Please recommend where you live!

Somerset is a good place , most of it is accessible to large towns or cities . Places like Burnham on sea have large retirement communities as so have plenty to do if you're of advancing years.

Yep Greyduster they do. They're not "green" about the Irish weather ?.

I hope they have a big umbrella, Grannyknot!? They don’t call it The Emerald Isle for nothing!

Bought a house in the Republic of Ireland, of course.

I know of a "mash-up" (blended British/European/South African) family who are so over the whole Brexit thing and what may come that have bought a spacious three bedroomed house in Ireland for 80,000 Euro in a beautiful part of the country.

And from what the estate agent has told them, they're not the only ones ...

I'm buying a flat with a garden, so don't rule out a ground floor fat with access to outside. It widens your search a bit.

Retford? Mansion for £500000 in beautiful countryside near the Dukeries. Coast 90 mins away, Kings Cross 90 mins away.

I have seen there is something now that retired people can get a mortgage interest only once they are pension age (67). Just a thought as you may want to spend your capital on holidays and treats as you get older.

I would set out your wants/needs in order of importance and work form there.

I know of a couple who let out their house after they retired, bought a camper van and spent eighteen months travelling round the UK to see which places they liked and ended up in a village in Somerset.

I think this is an impossible thread everyone or most people love where they live, for the most part the reason they are still there so if you get 100 answers you may get 100 different places reccommended and you ll be back to square one ?

stree have sent you a PM

Devon is lovely, with two coastlines to choose from, and in between there is Dartmoor and Exmoor. There are countless pretty villages or seaside towns. And two nice cities, Plymouth and Exeter. It's really possible to get right away from the bustle of life in Devon and yet we have good road links with the M5 and A38.

North Lincs is where we settled.
Lots of small villages like ours, close to coast and M1, M62, and airports and sea going ferries,so not too far from transport links.
Our village has not much in public transport, one bus a day but free tesco bus and Call Connect service, ( you ring the bus calls round for whatever your local destination) we have a pub and Saxon church, a village pond, a 60 pupil Cof E infants schools and a village hall.
House prices and styles vary, £130k doer upper, huge gardens, quiet, semi detached or bungalow brick built to £600k rural idylls.
NHS not an issue, we have a First Responder service and needed them twice (call for ambulance and they call round first) both times here within 4 to 8 minutes with paramedic.

Plenty of suggestions on here and good for you being ready to up sticks and start again. Just a word of caution, if you have lived in one place for a long time you may find life somewhere else has issues you didn't think of. If possible can you rent somewhere for 6 months, preferably winter months, just to be sure you are making the right decision?

Have fun travelling around looking.

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

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.

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!

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

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 ?

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

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.

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.

North Norfolk, although you do definitely need a car.

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

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....