Where to retire in the UK

[monkfish1]

oblio said:

Wiltshire Lad said:

rlw said:

Wiltshire Lad said:

Hospital not so important - ask yourself - can I walk to the shops / pub / restaurants / gyms etc...? We lived in a picture postcard cotswold village for 5 years and frankly it became a pain in the butt having to drive everywhere. Now live in a larger village - small co-op, leisure centre, 3 pubs...so much better. And socially far better - various clubs, societies from sport to music and gardening.
Plus the lager the community it’s often easier to become part of it.

But that's not the back of beyong then, is it?

No it isn’t and that’s my point - I’ve lived in cities and small villages..absolutely love the country but it’s very easy to romanticise it if you’ve never lived there. It’s important to me now, and I imagine it will be even more so in 10 years or so when I retire, to be somewhere that I can stroll to local amenities.

I think that Wiltshire Lad is making an important point here. Living in a small village in the middle of nowhere does present its challenges and I am sure that those will be come exacerbated with age.

In 2018 we moved to a bungalow in a small village in west Wales. This is our forever home as we both officially retired (I retired at 50 am now 54). The village has a pub, a church and a church hall - which is pretty active in 'normal' times. There is a community shop 4.5 miles away but other shops and supermarkets are 18 miles/25 mins drive away. The nearest A road is 10 miles away; hospital and train station 18 miles; M4 around 30 miles. Mobile phone reception is poor as is wired broadband. 4G is acceptable. We have 1 bus a day to the nearest town and one return bus in the afternoon.

Oh...and we can't get a takeaway delivered

On the plus sides: great bunch of people (mainly) in the village; we live on the edge of a huge forest so plenty of walking/cycling opportunities; property-wise, you get so much more for your hard earned; and its so clean and fresh. Plus I took up Indian cookery using spices from scratch etc...which is soooooo much nicer than a takeaway

We love it however...I'm not sure I'd want to live here on my own if anything - God forbid - happened to my wife. I too would want more around me so as to feel less isolated. I'd not live in a town/city again but a larger village where I wouldn't be dependent upon my car/public transport would be good. It would be nice to bimble down to the shops to get a daily paper, for example.

Bliss. Apart from the wales bit

Your last point though is very relevant. Im more concerned about my wife once im gone.

[cayman-black]

What i want is no near neighbors so no village location and to be surrounded by fields. I know i,m an unsociable bd.

[monkfish1]

cayman-black said:

What i want is no near neighbors so no village location and to be surrounded by fields. I know i,m an unsociable bd.

Quite. I can live with seing the neighbours house across the fields, but thats close enough thanks.

Sadly, right now, thats not the case.

[monkfish1]

cayman-black said:

What i want is no near neighbors so no village location and to be surrounded by fields. I know i,m an unsociable bd.

Sadly, over budget, but perfect in every way: http://www.edwardbuckland.co.uk/portfolio-item/man...

I thought long and hard over how to fund it, but i cant do it.

[bennno]

monkfish1 said:

Sadly, over budget, but perfect in every way: http://www.edwardbuckland.co.uk/portfolio-item/man...

I thought long and hard over how to fund it, but i cant do it.

10 acres, huge modern barn, views. We offered but vendor was difficult as were our buyers so it didnt work out.

https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/3591191/4...

[loafer123]

I am not retired yet, but I moved to the country about 10 years ago - several acres, no neighbours, ride on mower, tennis court etc.

I got very bored with driving everywhere and now live in the very middle of a large village with two supermarkets, cinema, pubs and takeaways and can be in the countryside walking the dog in 5 minutes walk.

Certainly more traffic noise and a smaller garden but a much bigger house and services on my doorstep has made lockdown very easy.

[monkfish1]

bennno said:

monkfish1 said:

Sadly, over budget, but perfect in every way: http://www.edwardbuckland.co.uk/portfolio-item/man...

I thought long and hard over how to fund it, but i cant do it.

