Why do you want to live where you want to live?

Access to a huge range of outdoor activities but with the convenience of a small town.

My house looks into the Northern Corries of the Cairngorms so it always feels "rural" even though I live in a small estate.

Edit: further to your point, after my parents died there was really nothing tying me to the city I'd lived in (or near) for 50 years.

I went as far south as I could afford to when everything I owned fitted in my van. Got my first ever grown-up job, bought a house just before Covid hit and we're stuck here for the foreseeable. Making choices and having options isn't something you get to do much at our level.

A compromise of being near enough to my work, near enough to my wifes work, close to good schools, easy access to the countryside for dog walks and OK MTB rides, close enough to the motorway to get me to good MTBing and semi-reasonable house prices.

Lived in a fair few places in my life, reality is it's always a case of what you want, or what you need, current location north of Bristol is fine for everything, so nice schools a short walk away, all the clubs required (swimming, gymnastics, dance, etc), 12 miles to my work, 1 mile to the wife's work, all the amenities required. We had a choice though, could've moved to FoD, but for the forest on your doorstep, it would have meant giving up on a lot of the above, so it was a no-go in the end.

Living in the middle of Derbyshire I'd like to be a lot closer to the coast. Won't happen while my parents are still alive and I need to work though!

Can't complain about where I live now though - nice village and surrounded by open countryside.

Grew up in Karesborough, moved to Harrogate (4 miles away) when I left home as I like it here, my family is/was here and my kids are in a very good school doing their GCSEs.

I can see us moving to a village outside of the town or somewhere on the east coast when our girls go to Uni (or whatever they decide to do) in a few years.

We don't know where we want to live.

We knew we didn't want to continue living in the middle of  town, in our case Munich. So much so we sold everything and moved into a van and are currently travelling around Europe looking for somewhere we could envisage us living.

We know we don't want to live in a flat, surrounded by neighbours on all sides. We don't need nor want a large house but would like a large garden.

We (I) want access to riding from the doorstep without having to load up the car or van.

We don't want to have to rely on a car, so good cycling infrastructure and access to a train station is important. We've a eBullit cargo bike that covers most things a car does and combined with the Bob trailer can carry more than a weeks worth of shopping.

We don't want to live somewhere with long, wet winters.

GF works from wherever there's a good internet connection.

I need space for a workshop and would likely travel once or twice a year for bigger projects and live wherever that may be.

We were seriously considering buying a place near to Finale Ligure, but after being there for a few months realised that even the most ardent cyclists were heavily reliant on their car for day to day things. The geography doesn't help with roads either going up or down. Roads are too narrow in most places to feel comfortable travelling by bike. Also didn't like the feeling of being wedged in between mountains or hillsides.

Search continues.

We relocated from West Yorkshire to Shropshire Welsh boarders just before lock down for work reason. Could have chosen to live anywhere within a patch of about 50 square miles.

Chose where we did as quiet hamlet with a pub, nice walks, hills etc. Not too far from civilisation, on the edge of some stunning countryside that no one ever visits. Also I cant live in flat areas, dont like it.

Been here nearly 5 year, still pinch myself how lucky we are. However - mtb is not as good as West Yorkshire. Could ride for miles from my doorstep with going on roads, some really good trail riding. There just isnt that type of riding around here as its all farms or small areas of forestry

What is amazing though is the road bike riding. Can go out for hours any maybe only see 5 cars.

Big enough to have good shops, restaurants, culture
Small enough to get out into the countryside (cannot be flat and must support some MTB)

I've contributed a lot to the Oban thread.

I was a nomad for most of my life as my parents moved about as a kid and then I did too as an adult. I'm now back in the Highlands/Moray border 46 years after leaving as a child so whilst I have few memories of living here as a kid, it's the first time in my life I've felt like I'm 'home' and also the first time in my life I felt I could answer the "where are you from?" question with any legitimacy.

