If You Could Live Anywhere in England, Where Would it Be?

[maqroll]

56 minutes ago, Chindie said:

I don't think it's possible for me to answer this. I've not seen all of the country, but I've been to most corners of it.

A part of me loves mid Wales. I've spent a lot of time in Aberystwyth in my life. I have wonderful, and terrible, memories of the place and the surrounding areas. It's beautiful. There are images burned in my mind of the place - the town glowing golden in the late afternoon walking along the promenade with the Victorian town house frontages ethereal in the light of the sun setting over the sea; a raging storm turning the sky into an alien battle, the sea into a broiling cavalry charge, all the world an ominous stony grey, lighting hitting monuments on the coast and all around a cacophony of thunderous rain turning the streets to rivers and conquering the drains; endless rolling farmland without a human in sight cut up by road clinging to the edges of valleys with right blind corners. It's a part of the world with that curious feeling that the land isn't trying to kill you, but it's not going to be nice to you either, bits of ragged stone jutting out of random grass hillocks, rampant forest, weather that changes on a coin flip. And pubs. Pubs on pubs on pubs.

The other place I've spent a lot of time is Cornwall. Cornwall is wonderful, it has most of the things mid Wales has, but with the edges knocked off a bit, and with the distinct feeling there's a bit of money about. I have family down there and have been there in every season - I've seen blazing summers burn the farmland and winter strife drench a house at the centre of a usually quiet bay. My relatives had a house on the outskirts of a popular seaside town, and it was glorious. A Georgian house on a hill, their garden wall basically topping the cliffs, the garden itself quite big and isolated with a conservatory with apple trees. When I was kid if you said I could live anywhere, it would be that house. When I was a bit older another relative rebuilt a house that was away from the coast down there, in one of the scenic mazes of farmland. It was the kind of place you needed specific directions to find, it was down various lanes with high hedges and had a driveway you couldn't see the house from. But when you found it it was incredible. Didn't really have much land, it's garden was small for where it was, but the house was stunning. An old stone farm building that they had renovated themselves. It was gorgeous. If you were a true hermit you could die happy on that house. You were truly isolated. But that's also the problem with Cornwall. Infrastructure is grim, everything is an hour away from everything else even if it's looking like it's next door on the map, and you can be really alone. Famously when I was kid on holiday down there a woman was murdered out in one of the farmland lanes and they didn't have a single lead on it. It's the kind of thing that plays on your mind in those isolated narrow lanes. On the other hand I can remember being driven along those dark lanes at night and being able to see the stars and the sky in the way you'd never see around Birmingham. 

Tbc

You are a good writer!

[Chine]

Jersey or Gibraltar for me , love them both 

[bickster]

54 minutes ago, maqroll said:

The station is now in ruins. The train doesn't even stop here.

Considering the Iron Horse played such a pivotal role in expanding the country from East to West, the US really is shit at long/medium distance rail travel. It's a really awful example of privatised pubic infrastructure

[Follyfoot]

7 hours ago, sharkyvilla said:

Bournemouth beach for me

My mate goes canoeing first light there, most mornings jammy, sod

[maqroll]

18 minutes ago, bickster said:

Considering the Iron Horse played such a pivotal role in expanding the country from East to West, the US really is shit at long/medium distance rail travel. It's a really awful example of privatised pubic infrastructure

It was a tragic capitulation to the automotive and petroleum industries with catastrophic results.

[Xann]

2 hours ago, mjmooney said:

There's a debate going on elsewhere on Off Topic about whether you can do without a car in London?

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/technical-note-12-how-many-cars-are-there-in-london.pdf

A car isn't mandatory in a lot of cases @maqroll, but there are reasons why you might want one?

Glad to see the back of mine. I think you're mad to drive here, especially since swathes of the city went down to 20.

Electric bikes and scooters have really taken off, this side of greater London anyway.

[tinker]

Sandbanks, with a boat launch to access Studland. 

[ferguson1]

After seeing a comment made by @Xela in another thread, I do also love the Cotswolds and could happily retire in a Cotswolds village.

