Southern Black Forest, Germany… 30 mins from Basel in Switzerland

Its great. Sold up from Edinburgh and bought a place in a very small village. Now, mortgage free, great location and fantastic neighbours.

Biking straight from the door in the forest, local infrastructure works very well and is well funded. Great community engagement and interaction… Full on continental summers and very cold, dry winters, night skiing 15 mins away and local farmers prep XC langlauf from the village.

Local brewery, next door neighbour makes schnaps and cake to die for.

If I miss anything.. having lived in Edinburgh, its access to the sea and beaches like those in East Lothian. I do not miss all the brexit bollocks and pretty much everything bar colleagues, about the UK. If only German was easier to learn….

I live in Surrey in quite a quiet village. In fifteen minutes I can be riding in the Surrey Hills and can easily get a train into London or pop down to the South Coast for the day.

But….. I would sell up and move to North Devon tomorrow if I could.

I love the coastline and the sea, and just the way life seems to move a bit slower down there. I don’t know if it’s just me, but every time I go there it just feels ‘right’ and almost more ‘home’ than where I live.

As I get older (47) I feel like I’m almost wasting time by hanging around in Surrey. I realise I am very lucky to live in such a nice place but I also have the feeling that if I leave it a lot longer I might miss out on the chance.

Maybe it’s just a pipe dream?

Moved from Camberwell, London to Warrandyte, Melbourne Australia (near to where I grew up) about 10 years ago. On the banks of the yarra river, mountain biking from the door, good road riding from the door also. Kayaking in the river, off lead dog walking down by the river (important for the dogs) and 20 minute commute by bike from work. Even got a decent pub within walking distance. Choice seems easy.

I spent 16 years in various parts of Kent and hate everything about the place.  Too busy, traffic is horrendous, the majority of people seem to fall into 2 categories; chavs or self entitled snobs, expensive, barely any bridleways to ride and not really much to do with the kids unless you what to drive an hour to get anywhere.

Redundancy forced a move to Ferndown just north of Bournemouth and we are determined never to move from here.

The way of life is just much more relaxed and slower down here.  The people are much friendlier and courteous. A traffic jam here equates to 5 cars waiting at the lights.

The beach is a few miles away.  15 minutes ride down a disused railway line and I’m in the New Forest in one direction and all the heath land around Poole in the other.  The Purbecks and Wareham Forest are less than an hours ride from home.

It’s really nice and a much better environment in which to raise our 2 daughters. Couldn’t ask for more than that really.

I love Cardiff, but I don’t like the actual location I live within the city. Ok so it’s good for the riding (which is far better than Bristol 🙂 ) but not for much else.  It’s a big housing suburb on the edge of the city with crap transport links except for car and no shops except for a business park with Asda and DFS etc.  We only live here because they were giving free house deposits away.

Yeah, it’s alright you know. 10 minutes from the countryside and some good road riding, close to a station for work, quiet little town with some nice pubs, so yeah, it’s not bad. I’d rather be in the mountains obviously but for what it is, it’ll do the job.

Lived in Knaresborough throughout my childhood then moved to Harrogate (four miles up the road) and am pretty content. Sometimes I do wonder what it would be like to live somewhere completely different but with two girls nearing secondary school age I doubt we’ll be doing that any time soon (as we know the schools are very good here). So we have loosely discussed the thought of moving somewhere completely different when the girls leave home. I’d like to downsize , pay off the mortgage and buy a nice camper van with some of what is left over. Unfortunately my wife is more of a 5 Star Hotel person than a camper van person and doesn’t see the appeal.

Harrogate.  It’s simply divine 😉

“Mountains to the right of me , hills to the rear of me and the sea to the left.
I’m happy.

Aberystwyth?”

Nah – border of Aberdeen and shire. 30 mins from Aboyne and 50 minutes from ballater

Not a bad mix.

We moved from the outskirts of Edinburgh (100% what kennyp says) to Aviemore. Biggest mistake was waiting so long to do it. I occasionally hanker after a sea view, but having a campervan sorts that. Otherwise it’s fantastic with so much riding, walking, skiing and paddling on the doorstep. Proper community feel to it and a good mix of locals with lots of folk having also moved here for the outdoor activities. Good pubs and food. 35 minutes to Inverness, a few minutes more to airport and less than 2 hours to the West Coast.

Only significant downsides I can think of are the somewhat bleak “high street” and the higher heating bills.

beautiful and vibrant cities in the world

Edinburgh?! Are you serious? Its not even the best city in scotland. Town that thinks its a city etc.

I live in Peebles. Its alright.

R’ogate shirley?

I’m up here ATM, shall be watching the Laahhndarn set floor thier RR’s up Cold Bath Road later 🤠

The main choice in R’ogate is where to eat tonight ? The farms rammed with family see…

Yup… another that lives beyond the shores of the British Isles.

Northern Odenwald, Germany (a bit more north than Black Forest).