My parents retired back up to here 18 years ago and although my father died a while back my mum's still here. So for me, it's been easy. Mr C is from the south coast on England and her folks still live there. Whilst she is (arguably even more than me) settled into life here and super happy it was an absolute deal breaker that relatively easy travel back there for visits and in an emergency was vital.

To that end the Nairn area is a bit of a head and a bit of a heart choice. To be honest, I'd like to be more remote (Gairloch has always appealed) but it would not work for Mrs C so that's a good sensible compromise.

Moved where we are now due to house prices and work.

Kids settled into schools etc, local town is ok and ok MTB and Road riding from my doorstep. Good Peak District riding is a 30 minute drive away.

However noticed that people seem to be getting more and more ignorant and selfish, just silly things like litter and dog shit not being picked up, selfish parking. All low level stuff but it does grate.

Once kids have finished school in the next 4 years I think we'll look at moving somewhere closer to the countryside.

Toyed with Scotland, Northumberland and Shropshire. So we'll see what happens in the next few years. But for me needs good cycling, walking ideally a local pub or two and no more than 30 minutes drive to big town and associated rail links etc.

I WFH so that's given us loads of flexibility.

I like the people here (edge of Yorkshire Dales), which is odd, as I'm quite antisocial really and my wife would say she is too. But somehow we have built up a good number of local interactions, there's plenty of outdoors (though the weather is awful), all the essential amenities within walking distance (other than hospital which will probably be awkward at some point) and not too far from larger towns when we want. At some point I'll want a smaller easier house and the housing stock here is rubbish (poky/ancient or poky/modern) but there's no rush for that and sooner or later our needs will coincide with what's available!

It's my wife's part of the world but after visiting her parents locally over the past 30 years it also feels very much like home to me. I certainly don't want to go back to my childhood home.

Moved here for a combination of being able to ride from our door (mtb/gravel/road), it being "not London", but not too hard to get there and having an assortment of mates in the area.

The precise location was mostly a bit of happy accident, but it works well. 5 minute ride from the woods; 10 minute ride to the station. 2 big supermarkets 5 minutes walk away. Multiple local bakeries; friendly local garage, post office (although the bank has closed).

A decade in and we feel very much part of the community in a way we never did in London - there after 6 years we barely knew what our nextdoor neighbours looked like. Here, we're on decent terms. There's a strong riding community I feel part of and beyond that most people have some outdoor thing they do - walking, running, climbing, bikes of some variety - that gives us something in common.

I live where I do because it is more or less in the goldilocks zone for travel to Stockholm. It is close enough that we can get the train to town, or drive, and still get back home at a time that does not mean we need to think about a hotel from the get-go. That's also handy for when I need to go into the office, but does mean my GF has a 60-80 minute commute to her office.

The flip side is that it is not so trivially easy to get to places like supermarkets, normal shops or even a place that does a lunch when I feel i need a break from my desk. 20km from town means a trip in takes more than a lunchtime.

I can't see myself moving back to Stockholm. Uppsala? Maybe, but it is still too cramped compared to the house. Further north? Nah, too far from services.

We moved up near Ilkeston 23 years ago simply because we couldn’t afford to start a family on just one salary living down in Sussex.

Cost me my original career snd I'm only just back to my 1999 salary level, but the smaller mortgage meant we were able to give the kids what we thought was the right support and environment, plus we are less than an hour from the Peak District, Nottingham and Derby are each 30 minutes away, walking and riding from the door.

In 5 years time we hope to be looking at retiring and downsizing. Would be nice to be nearer the coast, that's all we've missed.

Because Edinburgh is really bloody nice, I have friends here, it's not full of rightwing headbangers, there's loads to do and I can still ride my mountain bike properly from the door.

I can't imagine living anywhere where the primary reason was "because it's so easy to get to these other places". If you want to spend so much time getting out of it, it's not a good place to live.

Access to a huge range of outdoor activities but with the convenience of a small town.

Yup, and:

Affordable housing

High saleries in relation to cost of living or good business opportunites

Lots of clubs and social activities

Good schools

Good transport links

Good weather, for me that means warm most of the year, snow up the hill and a bit too hot for a month or so. Enough rain to make things green.

