Jensmate

My partner thinks that perhaps rather than going back to the UK when we retire, we should move back up north to New Hampshire closer to her family and "commute" : a few weeks or months in the UK, the rest in USA.
She likes Keene NH. Has anyone lived there or close by?

tonrob

I'm an hour south of Keene. Been there for a weekend. Liked it. Nice, small tone vibe, quite pretty.

robin1234

Certainly a nice part of the country, not far to beaches, lakes, mountains, cities. Quite a bit to do at Keene State College.

I'd just say think long and hard about moving to that climate as you get older ... long, cold winters and hot humid summers. I find it harder to deal with than I did twenty or thirty years ago!

HumphreyC

I got there quite a lot as it's around 40 mins away. Great little town (think they filmed Jumanji there back in the day - EDIT - they did - here's the stampede)
I also like to stop in at Peterborough and Brattleboro when I am in those parts - as well as the chocolate shop in Walpole.

As regards retirement I do know a retired couple who live in Cardiff and in central MA for different parts of the year - although strangely they seem to come to New England for the winter and go to Wales in the summer which I would have thought would be the wrong way round.

tonrob

It's always winter in Wales.

Jensmate

Thanks for the feedback, tonrob, robin1234 and HumphreyC. We're off on a recce of the place for a week in October. The climate will always be an issue although at present we're in Florida and I have become less heat tolerant as the years have gone by. At least in the Winter we could enjoy the snow without having to actually drive in it every day. When I lived in Pennsylvania I remember having to get up at 6am and clean off the windshield, scrape the ice and defrost the lock as well as shoveling the drive Monday to Friday then having to do it again in the afternoon in the parking lot before coming home from work.

Bob

There's a couple of BE bods in NH, don't post to often though, but distance is all relative. Few in ME and MA.

Issues with NH, as it doesn't have income tax, the property tax is quite high. It can be terribly conservative and not the best hospitals around which may be part of the reason folks who away to retire.

It is a college town though, so that might counter some of the above.

Getting quite a bit inland, so quite a lot more snow there than if you were towards Portsmouth/Dover area. Not a bad run to Manchester, for a cheapish airport for internal flights.

robin1234

Brattleboro is an absolutely amazing and beautiful city. It has brew pubs, restaurants, downtown shopping, a very nice food coop. At least two good Indian restaurants. A beautiful Art Deco cinema and restored hotel, the Latchis. Loads of old nineteenth century mills in various states of decrepitude and restoration. Several VERY nice second hand book shops. All in all, a nice city.

HumphreyC

-well there is that. I do miss the place. We used to go to Holyhead quite a lot to see my gran. It was a rancid shithole but the ride through Snowdonia was breathtaking.

Yes - I am a huge fan of the place. It's not as pristine as somewhere like Northampton but it does have a lot of character; and then there's the Rudyard Kipling connection. Not sure if you have been recently but the Brooks house hotel which dominates the downtown landscape had a bad fire. They are just fixing it up at the moment and should be done in about a year.

JHolden47

Hi

We are in ME about 20 mins from Rochester. NH is a nice state, tax free is a bonus....we always cross the border to shop! Great weather at the moment its 75-85F most days,

What sort of info are you after?