So If You Had

[Dave Spart]

The place I was happiest in in the UK was Bournemouth.

Singapore is excellent. Its not perfect but the UK could learn a lot of very positive lessons from the Singaporeans including Land Tax.

I keep dreaming of Zihuatanejo. Maybe I'll go there someday. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up like new . . .

Edited July 16, 2009 by Dave Spart

[General Melchett]

Lovely part of the world, nice enough place, but in need of some work:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...5m-mansion.html

[Fuzzy Duck]

Also, my daughter works overseas (currently Ethiopia) and mixes with all sorts. But she's also worked in Indonesia and Cambodia, again with just about every nationality you can think of, and says that the very worst people for cliquiness and not mixing (and not apparently wanting to) are nearly always the French.

I work for a large French company, and I would second your daughters view about the frogs. From what I understand of most of them is that they think they are just better than everyone else (better food, culture, etc), so they just don't mix well.

BTW, French companies treat employees much better than UK based ones.

[non frog]

I work for a large French company, and I would second your daughters view about the frogs. From what I understand of most of them is that they think they are just better than everyone else (better food, culture, etc), so they just don't mix well.

BTW, French companies treat employees much better than UK based ones.

The French IMHO are not really any different to anyone else. However one strata of the French population, the sort of topish half of the middle classes are rather snobbish. They've been to a good school/uni etc and think they are better than everyone (other French included). These people tend to end up in middle management or working abroad (they usually speak good English but prefer not to).

I used to work in Paris and met a good many such people. In the UK they would drive a Volvo, buy "country life" and put on an accent.

Be thankful they don't want to mix

[Nomadd]

Where in the UK would you want to live and why?

UK only? London. Without question. But I'd also have a country pad to escape to at the weekends.

And let's be honest, if money wasn't an object, that's what 99% of the posters on here would do - although only 1% of them would admit it.

Nomadd

[porca misèria]

The Peak District for me. Probably within Hope Valley. I love it, It's so beautiful there even when it's raining and cold. And just 20 minutes to Sheffield where most of my friends and family are.

Obviously you would pay massively over the odds for living here. 1/2 acre land for sale on rightmove for £1/2 million!!

After living all over the place including other countries, nothing lifts the soul like a lovely walk in the peaks on a warm clear day. It evokes the feeling of belonging and home.

Oooh, brings back memories. I agree: when I lived in Sheffield I did all-day walks up there, and it was really special. Much more than Dartmoor, where I am now. That cottage on the north-west edge of Sheffield: tiny 2-up, 2-down in dark peak-district stone, about 300 years old, one minute walk to open moorland, was a fantastic place.

But internationalise it a bit, and I'd pick somewhere in the Alps. Probably the Alto Adige (South Tyrol) area, where Italian and Germanic peoples and cultures mix and blend. Then I could also have a city-pad just a couple of hours away in Venice.

But less-overcrowded has appeal too. I loved Iceland (though my experience of it was 20 years ago) and could be tempted if the economy were ... not too painful.

[porca misèria]

Bath for me, preferably the Royal Crescent but I'd take the Circus if I had to:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sa...25%26index%3D10

Great atmosphere, wonderful pubs, when I'm in Bath I just wander around with a smile on my face

That's kind-of what I thought when I moved to Bath, many years ago. I was only a couple of minutes walk from the circus and crescent, but thought Lansdown Crescent was the most beautiful of them.

Then I had the misfortune to encounter the Bath Mafia, which happens to take an interest in quite a few of those lovely old buildings. A life-defining experience, and one absolutely worth avoiding. Mr Pickwick and Humphrey Clinker had minor encounters with something unpleasant.

[puppee]

the florida keys or the bahamas, get up bright and early everyday and go scuba diving for treasure just for the something to do if only

[LiveinHope]

Nowhere quite like Devon,

Was camping at the Pinnacles (CA, USA) in 91 and early in the morning a group of US military were waking. The air was crisp and clear. One inhaled and said to a colleague "The air's great, but you know, the freshest air I ever inhaled was on Dartmoor, England".

Working in Devon is a bit like living in a huge park. Everything is handy to work, relatively open spaces (on a UK geographic scale), good diversity of scenery (and this is the key feature IMHO, while you can get more dramatic scenery in the four-corners area of the US or Iceland, for example, there is not the easy diversity of Devon), a range of family beaches to isolated coves, a few surviving good traditional pubs, quality culture if you know where to look, and, if you really need it, adequate shopping. Problem is the increasing population density and a desire to rally drive on narrow lanes.

Where would I like to live if I didn't need to work ? Somewhere like Devon that is not spoiled for being in the UK. I Always thought New Zealand would fit the bill, but it seems too many Brits may be moving there.

If I cannot find the above, well a spell in Patagonia and then East Kamchatka for starters.

Edited July 16, 2009 by LiveinHope

[Ignorant Steve]

Nice 3 bed apartment in decent bit of West London. Convenient for trips to theatres etc

Holiday home in Majorca. Nice gentle hill walking in the sun.

Probably stay living in my current house - although I'd buy next door so I could have more land.

[buytoilet]

His house is sooooooo ugly....as is he!!!!

