Originally Posted by pomikev

I keep panning around google earth and looking at different parts of the UK, if you go into options and turn the elevation setting up to 1.5 it also gives a good indication of the topography

Having been born and raised in south Devon i always used to start looking there, places on the coast or up on the edges of dartmoor etc... but the property prices seem to have just gone doolally in the last 20 years.

So recently i always seem to end up in the scottish highlands and western isles on my google earth fantasy journeys, A little stone cottage at the edge of a loch with mountain views stretching off through the mists, that sort of thing, I realise that there would be bugger all work locally but was thinking that If I had a decent internet connection and a good greenhouse, maybe some hydroponics I could grow my own food and live quite frugally making a few extra pounds selling ebooks that I write about my life of adventure overseas and doing online guitar lessons to a handfull of eager young students .

I have gotten so used to the social isolation that comes with being an ex-pat that I reckon I could easily handle a bit of hill walking, fishing, walks on deserted beaches and trip into a small town once a week to buy bread, milk, sausages and bacon and just disappear into my own peace and solitude, I quite like the idea of being a bit of a hermit and would enjoy getting even more eccentric and flakey as I get older.

I would spend my days wandering in the heather enjoying bracing weather and spend my evenings sitting in front of a blazing fire reading books about philosophy. I could also write my memoirs, drink gallons of tea, eat a packet of digestives every 2 days and slowly work my way through all the different single malts available.

No TV, I would just listen to radio 4 and catch the shipping forecast every night, I would have a piano and take my guitars and lose myself in my own creativity.

If I ever got bored or feel like delving into my spiritual side there are magic mushrooms growing all over the place so I've been told , and ancient hill forts and standing stones to explore.

I could smoke my own salmon, brew my own hops and stuff my own haggis lol. I could poach venison from the royal estates and collect baskets of kelp from the beaches to put on my garden, maybe have a cow for milking and a few sheep. Obviously a couple of huge dogs that love to run across the fields, an old fashioned green land rover and 2 pairs of wellies, one pair for gardening, one pair for best lol.

You may even be unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of me dancing naked around a bonfire on the full moon.

An archaic revival where I rediscover my pagan celtic roots, I could wear harris tweed and a flat cap and have a small dent in the back of my leg where my dog walks

Oh how I love dreaming, the imagination is what drove me to explore this planet in the first place and it's the one thing that hasn't diminished over the decades but if anything has grown stronger and whackier as the years of cultural starvation, mosquito bites and flies have weathered my brow.

Call me a sentimental old fool, my wife does, but she looks at some of the cottages i find on the scottish real estate pages and also sighs with a deep yearning for those misty snow capped mountains.

her family are originally from the western highlands but have been here for the best part of 200 years as her great great great gandfather was shipped over here in leg irons for stealing a loaf of bread or refusing to doff his cap to the earl of fife or something crazy like that.

It's one of the things I rib her about in jest, I say - wow it cost me thousands of pounds to move over here and marry you while you grandad got here for stealing a ferret.

OK I'll stop rambling on (rambling - now that's another thing I could do), but at the moment when I daydream about returning to the UK those are the kinds of fantasies I entertain, I certainly have no desire to move into a rented cheap slum council estate in the midlands or have to grind my way through a high pressure job in central London and the home counties seems to be awash with Jeremy Clarkson types that would just drive me to murder.

Am I the only ex-pat to have gone bonkers in this way or what ?

Originally Posted by spouse of scouse

I don't know if you're bonkers or not, but that was a bloody good read!

Originally Posted by MissBetty

Well I am going to put my two penneth worth in here for the south east and suggest Hastings Old Town!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012...gs-east-sussex

Yes, yes I know Hastings itself is a bit grotty but the Old Town is lovely and surprisingly affordable. Train links to London, Brighton and Ashford International, new art gallery (the Jerwood), antique shops, book shops, fab restaurants,wine bars, quirky old pubs, history GALORE and more festivals than you can shake a stick at - I love the Old Town Carnival every August!

New university in town, old pier being rebuilt, seriously worth a look people! Oh and yes, I live there (well in 14 weeks time actually but hey....)!

