Property Dilemma – What & Where?

JoeCrystal

bearshare wrote: »

Midway between Bournemouth and Poole, Dorset.. Sunrise on the promenade with a view of Old Harry Rock, Hengistbury Head and the Isle of Wight while heading for a bike ride on the Purbeck hills is a site to behold.....

That is where I live and I can confirm it is nirvana around here (with a good night club scene) The only downside is a silly long train journey to London from Bournemouth. Good access to Bournemouth and Southampton Airports though!

shinytop

bearshare wrote: »

Midway between Bournemouth and Poole, Dorset.. Sunrise on the promenade with a view of Old Harry Rock, Hengistbury Head and the Isle of Wight while heading for a bike ride on the Purbeck hills is a site to behold.....

Sounds nice but much too far south for me. That's nearly France!

JoeCrystal

shinytop wrote: »

Sounds nice but much too far south for me. That's nearly France!

You can actually pick up French mobile network signal if you head over to Portland. :rotfl:

cfw1994

bearshare wrote: »

Midway between Bournemouth and Poole, Dorset.. Sunrise on the promenade with a view of Old Harry Rock, Hengistbury Head and the Isle of Wight while heading for a bike ride on the Purbeck hills is a site to behold.....

Ahhh, nice part of the world....I'm from the IOW originally, still get down there a fair bit: great for relaxing
Have a relative down in Lyndhurst - lovely town, but traffic hell in summer!
Having migrated north, I would miss areas we often head to (Derbyshire Peak District, Yorkshire Dales for yomping!) if I lived back down south, but it is indeed lovely!

ianthy

We are in the process of finalising our retirement, we are both age 57. I have already stopped and OH will finish end 2020. We are downsizing from 5 bed house to a 3 bed London house. We love living in London, so decided not to move out of the City. Also we bought our future home 23 years ago, so the numbers add up to allow us to continue to live in London. Personally, I can't wait to have a much smaller and more manageable home.

Slinky

Nebulous2 wrote: »

We’ve had it about 18 months and have no regrets. The plan is to sell our house within the next two years at retirement and move to the new property.

Presumably you paid an extra 3% stamp duty. Don't forget if you sell your old house within 3 years of buying the new one you can reclaim that 3%. That's what we did.

DairyQueen

bearshare wrote: »

Midway between Bournemouth and Poole, Dorset.. Sunrise on the promenade with a view of Old Harry Rock, Hengistbury Head and the Isle of Wight while heading for a bike ride on the Purbeck hills is a site to behold.....

We sold up in that area almost 4 years ago. Shops in Bournemouth were emptying at too fast a rate and the shopping centre had lost its mojo. The area seemed to struggle to fulfil the needs of two competing demographics - well-heeled retirees and university students.The screams that emitted from the night-club area in the wee hours suggested that one group was being fed to the other.

The real bummer was the road access from all points to/from North East. I only discovered the dependency on the A338 when, on one memorable night, they closed it. I still shudder at the diversion then required to reach any other major road heading toward London.

Now located in the depths of rural East Anglia the train journey into London has been reduced by 45 mins, and the service is equipped with decent rolling stock that is blissfully comfortable out of rush hour. I can reach the M25 in 1 hour 15 mins and an alternative route doesn't require a 2 hour diversion.

Added bonus is the weather as it's noticeably drier year-round, and warmer in all seasons except winter.

We miss the prettiness of Dorset and Hampshire but the rugged North Sea coast is its own compensation. Add-in a pastoral landscape so unremarkable that summer hordes are easily avoided, and a plethora of small, self-contained communities which still harbour families who have lived in the same small place for a few centuries.

My own village offers: top-rated schools (nursery, primary and secondary), leisure centre, doctor, dentist, vet, butcher, baker, greengrocer, newsagent, estate agent, small supermarket/post office, 2 x hairdressers, financial advisor, florist, 2 x pubs, 2 x churches, a cafe, fish & chip shop, Indian takeaway, library, police/fire station, and antiques, gifts and book shops. Local beer, cider and fresh food in abundance. Great pub grub. We are only missing an optician.

On the downside...
The parking situation is now ridiculous and traffic now grid-locks the medieval High Street during rush hour. The bus service is terrible and covers routes North/South despite the closest towns being located East/West. A car isn't optional. Oh, and the nearest Italian restaurant is a 40-mile drive, as is the nearest 'special occasion' restaurant. We are always last on the list to receive upgrades to mobile and web infrastructure.

Overall, we are very happy living in this area but the (lack of) medical services is a major concern for older villagers. It takes 10 days to obtain a non-urgent GP appointment. Unless the air ambulance happens to be free, the chances of surviving anything critical are minuscule as an ambulance will take 45 minutes by road to respond on a very good day. GPs won't do home visits and the average wait for their out-of-hours service is 4/5 hours. If urban dwellers think they are being squeezed by an under-resourced NHS then they should try living in the sticks.

JoeCrystal

DairyQueen wrote: »

We sold up in that area almost 4 years ago. Shops in Bournemouth were emptying at too fast a rate and the shopping centre had lost its mojo. The area seemed to struggle to fulfil the needs of two competing demographics - well-heeled retirees and university students.The screams that emitted from the night-club area in the wee hours suggested that one group was being fed to the other.

The real bummer was the road access from all points to/from North East. I only discovered the dependency on the A338 when, on one memorable night, they closed it. I still shudder at the diversion then required to reach any other major road heading toward London.

All good points! Not mentioning endless traffic jams between Poole and Bournemouth on the rush hours as well.

AlanP_2

DairyQueen wrote: »

We are always last on the list to receive upgrades to mobile and web infrastructure.

There was a programme on R4 a few months ago when audience members were asked how they isolated themselves from Social Media/Internet and constantly being contactable by mobile phone

One person responded with "moved to Suffolk" :beer:


That's where we are and it is getting better but mobile signal is still patchy across the County.


The quality of life in general compared to busier more connected locations makes it worthwhile though.

Slinky

I had to change mobile phone provider when we moved to Suffolk as there was only one main carrier where we can get a signal in our house. The other downside is TV, not got a full range of TV channels as we're receiving off a small transmitter. Most of our neighbours have satellite.


On the upside, I've had same day appointments at the Doctor, which is unheard of unless an emergency in our previous location.