10 acres, huge modern barn, views. We offered but vendor was difficult as were our buyers so it didnt work out.

https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/3591191/4...

Thats pretty good. But in wales. I may have mentioned this earlier. But it looking increasingly likley thats its the only way.

In what way were they "difficult" if i can ask?

[ARHarh]

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77253574#/

Try this only just in Wales, and plenty of outside space.

[worsy]

ARHarh said:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77253574#/

Try this only just in Wales, and plenty of outside space.

53 acres though

[bennno]

monkfish1 said:

bennno said:

monkfish1 said:

Sadly, over budget, but perfect in every way: http://www.edwardbuckland.co.uk/portfolio-item/man...

I thought long and hard over how to fund it, but i cant do it.

10 acres, huge modern barn, views. We offered but vendor was difficult as were our buyers so it didnt work out.

https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/3591191/4...

Thats pretty good. But in wales. I may have mentioned this earlier. But it looking increasingly likley thats its the only way.

In what way were they "difficult" if i can ask?

Wanted me to buy quad bikes, huge mowers tractors - was all ok. But then wanted to retain title to the solar panels and the income they generated, then compromised to he'd sell them to me for an extra £18k, but then wanted a £10k option to buy fee, non refunable. At that point we withdrew on advice of solicitor.

[cayman-black]

bennno said:

10 acres, huge modern barn, views. We offered but vendor was difficult as were our buyers so it didnt work out.

https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/3591191/4...

Yes i like this ,if it were in Devon... The sellers seem like a nightmare, what's wrong with these people?

[Roger Irrelevant]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

I'm incredibly torn. As a kid of 10 the family moved from a town (Harrogate) to rural Cumbria (Eden Valley). My parents thought the rural location would give us kids a better quality of life. The reality was the amenities and schools were crap and there wasn't a lot to do. The local kids were all related and had little interest in academics seeming they going to be driving tractors or similar from 16.

As much as I found 20 years there stifling and compromised, 5 minutes travelling around urban West Yorkshire makes me pine for the countryside and isolation. I hate living in the town for the clutter, noise and feeling of being just a worker ant in the colony. The ridiculousness of queuing to do things as wild as using a drive through restaurant.

I stick with it, because the opportunity for our kids is better here and they can make their own choices as they grow up. Once they've left secondary school, I'll almost certainly sod off back to being a country bumpkin.

I can relate to a lot of this. It would be silly to say that where I grew up was 'isolated' at it's less than 40 miles from central London, and exactly the sort of pretty little village that people think would be great for bringing kids up in or retiring in. The reality is that it's bloody inconvenient even if you do drive as you have to drive for just about everything - even as a keen cyclist a ten-mile round trip to the shops soon became a chore. And if you can't drive for whatever reason (like not being old enough), you can feel like you may as well live on the moon.

Right now I live what some would call a big village, but to a bumpkin like me is a small town, in North Yorkshire. It's big enough to have a doctors' surgery and enough amenities that you wouldn't have to leave for weeks on end if you didn't want to, but it's also small enough and out of the way enough that you never experience traffic, or queueing, or people generally getting in each others way. Although it makes me feel a little old before my time to think about it, it would be a really good place to retire, especially if you're keen on outdoorsy stuff as the North York Moors national park is right on the doorstep.

[monkfish1]

worsy said:

ARHarh said:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77253574#/

Try this only just in Wales, and plenty of outside space.

53 acres though

But an agricultural tie, so basically no use to anyone

[monkfish1]

bennno said:

monkfish1 said:

bennno said:

monkfish1 said:

Sadly, over budget, but perfect in every way: http://www.edwardbuckland.co.uk/portfolio-item/man...

I thought long and hard over how to fund it, but i cant do it.

10 acres, huge modern barn, views. We offered but vendor was difficult as were our buyers so it didnt work out.

https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/3591191/4...

Thats pretty good. But in wales. I may have mentioned this earlier. But it looking increasingly likley thats its the only way.

