[JustChris]

Isle of Man

20% ..ish higher rate tax. TT MGP etc.
Never more than 5 miles from the coast.
Property 'reasonable'
Could you take island life though
Best Kippers around
Excellent driving roads.

Beautiful place

Almost Covid proof and proven last 18 months.

[rjberry]

I was in a similar position. WFH has become a permanent feature of life so we decided to move further afield.

After being just over the bridge from Bristol, in Chepstow, we upped and moved to north Devon, on the outskirts of Barnstaple. We have all the amenities of the big town about 5 minutes away but also all the beaches just down the road. Life is quieter, the kids love their new school and 7 months in it's probably one of the better decisions we've made.

The only downside would be the influx of people over the school holidays but at least we get to enjoy everything when they all have gone back home

[TouringPleb]

Originally Posted by JR1664

I'm lucky enough to live in Dorset however over the last week we've almost felt trapped. The traffic and visitor numbers have been punishing. The A31 / A35 have been gridlocked literally from Hants to the Devon Border . We have a joke that the queue for Devon starts at Ringwood.

Purbeck is usually a 15 minute drive away but we wouldn't even contemplate it. We have great beaches nearby but the car parks and access roads have been have been swamped.

If I look back over the last 30 years we have now got into a routine of doing everything coastal out of season when there are no 'Grockles' and then its superb. As you say the Jurassic Coast is something else. (not being a Nimby - of course the area benefits greatly from tourism)

Back to the original question we've been looking at Devon for some time now, the South Hams area is just stunning.

We've been to Lulworth quite a few times and love it down there. We've always avoided school holidays, but in non-pandemic years we've never had problems with traffic or overcrowding.

Back to the original question, for me it would be somewhere on the Devon/Cornwall south coast or Dorset.

I've got to say where I live now is pretty perfect. Small village of 300 people surrounded by fields. Looking out of my bedroom window I can watch cattle grazing. I can walk my dogs around the fields for hours, doing different walks each day with the dogs off the lead. Peterborough is 20-30 minutes away, Cambridge is 40 minutes away and I can be in central London in just over an hour. And strangely we have very fast good internet!

[D69GMB]

The view from our wee holiday home on The Isle of Arran, Lamlash looking onto the Holy Isle

[stefan4]

I think the answer to this varies massively based upon where you are in life. Personally, I'd love to live somewhere quiet with a bit of land and great views. However, with a young family, I've realised just how important it is for the kids to have somewhere there can play out with their friends. We live right on the boundary of Sheffield, Barnsley and Huddersfield in a small village on a new build estate. This wouldn't be my ideal setup as I'd rather have one of the farm houses near by however, it's such a close knit community with lots of families and we all look out for each other, it's very difficult to come by. We also benefit from being surrounded by beautiful countryside, great school, easy access to amenities and easy reach of Manchester airport.

We also have a static caravan at Flamborough so we get to spend a lot of time at the coast so it's a win win really.

So, right now I couldn't be happier. In future, I'm planning on building some capital to hopefully build something for our retirement, which will either be close to the North Yorkshire coast, or somewhere quite close to where we are now. With plenty of garage space

[lethbridge]

My answer would always have been the far southwest of Cornwall (proper Cornwall as I call it)... I live in Somerset towards Exmoor as that was the further South West I could sensibly go while working but I'd be surprised if I need to do another face to face meeting now before I retire so this is something I have been mulling again. But would I move, I don't think so, Cornwall has just got too busy, I know where to go to avoid the crowds but it is still just too busy. Cornwall is in my local news patch and the tourist season is almost all year round now - they can't get enough staff into hotels at £15 an hour as there is nowhere for staff to live - you can't get long term rentals anywhere as they are now all holiday lets and the house prices are just ridiculous now. Exmoor is great to have on my doorstep - I can still go walking on a Bank Holiday and not see another person... Other options would be Pembrokeshire or North West Wales - but similar issues to Cornwall in Pembrokshire now... Scotland I would love but just not sure I could live without the warmth of the Southwest or cope with the midges...

