Where to retire in the UK
Discussion
The trouble with the IoW is the additional time/cost/planning of getting anywhere, You can't hop in the car and drive to visit family or get to an international airport.
Personally I'd be looking at Hampshire or Dorset as that's where I grew up and have friends and family, so might be worth starting out with your own former local area and work out from there.
Personally I'd be looking at Hampshire or Dorset as that's where I grew up and have friends and family, so might be worth starting out with your own former local area and work out from there.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I live in London suburbs. Due to retire in a couple of months, and the dream would be to sell up and buy a nice flat in C. London. Soho perhaps, somewhere with a W1 postcode. Wife not so keen though!
I don't understand this desire to retire to somewhere quiet and tranquil. The older you get, the more noise, hustle and bustle you need to stay young.
Exactly what we will do. 1x flat in SW/W something and 1x flat in a warm foreign city. Walk to the pub everyday, visit galleries. Heart attack on the tube. Done. I don't understand this desire to retire to somewhere quiet and tranquil. The older you get, the more noise, hustle and bustle you need to stay young.
Though we live rural now, so are doing it backwards - which I think is the sensible way.
We live in North Dorset, and there are some lovely places around with stunning countryside on your doorstep, nice country pubs in most villages and decent sized towns for shopping etc.
Having said that, if I had my way, I would be living in Scotland, but the the better half wants to stay within striking distance of grandkids, which I totally get, so looks like we'll be here for the foreseeable future, although there are a lt of worse places to be!
Having said that, if I had my way, I would be living in Scotland, but the the better half wants to stay within striking distance of grandkids, which I totally get, so looks like we'll be here for the foreseeable future, although there are a lt of worse places to be!
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I live in London suburbs. Due to retire in a couple of months, and the dream would be to sell up and buy a nice flat in C. London. Soho perhaps, somewhere with a W1 postcode. Wife not so keen though!
I don't understand this desire to retire to somewhere quiet and tranquil. The older you get, the more noise, hustle and bustle you need to stay young.
Each to their own. I don't understand this desire to retire to somewhere quiet and tranquil. The older you get, the more noise, hustle and bustle you need to stay young.
I used to live in north London, and I don't miss the regular sound of the police helicopter aka the Hackney Lullaby.
WFH, and the only sound apart from my monkey thumbs on the keyboard, is various birdsong. I stay young by thrashing the MTB and cross bike around the adjacent woods.
I still spend a lot of time in cities, and enjoy them, but nothing beats the evening drive down our little west facing lane knowing there's no noise and most of all, no people.
I suspect I am a misanthrope really.
What I've noticed with this is that most big cities have a roughly 30 mile hinterland, which stands to reason because it equates to about a 1 hour commute. Obviously a bit of variation depending on traffic and transport links, but it's a useful rule of thumb. The exceptions being places like the Lakes or Peak District where there's a huge premium.
When you plot it out this leaves relatively few parts of England where you're not competing with commuters or holiday homes.
Cumbria, either along the coast or east of the M6, the Scottish borders and further reaches of Northumberland, the west of County Durham all have cheap property and nice countryside. Towns are hit and miss but few are violent or crime ridden.
Obviously biased towards my range, but I think other areas like Shropshire, Forest of Dean and Norfolk are similar.
That said if I was cashing in my London chips and selling a studio flat for £50m or whatever it is at the moment you can get a lot nearly anywhere and it would probably be worth the premium (to me) to live right in the Lake District.
When you plot it out this leaves relatively few parts of England where you're not competing with commuters or holiday homes.
Cumbria, either along the coast or east of the M6, the Scottish borders and further reaches of Northumberland, the west of County Durham all have cheap property and nice countryside. Towns are hit and miss but few are violent or crime ridden.
Obviously biased towards my range, but I think other areas like Shropshire, Forest of Dean and Norfolk are similar.
That said if I was cashing in my London chips and selling a studio flat for £50m or whatever it is at the moment you can get a lot nearly anywhere and it would probably be worth the premium (to me) to live right in the Lake District.
TheJimi said:
Why do you want to come back to the UK from NZ?
Be interested to hear his response to this q too.We've been to NZ twice on holiday. As I said to my wife, a fabulous place for a holiday, but it never appealed to me as a retirement base since it was 1000's of miles + many travel hours just to get anywhere / experience a different culture. More importantly, as I become older, I really enjoy socialising with my family members and close circle of friends. Once our kids are older, we will definitely return to NZ, but it will simply be a holiday destination.
We've just bought (but not yet moved to) a bungalow in Thirsk, N. Yorks. We'll be about 800yds away from the town centre with its full range of facilities, but in a quiet residential area.
10mins drive to the start of stunning countryside, 40mins to the seaside, great road and rail links to anywhere and cheap as chips. Pub is a highly rated real-ale place and is less than 10mins staggering distance away.
Happy days - bring on the summer!
10mins drive to the start of stunning countryside, 40mins to the seaside, great road and rail links to anywhere and cheap as chips. Pub is a highly rated real-ale place and is less than 10mins staggering distance away.
Happy days - bring on the summer!
We are a few years from retirement and we are slowly coming to the conclusion that you need somewhere with:
Low crime, quiet, but still has good services like GP, council, mains services, good internet.
Good transport links, ideally train.
Good hospital near ish, so in reach of a big city.
A nice high street, nothing too big but somewhere with good range of shops.
A property with good access for the trades should you need work doing.
Max 1hr from a good size airport.
We have seriously looked at 3 locations.
First was Cornwall. We made offers on 3 properties over the last couple of years. All were turned down.
