Myself and the wife are rapidly heading towards 50 and fed up with life in a big city, we both live and work within a few miles of where we were born , so not ventured far at all !!
thinking of either selling the house or renting it out and moving devon/ somerset way , maybe rent or buy a static van to live in for 11 months of the year.
Hoping for a work transfer but they have sold their devon business off so would mean getting a new job as well,im a hgv driver so should be ok for work, Mrs is nhs so may be able to transfer ?, just depends where ?
decisions decisions ?

Why South? Lots of nice places in the north and housing is considerably cheaper.

East Devon’s lovely. Quiet, not too expensive, but close to motorway and rail links to the outside world.
Plenty of haulage/HGV businesses around Exeter, and there’s the RD&E hospital in Exeter.
Nice cycling around here too. Lots of narrow country lanes, miles of green lanes/unmetalled roads, bridleways galore, and large expanses of heath land.

jekkyl – Member
Why South? Lots of nice places in the north and housing is considerably cheaper.

I wanted north , but mrs wants to go south, so guess who wins ?

6 months ‘south’ and then 6 months north…

DickBarton – Member
6 months ‘south’ and then 6 months north…

Like that idea 🙂

I am making the move West for me. Moving from Maidstone down in Kent to Devon. Awaiting the sale of the properties to go through, but should be there in 3 weeks.

From my perspective, I could get more for my money down there, and not be surrounded by developments popping up all the time (new house is in the backdown hills surrounded by nature reserves!) Perfect for our outdoor lifestyles. I like my biking, fishing, hunting kayaking etc.

We have no family down there, so a really big move for us, but the OH already has a job and seems to have made a few friends down there. I should make some…. may have to post an ad up here in the next few months asking for some that way… 😆

If Devon ticks the lifestyle boxes for you, why not make the move?

So long as you mean the south west, the south east is hardly “quiet”.

To us, “south” is somewhere like Sheffield. 😉

Mrs and I have talked of similar though it’s going to have to wait a year or two as kids are doing GCSEs this year the A levels or whatever.

Go for it, renting out your current house will give the option of returning if it doesn’t pan out

6 months ‘south’ and then 6 months north…

He’s not a bloody swallow….

DrP

(Unless…he is??)

South West is really nice, South East / Midlands it gets harder to find nice places. Come to Yorkshire, we’re all grumpy gits up here but there’s plenty of nice places live and loads of good riding.

My brother has just done this from North Yorkshire, to near Stroud in Gloucestershire.
They had a large house with nearly an acre plot up north, but had to settle for a house that needs a lot of work doing to it, which is not as big, with a smaller garden, which cost a lot more to buy.
Go for it. Change of scenery will do you good.

My brother has just done this from North Yorkshire, to near Stroud in Gloucestershire.

You’ll have to give us a shout when you come visiting.

Stroud’s basically the Hebden Bridge of the South West.

My sister did that and lived there happily for 10 years. She has now come back to Hampshire as her kids are grown and need to find work.

Stroud’s basically the Hebden Bridge of the South West.

In oh-so-many ways 😀

Gone way south, have a quieter life, would i move to the south of England? Hell no

b*******, I forgot you live down that way

South for the weather, north for everything else. Just buy more Gore-tex.

Not Devon, but a similar set up. I live in North Norfolk, not far from the beaches at Wells, Cromer, Holkham etc.

We have been in our house for 4 years in a quiet very rural village and it has been interesting to see that we have had 3 sets of neighbours in that time, all really nice and all doted on my daughter, but they were all 65-75 and came from Leicester, Manchester and Stoke on Trent respectively all moved here as they wanted quiet life in a picturesque place and they remembered holidaying here when younger, but once they had been here a year they realised that there is absolutely no public transport, that it is a 24 mile round trip to nearest supermarket and that family don’t visit very often as it is a trek to get to and for 2 of the 3 one of them had failing health and they realised that just a trip to the hospital was 48 mile round trip.

So whilst i know that you aren’t of that age, it is something to think of if it is where you plan to be for retirement.

Yep, we sold everything an moved 18,000km south. Love it, highly recommended 🙂

And truck drivers and medical staff are usually on the wanted list for immigration (NZ).

Stroud’s basically the Hebden Bridge of the South West.

In oh-so-many ways

Yeah, it’s definitely got the hills and the hippies, I’m not so sure about the ‘ladies in comfortable shoes’ 😉

IHN – Member
Stroud’s basically the Hebden Bridge of the South West.

It was pretty much “weave you own yogurt” back in the 70s & 80’s as well.
Though it had an upside as a few girls I got to “know” were very liberated 🙂

Non were called Louise though!

Work out what you mean by “quieter”. What do you really need from your move?
A more rural life isn’t necessarily quieter if you need to get in the car/lorry and drive 5 miles through twisty lanes whenever you need a pint of milk.

if you need to get in the car/lorry and drive 5 miles through twisty lanes whenever you need a pint of milk.

Available options:

a) plan ahead
b) do without

😉

c) get a cow 😉

South and quiter than here? 😆

@Jam bo – used to have a herd. Then again, I don’t like milk. 😆

South East / Midlands it gets harder to find nice places.

The ‘midlands’ also includes Herefordshire and Shropshire, which are beautiful and very quiet – quieter than Devon generally. Because most people forget about them entirely, like you just did 🙂

I live out near Cambridge and commute to London daily, currently don’t want to move closer to the city, it’s crowded, expensive and I like where I live. But I spend too much time commuting. I often think it’s a vision thing, I have worked in large scale e-commerce for several years now and I struggle to find something equivalent in smaller places, hence the job move to London. It pays well, is a good company and I enjoy it. But I don’t want to do it forever.

I wonder a lot about what people do for a decent paying job in small coastal towns!

If you can do it then why not, change of life is good from time to time.

‘ladies in comfortable shoes’

yes there are ……………..

Waves to nettles. Yes we’ll definitely pop by.

Brother is used to a very rural life. He works from home anyway.

Funny that a lot of townies think that the countryside is quieter to live in. One such friend moaned about the dawn chorus, noisy sheep and how a baby woodpecker got into the house, it made a bit of mess!
One customer of mine moved into the country. She moaned about the farmer nextdoor getting up early and working all hours, including weekends. 🙄

We did this just over a year ago. Sold up and moved to west Somerset in exmooor national park. Great riding, both mtb and road. Although not cheap, the house prices are still a good bit lower than where we were before, so we’ve bought our place outright. We’ve both got jobs now although wages are a lot lower unless you work for a national company. However with no mortgage or rent, we’ve got enough to enjoy ourselves.

I was over on the Pembrokeshire coast the other week, utterley lovely, and much quieter and cheaper than the south west

I suppose Kingussie might be a wee bit quieter.

I was over on the Pembrokeshire coast the other week, utterley lovely, and much quieter and cheaper than the south west

Agreed, but much more remote. As in, harder to get to London etc.

Waves to nettles. Yes we’ll definitely pop by

Whoooah, there, I meant give us a shout so we can make sure we’re not in 😉

But Kingussie is a long drive from Tescos.

South West is really nice, South East / Midlands it gets harder to find nice places.

What an absurd comment.

Nettles – we’ll hunt you down and stalk if necessary. Mhaha ha. 😀