So is your mum but I dont go internet forums talking about it

[southmartin]

I keep dreaming of Zihuatanejo. Maybe I'll go there someday. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up like new . . .

Don't forget your old bank ledgers with all the incriminating evidence... ask the bank to mail it for you before you get your $300k

[Guest An Bearin Bui]

UK only? London. Without question. But I'd also have a country pad to escape to at the weekends.

And let's be honest, if money wasn't an object, that's what 99% of the posters on here would do - although only 1% of them would admit it.

Nomadd

I must be in the 1% then as I wouldn't live in London for any money. It's a great city to visit, don't get me wrong, but too congested for me and everything seems too narrow. It's odd as I could see myself living in the middle of Manhattan no problems but I've found London to be stressful anytime I've visited. I did have the opportunity to live there at one point and turned it down.

Anyway, for me, my dream location would be right where I am (currently as a mere renter-serf): Edinburgh's Morningside, probably somewhere nice and tidy like this if money were no object. I wouldn't want a mansion no matter how much money I had but these old Victorian houses are spacious but cosy at the same time. Then I'd keep the place I have in Berlin, buy about 20 acres of farm in the West of Ireland or Scotland and that would be me! It'd only take around £2m to do all of that... hmmm.. now I have some targets in mind, I better get working to achieve them... Thanks for the inspirational post, Mr Parry!

[D.C.]

Northwest highlands of Scotland, the most beautiful part of Britain. This might just do me:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sa...on%26index%3D10

Peasant.

This would do for me

[Godley]

I work for a large French company, and I would second your daughters view about the frogs. From what I understand of most of them is that they think they are just better than everyone else (better food, culture, etc), so they just don't mix well.

BTW, French companies treat employees much better than UK based ones.

Which French company do you work for?

French companies treat French employees better than UK employees working for French companies imho.

[porca misèria]

I must be in the 1% then as I wouldn't live in London for any money.

I've even put my money where my mouth is: turned down a headhunter whose initial offer before haggling was over three times what I was earning at the time. He said no flexibility on working in London, I said no thanks.

[D.C.]

I've even put my money where my mouth is: turned down a headhunter whose initial offer before haggling was over three times what I was earning at the time. He said no flexibility on working in London, I said no thanks.

+1

Worked in London a few years ago, loved the job but hated the city. Just really isn't my cup of tea.

[Hip to be bear]

So is your mum but I dont go internet forums talking about it

Actually she is looking ok considering that she is in the middle of radiotherapy treatment for lung cancer and numerous complications. I will send her your regards.

Harry is ugly and a crook (allegedly). Great football manager though.

[General Congreve]

Also, my daughter works overseas (currently Ethiopia) and mixes with all sorts. But she's also worked in Indonesia and Cambodia, again with just about every nationality you can think of, and says that the very worst people for cliquiness and not mixing (and not apparently wanting to) are nearly always the French.

The French may be a little bad for cliquiness, but the ISRAELIS take the grand prize. Dreadful, arrogant and ignorant people, in all respects, but then what do expect from a nation or warmongering oppressors?

[OnionTerror]

The French IMHO are not really any different to anyone else. However one strata of the French population, the sort of topish half of the middle classes are rather snobbish. They've been to a good school/uni etc and think they are better than everyone (other French included). These people tend to end up in middle management or working abroad (they usually speak good English but prefer not to).

I used to work in Paris and met a good many such people. In the UK they would drive a Volvo, buy "country life" and put on an accent.

Be thankful they don't want to mix

I used to work for a very large French company. The French ran roughshod over their UK equivalents. They have a 35 hour week, and I found that most of them took off August. Many high-level decisions came from Paris, so you would often have to wait a month for a decision...it was very infuriating.. As the French know their rights, and would strike at a moments notice if necessary, the UK arm would normally make cuts rather than the French side, as our employment laws made it easier for them to do this.

[Battenberg]

I've always liked Dorset. Minor tourist invasions in the summer, but seaside, a lot of nice villages and no cities.

Me too. I'd love somewhere between Weymouth and Exmouth.

I like where we are now though. I'd love to buy one of the spanking great houses in this area.

If I was to go out of the UK I would choose Scandinavia.

[blankster]

If I had absolutely so much money I could do anything, I'd probably keep the place I'm in now but buy a few other properties as well. I'd like to have several holiday homes dotted around the UK and Ireland and I'd like to flit between one and another and a top spec brand new Range Rover as transport. I'm assuming that if I was very rich I'd would lose my social and environmental consciences, at least for a while

[Hip to be bear]

Since Buytoilet is MIA, here is a pic of Harry Redknapp's house:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahxcjb/3554477424/sizes/l/

Severely minging! You be the judge!

Edited July 17, 2009 by Hip to be bear

[OnionTerror]

Me too. I'd love somewhere between Weymouth and Exmouth.

I like where we are now though. I'd love to buy one of the spanking great houses in this area.

If I was to go out of the UK I would choose Scandinavia.

Weymouth is absolute hell in the summer...filled with chavs who visit the holiday parks and one road in and out. I hope the bypass makes a real difference down there, when it opens. Chesil Beach is a lovely place, with some great villages in and around the coast. There are some great biking roads around Abbotsbury et al..