In what way were they "difficult" if i can ask?

Wanted me to buy quad bikes, huge mowers tractors - was all ok. But then wanted to retain title to the solar panels and the income they generated, then compromised to he'd sell them to me for an extra £18k, but then wanted a £10k option to buy fee, non refunable. At that point we withdrew on advice of solicitor.

Yes, i can see the issue!

[ARHarh]

monkfish1 said:

worsy said:

ARHarh said:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77253574#/

Try this only just in Wales, and plenty of outside space.

53 acres though

But an agricultural tie, so basically no use to anyone

Buy some sheep and pay someone to look after them, you will then be a farmer. I didn't see the agricultural tie to be honest, but with that sort of land it would be easy to get round.

[parakitaMol.]

cayman-black said:

What i want is no near neighbors so no village location and to be surrounded by fields. I know i,m an unsociable bd.

That's what we are looking forward to. Our new place sits in the middle of its 10 acres. There's a couple of neighbours that you cannot see. We are hoping to buy a bit more land too. We are just outside a teeny tiny village but within walking distance of the pub. Nearby footpaths can be accessed from our field. What's not to like?

Perhaps the endless rain? lol

[jimmsy]

We've managed to somehow land in the best of both worlds. Living in a small village (est. 100ish houses), 2 pubs, train line with 2 trains an hour to Cambridge, shop in the next village 2km walk from the house, town about 3 miles away with a leisure centre, supermarkets and cafes, lots of farm/veg shops, and work on the edge of Cambridge is a 25min drive on the worst days.

Opposite us there's a national trust size house and all we can see is their land (trees, grass and horses).

It's lovely. I'm only 30 but I'd happily retire here. We have good cycling, good walking, buses, trains, taxis, and enough stuff to survive nearby.

[Shnozz]

jimmsy said:

We've managed to somehow land in the best of both worlds. Living in a small village (est. 100ish houses), 2 pubs, train line with 2 trains an hour to Cambridge, shop in the next village 2km walk from the house, town about 3 miles away with a leisure centre, supermarkets and cafes, lots of farm/veg shops, and work on the edge of Cambridge is a 25min drive on the worst days.

Opposite us there's a national trust size house and all we can see is their land (trees, grass and horses).

It's lovely. I'm only 30 but I'd happily retire here. We have good cycling, good walking, buses, trains, taxis, and enough stuff to survive nearby.

One man's meat is another's poison I guess. I was living in a market town (probably also about 25 mins from Cambridge as it happens!) when I was 30 and despised it! Great if I was 50+ but I was overjoyed at reverting to city life at that age!

[cayman-black]

parakitaMol. said:

That's what we are looking forward to. Our new place sits in the middle of its 10 acres. There's a couple of neighbours that you cannot see. We are hoping to buy a bit more land too. We are just outside a teeny tiny village but within walking distance of the pub. Nearby footpaths can be accessed from our field. What's not to like?

Perhaps the endless rain? lol

That sounds exactly right. I did not see this come up for sale. 10 acres sound just perfect.

[velocemitch]

Mark Benson said:

monkfish1 said:

Escort3500 said:

The housing market in rural parts of N Yorks do seem to be very buoyant at the moment

The rural housing market seems to be pretty bouyant most places.

Having had an eye on moving sooner rather than later, it strikes me, ive left it a bit late. Stuff i was looking at £500k is now 600 or more. It madness. As every day passes, it looks less viable. Dont know if it will drop back a bit when the stamp duty holiday ends?

On a Zoom call on Friday night with some old mates from school - one's an estate agent in rural N. Yorks for his sins and he's seeing a lot of interest from people who've realised that home working is viable for a lot of what they do, which then prompts the questions "If I didn't have to live here for work, where would I want to live...."

We are looking to buy our 'retirement' property in rural north Yorkshire too, I've seen a lot of properties come on the market and sel quickly in the past few months. I just wish our own would... !!