If you were over 50..........
 

footloose and fancy free where would you live in the whole of the UK if you could, no not somewhere for a 2 week holiday, but where you would actually want to live, climate, things of interest, ease of getting to places...........

I am not talking like other threads of where you can AFFORD to buy a property but am looking at moving on from the North of England, as much as I love the people the weather really is not great.......I am looking to work and rent somewhere other than here............so I welcome all points of view.........good and bad...........

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Somewhere on the south coast, convenient for London, nipping across to France. Maybe convenient for Portsmouth too for some other trips.

That doesn't narrow it down too much I suppose. :unsure:

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I have no wish to be anywhere other than where I shall be day after tomorrow :)

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50 & single ? Bournemouth - close to a couple of ferry ports / airports , only a couple hours train / car to London.

Good bit of nightlife, right by the water, next to the New Forest & Southwest ( lovely countryside ) .

I give it two thumbs up :thumbsup:

I'd actually move back to Lymington / New Milton area but might be a bit quite if you're a single person.

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You missed the bifocal shop windows.

And the foreign students. ;)

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Malvern for the beauty, Cornwall for climate, my old home town for friends and rellies. How much money should I have? :lol: However I need my current climate (although it's chilly today).

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Dorset, Devon, maybe Hampshire.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Oooooh! great question Bee

Now then, number one would be Stratford upon Avon (bit of a theatre buff) with easy access to Cotswolds, Oxford, London. Its a beautiful place and somewhere I think I'd feel at home in.

Number two would be Haigh and immediate surrounding area in Lancashire -beautiful countryside yet a ten minute drive to all the shops and supermarkets you could want. Its affordable too - providing you don't live right in Haigh itself.

Number three would be Ellesmere in Shropshire - my sister lives there and its a proper old fashioned market town with fabulous facilities and gorgeous countryside surrounding it.

Number four would be Canterbury - stunning city, a short drive to Dover and the ferry ports, easy access to London. Coming in at joint number four would be Hever and Edenbridge - lots of history, stunning countryside but a bit expensive for housing costs.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Dorset somewhere near Sherbourne, Dorset has the most sun in England and also no motorways and homes seems to be more character than new. 45 mins from the Channel Islands by Air. Not industrialised.
Downsides:
Living with Southerners...lol...joking
lack of Motorways might make journeys longer
If you like large Cities to visit Dorset does not have a lot
If you like new homes you could have to search harder for those.

Good luck with your search

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Whilst I love my life and warmer temps on the south coast, I'll always be a northern girl at heart. Cleadon Village in South Shields or somewhere along the coast nearby would be perfect :wub:

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Salt of the Earth "us Northerners" lol........your lucky enough now though to be able to drive/fly anytime you want to South Shields now your here in the U.K, for us after Aus (maybe the same for you after the U.S) a few hours in a car is nothing lol....

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Hahaha racking up the Nectar points for Easy Jet! :rofl: Whereabouts in the north are you from?

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

A little pricey but would pick Brighton for it's openess,tolerence, vibe and live let live philosphy.

Worthing down the road not quite in the same league but more affordable and close enough to make frequent trips to Brighton.

Bourmouth a pretty decent place would come next but a lot of Dorest I find rather nice but would choose to be near to the sea.

Cornwall, great county if a little remote perhaps. Perhaps a little insular but who couldn't love Cornwall.

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St Marys in the Scilly Isles.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

My perspective at present is no doubt coloured by the fact that I now live in a small town, hundreds of miles from the sea.

I'd like to live at the seaside. (Cromer in Norfolk? Saltburn? Dawlish?) Alternatively, in a smallish city such as a cathedral city (Norwich? Exeter?) A place that is big enough to have excellent shopping, theatre & live music & good libraries etc.

Good public transport links are very important to me, especially with getting older and the dire state of road congestion in England. So needs to have a railway station within walking distance, and good local buses. Also - local airport with useful foreign services. For instance, I think Norwich has a regular service to Amsterdam.

Access to good countryside is important. Norwich (broads & coast), Exeter (Dartmoor & Dorset, S. Devon coastpath etc.)

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Dorset also (forgot to add on my last thread) has a large percentage of retiree's!!!!!!!!!!!!! blimey I'm moving there myself after reading my own replies lol........

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Sorry I should of written your return from Canada not U.S!!!! I am from the North West, near Manchester but now live in Derbyshire....for us at present it offers us the best of both worlds, countryside right on our doorstep but an easy drive to either Sheffield or Manchester for City shopping etc and family near enough but far enough if you know what I mean. One day we might like to live nearer the coast but is suits all at this stage in our lives.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Since you need to find work I would consider Cardiff or Bristol. Both have airports, good train service and a large enough economy to offer the potential for finding work. Plus both offer good entertainment options. Good luck finding the spot that suits your present needs.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Hey if the Op is 50 & single a young foreign student might be just the ticket to tops things off nicely ;)

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Like someone else said, I'm a northerner and I don't think I could thrive down south. To me community is so much more important than weather, so my ideal areas are:

1) The Lake District
2) Anywhere in the Yorkshire Dales
3) Ilkley
4) Buxton and the Peak District
5) Harrogate or York