Good affordable health care

Good people

When we were on holiday in the Dordogne last year, staying at a pals gites, we spoke to a couple of couples from Fife (next table in a restaurant).  One couple had a holiday place there, the other were looking.

When the ones looking described what they were after it sounded just like our house here in the Scottish Borders, but without the hot weather.  When I described where we lived the husband commented that a place like that would be perfect for them, but just too expensive compared to France.

Prices have risen heavily in the +10 years we've been here.

Teesside.

Cheap houses
North York Moors on the doorstep
Fantastic beaches
My parents live in the Dales an hour away.
Engineering work locally
"WFH" commutable to Sheffield, Newcastle etc for the odd day or meeting. You could even be in London by train for a 10am meeting without too much stress.

It's one of those places where the local cycling is 'good' (it's hardly the Lakes) but being the geographical center of the country and on the ECML pretty much everywhere is doable for a weekend trip with not much planning.

Why do you want to live where you want to live?

In no particular order: my hometown so everything is familiar, proximity to family, proximity to my friends, 30 minute walk into town (York) which is great, every type of shop etc you need within the ring road so no need to be driving for ages to get something you need for the bike/DIY/car etc, loads of really good MTB options within 30/40 minute drive (that bothers me a bit having had riding on my doorstep, literally, in Calderdale for 19 years but hey ho...), brilliant schools for the kids, nice quiet neighbourhood, York is big enough to have everything you need but small enough to bump into people you know almost every time you step out the door etc

I'm a social care worker very fortunate to own a house. Rent was approximately 50% of my monthly wage, and that was pre pandemic ,cost of living crisis etc. Don't often go to the pub as the price of a pint/dram is too high. I was in a cafe on Saturday where they wanted £8 for a takeaway sandwich. I went hungry.  These days most socialising is done in peoples homes- the proper meaning of a ceilidh.

@MoreCashThanDash I know how you feel my 1996 wage + free accomodation , heat and light,would be roughly the same as my current  wage.

I live in Dunblane. We moved here for access to green and solitude from my back door. Good transport links to Edinburgh and Glasgow for my other half's work and holiday flights. Comparatively cheap house prices. Still have all the usual amenities of a decent size town. Great gateway to Scotland Holidays too.

If we didn't have to work in cities, we might have chosen somewhere more rural, but this about the best fit for us at the mo. I can't see us moving when we retire though, mainly due to the circle of friends we've built up.

I’m starting to put a real commitment to active travel infrastructure higher up my list of priorities. When I visit places where it is done right it is so beneficial to the feel of a place and the quality of life.

Originally as it let me move in with the mrs and us both have a doable commute, and (having lived in the middle of nowhere and in one horse towns where the horse died) it had enough ‘stuff’ to exist locally and is likely to continue to do so. and it’s nearby so we can walk to it which I considered essential (probably moreso if they ever “nick” our driving licences), also lots of useful features - cul de sac, lots of parking, double garage, other wins were that it’s in a fairly densely bridleway populated area with enjoyable countryside nearby.

After years here I know I take the local trails for granted but it’s so nice to be able to hit them in about 4mins from the house, we’ve both ‘integrated’ and it’s near enough to our original friends that we’ve kept that going, I never want to have the bollox of buying and selling again, it’s turned out to be the most unbodged house I’ve ever owned and I rather like being in it, just as I like wandering/cycling down to the local cafe, market, takeaway, pub etc and being able to walk or cycle to all the sports I do.

(that bothers me a bit having had riding on my doorstep, literally, in Calderdale for 19 years but hey ho…)

Glad its not just me, I feel the same putting a bike in a car to go and ride it just feels very wrong.

I’d love to live somewhere with mild, light winters. The short days are starting to really do a number on me. To the point where I really don’t look forward to Autumn and Winter now. In the meantime I’ll be stuck in Macclesfield. It has good transport links and some decent riding nearby. The kids are settled at school and have my mother and father-in-law nearby.