[Sennen]

Originally Posted by lethbridge

My answer would always have been the far southwest of Cornwall (proper Cornwall as I call it)... I live in Somerset towards Exmoor as that was the further South West I could sensibly go while working but I'd be surprised if I need to do another face to face meeting now before I retire so this is something I have been mulling again. But would I move, I don't think so, Cornwall has just got too busy, I know where to go to avoid the crowds but it is still just too busy. Cornwall is in my local news patch and the tourist season is almost all year round now - they can't get enough staff into hotels at £15 an hour as there is nowhere for staff to live - you can't get long term rentals anywhere as they are now all holiday lets and the house prices are just ridiculous now. Exmoor is great to have on my doorstep - I can still go walking on a Bank Holiday and not see another person... Other options would be Pembrokeshire or North West Wales - but similar issues to Cornwall in Pembrokshire now... Scotland I would love but just not sure I could live without the warmth of the Southwest or cope with the midges...

I agree with this 100%

I purchased my place in Cornwall in 2012 and I have noticed it getting steadily busier 'off season'. The far South West of Cornwall really is one of the most beautiful places in the UK if not the World but it is just too busy down there now and that coupled with the ridiculous sizes of cars and mobile hovels (Camper Vans) now it has become quite intolerable moving around.

I keep getting pangs of doubt about selling my place but weighing it up it is definitely the right thing to do.

Judging by this thread the Scots are going to see a good increase in house prices over the next couple of years which can only be a good thing. I do wonder how many of the people relocating on the basis of 'holiday experience' are going to find the reality of 365 days a year living in these remote areas though. I was lucky enough to have a place back in 'civilisation' and as much as I love Cornwall and the Lakes for that matter I dont think I would want to make any of these areas my sole residence.

[JD6]

When I moved from London to the Lakes in 2004, I was aware of the risk that tourism might eventually overwhelm the area. There has been a steady increase, although having rented until 2007 before I found the right place to buy, I'm in a location which is both right amongst the high fells and I can often walk without meeting a soul. I was an estate agent's nighmare client - my criteria were so restrictive that I only seriously viewed 3 houses in that time! The trickiest one was being able to walk out of the back door directly onto the high fells. Typically that meant I needed to own the land in between.

This year is rather exceptional, but the risk of tourism taking over is still there. Should it become too much, I figured that it was likely to be accompanied with a spike in house prices, providing a easy exit route, as seems to be happening in Cornwall. Perhaps we're all destined eventually for the Highlands, or even New Zealand to escape the hoards!

[Sennen]

Originally Posted by JD6

When I moved from London to the Lakes in 2004, I was aware of the risk that tourism might eventually overwhelm the area. There has been a steady increase, although having rented until 2007 before I found the right place to buy, I'm in a location which is both right amongst the high fells and I can often walk without meeting a soul. I was an estate agent's nighmare client - my criteria were so restrictive that I only seriously viewed 3 houses in that time! The trickiest one was being able to walk out of the back door directly onto the high fells. Typically that meant I needed to own the land in between.

This year is rather exceptional, but the risk of tourism taking over is still there. Should it become too much, I figured that it was likely to be accompanied with a spike in house prices, providing a easy exit route, as seems to be happening in Cornwall. Perhaps we're all destined eventually for the Highlands, or even New Zealand to escape the hoards!

I dont think you can ultimately go wrong with Cornwall or the Lakes with regards to Property price security.

I am not so sure about Scotland though, if the 'Poisonous One' succeeds in getting Independence there will be a mass exodus and that will punish house prices especially if they are already artificially high from the 'Covid Effect'.

[Ennoch]

Originally Posted by Sennen

I agree with this 100%

I purchased my place in Cornwall in 2012 and I have noticed it getting steadily busier 'off season'. The far South West of Cornwall really is one of the most beautiful places in the UK if not the World but it is just too busy down there now and that coupled with the ridiculous sizes of cars and mobile hovels (Camper Vans) now it has become quite intolerable moving around.