Originally Posted by pomikev

Call me a sentimental old fool

Originally Posted by perthhomeschool

Will have a look. How about the safety factor, being so close to the less desirable part of town? You'll have to let us know how it is now when you get there. Brighton was always on my radar, as it was my favourite go-to weekend place when I lived in London, but it's a little too pricey now. Compared to most here, we will be renting, at least for a while. Since we are free and easy as to where we can settle, we don't want to put down roots until we know for sure that's where we want to stay. Not to mention, we are having to cough up 62K for my husband's settlement visa, or which none can be touched until after 2.5 years. Kind of limits your ability to spend much

Originally Posted by MissBetty

I grew up in Brighton but, like you say, too pricey! I've always found Hastings very safe, it just looks a bit off putting when you go into town and it looks a bit rough but it has been cleaned up a lot IMHO. In the ten years I lived there the only crime I experienced was my car got broken into once. I couldn't find a parking space in my road late one night so I parked sneakily under a block of flats nearby, it was tucked away out of sight so easy prey!

I found this list online and I totally agree with all the points made so I'll just paste it in as its a pretty good 'sum up'!!

Hastings Old Town is fantastic, but it is not the only great part of Hastings. The rest of Hastings and St Leonards has a lot going for it, not least a fabulous free museum and art gallery, the America ground area is every much the old towns equal in terms of beautiful buildings (especially the Brassy Institute and the two former observer buildings – one of which is now a very chic boutique hotel and posh furniture store while the other is sadly a derelict shell – probably encapsulates the great contradiction that is 21st century Hastings). Great places to eat and drink, albeit on a smaller scale, not to mention one of the finest public parks in Britain (Alexandra Park everything a Victorian park should be with a bandstand lots of lakes and formal gardens and amazing trees. ) and the amazing haven of tranquility that is St Helens Woods.

St Leonards also has some great spots particularly the original regency town designed around the lovely landscaped St Leonards gardens by Decimus Burton and all the little cafes, galleries and boutiques around Marine Court and Norman Road. Although the old town is fab you get more space, gardens and quiet in other parts of town and it is a relatively small place so you are never too far away from the old town anywhere in Hastings. So here are 10 great things about Hastings....

1) Amazing green spaces. Both in terms of quality and quantity you're never more than five minutes away from a lovely park, there are also five woodland areas, a castle hill with its glorious views of the channel and the fairytale like St Leonards gardens home to the best Shakespeare in the park on the south coast

2) Amazing architecture from medieval, georgian, regency, victorian gothic to modernist.

3) Distinctive character. Fishing huts and net shops, churches carved out of the rocks, the smugglers caves, a modernist ocean liner, an 18th century ship wreck, two furnicular railways, a crumbling 11th century castle, a gothic monestry, a medieval church and cemetry hidden in the woods, a secret walled garden, highland mansions, Norfolk broads style wetlands, a library that looks like the bates motel, the mazy streets of the old town...........

3 Quirky independent shops, cafes, art galleries and restauraunts from fashionable boutiques to local butchers, greengrocers and bakers that are disappearing elsewhere in Britain

4) Escape to the country; The Hastings Country Park on the edge of the old town has got to be the best kept secret in the South East. It is stunningly beautiful area of clifftops and woods and tucked away beaches. On a good day it feels like a mediterranean beauty spot on a bad day like Scotland (both equally picturesque) plus unlike the Seven Sisters there is practically no one to share it with. The rest of the town is surrounded by the High Wield Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with great with picturesque towns and villages such as Battle, Rye, and Winchelsea on the doorstep.

5) Festivals galore. There always seems to be something going on, off the top of my head I can think of Jack in the Green, three carnivals, Hastings Week, old town week, seafood and wine festival and the coastal currents arts festival, mardi gras, stade saturdays. I'm sure I have forgotten a few.

6) Strong community and voluntary sector, with people caring passionately about the town and its people – typified by the way people pulled together after the pier. People are generally (with some few notable exceptions) very friendly and laid back and accepting of people from different backgrounds.

