Where's nice to live in the UK?

[gingerjedi]

Exeter and Plymouth are large-ish cities and have good fast train connections to London. Exeter is a bit of a dive however, but living somewhere near the cost and then jump onto the fast train to London Sunday night from Plymouth or Exeter is worth the long journey
Nothing like living near the coast if you enjoy the outdoors IMO, and towards the SW where the climate is a little nicer

Somewhere slap bang in the middle of the country could be a good idea, somewhere like Swindon

Are you sure about that? Plymouth to Paddington is 3.5 hours on a good day, might as well be anywhere... Spain for instance??

At 35 I'd forget lively pubs, you don't know it yet but before long you'll be supping ale in the corner wishing they'd turn that bloody music down.

[SuperZ]

Are you sure about that? Plymouth to Paddington is 3.5 hours on a good day, might as well be anywhere... Spain for instance??

You're very right. FOr some reason I thought it was more like 2.5 hours Plymouth to Paddington, maybe it used to be until the trains got faster I mean slower. But even at 3.5 hours, it's like going away on holiday every Friday evening. Is 3.5 hours worth it? 6 fingered inbreds aside, it's a nice part of the country to live in.

Yes, my other thought for original poster was to buy somewhere abroad and in or near London

[norrahe]

Get the right train in the morning and it's about 50 mins to London. Oxford has a few 24 hour bus routes too, for when the beer scooter can't cope.
Or you could try Thame which is slightly cheaper (about the same commute but less lively)

Mr Norr used to live in Oxford and apart from the centre with the nice buildings that's about it.
It's expensive property wise and the commute if you do have to go to London it an absolute nightmare (a friend of mine used to do Oxford to the city), it'e one of the worst lines in.

[norrahe]

If you want cheap property that will do quite nicely on the market with good connections, then Northamptonshire is a good bet.

You are looking East Midlands Line, good reliable connections into St Pancras.
Road Connections to A45, A6, M1. A1 M42, near to Milton Keynes, Luton, Bedford, Northampton, and then good routes to Birmingham, Nottingham etc.. and good connections to airports.

For £280k you can get a really nice large executive 4/5 bed detached in a decent village. From £200k you can still get the same except you wont have as much square footage.

[Paddy]

How about Salisbury. Very little crime, nice looking city, near M3 and M4. Not far from the sea,

Nice houses...

http://www.arundells.org/

[Ardesco]

Milton Keynes would probably tick all your boxes

http://www.primelocation.com/uk-prop...nb=0&k=&ko=any

Enjoy, how about this, cheap and cheerful.

http://www.primelocation.com/uk-prop...0%C2%A3250,000

HTH

[Ruprect]

Plenty of decent enough places in London for that kind of budget, depends on what you're expecting really.

A quick search on rm shows 100 3 bed houses between 270-280, not all are in crap areas

[Sysman]

There are no nice places to live in the UK. That's why I emigrated.

I can think of nice places to live in the UK, but they don't fall into the OP's requirements of cheap enough and commutable to London.

[castoff101]

Brighton or Hove ticks some of the boxes. Only about a hour from London and a lively night scene. By the sea and the South Downs.

[MarillionFan]

Brighton or Hove ticks some of the boxes. Only about a hour from London and a lively night scene. By the sea and the South Downs.

Lived there for 10 years. Thought it got boring and dirty over the years. But then again, maybe I was just getting old.