I keep getting pangs of doubt about selling my place but weighing it up it is definitely the right thing to do.

Judging by this thread the Scots are going to see a good increase in house prices over the next couple of years which can only be a good thing. I do wonder how many of the people relocating on the basis of 'holiday experience' are going to find the reality of 365 days a year living in these remote areas though. I was lucky enough to have a place back in 'civilisation' and as much as I love Cornwall and the Lakes for that matter I dont think I would want to make any of these areas my sole residence.

I'm not sure ever increasing house prices are a good thing if it's driven by tourism for holiday lets/rentals rather than because the locals are getting paid more and so can afford them. Someone having made their money in London (or Glasgow etc) and then moving to the highlands simply creates a bidding war that prices out the locals. That's happened a lot around here in the north west, particularly on the back of the NC500. Several local houses around here have gone for £500k plus because they can make £1000 a week renting to holiday makers. There is no way a local who is doing a mix of jobs to bring in their money can afford that sort of house now, so the resentment towards these 'buy to holiday letters' is easy to understand. You're now in the rather unpleasant situation where some villages that used to have a real community are now just a collection of holiday homes with little to no permanent inhabitants. Now if people move up here then that at least makes for permanent residents but if they've just sold a house for high money down south you've still got the problem of them having a much bigger pot to use for buying a house, when compared against a local. And building more houses isn't the answer because a, that kills what makes a lot of these places special and b, the houses won't be cheap against existing stock because why would someone sell a new build for less than they could get by selling to someone with more money than a local?

It's a really difficult topic because there are two sides to it, and I have no real answer to resolving the points I mentioned above, but it certainly isn't good to have ever increasing house prices unless you're buying them as investments. And up here, where stock is low and demand high, I just find that rather distasteful.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Ennoch

And building more houses isn't the answer because a, that kills what makes a lot of these places special and b, the houses won't be cheap against existing stock because why would someone sell a new build for less than they could get by selling to someone with more money than a local?

I suspect that the answer will have to involve building more houses in a proportionate way - i.e. not bolting 50 new houses onto a village of 100, but by allowing a gradual increase in housing stock of perhaps 1-2% per year in all areas.

However as you suggest, there would need to be a mechanism to ensure that these remain genuinely affordable and available to locals, otherwise it wouldn't solve anything.

I think it has become inevitable, as a consequence of fast broadband and Covid-related working from home, that people will increasingly move to where they want to be, rather than where work obliged them to be previously. On the positive side, that means well-paid jobs coming to remote corners of the UK, but without intervention that also comes with potential for house prices being pushed beyond the means of locals.

[JustChris]

OP

How are the suggestions stacking up/ranking for you currently?

[davyk31]

What about the north coast of Northern Ireland? Stunning scenery and coastlines, very low property prices so your ££s can buy you a lot. Some great quiet driving roads everywhere with very few speed cameras about. One hour flight Max gets you to any English or Scottish airport that you want to go to for tiny low EasyJet prices.

Plenty of people who moved away for work and now coming back home and working from home so it’s London wages for some and N Ireland living costs, major win for those making the move.

[Nibbles]

I love various parts of the UK when we visit them - Cornwall, the Lake District etc etc. But every time I think about upping sticks and moving somewhere different I just get my head turned by France. It's got exactly the same beautiful regions but just a lot less people and that would win it for me (and the food and wine isn't bad either.)

[EvilDrPorkChop]

Originally Posted by davyk31

What about the north coast of Northern Ireland? Stunning scenery and coastlines, very low property prices so your ££s can buy you a lot. Some great quiet driving roads everywhere with very few speed cameras about. One hour flight Max gets you to any English or Scottish airport that you want to go to for tiny low EasyJet prices.