I think it all depends on what stage of life you’re at. I moved to a highland village from a city (Aberdeen). Mainly because I’d given up work in the oil industry and wanted to live somewhere I loved going on holiday to. It did mean I dragged my wife and kids out of their comfort zone.

There is a pub and a cafe in our village but no shop. It’s interesting watching the kids getting excited when we go to a nearby village with a Co-op. The positives for the kids are the local schools are much smaller and friendlier than their old city schools. The youngest now goes to a primary school with a total of 47 pupils and it’s much safer I can let them go wandering on their own without worrying.

Anyway my main reason is access to countryside and mountains from my front door. I have a view over to Sgorr Gaoith from the upstairs windows.  Our big city fixes are a weekend visit to Edinburgh or Glasgow once a month or so. That seems to keep everyone happy. Only real downside is it gets extremely cold at times in January/February.

I live where I want to live, they'll be taking me out in a box.

What I can say is that it took living in many places to get to where I live, which is nearly, but not quite perfect.

I had to move from Ireland to Glasgow first, then go through a failed move to Beauly (couldn't compete in the local job market without gaining further qualifications), then Appin (too close to Oban), then Fort William (too close to Fort William, but it's a better base than Oban), then a rural location north of Fort William but south of Fort Augustus where we're sticking.

I don't need to explain why I live here, I don't think that high a percentage of folk who are into the outdoors end up living rurally in Lochaber.

I can cope with the weather and the winter nights. What bugs me is the moment the good weather comes the roads are rammed with tourists who leave their brains and courtesy at home, and the locals behind the wheel often turn into frustrated lunatics; I used to love my road cycling, but now it is neglected.

@waderider I live in Fort William which I have to agree is too close to Fort William, however it's a big saving in petrol I'm not using, or time if I was biking to work.I'm getting older too, being nearer to services may well be an advantage for me fairly soon.
Also if anyone from the Scottish government is reading this we really do NEED our new hospital

Moved to Tobermory in June 2021 for the lifestyle - love the outdoors, like being next to the sea and the relative peacefulness of being on an island. My cycling has reduced considerably, but replaced with sea kayaking and getting into the hills. There’s a real sense of community here, particularly once a few folks realise you’ve ‘survived’ a few wet winters. I work part-time in the oldest, best known shop which is a great way to get to know people, good craic selling whisky to tourists. Yes, the weather can be rubbish at times but at other times, it can a glorious place to live.

OK, it does get busy in summer with tourists, but hasn’t been spoilt as much by tourism like Skye or bits of the mainland IMO.

Enjoy seeing pics of your 'pets' and guessing your garden was always their territory? Presumably there's a manageable number of deer on the island or are they culled? Don't know whether you've seen the news item about the Test Valley village of Broughton where a large assortment of dead/maimed animals were dumped. Thought to be the work of poachers.

Grew up in Salford in the 80's and 90's and couldn't wait to escape. Moved to London and now out in rural Surrey. It's quiet and the people are great. It was a trade off for a relatively rural life and easy access to London, motorways and airports.

Would love to set up home in Switzerland at some point, but not too sure how with ageing parents how that would work just yet?!?

Presumably there’s a manageable number of deer on the island or are they culled?

There’s actually a few too many deer and torn between it’s nice to nature on my doorstep, or the frustrations of Mrs DB when they’ve scoffed her tulips again or shredded her prized shrubs. There’s one that will charge me if I’ve got the dogs. They do cull the deer in some areas, but our wee herd has grown from 12 to 20 in 3 years.

Great riding from the door.

Train stations in walking distance that link to many cities.

Housing cheap enough that I can live there.

I went as far south as I could afford to when everything I owned fitted in my van. Got my first ever grown-up job, bought a house just before Covid hit and we’re stuck here for the foreseeable. Making choices and having options isn’t something you get to do much at our level.

