Where to retire in the UK

[Burrow01]

rlw said:

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.

Would agree on the connectivity, its good to be able to get to somewhere else from wherever you end up.

For an area with not many people, good connectivity, open countryside East Northamptonshire, Eastern Leicestershire and Rutland are great - sitting between the M1/ A1, on the main train networks and central in the country (well England at least)

Edited by Burrow01 on Thursday 25th February 14:53

[Johnnytheboy]

Vasco said:

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.

He says the same thing to the word every time this topic arises. I shouldn't pay much attention.

[sociopath]

milu said:

cobra kid said:

Eastwood in Rotherham is a particular delight.

Good one lol. Raised a smile from me.
I was born there! Had a good time in the 70’s with my mates in a nice enough community but we soon moved away.
What a dump now.
Shame really that the powers that be allow it to happen.

That's because political dogma wins over reality.
I'm from near rotherham originally (wath upon dearne) and its horrific how the area has plummeted.
I went into the centre of rotherham last time I was there, it was so sad to see it full of drug addicts and closed down shops. That was our exciting saturday morning destination in the 70s

[sociopath]

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.

What a horrifying thought.
Each to their own I say, but the best thing I ever did was leave London

[12TS]

Suffolk?

Woodbridge, Aldeburgh Southwold, Orford. Maybe too touristy, but easy enough to get to London/Norwich/Colchester rail links and nice countryside.

Aldeburgh seemed to have lots of OAPs when we there off peak.

[12TS]

sociopath said:

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.

What a horrifying thought.
Each to their own I say, but the best thing I ever did was leave London

Oh I don't know - I can see this. Ideally you'd have another place as well, but not for £400k

[towser44]

popeyewhite said:

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.

Seconded, Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Knutsford are awful, Knutsford maybe less so, but it's not great. Anywhere towards Chester (so Delamere, Tarporley, Kelsall, Beeston, Peckforton way) would be my choice if I had more money. I live about 10 minutes from Delamere/Kelsall already, but in a far less salubrious town and cycle/walk in all that area regularly. It's lovely.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

GetCarter said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

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.

Tosh. It's what you do, not where you live that keeps you young.

You've not been to Eastbourne then?

[sociopath]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

GetCarter said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

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.

Tosh. It's what you do, not where you live that keeps you young.

You've not been to Eastbourne then?

Well to be fair, there's nothing to do in Eastbourne either

[Biggy Stardust]

A triangle between Birmingham, Leicester & Nottingham contains a lot of reasonably priced quiet properties within striking distance of all the facilities you could want.

[RizzoTheRat]

12TS said:

Suffolk?

Woodbridge, Aldeburgh Southwold, Orford. Maybe too touristy, but easy enough to get to London/Norwich/Colchester rail links and nice countryside.

Aldeburgh seemed to have lots of OAPs when we there off peak.

My inlaws retired to Woodbridge, nice area and they've loved being there, but now in mid/late 70's they've moved back west to be closer to family as they found they were a long way away from the grandchildren over there.

sociopath said:

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.

What a horrifying thought.
Each to their own I say, but the best thing I ever did was leave London

I'm with you on that, but luckily loads of people want to live in cities which frees the countryside up a bit

That said I'm now living on the outskirts of a small city and quite enjoy having easy access restaurants, public transport, etc, but wouldn't want to move to a city center. That's always the problem with where to live type discussions, one persons idea of heaven is another persons hell.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yes, I'm well aware of the prices. But the sale of our 4 bed detached in the suburbs could buy us a 2 bed flat in parts of W1. But it's not happening so long as Mrs Twig has a say in it.

But we love where we live now, so it's not the end of the world.

[HaplessBoyLard]

12TS said:

Suffolk?

Woodbridge, Aldeburgh Southwold, Orford. Maybe too touristy, but easy enough to get to London/Norwich/Colchester rail links and nice countryside.

Aldeburgh seemed to have lots of OAPs when we there off peak.

All lovely places, and not much of a trot down the A12 to London. All heaving with tourists come summer though. I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem for some, but it would drive me to the wall.

[The Road Crew]

We've moved up to northern Scotland, loving it so far.