7) The seaside - Hastings beach is stoney and not that exciting, though you can have a whole bit to yourself on a hot summers day (unlike the moshpit that is Brighton beach) there is a petrified forest and sand at low tide. However nearby beaches such as the Dorestlike cliffs at Pett Level, the sand dunes at Camber and the secret beach under the woods at Fairlight Glen are all close by and are three of the nicest beaches in the South East.

8) The climate. Unlike the slightly more picturesque West Country, we dont get much rain and are in the sunniest part of the UK.

9) Getting better all the time. Despite the recession there is still some regeneration money coming in, with the Jerwood, huge FE college, expanding university, new offices and much needed road and rail improvements.

10) Relatively low house prices. Despite all these wonderful things we have some of the cheapest house prices in the South East. You can buy large houses (4 bed +) for less than £200,000 and nice family homes for about £150,000. Prices are less than half that in nearby Brighton.


I think its a nice place to live and the housing is very affordable, even in the nicer parts of town!

Originally Posted by pomikev

I have gotten so used to the social isolation that comes with being an ex-pat that I reckon I could easily handle a bit of hill walking, fishing, walks on deserted beaches and trip into a small town once a week to buy bread, milk, sausages and bacon and just disappear into my own peace and solitude, I quite like the idea of being a bit of a hermit and would enjoy getting even more eccentric and flakey as I get older.

I would spend my days wandering in the heather enjoying bracing weather and spend my evenings sitting in front of a blazing fire reading books about philosophy. I could also write my memoirs, drink gallons of tea, eat a packet of digestives every 2 days and slowly work my way through all the different single malts available.

No TV, I would just listen to radio 4 and catch the shipping forecast every night, I would have a piano and take my guitars and lose myself in my own creativity.

If I ever got bored or feel like delving into my spiritual side there are magic mushrooms growing all over the place so I've been told , and ancient hill forts and standing stones to explore.

I could smoke my own salmon, brew my own hops and stuff my own haggis lol. I could poach venison from the royal estates and collect baskets of kelp from the beaches to put on my garden, maybe have a cow for milking and a few sheep. Obviously a couple of huge dogs that love to run across the fields, an old fashioned green land rover and 2 pairs of wellies, one pair for gardening, one pair for best lol.

You may even be unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of me dancing naked around a bonfire on the full moon.

An archaic revival where I rediscover my pagan celtic roots, I could wear harris tweed and a flat cap and have a small dent in the back of my leg where my dog walks

Oh how I love dreaming, the imagination is what drove me to explore this planet in the first place and it's the one thing that hasn't diminished over the decades but if anything has grown stronger and whackier as the years of cultural starvation, mosquito bites and flies have weathered my brow.

Call me a sentimental old fool, my wife does, but she looks at some of the cottages i find on the scottish real estate pages and also sighs with a deep yearning for those misty snow capped mountains.

Originally Posted by perthhomeschool

Wow - that is quite an endorsement! But I don't think it's for us. Hubby wanting somewhere a little bigger like Exeter. Thanks for taking the time to post though

Originally Posted by MissBetty

Oh you're welcome, Exeter is lovely! Yes I like Hastings and I'll be near to my family but it does have its problems so its not for everyone!

Originally Posted by perthhomeschool

We will not look to live near family (since they are in and around London and that is way out of our prices range) so that gives us freedom to chose. As exciting as that may sound, sometimes I think it would be so much easier to have somewhere to go already. You have to get almost obsessive with the research to make sure you pick the right place.

We have a standard list of must-haves, me and the DH. He has to have a plethora of folk music choices as he plays irish music on the concertina, an old time american on the banjo. We've found that many smaller towns and villages might have an excellent music session going on at a local pub, but invariably it will lose participants, or the worse, the pub will close. So being near a uni seems to be the only fix for this.

Here's our top three (that tick all our boxes). Anyone want to chime in about any of them, that would be great.