Lots of +ves but main negative is transport links are terrible since FlyBe have gone. Also concerns about healthcare.
Second was Tarporley / Tarvin / Delamere triangle.
Great location, expensive ish, but again transport links are not fantastic.
That said, Chester <20min and Mcr <60 min but by car only really.
Some really, really nice property - although seems slow to sell so market might be iffy for future downsizing.
The very first house we looked at in this area over 18 months ago is still on the market and has been reduced twice.
Third and most recently Wilmslow / Alderley Edge.
Ticks all the boxes for us. But pricey. Nice property sells fast.
Very good transport links, good high street etc.
However all that said. We are thinking we might just stay put now till we are actually retired and see how we go and what we enjoy doing etc. I think its going to take us a year to adjust to not working.
Low crime, quiet, but still has good services like GP, council, mains services, good internet.
Good transport links, ideally train.
Good hospital near ish, so in reach of a big city.
A nice high street, nothing too big but somewhere with good range of shops.
A property with good access for the trades should you need work doing.
Max 1hr from a good size airport.
We have seriously looked at 3 locations.
First was Cornwall. We made offers on 3 properties over the last couple of years. All were turned down.
Lots of +ves but main negative is transport links are terrible since FlyBe have gone. Also concerns about healthcare.
Second was Tarporley / Tarvin / Delamere triangle.
Great location, expensive ish, but again transport links are not fantastic.
That said, Chester <20min and Mcr <60 min but by car only really.
Some really, really nice property - although seems slow to sell so market might be iffy for future downsizing.
The very first house we looked at in this area over 18 months ago is still on the market and has been reduced twice.
Third and most recently Wilmslow / Alderley Edge.
Ticks all the boxes for us. But pricey. Nice property sells fast.
Very good transport links, good high street etc.
However all that said. We are thinking we might just stay put now till we are actually retired and see how we go and what we enjoy doing etc. I think its going to take us a year to adjust to not working.
Another thumbs up for the Shropshire area, not just the county specifically but the whole Welsh Marches region including Herefordshire, the western edge of Worcestershire, Monmouthshire etc. Nice scenery, relatively good value housing, good links to the SW and NW regions as well as Wales obviously. I've been settled here for the last 13 years or so and like it a lot.
ARHarh said:
Gecko1978 said:
paulguitar said:
Shropshire might be suitable.
Yeah not retired yet but bought pur retirement home already, in Shropshire. Basically enough big towns mean you can get everything day to day you need but live in the sticks in a nice place and enjoy the views
Oswestry ticks all your boxes OP.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I live in London suburbs. Due to retire in a couple of months, and the dream would be to sell up and buy a nice flat in C. London. Soho perhaps, somewhere with a W1 postcode. Wife not so keen though!
I don't understand this desire to retire to somewhere quiet and tranquil. The older you get, the more noise, hustle and bustle you need to stay young.
Everyone to their own but many people find London (and many other centres) far too noisy, too congested and too expensive. Real peace and quiet, in glorious scenery is massively relaxing and enjoyable - and a city centre is still an option any time.I don't understand this desire to retire to somewhere quiet and tranquil. The older you get, the more noise, hustle and bustle you need to stay young.
Although Lincoln and the wolds are nice as is north Norfolk, they both suffer from relatively poor connectivity to the rest of the UK. Which seems surprising as they don’t look remote the way somewhere like Cornwall does. As the fire chief of Norwich once said to in a lecture with only a slight exaggeration “my nearest motorway is in Belgium.” So if you’re staying put then Lincoln very handy for Caldwell park, Norfolk lovely but you if you need to be in easy access of the motorway network definitely worth checking the transport links.
Mr Dendrite said:
Although Lincoln and the wolds are nice as is north Norfolk, they both suffer from relatively poor connectivity to the rest of the UK. Which seems surprising as they don’t look remote the way somewhere like Cornwall does. As the fire chief of Norwich once said to in a lecture with only a slight exaggeration “my nearest motorway is in Belgium.” So if you’re staying put then Lincoln very handy for Caldwell park, Norfolk lovely but you if you need to be in easy access of the motorway network definitely worth checking the transport links.
Mr Dendrite speaks the truth. Lincoln, Norwich, Ipswich etc all suffer from poor connectivity, not to mention very slow connectivity. We moved to York two years ago and love it. When things are normal, it's cosmoplitan, reasonably sophisticated, not too expensive and less than two hours to London. And it has access to just about everywhere by train or road. House prices are far lower than London on the whole, although if you want to live in a detached Georgian or Victorian mansion, you will still need a tidy sum.
People are very friendly, the weather isn't too bad - not cold like the east coast or wet like the west country - and it's in Yorkshire. The North York Moors, the Dales, the NRM. FFS. Just get here man.
red_slr said:
Third and most recently Wilmslow / Alderley Edge.
Ticks all the boxes for us. But pricey. Nice property sells fast.
Very good transport links, good high street etc.
I lived there for 30 years. Glad I moved away. Ostentatious new homes, nightlife tourists from Liverpool throwing up on the street (witnessed personally last year), any semblance of village life (AE) long gone. Wilmslow fast becoming a too-close neighbour to Handforth, which is now part of the Manchester urban sprawl. There are some very nice areas of Cheshire though. Ticks all the boxes for us. But pricey. Nice property sells fast.
Very good transport links, good high street etc.
Another vote for the Isle of Wight. Everything you need seems to be there, the house prices are really reasonable for the south (I guess because the additional cost/time of getting to the mainland) but I honestly can't think of a nicer place to spend my remaining days than wandering around Bembridge or St Helens, a walk along the beach etc.
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