Plenty of people who moved away for work and now coming back home and working from home so it’s London wages for some and N Ireland living costs, major win for those making the move.

I'm off here on holiday in July, been many times over the years most recent in 2019 just before the Open was on. It's beautiful isn't it. My Grandfather was from over there.

We love the beach at Port Stewart, in summer you could think you're abroad somewhere!

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Nibbles

I love various parts of the UK when we visit them - Cornwall, the Lake District etc etc. But every time I think about upping sticks and moving somewhere different I just get my head turned by France. It's got exactly the same beautiful regions but just a lot less people and that would win it for me (and the food and wine isn't bad either.)

I considered moving to France in 2003/4 but the Lakes ultimately won out. At the time my other half was French and I worked in Paris for a while. However the real killer for me was the tax system. France is a country which flirts with far left politics from time to time, and when it does, bad things happen!

The key one was the wealth tax - probably ok if you retire there in your dotage, but I was in my early 30s and they wanted to take circa 1% of my net worth per year, in addition to income and other taxes. Macron removed the wealth tax in 2017 but it may return when the next leftie gets in. Francois Holland briefly introduced a 75% top rate of income tax for very high earners in 2012, although that only lasted a couple of years.

Most of these taxes are avoidable with some creative accounting - avoiding taxes is pretty much a national sport in France, but I wasn’t prepared to base a new life there on that approach.

[davyk31]

Originally Posted by EvilDrPorkChop

I'm off here on holiday in July, been many times over the years most recent in 2019 just before the Open was on. It's beautiful isn't it. My Grandfather was from over there.

We love the beach at Port Stewart, in summer you could think you're abroad somewhere!

Hope you have a great time here in July. It’s going to be fairly busy given the staycation situation. Portstewart is my “local” I am about 10 miles from there and as you say when the weather is good it’s beautiful. Many great beaches and coastline all around the area nearby.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by JustChris

OP

How are the suggestions stacking up/ranking for you currently?

Lots of great ideas!
As pointed out individual circumstances and where you are in your life journey are the deciding factors.
I think I'd love to move somewhere scenic, but at the same time the more thought I put in, the more I suspect being a single chap I'd miss the activity and buzz of somewhere more populated.
Probably why I've stuck near Bristol for so long because it's such a great location with the cotswolds and wales on your doorstep you haven't got to go far for some great views

[flashollie]

Originally Posted by SantaEugence

Lots of great ideas!
As pointed out individual circumstances and where you are in your life journey are the deciding factors.
I think I'd love to move somewhere scenic, but at the same time the more thought I put in, the more I suspect being a single chap I'd miss the activity and buzz of somewhere more populated.
Probably why I've stuck near Bristol for so long because it's such a great location with the cotswolds and wales on your doorstep you haven't got to go far for some great views

I'm a single chap and yes agreed it's nice idea but don't live in the middle of no where. So I looked at isolated places and discounted them.
So I've just moved to Chepstow from Bristol. I love it. Town has enough stuff for me. Tennis club few decent restaurants some great pubs. All 10 mins max from my house. The big draw for me is easy access to great countryside. I never really enjoyed the Cotswolds prefer the wilder stuff in Wales.

I'm working in N Bristol 20 mins in the car 1hr on the bike. 2 days a week 3 days WFH.

Its worked out really well. Come over and have look.

[Sennen]

Originally Posted by Ennoch

I'm not sure ever increasing house prices are a good thing if it's driven by tourism for holiday lets/rentals rather than because the locals are getting paid more and so can afford them. Someone having made their money in London (or Glasgow etc) and then moving to the highlands simply creates a bidding war that prices out the locals. That's happened a lot around here in the north west, particularly on the back of the NC500. Several local houses around here have gone for £500k plus because they can make £1000 a week renting to holiday makers. There is no way a local who is doing a mix of jobs to bring in their money can afford that sort of house now, so the resentment towards these 'buy to holiday letters' is easy to understand. You're now in the rather unpleasant situation where some villages that used to have a real community are now just a collection of holiday homes with little to no permanent inhabitants. Now if people move up here then that at least makes for permanent residents but if they've just sold a house for high money down south you've still got the problem of them having a much bigger pot to use for buying a house, when compared against a local. And building more houses isn't the answer because a, that kills what makes a lot of these places special and b, the houses won't be cheap against existing stock because why would someone sell a new build for less than they could get by selling to someone with more money than a local?

