far away from the coast with a clear run Weymouth can be done in 35 - 45 minutes.
Its well connected in terms of railways, Yeovil has two stations, one of the Waterloo to Exeter line and the other on the Weymouth to Bristol Line, with an interchange at Castle Cary that is on the line into Paddington.
Bristol Airport isnt to bad to get to, and whilst small Exeter Airport is even closer, and you can fly from there to a reasonable number of destinations.
House prices are not to bad, but again its very area dependant like I imagine most towns are.
If you go across the border into Dorset, then you have same mix of small towns and villages to explore, although you might find Sherborne is at the top end of your budget.
I really like it, pace of life is slow and whilst the town centre is a bit run down the choice of shops isn't to bad, and it doesn't take long to get further afield, i.e Taunton, Bristol, Exeter for shopping are decent. The OP would find something easily within their budget I'd think.
Edited by fizzwheel on Monday 19th July 12:24
J8 SVG said:
We just moved from Warwickshire to Glastonbury and bout our first house
We've loved visiting all the towns we've gone to so far apart from Yeovil and Taunton which are not nice town centres but I'm sure there are villages nearby that are nice enough
Which are your top 3?We've loved visiting all the towns we've gone to so far apart from Yeovil and Taunton which are not nice town centres but I'm sure there are villages nearby that are nice enough
I would say Taunton is up there with the better ones within Somerset, but suppose it depends what you want from a town centre environment.
Chipstick said:
Which are your top 3?
Somerset is a big place so lots of variation but having visited most of the town centres in the last year or soFrome
Wells (a city but the size of a town)
Crewkerne
Not Bridgewater, very run down and not helped by it's size meaning the retail parks are within walking distance of the centre
For the OP, there are a few nice looking small market towns in the area you are looking at. Somerton, Langport and Martock all look really nice but nerver lived in any of them
As a Somerset resident I would say it depends on your requirements for accessibility to employment centres.
Most QS roles (if are sticking with it to start with) will be in or around Bristol which can be reached within 35 to 45 minutes of Burnham on sea. A reasonable place to live in my view.
Taunton has some nice areas; however, several thousand new homes have been built on the outskirts so it’s a pretty congested town.
Bridgwater town centre is indeed a depressing sight to behold but a huge amount of investment is coming in via hinkley point so might see some improvements. It’s currently a commuter town so everyone just floods in and out at peek times. This is a similar situation in Weston super mare.
The likes of Somerton are lovely but they are 45 minutes from the M5 so transport links are poor.
Most QS roles (if are sticking with it to start with) will be in or around Bristol which can be reached within 35 to 45 minutes of Burnham on sea. A reasonable place to live in my view.
Taunton has some nice areas; however, several thousand new homes have been built on the outskirts so it’s a pretty congested town.
Bridgwater town centre is indeed a depressing sight to behold but a huge amount of investment is coming in via hinkley point so might see some improvements. It’s currently a commuter town so everyone just floods in and out at peek times. This is a similar situation in Weston super mare.
The likes of Somerton are lovely but they are 45 minutes from the M5 so transport links are poor.
louiebaby said:
Which one do you prefer?
Chard and Ilminster look to be reasonably close to both, Chard seemingly a bit more choice in your price range. I don't really know either to be honest, but this looks OK:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110140448#/
Although you could go more Honiton based, (Devon) and up the budget slightly for a do-er-up-er barn conversion...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108512915#/
Thanks I've heard Chard and Ilminster are not the best place to liveChard and Ilminster look to be reasonably close to both, Chard seemingly a bit more choice in your price range. I don't really know either to be honest, but this looks OK:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110140448#/
Although you could go more Honiton based, (Devon) and up the budget slightly for a do-er-up-er barn conversion...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108512915#/
mr2turbogts said:
Thanks I've heard Chard and Ilminster are not the best place to live
Honiton then:https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/105164576#/
£320 a month service charge though, to cover maintenance and the sports centre.
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Something a bit more conventional?
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108904313#/
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