1) Canterbury
2) Exeter
3) Cardiff

Originally Posted by nuttyandfruity

We are in the same situation as you are! We can go back wherever we like in the UK which sounds wondeful but it is driving me insane! Our area's are similar to yours except instead of Exeter we looked at Somerset, Bridgwater to be precise as the house prices there are good but thats all I know about the area. When you search the area's online I find so many differing opinions that it often leaves me stumped!

I like Canterbury and it would be my number one choice I think but the house prices are fairly high for us, we would like a 4 bed detached. When we do find house we like/can afford we instantly question the area! Is it a nice area? Is it surrounded by council flats? Is it in the middle of nowhere? Or is it nice? Ha, the million dollar question!

It's very difficult trying to figure out whether an area's suitable for you or not when you are still in the USA!!!

I wish I had a doppleganger that could go house/area hunting for me and report back!

Originally Posted by nuttyandfruity

We are in the same situation as you are! We can go back wherever we like in the UK which sounds wondeful but it is driving me insane! Our area's are similar to yours except instead of Exeter we looked at Somerset, Bridgwater to be precise as the house prices there are good but thats all I know about the area. When you search the area's online I find so many differing opinions that it often leaves me stumped!

I like Canterbury and it would be my number one choice I think but the house prices are fairly high for us, we would like a 4 bed detached. When we do find house we like/can afford we instantly question the area! Is it a nice area? Is it surrounded by council flats? Is it in the middle of nowhere? Or is it nice? Ha, the million dollar question!

It's very difficult trying to figure out whether an area's suitable for you or not when you are still in the USA!!!

I wish I had a doppleganger that could go house/area hunting for me and report back!

Originally Posted by pomikev

I keep panning around google earth and looking at different parts of the UK, if you go into options and turn the elevation setting up to 1.5 it also gives a good indication of the topography

Having been born and raised in south Devon i always used to start looking there, places on the coast or up on the edges of dartmoor etc... but the property prices seem to have just gone doolally in the last 20 years.

So recently i always seem to end up in the scottish highlands and western isles on my google earth fantasy journeys, A little stone cottage at the edge of a loch with mountain views stretching off through the mists, that sort of thing, I realise that there would be bugger all work locally but was thinking that If I had a decent internet connection and a good greenhouse, maybe some hydroponics I could grow my own food and live quite frugally making a few extra pounds selling ebooks that I write about my life of adventure overseas and doing online guitar lessons to a handfull of eager young students .

I have gotten so used to the social isolation that comes with being an ex-pat that I reckon I could easily handle a bit of hill walking, fishing, walks on deserted beaches and trip into a small town once a week to buy bread, milk, sausages and bacon and just disappear into my own peace and solitude, I quite like the idea of being a bit of a hermit and would enjoy getting even more eccentric and flakey as I get older.

I would spend my days wandering in the heather enjoying bracing weather and spend my evenings sitting in front of a blazing fire reading books about philosophy. I could also write my memoirs, drink gallons of tea, eat a packet of digestives every 2 days and slowly work my way through all the different single malts available.

No TV, I would just listen to radio 4 and catch the shipping forecast every night, I would have a piano and take my guitars and lose myself in my own creativity.

If I ever got bored or feel like delving into my spiritual side there are magic mushrooms growing all over the place so I've been told , and ancient hill forts and standing stones to explore.

I could smoke my own salmon, brew my own hops and stuff my own haggis lol. I could poach venison from the royal estates and collect baskets of kelp from the beaches to put on my garden, maybe have a cow for milking and a few sheep. Obviously a couple of huge dogs that love to run across the fields, an old fashioned green land rover and 2 pairs of wellies, one pair for gardening, one pair for best lol.

You may even be unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of me dancing naked around a bonfire on the full moon.

An archaic revival where I rediscover my pagan celtic roots, I could wear harris tweed and a flat cap and have a small dent in the back of my leg where my dog walks

Oh how I love dreaming, the imagination is what drove me to explore this planet in the first place and it's the one thing that hasn't diminished over the decades but if anything has grown stronger and whackier as the years of cultural starvation, mosquito bites and flies have weathered my brow.

...

Am I the only ex-pat to have gone bonkers in this way or what ?

Originally Posted by Pistolpete2

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-25340172.html