Interesting choice of words.  I don't really see anyone as "stuck" somewhere they don't want to be or not have the option to leave.  There's lots of points to balance up and all of us will have different "weights" we apply to each of those levers (which I think was the OP's point).  Even if you are "stuck somewhere" because the wife wants to be there - that means that you apply a high degree of weight to your wife's happiness.  If its because of a job - it might be a sign that its a job you really value or enjoy.  In my case you might say I'm "stuck" here whilst the children are at school because we don't want to upset their friendships and education (but plenty of parents do that successfully), by the time they finish, their grandparents might be a bit more old and doddery so we might find that limits our "range" (but plenty of others would not place as much weight on that).  By the time that's no longer a concern, we ourselves might be starting to think about where there's bungalows and good hospitals etc.  Many of these decisions "just happen" but none of them are imposed on us, and we can all say, "hang on, is this really what you/I want".  As retirement starts to become a reasonable possibility on the far off horizon we are starting to have more of those conversations.

I can’t imagine living anywhere where the primary reason was “because it’s so easy to get to these other places”. If you want to spend so much time getting out of it, it’s not a good place to live.

Whilst I sit on your side of the fence I had a friend who was very much on the otherside, and I could see his point.  He lived in one of the ex-mining villages near Alloa - worked near Edinburgh.  His partner worked somewhere in Fife.  They had elected to live in Allloa in the early 90's - its wasn't aspirational, it wasn't a great place to be every day, but that didn't matter to them - Mon-Fri they worked all day - then every weekend (and I do mean literally every weekend) they were off to ski touring, rock climbing, kayaking, etc.  Alloa was just an affordable confluence of the roads that gave them options to go to easily where they wanted for the weekends.  A cheap house was a conscious decision so they had more money to spend doing the stuff they loved at the weekends.  They were both very smart people, they could have got higher paid, higher stress jobs - they had made a conscious decision to be able to switch off at 1700 on Friday so they could go and do what they loved.  Its all a set of compromises.

National park with riding from the door, train services which open up even more route choices, 1.5 hours from the South Lakes, 1.5ish from the Peak. Three large cities within relatively easy reach. Good schools, houses not too pricey, down-to-earth vibe, decent pubs and restaurants in town. Only thing lacking is beaches.

I don’t really see anyone as “stuck” somewhere they don’t want to be or not have the option to leave.

People can absolutely be in the position where a move is completely unviable. There are even people who can't afford to move or afford to stay living where they are. Options aren't available to everyone.

@poly

There’s lots of points to balance up and all of us will have different “weights” we apply to each of those levers

Yes that's a pretty fair description of my point.
However I do also believe there are many people who don't have any choice over where they live.
For some people it's a battle to survive each day.

There’s actually a few too many deer and torn between it’s nice to nature on my doorstep, or the frustrations of Mrs DB when they’ve scoffed her tulips again or shredded her prized shrubs. There’s one that will charge me if I’ve got the dogs. They do cull the deer in some areas, but our wee herd has grown from 12 to 20 in 3 years.

That's quite a downside having your garden vandalised! Gosh, that's quite an increase in numbers and is there generally enough for them to eat, your plants excepted?

I'd rather see deer than tulips, or yet more dogs (even though I love 'em), around me.

Also... venison is tasty...

It’s rural, I moved so I didn’t have to commute and I could walk to work. It’s also close to hills and beaches, a few minutes to both.

 still pinch myself how lucky we are.

me too, and I've been here in Surrey about 30 years.

I was brought up around here but have lived in London, Scotland and Australia before I moved back to the area because of work.   No particular thought went into where we got a house, but in retrospect looking on what we have here, 2 minutes walk into the countryside, 5 minutes walk into a village centre, an hour into central London, handy for the tunnel and ferries to France, living on the edge of mountain bike (and road bike) heaven plus lots of friendly people -  I could not have picked a better place to live if I had tried.

Interesting choice of words. I don’t really see anyone as “stuck” somewhere they don’t want to be or not have the option to leave.

It's quite easy to be "stuck".

My mortgage has redemption penalty roughly a years net pay!

Assuming I kept the same mortgage, the monthly payment would almost double. It's 'affordable', but in a beans on toast every meal sort of way.

