How did you decide where to retire?

I live in a London suburb and retired around 18 years ago and I have no intention of moving unless it is to a care home. Where I live it is so quiet I feel at times I am living in the country. I am not far from Heathrow but not on its flight path.

My local hospital is 2 miles away, my GP, dentist, optician all within a short bus journey. When I can no longer drive a large supermarket is a short taxi ride and there are local shops about 10 minutes walk away.

A friend of mine retired to be near her family around Berwick but she has had to drive her sister to Newcastle hospital for cancer treatment daily for 6 weeks and that is a 130-mile round trip. It is places like that which should be factored in as well as local transport, entertainment and places to eat.

We are still where we moved to when our children left home. My DH still works part time in the Co-op here. He wants to wait until he is 70, in a couple of years time.

I think the time is about right now though, as things need doing in the house.

If we do stay here, I want a new kitchen and bathroom which will be costly.

What about Colchester? It's a big place so you'd be all right if you had to give up driving but not so far from London that you couldn't get back easily to visit for the day.

Near the coast and easy to get into the rural areas as well.

Properties are cheaper there too.

I'm in Northumberland and recommend Alnwick, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland - Harry Potter fans will know it. We have fantastic beaches and unlike the south coast, they aren't overcrowded. Alnwick is a small town and has a hospital, dentists, supermarkets, a huge second hand book store in the old Alnwick railway station, a bus station - and the cinema is just being renovated. As the area has a low population, the shops are basic - you have to get the bus or train into Newcastle for the major stores. No aircraft noise as we aren't on the flight path. There are old and new houses. I've met people who have moved here from all over the country including Cornwall. Amble is another popular 'relocation' town. Has a lot going for it, but it is seriously cold in the winter, I've got used to it now but was horrified when I moved up here 20 years ago.

This is something we are thinking about too. Probably the Cotswolds as we can do an easy commute back to London when needed. Pricey but lovely countryside !

We live in a Midlands city but even after nearly thirty years, it isn’t our home town. We are moving very shortly to a village near Bury St Edmunds - nice market town, not too far from London and closer to both children.

Travelling around the UK there are so many lovely little towns it must be a real problem to decide which direction to head in if you've no ties.

Perhaps a luxury caravan and turn gypsy for a while until something really grabs you!

As you've been living abroad for many years and have a London flat but no real ties here, have you considered the advantages of retiring in London? If you'd been here for decades and looking to 'escape to the country' that would be a different matter.

I too love market towns but nothing would drag me from London as it has all that I enjoy in life. Maybe one of the outer suburbs that are now London boroughs but physically/historically in Herts, Surrey, Kent, etc. Many of them are villagey in atmosphere and architecture but at the end of the train/tube line!

From what I know about couples where one is a non-driver this can be quite an issue as you get older.

At least supermarkets deliver now. We have no need of the service here but I think we may use it in Suffolk.

I agree Riverwalk. City centres can be perfect places to live. My DD2 can drive but doesn't as she hates it so much. She's told me that once DGD2 goes to uni (she's nine!) they intend to move into the centre of Norwich which has all the facilities they need and appreciate plus the transport links to the rest of the country.

Good heavens, you need to take a good look at your social life and friends before dashing off to the wilds.

Could you take a few coach trips to various places, staying at hotels for a few nights? You might get the 'feel' of a place which may help. OTOH it may make you more indecisive,

If you do see a town or village which you really like, I would advise visiting in the winter to see who lives there full time! Many pretty places look completely different on a cold, dark, winters day!

We took the plunge and moved from London to Devon yesterday. As I sat on the train leaving Paddington I had mixed emotions, but life's what you make it and wherever you move to there will always be positives and negatives. We chose the area for the beautiful scenery, clean healthy climate, good transport links and enough activities to keep us entertained.
You will know where you feel most comfortable when you visit places but like others have said, the best way is to draw up a short list by process of elimination.

Also decide whether you want to be private or not.
Do you want to see life going on out of your window?
Here in my village we can get into Norwich, kings Lynn and the coast by bus but only during the day.
Our friends moved into Norwich from their small village, bought a house by the river and are close to everything with the buffer of the river in front of them. They love it.

such a personal choice

dh and I moved from Birmingham, to Oxfordshire when we married 50 years ago, (well nearly 50)

moved about a little bit in this area..
when I was about 50, early 50`s kids left home, we moved to Scarborough area... lovely! then eldest ds had first gs for me!! and I just had to be nearer to them, fortunately I was near retirement age, so we came down here to Swindon, where our youngest ds lives also..
never regretted it, though I do miss Yorkshire

been retired 20 years, small house , enough for us two.

just taken some equity release and had bathroom and kitchen redone... so pleased about that

we made the decision we wanted to stay where we have been for the last 20 years... suburbs,,, quite close,,

right for us... just saying

Skipton in North Yorkshire. It has everything.
Scenery in spades, access to Dales and Lakeland. Excellent train and bus service. Seriously good local
Hospital ( Airedale) swimming pool, gym, Morrison’s, Tesco, Aldi and M&S and a three times weekly market.
Ancient woodland, a castle, a canal, Cinema, great winter concert season,
Loads of places to walk, eat, drink and be merry!!
Trust me, I live there!