It's a really difficult topic because there are two sides to it, and I have no real answer to resolving the points I mentioned above, but it certainly isn't good to have ever increasing house prices unless you're buying them as investments. And up here, where stock is low and demand high, I just find that rather distasteful.

That is life though Ennoch, those that have the money get to enjoy the better things in life, be it cars, holidays or houses.

I do tend to agree with the argument about Holiday Homes however and despite having owned one myself it didn't sit perfectly with me but I think anyone should be able to live where they like as their Primary Residence without fear of being ostracised.

[Ennoch]

Originally Posted by Sennen

That is life though Ennoch, those that have the money get to enjoy the better things in life, be it cars, holidays or houses.

I do tend to agree with the argument about Holiday Homes however and despite having owned one myself it didn't sit perfectly with me but I think anyone should be able to live where they like as their Primary Residence without fear of being ostracised.

Oh for sure, I can't argue with that. I guess where the problem lies is that if I go on an expensive holiday or own an expensive car that it doesn't impact the cost of either a cheaper car or a cheaper holiday for someone with less money. However, if there's limited stock of housing and locals are being priced out the market by incomers there's clear reason for friction. Then again, the biggest issue with pushing up house prices in rural locations is not people buying houses to live there but to either stay in for a few weeks a year, or to rent out to holidayers. Tourism is such a parasitic industry unfortunately and the transient nature of visitors, particularly with 'fast' tourism such as the NC500 in many cases has seen hotel and B&B owners make less money than before because people only stay one night in any one place. Add in the fact it starts in April and ends in October leaves people without a way to pay their rent or mortgage the rest of the year, which is obviously higher because of the aforementioned holiday homes/rentals issue.

It's a complex issue and as I mentioned before, one I don't have the answer to but while tourists up here on the NC500 route seem to think they're the financial saviours of the country bumpkin villages, they're far from it, and most locals would be glad to never see them again. Which is a shame, but entirely driven by the behaviours and actions of many of them.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by Ennoch

Oh for sure, I can't argue with that. I guess where the problem lies is that if I go on an expensive holiday or own an expensive car that it doesn't impact the cost of either a cheaper car or a cheaper holiday for someone with less money. However, if there's limited stock of housing and locals are being priced out the market by incomers there's clear reason for friction. Then again, the biggest issue with pushing up house prices in rural locations is not people buying houses to live there but to either stay in for a few weeks a year, or to rent out to holidayers. Tourism is such a parasitic industry unfortunately and the transient nature of visitors, particularly with 'fast' tourism such as the NC500 in many cases has seen hotel and B&B owners make less money than before because people only stay one night in any one place. Add in the fact it starts in April and ends in October leaves people without a way to pay their rent or mortgage the rest of the year, which is obviously higher because of the aforementioned holiday homes/rentals issue.

It's a complex issue and as I mentioned before, one I don't have the answer to but while tourists up here on the NC500 route seem to think they're the financial saviours of the country bumpkin villages, they're far from it, and most locals would be glad to never see them again. Which is a shame, but entirely driven by the behaviours and actions of many of them.

Agreed, tourism and the type of tourism needs to be sustainable as do 2nd homes too many and the balance tips and you hollow out villages and then towns.

We cannot keep creating an ever increasing distance between the haves and have nots and we must always remember that the vast majority of jobs we need doing and enjoy being done by others are generally done by the have nots

(I recuse myself from that statement as I don't do anything important/worthwhile as well as being a have not)