Close enough to Cheltenham and Bristol/Bath/Oxford should I need the shops/restaurants etc. 

Beautiful part of the country and one I forgot about earlier when posting. 

Edited November 26, 2022 by ferguson1

[Xela]

15 hours ago, maqroll said:

I think I'd like to live in a mid sized village somewhere on the south coast. Thatched roofs and gardens and shady lanes and cozy pubs.

Perfect. Quite a few places in Hampshire like that. 

[dAVe80]

I'd stay in the North East, but probably move further North. 

Wylam or Corbridge for somewhere a bit rural. 

Seahouses or Craster right by the sea.

Ouseburn for groovy village in a city vibes.

Jesmond or Gosforth for posh Newcastle. 

[Xela]

its a tough one as there are so many nice parts of the UK. 

I love north Norfolk, could see myself there, by the sea. Also the Wye Valley in Herefordshire is stunning. Last year I stayed in a village in Berkshire, called Stanford Dingley. It was beautiful and very rural! A few miles of narrow lanes to get there. I've not even mentioned the north of the UK yet. 

Overall though, I'll stick with the Cotswolds, specifically the area around Stow, Burford and Chipping Norton, on the Gloucs/Oxon border. Close enough to Oxford and Cheltenham east and west, and Brum and London, to the north and south. 

[mjmooney]

56 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

After seeing a comment made by @Xela in another thread, I do also love the Cotswolds and could happily retire in a Cotswolds village.

Close enough to Cheltenham and Bristol/Bath/Oxford should I need the shops/restaurants etc. 

Beautiful part of the country and one I forgot about earlier when posting. 

It's beautiful, but it's rancid with posh Tories. 

[mjmooney]

3 hours ago, maqroll said:

I actually live about 500 ft from a train depot. But the line is just for freight now. It was a passenger line decades ago. The station is now in ruins. The train doesn't even stop here.

 

[Xela]

10 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

It's beautiful, but it's rancid with posh Tories. 

A lot of it is liberal democrat as well now. 

Although listening to chatter at the bar the other night, the rumour is that Boris is buying a house in the village I was in!

[KentVillan]

15 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

It's beautiful, but it's rancid with posh Tories. 

The reality is that most of the nicest places in the country with the most spectacular views and best houses are absolutely riddled with Representatives for Wellingborough.

And anywhere nice that isn’t always ends up on a Telegraph “escape to the country” list and succumbs to the inevitable.

There are some beautiful areas of London which would be great to live in if you had a few million quid in the bank. Little Venice / Maida Vale, Hampstead, Holland Park, Richmond. But you’d struggle to socialise with your neighbours probably.

[KentVillan]

4 hours ago, mjmooney said:

There's a debate going on elsewhere on Off Topic about whether you can do without a car in London. It's certainly more feasible than than it is in our provincial towns and cities. I've heard the same case argued for New York. 

London's too big for me, though. I like to be able to get into the countryside more easily (which I can do where I am now). 

The places that best combine the London feel with easier access to countryside are probably Brighton and Bristol.

[The Fun Factory]

2 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

The reality is that most of the nicest places in the country with the most spectacular views and best houses are absolutely riddled with Representatives for Wellingborough.

And anywhere nice that isn’t always ends up on a Telegraph “escape to the country” list and succumbs to the inevitable.

There are some beautiful areas of London which would be great to live in if you had a few million quid in the bank. Little Venice / Maida Vale, Hampstead, Holland Park, Richmond. But you’d struggle to socialise with your neighbours probably.

That's because you have to be either a multi millionaire  called Gerald or Timothy or inherited it from your mum or day to live in those places.  Quite happy where I live now tbh. 

If I didn't have to work again parts of Perthshire in Scotland are lovely, though a bit dark and cold in the winter months.

[bickster]

11 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

If I didn't have to work again parts of Perthshire in Scotland are lovely, though a bit dark and cold in the winter months.

F*** that increased risk of poorly played bagpipes

[mjmooney]

Let's hear it for Yorkshire. 

[maqroll]

1 hour ago, mjmooney said:

 

I'm not quite that destitute