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  • Suggestions for good areas to settle, to work-from-home in the UK?
  • zubey
    Free Member

    I’m wondering if anyone has any advice to offer on good places to live in the UK with a view to working from home.

    I’m a freelance web developer, I’ve been living overseas for a spell and due to move back soon . Most people people I know live in London or the South East, and that’s where I’ve mostly lived in the past, but as I’m going through the hassle of moving anyway, I’m thinking about a whole new fresh start, solo, somewhere a bit cheaper and more rural.

    Has anyone does this kind of thing before and regretted it?

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Yeah, I made the move 3 years ago, from rural to very rural. 1970s rural, backing onto Brechfa forest.

    No regrets. Other than I seem to be turning into a hippy.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    You’ll still need reasonable access to your main markets e.g. London and the se, so somewhere 2hrs from there max.
    How about Bristol / Worcester / Malvern way

    or if it were me, Brighton / Bournemouth / Poole

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Lakes? Direct train to London from penrith

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Lakes. No question.

    crikey
    Free Member

    Stockport.

    The beauty of the railway viaduct, which is the largest brick built structure in Europe, has to be seen to be believed.

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    Number 1 priority – 50mbit+ broadband.

    Rules out most rural locations?

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Where might you need to get to?

    As others have said, if you need to get to a major conurbation, even occasionally, that could sway the location.

    I’m in rural Hampshire, and it’s easy to get to London, Southampton, the M4 corridor and even Brum if I had to!

    zubey
    Free Member

    Access to London is not required, but fibre optic internet is pretty crucial.

    binners
    Full Member

    Note: industry and commerce actually exists outside London and the South East.

    You’d never know though. We keep it quiet on purpose.

    I live in East Lancs, in a fantastic little place, have fantastic trails from my front door, while within easy reach of Manchester (or the Lakes, if I head in the other direction), and i work in a town that for the last couple of years has been having a quiet little boom of its own – Burnley

    Have a look at more rural outskirts of any northern city, look at the quality of life, cost of living, and leave yourself baffled as to why people head to the south east as a default?

    5thElefant
    Free Member

    Access to London is not required, but fibre optic internet is pretty crucial

    That rules out rural.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Not really my folks are very rural and getting it rolled out in Northumberland

    Trekster
    Full Member

    7Stanes land
    These guys manage ok away from London
    Trains to London if required from Carlisle or Lockerbie

    Yorkshire
    As do these guys

    TooTall
    Free Member

    Bristol. Best place I’ve lived in the UK. Good rail and road links, music, food, tech, arts, rural very quickly and just a great place.

    DaveyBoyWonder
    Free Member

    Depends what else you want from life? Assume biking so good riding country… Anything else? What kinda house? Land? Anywhere close to friends/family? If I had to choose it’d either be Devon/Cornwall for surf and biking or the Lakes/Scottish Borders for top notch riding.

    StefMcDef
    Free Member

    The Isle of Wight. Just like the South East only with relatively sane house prices. I work from home living in Cowes – BT Infinity broadband up the wazoo. Cowes and Ryde are handy enough for getting to civilisation – although you have to go via Southampton and Portsmouth.

    One thing I would say is that moving to somewhere new, from scratch, and working from home, it does take a long time to get any kind of toe-hold in the place socially. If you move somewhere for work, you get to know people through your work – but you’ll have to be pretty pro-active about carving out some kind of niche for yourself.

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    Some lovely places near Derby, easy access to London and the Peaks and pretty much everywhere else from the middle of the country. Internet speed in villages may be an issue. Long way to the seaside though

    Do it soon, before HS2either makes properties unsellable or unbuyable……

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    Outskirts of Edinburgh – say Balerno.

    Right on the foot of the Pentland Hills, cable Broadband (> 100mbit) and a short, traffic-free drive to the airport.

    stilltortoise
    Free Member

    I reckon we need a bit more to go on. I work from home just over the south west border of the Peak District. I have fibre optic broadband, great riding/walking/climbing on my doorstep, relatively cheap house prices, superbly central location for pretty much anywhere in the UK, major airports in all directions, plenty of peace and quiet a short pedal from my front door and – if required – I can be in central London for a 9am meeting and still have a decent sleep the night before. The downside? I live in a small town that is not exactly the most exciting place in the world. Do you need nightlife? Do you need to meet someone? Do you want to be somewhere vibrant? That’s where my town might fall short.

    I’m a Dad with 2 young kids and another on the way, so it suits me.

    br
    Free Member

    Tweed Valley or nearby, we’re getting Infinity – sometime…

    konabunny
    Free Member

    Ireland? Spain? Does it have to be the UK?

    thecaptain
    Free Member

    Settle might be a decent choice. We have similar requirements and are looking there. Broadband has been a bit of an issue in the really rural areas we have tried.

    breadcrumb
    Full Member

    Quiet a lot of the villages and towns around me (north Cumbria) are in the process of having fibre rolled out.

    I’m in Dearham, it’s got fibre in most of the village, my cabinet is going to be turned on soon. Brigham is due fibre soon too.

    hot_fiat
    Full Member

    Not totally rural northumberland works for me. The outskirts of Morpeth or Rothbury (which is getting community fibre). Deeper into the moors and the speeds will drop off dreadfully. You can fly to anywhere from ncl (via lhd, ams or dxb). Property’s cheap and the tidings awesome.

    cheekyboy
    Free Member

    Have a look at more rural outskirts of any northern city, look at the quality of life, cost of living, and leave yourself baffled as to why people head to the south east as a default?

    I saw someone clutching a Guardian in Uppermill t`other day, the commer inners are here !

    Runferthills aah say, runferthills !

    Stoner
    Free Member

    The right parts of Worcestershire is a good call. Keep to the western half of the county to avoid the Chipping Norton contamination pouring off the Cotswold escarpment 😉 And dont stray too close to the Hereford border without regular tetanus shots and armed guard to keep the orcs at bay.

    M5 runs N/S through the middle of the county bringing Birmingham and Bristol within 1hr and A419 linking you to M4 for London within 2hrs.

    Direct train service to paddington I use from pershore in 2hrs05mins.

    Broadband in the villages is a sticking point. I work from home most of the time and have to deal with 2Mb for simultaneous document work & video calls. It can get a little flaky but it works surprisingly well. However, Malvern and most other medium sized towns and larger are now on superfast Fibre – Qinetic in Malvern and surrounding high tech employers rely on the backbone. One day we might get 50Mb out to the green box in the village and then 20Mb onto us – they’re promising something by 2017, but we’ll probably have some kind of wireless system at higher speeds by then.

    I was brought up in the county, but moved back here after 7 years in London nearly 10 years ago. I missed it too much. It’s a wonderful place that few people know exists. It’s very well connected too – Wales thattaway < (Coed Y brenin < 2.5hrs), London thattaway >, Even Gretna Green ^ in < 4.5hrs and Portsmouth <3hrs. But we dont have many sushi restaurants 🙁

    andyl
    Free Member

    Picked up a leaflet for europasat in Mole Valley last time I was there. It’s up to 20mb broadband for remote locations (ie farms). £28.90/pm for 20GB, £54.90 for 50GB.

    Given your OP my first thought was Brighton area. I love being able to get to the sea easily and you can get to London easily.

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