There's no one with a gun to my head saying I can't move, but it would be an act of financial suicide.

Plus the other stuff.

Some of it is conscious choices, some of it is circumstances, some of it is plain old luck.

I'm now living in a place I never thought I would be. In fact I actively argued against when my wife suggested it years ago. But circumstances changed and I realised it had a lot going for it.

I'm the opposite of a few others above in that I want to move back to where I grew up. Only left as I had to due to there being poor employment opportunities back home. It's still crap there but the big killer is the price of properties there, it's a popular place for City folk to move to. All I want really is a small place of my own, preferably with a small garage, access to the countryside and enough local amenities to tick along.

I don’t really see anyone as “stuck” somewhere they don’t want to be or not have the option to leave.

People can absolutely be in the position where a move is completely unviable.

I'm stuck in that position. Living in Cardiff renting a 1 bed flat and I can't afford to move anywhere else as rents have skyrocketed. I'm very lucky that my landlord has never put my rent up in the decade I've been in my current place so I'm paying nearly half what comparable places are going for. I could afford the higher rents at a pinch but as it's only me I fail the affordability criteria regardless. I've had to give up a good job because I couldn't move and am stuck looking at the crap local work that pays lower than almost anywhere else in the country!

I live where I grew up. My parents had a big garden in which I built a house… after years of living abroad. House prices in Gower are too high for most normal people with a normal (for Swansea) job to buy a house.

On one hand I find the idea of deciding to move somewhere different without an overriding reason a bit odd. There are loads of people who have come to live here and that has always confused me. The funny thing is that when they arrive they often want to change it or stop it being changed when it needs to change. As I didn’t really chose to live here if something is annoying I don’t have to wonder why the hell I moved to here and have to put up with this or that… if that makes any sense. I also don’t have to work out the compromises that inevitably come with a decision to move somewhere.

Saying all this, as time goes by I am increasingly drawn to the idea of living somewhere else… and so have been playing with the idea of where that could be and why. I have realised that it is actually a really hard decision to make. There are quite a few good things about Gower, SW Wales, Wales, etc. I would have to give some of those up in return for other things… what would I choose?

I also find that when I go to somewhere else rural and with a strong identity and sense of belonging I can relate to the way that the community views the world based on my own experience. I don’t know how that would feel if I moved to one of those places myself and was no longer part of the community I grew up in. Whilst many of my friends are not ‘from here’ and I spend my life raging against xenophobia I am a bit self conscious that I identify with the place I live and grew up as so one who has roots here.

I live less than ten miles from the Tweed Valley and have an EWS stage as one of my commuting options.

I live in the village I do because houses in Traquair or Kirkhouse are too expensive, Innerleithen is too big and Peebles is both too big and too expensive

So I'm in the right area, close enough for me. For my budget this is spot on.

However I do also believe there are many people who don’t have any choice over where they live.
For some people it’s a battle to survive each day.

I guess my point was those people might feel trapped in their current situation, and eg it might (appear to) make financial sense to stay where you are, but if they wanted to (ie. The personal weightings they apply to their situation) they could choose to move.  I get that for many people that might mean massive compromises - life a smaller house, flogging their fleet of bikes etc!   Obviously there will be mortgage tie in periods etc that make it painful to move but they are short lived so the balance might not be there to move today but it might be in a year or two.    I’m well aware of people living hand to mouth and struggling just to exist.  To some extent they’ve less to risk from a radical move.  I’m not saying they should, their situation, their decision.

I live where I do because it’s where me and my mum and brother moved when my mum got together with the bloke who eventually became my step-dad. I’ve now lived here over fifty years, and it’s my home. It was a council house and I bought it nearly thirty years ago, and honestly I’d find it very difficult to part with it. I could probably get around £250k for it, but I’d have to find double that or more the find somewhere with a bigger garden anywhere in the area.
It’s M4 corridor, all the main north/south, east/west transport routes go through and around the town, including the main GWR London/Bristol line, so A420, A4, A350, A429 north of the M4 up to Cirencester and Warwick, so a desirable area.
And it’s where Jo died, three years ago today, so there’s part of her here, I couldn’t bear to move anywhere else now.

their situation, their decision

So often, for many people, there really is no choice. There is no decision for them to take. A move would be making them voluntary/intentionally homeless, with routes back to accommodation blocked by rules and finances.

