I live in a small seaside town. There are eleven Edwardian houses on my side of the street, that provide eighteen homes. Four of the houses have been converted into flats and three houses are occupied by couples with young families. Of the remaining houses, one house is owned by a retired couple who regularly have their children and grandchildren to stay, one is lived in by a 70+ widowed woman and her mum and the remaining two are lived in by us, and another working couple who still have a son at home.
The latter couple and the widow were raised in these houses and moved back in to care for elderly parents.
The people on my side of the road are a mix of all ages and circumstances, some of the flats are owned and others are rented, two with the landlord still living on the premises. The oldest resident is in her late nineties and the youngest is just turned three. Some of the flats are little more than bedsits and some of the houses are three storied and are really quite large. Three of the houses are occupied by people who run businesses from home.
Opposite my house there are three more houses, a bus shelter and a field. The town is just a ten minute walk away and five minutes beyond that will get me to the seafront. We’re on a bus route to the city and local shops are just a few minutes walk, as are parks, meadows and the river. Nearby there is social housing, small private terraces and grander Edwardian homes. The schools are ten minutes walk away. The two local health centres are easily reached by bus or a brisk ten or twenty minute walk. I can almost see the gate to my allotment from my sitting room window.
I feel very privileged to live in a town that is not only picturesque, but also hosts a warm caring community.
Where do you live?
Blinko, you know they have built a designer outlet village off the M6 toll too? also you know there is a poem about the Earl and the end of the industry? IT'S HERE 
I recognise a lot of descriptions off this thread as we have moved around a lot. I live in the middle of nowhere
Quite understandably many posters want a degree of anonymity otherwise it would good to have a go at "name my village, town area" from the information supplied. Nevertheless, it's a very nice thread reading the descriptions of where posters live and describing their individual homes and localities.
We moved this year, I loved where we lived before right next to The Thames on the edge of London close to a Royal Park complete with deer and a large town just up the road, so great shopping, but oh the traffic 
we do notice it when we go up there along with 20 miles per hour restrictions which inevitably causes congestion. Traffic is somewhat sparser down beyond the M25.
Having said that love it where I am now too. We'd been scouting around this town and a few others as a potential place to move for about five years or so, had one house purchase fall through a couple of years ago. I think we picked well. Bearing in mind there is a thread mooting the fact that retirees should be downsizing, that was our motivation and to release some money, but somehow or other we ended up with an extra bedroom, more square footage and a bigger garden, so I'm ashamed to say it was a bit of an upsize side size. Anyway, we need the space because now we are a bit further away from family and friends, they need to stay over, well that's my excuse.
We are just outside a lovely market town on the Surrey/Sussex borders and although further away from London out local town has a great mix of some really old buildings and the new. It has everything we need and more, John Lewis Home, big Waitrose and Sainsburys, Marks, an Everyman Cinema, a Theatre, plenty of nice clothing outlets, Crew, Sea Salt, Joules, Hobbs etc. more importantly my favourite store of all Waterstones. Lots of eating places, coffee shops galore....... high street banks! all of them still there! probably not for long at the rate they are disappearing.
Beautiful countryside around, can still see the Surrey Hills and the south downs just a few miles away and the coast beyond. We've had lovely sunny weather this week so it's been nice to get out and see the changing Autumn leaves. This morning we went to our local country park and walked round the lake appreciating the trees and water fowl.
Merlot all the best in your new home.
What a fascinating thread Grannyacti -vista
I live in the centre of a small town 10 miles south of Edinburgh, surrounded by pubs, cafes, a church, sheltered housing and the town hall. Once a papermaking and mining village it expanded in the 1960s to accommodate city workers and became a dormitory town. The trains have gone (Beeching cuts) but there are buses every 10 minutes.
The old railway lines form a cycle and walking routes and I have cycled to the seaside in my time
In recent years housing estates and shopping centres have been built between here and the city so the commute takes twice as long..
The services for all these new homes have not caught up and I pity the school and doctors who have to adapt.
Where I am is a close community of many nationalities and I know most people.
My 200yr old house is too big for me now that I am alone so I know I will have to move sometime. Merlotgran
There are still retired miners and even streets named for the Irish migrants who came in the 1930s (Dublin and Glasgow!)
There are clubs and societies galore but we miss the banks (one has lately become a food bank) and there are no longer many shops though initiatives by the development trust have led to the opening of 3 community run shops, a paper museum and the restoration of remaining old buildings.
I can be in open country and farmland in 10 minutes.
The young people move away but some come back -apart from mine.
I now live in a beautiful semi-detached new-build in a very small village, where we lived previously for over 30 years. We had 6 years in a bungalow in a nearby village when my OH was ill. Since he died I have moved back to the village where my heart lies and where my friends are.
The new-build is a gem - on a small semi-circle 7 of houses round an oak tree. The view from the back of the house is sublime (and the same view as we had when we lived here before) - I have my bed up on bed-raisers so that I can sit in bed in the mornings with a cup of tea and soak in the view. The house is extraordinarily well-insulated and needs little heat; and it is well sound-insulated - I cannot hear my neighbours at all.
The village has:
-a Knights Templar church - a real gem with fabulous acoustics.
- a state-of-the-art Passiv house village hall which costs zilch to run.
- a small primary school (where I am governor)
- a pub
- common piece of land and wood - a lovely place to walk
- a bus 3 times a week, which heads to town over the hill where there are fabulous 360 degree views.
I am surrounded by fields and hills - my own little piece of paradise.
All the new neighbours in the close are very friendly indeed and very helpful - I have yet to put my bin out - someone always does it for me - I don't know who! And last night we all met under the oak tree for sparklers and sausage rolls.
I have loads of friends here and village life is very active indeed - book club; a group of women who get together and do good things in the village (like pixies!); endless events like harvest supper, Christmas window decorating, summer fun day on the common; folk concerts in the church; village panto, singing group (that I run); coffee mornings; croquet on the common; lots of school events to which the community is welcomed; pub quiz; indoor swimming pool in a castle 5 minutes away. Something happening most days. And that for me is the joy - the views are wonderful and to be treasured, but it is the people and the village life that make living here so special.
I am a very Luckygirl!
I moved into my new home two weeks ago and for the first time in my life I am living somewhere that could never be described as beautiful. There is so much of my old life I miss but there was no way I could continue living in an isolated location after DH died. My family was quite prepared to drag me kicking and screaming to live near them so I gave in without a struggle 
But....I have quickly come to realise that being welcomed into a kind and caring community more than makes up for my lack of a wonderful view. Neighbours (a new experience for me) have called round or put cards through the door. I've had offers of help from complete strangers, workmen have gone above and beyond and I do have a lovely garden.
A part of me will always ache for East Anglian skies but right now I wouldn't change a thing.
Apart from the bl**dy traffic!
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