If I had to leave the north, I suppose Devon or Dorset would be my choices, although Norfolk also looks nice. But they'd have to drag me kicking and screaming. lol.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Having recently returned to the UK (living in Malvern), I have been working in Norfolk and would indeed agree that places such as Herefordshire and Norfolk offer some real hidden gems. These are places I would have never considered at one time but I suppose I have returned with a more open mind. As a Yorkshireman, I can definately say that the south is warmer than the north and this is a real bonus which I would be reluctant to give up. I recently visited one of the northern Pennine towns in early August and it was bloody freezing.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Norfolk has had a few mentions above and I would add my suggestion to put it on the list.
I rather like Norwich as a city, there are inner city apartments recently built in good taste, a thriving shopping center(s), active arts and music, plenty of pubs :thumbup:, history abounds, countryside and coast close by, relatively low rainfall, good bus service and Park & Ride, an airport, a fast train connection to Cambridge, Stansted and London. I have no insight into employment. On the down side, Norwich is rather remote if you wish to travel by road or rail to the West or North.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

My sentiments to a Tee lol....Love the Lake District but have never visited when it's not been raining. The Dales are breathtaking...in all weathers. Buxton (was there yesterday with my Dad ...always a very good day out) the Peak District in some ways is U.K's best kept secret. Visited Harrogate and York just before Easter and always a very enjoyable visit, never been to Ikley but have seen it mentioned quite a few times on this board. Yes "The North" has lots to offer even with the weather lol...Having been a "Southerner" while living in Perth,Australia, I must admit it's great to be a "Northerner" once again lol

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Noooo not ready for the rocking chair and the zimmer frame just quite yet LOL!!

Keep them coming folks, loving this thread!!

Am now thinking Kent way, saw a programme on Countrylife (??) last night about the garden of England and it was sooo beautiful and I don't think it's quite so far from London............or maybe Bournemouth or Hove or well anywhere really. :thumbsup:

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

I have a particular type of job in mind that has residential vacancies in some of the nicest parts of this beautiful country of ours. ;)

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;):D:lol:

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Yes John, I understand this, it is "supposed" to be August here, but honestly the last 3 day long weekend has been horribly cold and miserable and raining. I went to my sisters and we sat around with the heater on instead of going out as we were supposed to, I'm not sure if I want to face this long term as it does affect your spirits. Mind you in saying that I would sooner have this weather than the extreme humidity in Australia last year.........will she ever be happy?

Is this what they call the curst of the ex pat?? :ohmy::unsure::o

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

I was born in London, but brought up in the Kentish suburbs. When looking at relocation options, I'd always discounted Kent & Sussex as being too congested & too near London, with inflated property prices to match.

But I've recently been looking at seaside towns in the Isle of Thanet and nearby areas. Places like Westgate-on-Sea, Deal, Ramsgate, Sandwich etc. Some of these are nice quiet towns, with superb beaches, walking, clifftops, heritage visiting etc. ... and decent train service to London, but far enough away that property prices are surprisingly reasonable. However the big disadvantage of Kent is always, anywhere in England you want to go to apart from London, you have to get to via London!

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For us it was going where the work was but who knows might be headed home sooner than expected

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Well, we tried the north -- Whitby -- and we found the climate a bit too cold and the winter days a bit too short, though the sunrises and sunsets were magnificent.

We've settled in Dawlish and though the summer hasn't been great here either, the extra couple of degrees most days, and that extra 30 mins or so of daylight in winter really do make a difference. There's a train station and decent local buses, but I agree Bournemouth would have a lot more. We didn't want a city, and on a short visit, we weren't too taken by the centre, but each to their own,

Bev

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

I hear what you're saying about the north, its definitely colder up there during the winter but I'm used to 6 months of ice and snow and temps down to -40C so it all feels like a heatwave to me at the moment. I know what you mean about smaller communities though, definitely nicer:)

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Good luck then with finding a spot in one of your choices of places to live.:)

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I can definitely understand this if you came from somewhere warm. But I've spent the last 22 years in Canada and the North East of the US, so northern UK winters seem quite pleasant. I won't have to dig myself out of 2 feet of snow on a regular basis. And I won't find that for 4 months of the year, I barely leave the house.

Whitby is colder than most of the North though - the East is colder than the West, and if you add in being right on the coast, you definitely get a chill that you wouldn't find in, say, Ulverston on the West Coast.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Sold to the woman in Canada!
I was interested enough to check their website:
http://www.sherbornetown.com/
Looks as though there are some good events around there too. :)

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Thought I would post my trusty weather map again. It is interactive so you can look by month or type of weather by clicking the items on the left:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/...ukmapavge.html

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Thanks Linda, that is REALLY useful!! :thumbsup:

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You seem to have a lot of local knowledge. :thumbsup:

What about Hove?

I see it is quite near Brighton, and much as I love tackiness like Blackpool for the nostalgic kick I get I don't actually want to live there LOL!

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Just one of the many not so well known touristy towns.....lol....planning a trip sometime in December....would love to see it at that time of year.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

It's interesting to see how warmer temps correlate with wetter weather in the UK. Here's the rainfall map and you can see that the West side of the country, which tends to be warmer, is also wetter from top to bottom.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/...ukmapavge.html

It looks like the best options for dry and warm are probably in the south east. Norfolk looks more and more appealing - I wish it wasn't all the way down there :lol:

Mind you, according to that map Chester is both dry and warm - isn't that near where you are now Bee?

I think it's important to remember that 'dry' and 'warm' are relative terms. Anywhere in England is still damper and much much colder than where you were before. It would be a shame to make such a big move and then find it's not all that much warmer in the new place but now you're miles from your family.

Re: If you were over 50..........
 

Different perspectives.. I think of Norfolk as way north, almost Yorkshire, being from Kent & Devon!!

I don't know Norfolk very well. Been to Norwich a couple of times, and I went on a week's cycle tour of north Norfolk once. It recently occurred to me that, as I get older, Norfolk has one major advantage over (say) Devon. I love walking and cycling, and the steep up and down hills of most of England are hard on old folk. In Norfolk I could still go for miles without flaking out.