Nice and quiet which is just what we wanted after living in the south. I dont miss the M25 for a second!

[GetCarter]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

GetCarter said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

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.

Tosh. It's what you do, not where you live that keeps you young.

You've not been to Eastbourne then?

Ha!

Actually I spent my yoof in Eastbourne (well Pevensey actually).

I'm now in pretty much the quietest bit of the UK, but have never been so busy. I've had 80+ works published in the past year and a 380 page photography book.

My neighbour and good friend (10 years older than me) just designed this: https://gordonmurrayautomotive.com

I think we can agree that he didn't need to be in central London to be so energised!

It's not where you are, it's who you are.

[red_slr]

towser44 said:

popeyewhite said:

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.

Seconded, Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Knutsford are awful, Knutsford maybe less so, but it's not great. Anywhere towards Chester (so Delamere, Tarporley, Kelsall, Beeston, Peckforton way) would be my choice if I had more money. I live about 10 minutes from Delamere/Kelsall already, but in a far less salubrious town and cycle/walk in all that area regularly. It's lovely.

Thats why we were looking at Tarporley but the transport links are dire. It is nice and close to Oulton though
Personally I dont care about transport too much but my Mrs is fast becoming less and less keen on driving so for her being able to get the train would be a big plus. I did hear that there might be a chance the railway station in Tarporley (south) could re-open but 5-10 years out. (so probably never happen).

Wilmslow is fine for us as we don't go out much past 9pm these days our days of clubbing are long over.
That said there is very little on the market at the moment and all the decent stock is SSTC. I think we will stay put in the end, then see what retired life is like for a year first.

[Lim]

GetCarter said:

Ha!

Actually I spent my yoof in Eastbourne (well Pevensey actually).

I'm now in pretty much the quietest bit of the UK, but have never been so busy. I've had 80+ works published in the past year and a 380 page photography book.

My neighbour and good friend (10 years older than me) just designed this: https://gordonmurrayautomotive.com

I think we can agree that he didn't need to be in central London to be so energised!

It's not where you are, it's who you are.

Would you or him be doing it now, had you not sought out the opportunity to pursue this path in the city?

Long history of artists slumming it in the city , pitching their work, making their name, and then retiring to their workshop to concentrate on craft.

[Tyre Tread]

GetCarter said:

Ha!

Actually I spent my yoof in Eastbourne (well Pevensey actually).

I'm now in pretty much the quietest bit of the UK, but have never been so busy. I've had 80+ works published in the past year and a 380 page photography book.

My neighbour and good friend (10 years older than me) just designed this: https://gordonmurrayautomotive.com

I think we can agree that he didn't need to be in central London to be so energised!

It's not where you are, it's who you are.

My wife loves the west coast of Scotland and we stayed at your neighbours place on your recommendation a few years ago (thanks by the way) and Ivan see the attraction but not sure I could stomach the wet summers and cold winters.
Cardiff has the wet but at least it's mild.

[HaplessBoyLard]

rlw said:

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.

I guess it depends what your plans are once you’ve moved. The OP says he has family down south, but where?

If I was doing a few trips a year from Norwich to Brighton or Bournemouth (both just over 3 hours at quiet times of day, it wouldn’t bother me. Torquay or somewhere down that way would be a bit of a pain.

If you want to travel countrywide on a regular basis then Norfolk probably isn’t for you. Especially if you want to head anywhere that doesn’t mean travelling via the M25 as the only decent road link out of Norfolk is the A11.

Trains to london are frequent and take 2 hours. Heading north by train is a bit more painful. Manchester and Liverpool are direct but relatively slow. The Midlands and NE will mean changing trains.

Norwich airport flies to a few decent destinations. Stansted is 1hr 30 by road.

All of this assumes you live in or around Norwich. On the North Norfolk coast you’re an hour away from any kind of decent road or rail link.

[anonymous-user]

We ended up in Cornwall precisely as the transport links are so bad - it keeps the house prices down (compared to the SE where we came from) and gives a remote feel, the downside of course being the peak weeks in the Summer when the tourists brave the A30/A38 but for the rest of the year its really rather lovely and I wish we'd done it years ago.