Editha

I might.

durham_lad

Cool 👍

Lion in Winter

True, but buying real estate in Winchester is no joke in terms of price. My sister lives there - I never will

Tr1boy

Yeah it doesn't tickle that's for sure. My wife likes it here and I like her (sort of )

PimRoad

Correction noted, thanks. Re-post below. And note the difference in house prices between York and e.g. Winchester. I take the earlier point about not wanting to be in Leeds, but York is not Leeds.

Re-Post:

If you're from near York why would you even consider moving anywhere else?

There's an hourly train, 24/7 from York to Manchester Airport, takes 1hr 38m. Alternatively it is 45 min to Leeds Airport, or 2 hours from London by train or 2+ hours from Edinburgh by train. All the important National Parks are 2 hours drive or less. The natives are friendly. The depth and variety of History is profound. A semi costs 250k or less, detached 300k or so. And it's got a Wall, one first started by the Romans!

I'm retiring from Washington DC, so I'm coming from a country which has a bad case of Wall envy just now. Considerations for somewhere to retire to included: walkability, busability, trainability, near ferryability and airportability; a house made of brick or stone in a community of brick or stone; a sense of pride in the community's History (and it helps that I am connected to that same History).

Almost the entire United States has sprawling suburbs of vinyl sided houses, even the obscenely expensive ones. Very few actual nuclear towns, outside of maybe New England, whose winters are brutal. It's especially difficult if you like multi-modal transport options for getting around, without having to rely on a car for every significant (or insignificant) trip. While in England you can start walking almost anywhere, and take footpaths local and long-distance that are all densely interconnected, everything in the US is a walled garden. Take the Appalachians for example. Well it's a 2 hour drive to get there in the first place: no public transport. one ridge has a footpath and National parks : the Appalachian Trail, and the Shenandoah NP and Smoky Mts NP, which have, I grant you, good trail systems. But every other ridge in the 2000 mile long and 100-300 mile wide Appalachian-Allegheny mountain system is private property, no trespassing, they have guns and they shoot. In the somewhat temperate, pastoral states of Maryland and Pennsylvania, with lots of forest clearance for dairy and arable, you simply cannot go walking on that farmers land: there are no recognized footpaths, and no tradition of walking, since the Algonquian tribes were just about rubbed out 3-400 years ago.

If you want an active life/retirement that includes huge variety of walking, and bike riding, with the ability to plan 'open-jaw' trips completing the circuit by bus or train, accessible and reasonably attractive towns, accommodations and eateries, you cannot beat Europe - and England is still very much Europe. The USA is impossible in this regard.

I want to be able to gracefully separate from the car over the next 20 to 30 years, without limiting my ability to get around. No car in most of the United States, and you might as well be in a prison.

scot47

One of the reasons I chose my home for retirement on the Isle of Bute. It is easy to live here without a car. Ferry links to rail on mainland. Good bus links on island. Pensioner resident in Scotland get a concessionary travel pass. Say no to Ford and all his works !

PimRoad

RLS wrote a poem about that:

"Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be oot?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Bute.

Wemyss was astern, Cumbrae to port,
Dunoon on starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul;
Where is that glory now?"

That poem is the very definition of nostalgic yearning.

Ferries are one of the most wonderful forms of transport. One of the saving graces of living here in Maryland is that I can take White's Ferry, across the Potomac to Leesburg. I always travel with a sense of hope when I ride a ferry. We're going up to Plymouth, MA for July 4th weekend. To see the Pilgrim history, but also to ride the Plymouth to Provincetown (Cape Cod) ferry. This emulates the trip the Pilgrims took back in 1620, when they anchored the Mayflower near P-town, and sailed the tender across to Plymouth, to alight on the famous "rock".

Cross-country train ride to Wemyss Bay, then ferry to Rothesay is also a pretty sublime trip. Cheers!

scot47

Just remember

"God made the whole wide world
And all that it contains
Except the Western isles
For they belong MacBrayne's"

David MacBrayne was the ferry company that controlled shipping on the West Coast. They are now part of Caledonian Macbrayne whicjh is publicly owned and controlled by the Scottish Government. We are of course noyt in the Western Isles but afre part of the Clfve Islands (Bute, Araan and Cumbrae)

holly_1948

And, for men especially, the beer. York (and Tadcaster) are famous for their beers. Arguably the best in the world.

durham_lad

There is even a microbrewery just inside the city wall that is well worth a visit, with optional tour, which I did in 2011.

York Brewery | Yorkshire Breweries | Attractions In York

HKG3

Pensioner resident in England also get a concessionary travel pass.

http://www.tfgm.com/journey_planning...es_over60.aspx

scot47

Right. I think in England these bus passes are restricted to local use. In Scotland our concessionary travel is for buses throughout Scotland.

moneypenny20

I thought they could be used all over England. I'm sure someone has mentioned it in the past. Could be talking out of my arse of course.

becks_r

Not only Men!!! I love British beer - well the real ale mainly. Good breweries are also available in other counties - Harveys is good in Lewes for instance!

I also agree with everything Pimroad said about the difference between England / Europe and America. If I hadn't met my OH, I would never have moved to US. If I ever get a chance to move back, I would!

Having said that though, there are walking cities in US and when I finally move back to Rochester, I will be in easy walking distance of parks, bars, restaurants, theatre etc. So I am looking forward to that! Not sure that the public transport is there though, so it will be walking or driving...

scot47

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englis..._Travel_Scheme

Seems they are valid throughout England.