dotty

OK UK dwellers this is what I want and the more I look the more confused I become.

House, Within 2 hours drive to London would be nice, up to 4 hours fine. Must be very green, leafy and I dont like flat, hilly is good. Main city or town within half hours drive would be perfect.

Then to complicate it, I dont want a huge house (been there too much work) however I do want space around me, anything with very detached house, say third of an acre upwards would be good. Old barn not converted to somebodies weird pink taste would be ideal, but we cant seem to find any, I guess these must be very popular and therefor hard to get??

Crime factor less than Chicago would be good, but realistic of course, thats anywhere. Work will be a business run from home so no limitations there.

So any suggestions on areas, I guess to sum it up I want country with a city 30 mins off (fussy eh )

Help I am driving husband insane.

CareyOcean

Hi Dotty
I would suggest near Brighton its a much better city than London, and its only an hour away. Beautiful part of the UK (hills etc )
Only problem is its an expensive part of the UK ( still where isn't!)
There's loads of the kind of stuff you want its just gonna cost you, alot round here.
Have you been looking at property websites related to certain UK areas?
This would be the best start I think.

Surfer Chick

I agree, I live between London and Brighton and go to Uni at Brighton. I would suggest anywhere around the South Downs.

debsy

Dotty
What about Cambridge or Norwich - they are both lovely areas.
Let me know if you want Essex as I can dell you a 4 bed detached!
Debs

WBB

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dotty


hold me back.

PeteY

Dotty.

Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Beautiful countryside, fairly hill, very leafy. A very well off area, about a 2 hour drive to central London, or a 1 hour train ride.

Safe, clean and with lots of heritage.

If you want to live in a satelite village of RTW, expect to pay about 1/2 a million as a starting point for a neat 3 bed cottage.

Really nice place.

Badge

I think Dotty's too young

;-)

koala_mac

Hi Dotty - how about Oxfordshire, or anywhere in the area from Ox on the M40 line up to Birmingham. Oxfordshire itself is really lovely and parts are hilly too, and then you've got the luscious Cotswolds with honey coloured stone houses, countryside to die for and lots of market towns big enough to have supermarket etc, but still within easy reach of Oxford or London.... Thame, Bicester, Banbury, etc etc

dotty

Thanks so far, more ideas welcome.

We've spent days on property websites, but cant say we have looked at Oxfordshire yet. We cant do brighton, my brother lives there and I dont want anyone to feel we are "dropping in" on them. Family is one of our reasons for going back, but just not too close

Spent some time in Kent last year, just wasnt sure, maybe its not rugged enough for us.

Trouble with UKers is its too diverse!, I keep feeling like there must be so many bits we have not considered yet, thats why any suggestions are brilliant, thanks a lot.

megawho

two ideas...
1) Chiltern hills...has EVERYTHING you want. However for precisely those reasons it is extremely desirerable (sp?) and hence v. expensive. Fantastic area though.
2) Suffolk. My part of the world. The area around Lavenham is just fantastic. Buildings, land, decent schools, bit of trek to London, Ipswich is OK but not great town. Look into though.

Rosy

Hi there!

Thought I'd offer my 2 cents worth (oops, perhaps that should be 3 cents worth now, as the exchange rate still seems to be going in your favour!):

Have you looked at north Hampshire/Berkshire or north Hampshire/Surrey borders?

These areas seem to fulfil your criteria - fairly hilly in places (although more rolling small ones than Welsh mountain type), around 30 minutes to M25, also convenient for Gatwick/Heathrow should the need to escape to Europe arise, also not too far from the South Coast ports for ferries etc.

We're on the outskirts of Southampton (for business reasons really) and flights to Europe from the local airport are ridiculously cheap. Unfortunately same can't be said about houses - we've just paid a quarter of a million for a 3 bed rabbit hutch!!!

Someone mentioned East Anglia - Norfolk/Suffolk/Cambridgeshire. Lovely parts of the country (I'm originally from Suffolk myself) but very FLAT. Also not a lot in the way of business opportunities - lack of chimney pots and all that.
Depends what you want to do - perhaps if you're still thinking "holiday homes" it would be a good area to move into. Housing is cheaper in Norfolk/Suffolk than Cambridgeshire/Essex, but generally speaking most of the properties available for renovation have either been snapped up now (I speak from experience, we couldn't find one that was sensibly priced) or are outrageously expensive - land values in the south east are currently £300,000 per half an acre (that's with outline planning permission for residential development).

Bit of a bummer, but there you go!!!

Let me know if you need any more info.

Good luck!!! (and have a good trip next month)

Poula

Hi Dotty
Just like to say Love your posts, excellent sence of humor.
Oxfordshire is realy nice. Lots of areas close to town and country. Loads of villages to choose from or market towns, witney, banbury, burford, abingdon. Oxford is a smallish city, very beautiful buildings gets lots of visitors most of the year. Possibley the only town In the area I would avoid would be didcot. A good website to use is www.fish4.co.uk/homes If you type in oxfordshire there are lots of houses in this area. There are also reports of the area that show crime rates, type of housing, pollution etc. so very good. Also have links to the local estate agents websites. Also if you need to find ok schools do a search in google for bbc education league tables, a great help when you don,t know the area schools.

Finding a house with an acre may be a bit difficult but not impossible.

The towns are all on fairly level ground and the countryside is rolling hills. But still beautiful.

Let me know if you need any advice on a particular area.

Happy house hunting

Secretsquirral

surrey hills (dorking,peaslake,coldharbour,holmbury st mary, etc)

bondipom

Outside of the M25 is there absolutely tonnes of what you want. Just depends on your budget and where friends and family might be.

Even inside the M25 there are nice areas in Surrey and Kent but they attract a premium. Proximity to a good station attracts a premium but I don't know if you would be driving or training up to London. Both are expensive and unreliable.

Pulaski

Dotty said she didn't like flat, so you suggest what is probably the flattest part of the UK!

If you want green, hilly, and are prepared to go out beyond the "2 hours to London" ring, then I'd suggest Worcestershire, Herefordshire and out towards mid Wales. It seems to fit most of your criteria and housing there will cost you a whole lot less than Oxfordshire, Sussex, Kent, or any of the other parts of the London commuter belt.