Please recommend where you live!

Why not go on Rightmove, tick on boxes for what you want and then do a countrywide search with, say, a £200,000 max and see what areas feature on the list and consider whether you would want to live there. Once you have a shortlist of areas you would consider, you can decide which most appeal to you and visit them.

There are some lovely villages in East Anglia with affordable properties so long as you stay away from the hot-spots of North Norfolk and Cambridge.

Welsh border is good and not too expensive: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Monmouth.

Rural Northumberland.
Prices not bad, The roads are quiet compared with other parts of the country.

I'll second rural Northumbetland. Beautiful countryside, friendly people, fresh air and dark skies. Heaven.

Shropshire (where I live) would fit your bill. Lovely countryside, unspoilt by tourism, nice towns for shopping/restaurants and best of all affordable housing.

East midlands has very reasonably priced property and some nice areas.
The world is your oyster really if you pick carefully.
Good luck with your choice and your future.

As you are making the move later in life don't forget to factor in access to public transport in case driving becomes an issue later and medical and health care services. Make sure the bedroom and bathroom are on the ground floor and you should be well set up to enjoy your rural idyll. Good luck with your search. ??

Rightmove have a fairly new tool called "Where can I live". It's on the homepage if you scroll down. You input your budget and areas you want to be near to etc. and it gives you ideas.

Somethings to consider wherever you go, compare services and weather with what you have now.

We live in rural Suffolk, and it is beautiful and quite unspoilt, low crime rate etc. There are some attractive small market towns with reasonably priced housing. However, the hospitals and health services are not the best, compared to some parts of the country. Also public transport is not great in many areas.

This is one of the driest areas of the UK but there can be rather an artic easterly wind at times. I assume you have quite a mild climate in the Home Counties.

Thank you so much everyone! Am going to try the where can I live tool on RM GKT- brilliant! I will bear public transport in mind Apricity. I love driving now, and drive a lot in my work but this will not always be the case. Shropshire very much on my radar Lazigirl, though I do daydream about living by the coast... I think we may visit Northumberland next year as I’ve heard so many good things. I will explore the other areas further as they would also be good. It’s all very liberating and I’m really excited about the next chapter of our lives!

Yes Seacliff, good point. Healthcare facilities here are brilliant. I’m in rude health at the moment, but who knows what the future may bring. The weather doesn’t bother me too much. I actually prefer the winter!

Choice. I'd go to Northamptonshire - good value or Suffolk/Essex -heart. I've chosen to stay in Thames Valley because of family.

M0nica,I was heartened to see your post as I wasn't aware it was possible to search only by price on Rightmove - and it seems it isn't, I just looked and the first thing they insist on is a location....

humptydumpty - see my previous post. The way to do it is to go to "Where can I live?"

North Norfolk, although you do definitely need a car.

Well I can definitely not recommend where I live because it's not far from the M5 and in the summer and during all holiday periods the roads get jammed solid. It's a shame as the climate is mild, the countryside soft and pretty, we're not far from the coast and village facilities, shops, doctors, dentists, schools, nurseries etc. all good. The hospitals are few and far between (the nearest hospital is about 90 minutes by bus) and the bus finishes by 6 pm and is roughly hourly, taking at least twice as long as a car to take the same route. A railway station is an hour away by bus but a different station just 25 minutes by car.

So, even though we live in a pleasant, rural area, there are always downsides. DH and I are both confident drivers, but we seem to always have long drives when visiting some friends and family, especially those in Norfolk and the Lakes. We know we will find such visits increasingly difficult as we get older.

nanaMacGeek has a good point about motorways. We also live close to the M5, timing is everything. We do find ourselves marooned on summer weekends when our only route out is jammed. Sometimes a return trip home can take an extra two hours if badly timed. Fortunately we are close to the sea, public transport is good as is access to most (not all) medical provision. It’s not all bad. So do check road access carefully taking into account what is known about future housebuikding. We’ve also found that 5 years of house building sharing our motorway access point has caused traffic issues that weren’t there previously.

I would recommend where I live, which is delightful, but it is the other side of the world.

Please make sure you make a list of important factors to you such as near shops for basics, medical facilities within a reasonable distance etc. I am often surprised how friends have been swayed by the house they want but have not factored in their personal needs now and in the future.

I have a friend who now describes her home in Devon opposite her family, who she hardly ever sees now, as Outer Mongolia ?

Some lovely rural areas in Kent but you don't get much for your money here and the M20 M2 are a nightmare and set to get worse. Having said that, the climate is pretty good and there is some beautiful scenery.
My DGC live in Lincolnshire, house prices there are way lower and your never far from a decent sized town

It depends on your interests and how much you need to have good transport links to the rest of the country. Basically, anywhere outside commutable distance to London is good. Perhaps you could go on a bit of a UK tour?!

I'm in a market town in Norfolk (not the expensive bit) and love it, but I would say that (as you need a big back garden) the edge of any market town with community activities, shopping, medical facilities etc is good.

I like beach walks, birding and boating so Norfolk is perfect for me, but getting to the rest of the UK is a bit of a chore. Its easier to fly (Norwich via Amsterdam) to the rest of the world than it is to get to say Wales!

Just a thought, if you speak to your mortgage provider, you might be surprised by what they are able to offer you. We were offered a transfer to a repayment mortgage running until my husband is 89 years old and an amount each month we can afford.

County Durham pit villages have affordable houses with the benefit of being within easy reach of Durham city centre.