Where next? Time to move.

Agree that you need a small town or busy village with the transport links for you to get to your children and vice versa. If one is north and the other south I 'd go further north as property will be a better price though it is likely to be cooler!

Coast is lovely but there are pretty non coastal towns and villages too.

For example en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crick,_Northamptonshire

I had an elderly aunt who lived here. Not sure what buses are available now..but close to M1 for shooting north or south! It was a convenient place!

I used to live in a village (well it was then!) called Hadleigh in Essex and Southend was our nearest town, so I knew it well. Good to hear news of it. One of my most vivvid memories is working in an Italian ice cream parlour on the seafront during a school holiday and getting my bottom pinched by the proprietor - I was very shocked!!

As to where to move - it really depends what you like to do. People are so different. We live in the back of beyond, but truly love it. I do not feel human unless I have some fields/woods around me, and hate being surrounded by houses in the city or town. But there are those who would see our situation as purgatory and love the buzz of urban life.

So that's the first decision to make I guess.

Having siad that our village is very lively indeed with U3A, lots of societies (book clubs, panto group, Tai Chi, heritage group, choir, rock band - I could go on) regular live performances in village hall, pub, tiny school, village hall, common with playground and lots of events........etc. etc.

Make a list of what you want from a new location; and also what you might miss if you move. That way you can be really clear what you are looking for and can do a written cost/benefit analysis about each place you look at.

And get the hubby on board or it will be a disaster! Does he have a particular interest that might be better served in a different area?

hi biker - yes I am further "in" and busy learning Cymraeg. LLandudno seemed pretty thriving, all things considered, - more lively than when i used to go there to run Welsh Water training courses 20 years ago. Taught myself to swim in the Metropole hotel pool.
Another gransnetter explained why the early 19th C seafront is so unspoiled (unlike, say, the Brighton sea front, which is in comparison a mess). The leases of all the sea front properties are owned by a single estate that keeps them on a tight rein in terms of appearance. Interesting.

Another thing to consider is the weather in various areas! If you can really live anywhere at all, then my choice would be South Devon.We retired to North Devon some years ago [big mistake] The rain! OMG.All the west side of England is the same from Cornwall up to the North, including Gloucs and Wales.Rain and wind, brrrrrrrr. South Devon is lovely, plus you are near Exeter for days out.Make it a big village, with lots going on, good transport links etc as others have said.Then you get;countryside, the sea nearby and a relaxed style of life.
If that is too far away for you, Rutland is a lovely county and just into Lincolnshire arround Stamford, a gorgeous little town. Not cheap, but nowhere nice ever is.
The South coast...... hmmmmmn not my fave place, I think there are some nice places there but you have to be picky to find them,it feels a bit nursing- home- on -the -sea to me, we once looked at Ferndown, and got out of there fast!! Parts of Essex and Suffolk are nice.

Hi All
I have just found Gransnet and it is comforting to know that others are having the same difficulties and everyone is trying to help with suggestions. Myself and my OH live on the south coast, we do love it here BUT and its a big BUT I am so torn, I have elderly parents who live 70 miles away back where I grew up, our daughter and her little family lives in the same general area as them and then our son and his family live on the east coast. We are all constantly travelling to one another, not easy as they lead busy lives and we still work. We are thinking of moving to somewhere in the middle! So many families now live so far apart, not like when I was growing up, its very sad. Its so hard to know what to do for the best for everyone. Thanks for listening and I hope Cathy you have found a solution, it would be good to hear if you have.