Where to locate when moving out of London – the best of course!

For those considering a move out of London, the question of where to relocate is often a taxing one.  Commute time is often a key consideration – less than an hour if possible – but this often has to be balanced against the availability of sensibly priced property. Other items on the ‘where to move?’ shopping list include access to good schools, excellent communication links, more space, beautiful countryside, shops, a social life, culture and so the list goes on…

So for where to start?

Well, can I suggest the Best Place to live in Britain – Stamford?

My family and I moved here a few years ago and love it – but don’t just take my word for it…

Last March The Sunday Times, named Stamford as the THE best place to live, beating 150 other national contenders. Proximity to London was a key factor (the mainline station at Peterborough is only fifteen minutes away and fast trains take 45 minutes into Kings Cross) but  the judges also took into consideration all the factors listed above and concluded that Stamford is “more rural than Hertfordshire, classier than Essex and more original (and cheaper) than Surrey”.

Stamford was used in the filming of Pride and Prejudice and Middlemarch but it’s not just a pretty face. The centre is packed with independent retailers and restaurants; there is the Stamford Art Centre where regular theatre productions, concerts and films are laid on and for the active there is cycling, hiking and sailing at nearby Rutland water. Outside Stamford are miles of open countryside before reaching the cities of Peterborough and Leicester for all the facilities you expect from major conurbations.

Of course, being located in Lincolnshire may be give the impression that Stamford is very northern and so may put some people off but be reassured; it is on the southernmost tip of the county, borders Cambridgeshire and Rutland, and the A1 is only minutes away… and did I mention, it’s the BEST PLACE TO LIVE IN BRITAIN?!