Half way between back home and the Alps. Flat roads to one side to get the roadie headwind experience (tailwind home), hillier bits to the south and east/north-east for MTBing. A major international hub airport  minutes away.

Also enjoyed Holland (but that’s naff for MTBing/skiing, and their beer is awful in comparison, and gives you brain ache), Bristol, Guildford and Southampton before that.

We moved to my wifes hometown when we decided to have kids (up to the East Mids from leafy West Oxfordshire) and whilst I hated it at first, I now cant think of a better place to raise kids and base ourselves for the next 15yrs.

We’ve got decent state and private schools, its quiet, couple of pubs and nice restaurants, London is an hour on the train, there is actually plenty of jobs, there are plenty of fields / open spaces, the town still has the charm of people knowing your name, and pretty much all the country is a max of 2 hrs drive away. Yes houses are at the upper end of pricey, and the mountain biking is terrible, but thats what road trips to BPW etc are for. The fact that we have family here (childcare!) just makes it even better.

If I was 18 I’d have hated it and wanted out asap, but for this chapter of our lives its great.

Yeah, I like the environment of the South Downs. Good riding from the door, nice village with good neighbours, decent pub and friends nearby. Trains nearish and decent nearby towns. But I don’t like the immediate environment – 40mph through the village including outside the school (read 50mph  for lots of folk). Anyway, attempting to tackle that with the start of a traffic calming scheme and now a community speedwatch scheme. Get that sorted and it’ll be right.

Skipton, North Yorks.

I like it very much. Smallish market town, great shops, pubs, restaurants. Good schools, easy to get to Manchester or Leeds should I need to.

And of course the Dales on the doorstep, great riding from the door, an hour to the Lakes too.

Spent 40 years in Enfield, North London, i was never meant to be a London suburb person. Moved to Stroud, Gloucestershire in 2011 & live in the suburbs here now. Its much better. Moved from one of the highest crime postcodes, to one of the lowest. Stroud is great, but i can’t help feeling its missing an alpine mountain 10k outside of town………..

I kinda feel like i’m in a song:

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft

Mighta been a bit late leaving!

R’ogate shirley?

‘arragut.

RM.

Following the death of the woman across the road, who was allowing her teenage daughter’s friends to congregate in their car port, party, drink, smoke dope and make lots of noise late at night, we live in a peaceful road looking out over open farmland with great views to the west.

What we really hate is living on the edge of a northern mill town where there’s a general lack of civic pride and respect for the rules, as well as weekend German saloon car races on the ring road, which we can hear easily at night. We have bought a building plot in Scotland and can’t wait to get started on the build and get away from the town.

R’ogate shirley?

Nah, it’s Harrow Gate!

It is a nice place though, I like it.  Leeds and York both close by, Dales in one direction, Moors in t’other.

I’m currently tempted to move into one of surrounding villages though.

Live in suburban/market town Herts.  It’s alright. Miss living in a city tbh (Edit:  Having been back in the suburbs for nearly 15 years not sure if this is grass is greener thinking).  But then again nowhere I’ve lived ever seems like “home”. :sigh:

Skipton, like Martin above. Think it’s great for all reasons listed and have no desire to move.

Work in Harrogate, wouldn’t want to live there.

Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire. Lovely Chiltern countryside with some reasonable riding right out the door. Dog walkers are utter knobs and hate cyclists with a passion. To be fair, at least they are honest and tell you to your face. I’m with Choppersquad ^ , North Devon is my spiritual home.

Barcelona? S’ok. I’ve defiantly lived worse places.

So 50/50 really

surely you mean 0.33%?

More surely, you mean 100/3 % ; )

I love The People’s Republic of Malvernistan.

I was born ‘ere in the shires and farmed here before seeking fame and fortune in that there London town. When I’d had my fill of the city life I moved back to Worcestershire with Mr S and started a family here. Most people have no idea where Worcestershire is so tend to leave us alone 🙂

More locally, our home has no front door step; the door, quite literally, opens out on to a 6,000 acre AONB “front garden”. I have had the pleasure of being able to walk my boys to and from their Primary school across a mile of common land each morning and afternoon. There’s still the rural communal ethos, for now, although it gets chipped away each time more commuting dormitories are built in the villages.

I think the only other place we could happily live is Bristol. And much as I love the Alps, have a tiny property there, and indeed would love to live in the mountains all year round, I’d always favour living in Blighty over France.

I did, until I read Mr Woppit’s post.

Not particularly. South Manchester. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things to do. I usually like the business of living around a big city. But local crime rates are very high and I typically feel uncomfortable that a break in, or criminal damage is just around the corner. We’ve had several incidents over the last 3 odd years of being here. Also, I’m not very close to riding trails.

I did, until I read Mr Woppit’s post.

Given all that, You’d think he’d be cheerier wouldn’t you?

Tweed valley is lovely, great riding/running country, fairly quiet, nice neighbours. Love the area (when it’s sunny!).