I needed a job.  My criteria was north of Chesterfield and south of Perth.   Main line railway station.  Maybe on the coast.  First job that met the criteria was Edinburgh.

One in Edinburgh leith or gorgie was affordsble and within cycling distance of work.

I live less than a mile from the house I mostly grew up in. Four  miles from what was for over a century the family farm in Stirlingshire.  While I have relatives in England, Spain, USA, and Canada most of my family live within 20 miles of here.

My relatives that live in England  left Scotland to get a better job. I was able to work locally so no reason to leave. It helps that I live in a local area with nice people, low crime, and with easy access to a city for healthcare etc.

My sister lived in Canada for 20 years before coming back. I met her this morning for a coffee.  Turned out the last time she was in the building where the cafe is was  before 1980 when it was the local library. In between it was a social club for the local football team. Now a dog friendly cafe. I suppose being aware of the history of places like that is part of the sense of home.

I suspect that for most people it is work choices that drive where they  end up living.

Didn’t have a choice what with witness protection and all that

Combination of immediate access to hills and on and off road riding, walking, climbing, running, access to local shops, access to friends and a pleasant community and a big city, in this case, Manchester, 30 minutes away by public transport. Oh, and the macro equivalent of putting the kettle on, sticking some bread in the toaster and kicking back on a comfy sofa - it feels like home.

I'm sure I could live in any number of places that fit those basic criteria and having grown up in that London, I made choices to escape from being entombed in concrete.

That said, geography is over-rated. It's a bit like the 'one true love' model of romance.Clearly most people could be tolerably happy with any one of many potential partners to varying degrees and 'perfection' is partly in the mind. This place would be better if it rained slightly less, but nine months in the Andes taught me a quiet appreciation for variable weather, days that shorten and lengthen with the seasons and green hills.

I can imagine that if you start off with some idealised checklist of location criteria, it could make you quite miserable in the short term at least.

Glad its not just me, I feel the same putting a bike in a car to go and ride it just feels very wrong.

On the flip side, I spent 19 years pretty much doing 99% of my riding in Calderdale because it was the easy option - most of which were quick 2 hour rides from the doorstep before breakfast/after tea etc. Yes its a bit of extra faff having to chuck stuff in the van and drive but its opened up loads of options. Can pretty much point the van in any direction and within 30 mins or so be in a variety of different places - the Moors, Dalby for its weather proof trail centre stuff & ace off piste, Yearsley, Sutton Bank area, back to Calderdale, Leeds Bike Park, the Dales etc. Definitely nice to be almost forced into riding different places...

Slightly different to most here but I moved to Manchester 25 years ago and still love it. I love the big city and everything that goes with it and still get a kick out of going out round town and getting amongst it.

On the other hand I can definitely see the attraction of living in the countryside but all our friends are here in Manchester so I'm not sure if there'll ever be a day where we think yeah lets just totally up-sticks somewhere else- as much as road or mountain biking and trail running straight from the door sounds pretty amazing.

Not sure. Maybe the grass is greener etc? At 20 I moved to North Wales for college and stayed. At 30 I moved to the north of Stoke for a PGCE , a woman, a job and a new career. At 37 I moved back home to the FoD. Great in some ways. Family (aging) here, old friends etc. However I hate what I see the Forest turning into. It's becoming a big holiday park. Solitude has gone, the woods are trashed and everywhere has been developed. I never understand why people come to a place for something then proceed to ruin just that. Doubt I'll move though.

I'm very happy where I am (Peak District), but I spent a little bit of time in the Pyrenees in October last year, and if I was going to live somewhere else, I'd be a bit tempted. Better weather, actual mountains, feels like more exploring possibilities, not too far away, or too removed from civilisation.