Lots of good suggestions but not sure we have really addressed this part of the OP "the idea of making lots of road trips to explore different areas is making me anxious. Currently in London, keen to get out." Any ideas?

Although having a hospital nearby sounds like a good idea I'm not sure it should be a priority. Nowadays they seem to have specialist centres for different things so you might live near one which doesn't cater for your particular need when you need it and you may still need to travel. Bit of a lottery.

Gosh! I have retired but not yet thought about selling marital home (currently rented out) to move...where?
I couldn't decide years ago and still can't make up my mind.
Thought about Fowey and each of the Cornish costal places, especially Menabilly. My thoughts turned to Norfolk and Chester then the Peak District and central York then Wales then...then...
I'm still renting in Godalming ?

It's not what you can manage now, it's what you may not be able to do in later years.
Transport, GP surgery, hospital (for appts) proximity to a variety of shops including opticians if you can't travel far in poor weather and some reasonable local entertainment and social activities.
I wish you luck...I'm still undecided.

BTW
Her Maj has some properties to rent on the Sandringham Estate. One cottage is directly opposite Kate and Will's driveway at Amner Hall. Newly refurbished. Only £700 pm.

A friend from London has retired to Worthing - still good links back to London to visit friends plus lots of them are more than happy to visit her to enjoy some seaside! We looked at retiring to Devon but the road links are awful (apart from if you settled around Exeter) plus far too much rain Do you have family anywhere you might like to live, or friends who have moved to other parts of the country you would consider living close to? Always nice to have at least one link when you move to a new area. another friend moved to the country but was plagued by smells of manure, flies, crop spraying and noise of farm machinery, plus got fed up living in her car all the time (it's not as romantic as it's often made out!) Make a list of things you'd like to do more of in your retirement (travelling abroad? in which case you'll need to have easy access to an airport; want to get into sailing? then you need to be moving near the coast or a river; are you a culture vulture? Then find somewhere with a good cultural life, etc.) Get yourself out and start exploring the UK.

Only move an hour away from London. We are in north-east Hampshire. Good buses in most areas. Near countryside. Good towns ie Guildford, Farnham, Fleet. Probably the best of everything.

We are retired but still live in the same house we have lived in for 35 years. We might move in a year or so but only in the same area, in fact I don't want to move more than a couple of miles from my neighbourhood and even that seems like a huge decision. The thought of moving completely away from everyone and everything I know scares me at a time in life when it is harder to make friends. I don't drive either so top of my list for a move is good public transport links. Shops and doctors within walking distance
and nearby theatre, library parks etc that are easy to get to.
If I was you I would think very carefully about what matters most to you, make a shortlist of areas and make visits to them all, thinking about how it would be to live there rather than holiday.
Good luck!

Birchermuesli- oh lol your name made me laugh. What is the connection? (I am Swiss born and bred ...).

I'd be very careful about where I'd retire as I've known so many many people who went for the rural dream in the middle of no-where, both in UK and abroad- and lived to regret it bitterly.

Friends- courses to keep little grey cells going - culture, as in concerts, Museums, etc, but also public transport, and eventually, availability of services like doctors, A%E, cleaning and caring staff. We both love to drive, but are fully aware this may not always be the case. We have friends who moved to a lovely part of France- to a village where everyone sat int he square at the café in the sunshine - perfect. Then came November and the winds and extreme cold - and absolutely no-one around, nothing. They hit the bottle - it ended up in tears- and this is quite common.

We did something totally crazy 10 years ago- came to visit my very elderly parents, found out the house just up the road I've always loved had just been put on the market - and our life changed massively and totally unexpectedly. We had NEVER intended to come and live here- but the decision was made in days- because of the house. But we have good solid friends here, and we knew that we could tick all the above mentionned boxes, and were able to keep a small place in the UK too. No regrets.

@birchermuesli - you obviously live in, or close to CH at one time! My OH worked for that well-known international food company so we retired to Evian-les-Bains just opposite. But having no-one here, have now decided to remove to Dorset. Don't know anyone there either but at least we have SIL and DS within easy striking distance, as well as DS and DGDs two hours away. Knee-deep in packing cases and boxes here........

I used to want to retire to a favourite little seaside town - but that was before the arrival of grandchildren. It would have been much further to go to help with childcare, which we are happy to help with.

So we're happy having stayed put, in a leafy part of outer SW London. The house and garden are not too big to manage, we have more or,less everything on the doorstep, with very good free public transport on top. And we still have room - at a pinch! - for dds, SiLs and Gdcs to stay.

What I would never have wanted to retire to - having often visited friends in such a place - is a very beautiful but isolated rural area, with even the village shop a steep, half hour walk away, so needing the car more or less for everything.

My sister and BiL I think made a good choice - tucked away in a quiet corner of a small Dales town - day to day shops a 2 minute walk away, and countryside walks 5 minutes ditto - they are still keen walkers, though not as active as when they moved there maybe 15 years ago.