House less so, it’s on a main road and has a tiny garden but it’s those down sides which meant we could afford it

yes otherwise why live there?

i live in Crystal Palace which for me is ideal as i have trees and small nature reserve outside my window, a large park 1min away, ‘the triangle’ which has shops/restaurants/bars/hipster wine-beer shops/nick-nack shops that i never go in/ 2 bike shops/ and a newly opened art-house cinema.

within 25 mins i can be riding down quiet roads and onto the north downs.

only downside is the extra 10-15 min on my commute but i don’t care about that as i mostly work from home and i wouldn’t swap what i have to be closer to central london. i lived a mile and a half closer in and it was horrible, terraced maisonette so you looked out on your neighbours a few feet away and no open spaces nearby.

i grew up in a small village which is nice but it would drive me up the wall after a few days now, im not ready for only talking about the village hall or if the post office is closing and when is broadband coming.

don’t think i could live on one of those satellite new build estates with nothing to do and hemmed in by roads where all you have is going on is worrying about having a nice audi on the drive with a bigger engine than your neighbour.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45956792

We moved from 8 years ago from Ockley in Surrey, an expensive commuter town with no soul to Innerleithen in The Scottish Borders.

Not only could we now afford to buy a house, I now have views of the hills out our windows and I can also watch all those happy riders cycling past my window on their way to and from the Golfie while I work all day inside… No really, I’m so pleased for them.

As a lot of you know, the town is just the right size, has a great buzz, amazing cycling and walking. Our neighbours are lovely and we are very very lucky.

Not to mention, a 40 minute drive over some stunning hills and we are in Edinburgh, one of the best cities anywhere.

Moving wasn’t easy. My wife had a good job in the hospital, I was running a business and we had 3 children in school. Was it worth it? Absolutely. One of the best decisions we have ever taken. It was a chance and it could have gone horribly wrong but it has been better for us in every way possible.

I love living in Malvern, especially as the new house has a great view and lovely places to take the girls riding from the front door..

East Durham, on the coast. It’s ok, far enough from my family that they don’t visit and close enough to my other half’s mam and dad’s that it’s a nice ride for Sunday dinner. There are some good bridleways around and about too. If we had the cash we’d be off up to Scotland in a trice though.

I rent in a village just outside Didcot. I also have a place in Weymouth. I am torn between the two, the main decider is the lack of work in Weymouth and that after a week there my kidneys and liver need a rest. I will go there to die, and that would probably take about a month of caning it.

The village near Didcot is paradise though. The MTB stuff is mainly the Ridgeway but Im only 40 mins from Swinley by train and although there is no public transport to Didcot, once there I can get anywhere easily.

I absolutely love where I live. Indeed, there are aspects to my home that make me giddy every time I see them.

We moved to Cardiff 13 years ago, and eventually bought a house in what I consider to be a perfect neighbourhood.

We’re in a humbler Victorian end-of-terrace on a cul-de-sac behind some not-so-humble three-storey Victorian terraces. There are two lovely parks within 500 metres of our front door, which means the kids can play outside all day, and we are a 20 minute walk from city centre.

The fact that there are places in the city from which you can see the hill to the north and west and the sea to the south with a mere head turn, plus have access to so much culture in a short walk, is amazing to me.

Only complaint? The city elders NEED to sort out the transport infrastructure with something sustainable and efficient. The city is growing faster than its roads can cope, and we need to think about ways in which we can eliminate the need for cars.

Work in Harrogate, wouldn’t want to live there

Why not?

Yes, live in Wollaston and love it, pubs,restaurants and supermarket locally with good riding 5 minutes from my door.

R’ogate shirley?

‘arragut.

One is a suburb of the other, I’ll let you decide which is which 🤣

Granted Harrogate has its upsides, it’s got a Waitrose for a start. Pubs  are a bit shit though, the Bell turned itself into a “chav Gin Bar” feeerchristsake whennit once was awesome for real ale and a bag of peanuts.

Now we go out of town to drink 🤦‍♂️ It’s fine I suppose and takes trade from the town, which IMO is good for spreading the wealth.

The Moots/Dales arenspitting distance from the Farm, when I used to ride a lot it was actually really flipping brilliant, now I trail run so drive to locations when here then run.. which is what I do at home 😜

North Devon is a place I’ve looked into heavily, surfing and calm lifestyle seems where my head is going these days..

But Harrogate as a home? Highly doubtful.

But it’s a pretty tittle town, out grown by its image though.

Another Cardiff dweller here, yep, it’s lovely.

Only complaint? The city elders NEED to sort out the transport infrastructure with something sustainable and efficient. The city is growing faster than its roads can cope, and we need to think about ways in which we can eliminate the need for cars.

This with bells on. The new massive housing estates being built (which we desperately need) were supposed to come with their own Motorway junction, their own Train Station and cycle network, but between first and final plans that all seems to have been lost.

The trains look like cattle trucks during rush hour(s) and whilst it’s fairly easy to get from anywhere to the City Centre and back (if you don’t mind the crush) it’s very hard to get from Suburb to Suburb. Cycle network is pretty good though.