I’m not ready for the provincial attitudes (grew up in a small village) and lack of choice in small towns/villages so we still live in London where our work is. We both like what we do and are fortunate to have a 6th floor flat that overlooks mature oaks and a woodland nature reserve so when working at home I’m distracted by raven and peregrine spotting.

have friends locally who mostly work in the arts/media and have similarly moved slightly further out to find the right balance. One thing we were not counting on was the other residents here who are all sound people who are happy to help out and look out for each other, something I hadn’t experienced in other parts of London.
A good mix of young families and ‘interesting’ professionals, actors, architects, furniture makers etc.

Richard Ayoade used to live in our flat, it’s a popular area for arts/media types.

Couldn’t think of anywhere else I would want to move to apart from a lottery win house a few mins walk away, it’s going to be hard to find somewhere to move to once we retire, I’m not sure if it will be in this country.

ride less MTB these days and am about 25min ride away before I hit the decent roads/hills, more natural wine bars than I can drink in  and one of the best bakeries in London on my doorstep, only downside is I’m a little bit too far from Jay Rayners favourite chippy Ken’s in Herne Hill.

Born in Norf Lunden and spent 40 years there in suburban hell, the worst of all options, no benefits of being central and tons of traffic.

Hoped to move to South Devon where my then partner is from but that wasn't an option work wise at the time, spent a weekend at a friend's in Stroud, Gloucestershire where work was an option and just took the gamble to get out of London (son was 5yo) and if Stroud didn't work out try for Devon later.

13 years later and we are still in Stroud and I'm really happy with the location.
I rarely leave Stroud's 5 valleys and consider it home, it's fantastic here, quaint and pretty with amazing views.
All my cycling is straight from the doorstep.

Having just spent the day on the Otago Peninsula NZ, here definitely here, it's like the Gower but much better & with Dunedin at one end not cut off from civilization either. However I'm at the wrong end of my expected lifespan so will have to stick with UK unless we win the lottery 😕 Did plan on buying my wife's parents place in Corsica (Brexit put a stop to that) only very small & relatively cheap place at £100k but we could have lived there 9 months of the year & let it out in the busy & silly hot summer. Never mind we are still planning on moving from where we are a) because I only bought it so my dad could move in & b) we definitely want to live somewhere else, despite all our family being close by.

I really like it where I live.
It's clean, no garbage on the streets and very little, if any, graffiti. Everything works as it should, roads are fixed and not potholed at all. The local council are on the front foot and telling me things pertinent to me that I need to know and they are responsive if I want something. Doctor and dentist and I can get an appointment within a couple of days. Neighbours are great and open to forriners. No issues.

Within a few hours I can get to 6 or so countries with trains that work or the car. Good local riding, food and stuff can be bought direct off the farm. Good recycling and environment to live in.

Not all roses but there are a stack of upsides to it. Southern Black Forest, Germany. Made it out here a year before Brexit. I've no pull to return to the UK. Very happy here and happy with the move.

I loved living in the Basque country (10 years). Unfortunately aging, ill parents meant me and the OH needed to come back to England. Moved a bit around the North of England but now found a really good place for us. Cloughton, a village on the border of Scarborough/North York Moors. We've got proximity to countryside, decent pub,  facilities, transport, parents and we both work from home.

@mrsmith what suburb are you in?

Re reading the q, it isn't about where you live. It is about your reasons for wanting to live somewhere (which may or may not be where you actually live).

So whilst we are happy in an almost trendy Cardiff suburb, personally I quite fancy the mid Wales hippy belt. Good riding, more nature, nice seaside and more Cymraeg for the Mrs.

Came to Manchester (Salford) for university and stayed, because of the nightlife etc and found work. Now still here because I managed to get on the ladder and kids etc. would need a good reason to move now and my dad and in-laws are within driving distance (riding distance!) so sticking.

@JR.  I’m in Crystal Palace SE19, the southern end of the Dulwich estate