UK a great place for Americans to retire.....if you can get in

Just_Steve said:
What did I learn from this thread?
1) A flat white is like a latte but different.
2) Steak Pie sounds like something I would like to eat.

Had to look them both up.
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I had to Google the first one.....but then I'm no epicurean.
 
I like Scotland, and the Isle of Skye. I like the Southern English countryside too. Well, if the pound is 0.80 to the dollar .. yeah !!!
 
nun said:
Are you in walking distance of Westgate?

So are you planning an early morning trip to Petches to get some pork pies? FYI their black pudding is great too.
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10 minutes walk to Westgate. We had initially planned to look and buy a house this year but the "right" house on Hunters Hill came up in October so we put in a bid and it was accepted same day. The retired couple were downsizing and buying a house very close to where we are renting, close to The Voyager pub, and close to their daughter.

The "top shops" butcher where we buy our pies used to get them fresh each day from Petches but I think recently he started making them himself.
 
Alan said:
10 minutes walk to Westgate. We had initially planned to look and buy a house this year but the "right" house on Hunters Hill came up in October so we put in a bid and it was accepted same day. The retired couple were downsizing and buying a house very close to where we are renting, close to The Voyager pub, and close to their daughter.

The "top shops" butcher where we buy our pies used to get them fresh each day from Petches but I think recently he started making them himself.
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Man I wish I had a Petch's pork pie and some pickle onions for me tea right now.

So you're right up against Guisborough Moor. You're down there somewhere (I can see the Redcar blast furnace where I worked for a couple of summers on the horizon)

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.516...FzTGPVDKPuzUfv_lb7Kadw!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656
 
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nun said:
Man I wish I had a Petch's pork pie and some pickle onions for me tea right now.

So you're right up against Guisborough Moor. You're down there somewhere (I can see the Redcar blast furnace where I worked for a couple of summers on the horizon)

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.516...FzTGPVDKPuzUfv_lb7Kadw!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656
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We are indeed right up against Guisborough Moor. Highcliff Nab is a 30 minutes walk from our house, and Hanging Stone is a 45 minutes walk from the house, Roseberry Topping is also a favourite walk of ours. I've attached a pic of me atop Hanging Stone, and of my wife last year when one of our first walks was past Roseberry Topping to Great Ayton where we picked up some Petches pies to carry home for tea that night along the Cleveland Way. Behind her you can see Captain Cook's monument at Great Ayton, sometimes we'll buy pies at Petches and carry them up to the monument to eat.
 

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Looks great...so do you guys!
 
Sigh.......


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
Alan said:
We are indeed right up against Guisborough Moor. Highcliff Nab is a 30 minutes walk from our house, and Hanging Stone is a 45 minutes walk from the house, Roseberry Topping is also a favourite walk of ours. I've attached a pic of me atop Hanging Stone, and of my wife last year when one of our first walks was past Roseberry Topping to Great Ayton where we picked up some Petches pies to carry home for tea that night along the Cleveland Way. Behind her you can see Captain Cook's monument at Great Ayton, sometimes we'll buy pies at Petches and carry them up to the monument to eat.
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Looks like a beautiful place to live. I envy you two and if I could just have a few more lives .... Are there any Detectorists around? Love that Netflix series.

In 2013 we were in Ripon and saw Rievaulx Abbey and then Fountains Abbey. But then took a left turn to Hawes. Would love to go back there and sketch some of those ruins plus all that nice stone work in the buildings.

Sometime when you are settled maybe we could have a thread on backdoor ways to visit the UK. It's not just all well known cities like London and Bath.
 
Huston55 said:
Looks like the topography from the battle scene in the most recent episode of Vikings. :bat:
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Well it's Viking country. Many of the place names and names for geographical features have Scandinavian roots......words like beck, rigg, gill and force and of course Alan live 10 mins from Westgate.....ie West Street.
 
Lsbcal said:
Sometime when you are settled maybe we could have a thread on backdoor ways to visit the UK. It's not just all well known cities like London and Bath.
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+1 We would love to visit the out of the way places that only the locals know.
 
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We moved back to the UK for good almost 2 years ago....love it here. I wanted to move to the coast, but my wife nixed that one. About 16 years total living in the UK...about half and half South and North. I've lived in warm weather.....it's nice for a while but got old. Sure wish it was a little bit sunnier at times....but when I lived in that sunnier place most of the people who talked about how nice it was.....never actually went outside, they just liked the idea of it.

I am actively selling as much of my US retirement savings as I can these days taking advantage of the exchange rate. Right now my pension of just over $2100 a month pays for everything unless we buy something big (like updating the bathroom pretty soon).

I can make a nice list of things we like or dislike about both places....but I like it better here than I did in the US (I'm American, wife is from the country of N Yorkshire).
 
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nun said:
The property I linked to is actually in North Yorkshire, Scarborough Borough Council and the F band rate is £2398 (~$3000). But I'm single and there is a 25% discount for that so I'd pay £1800 ($2250).

Council tax - North Yorkshire County Council

However, theOAP, it will be a while before I qualify for the free bus pass and have to worry about its value for US tax purposes ;-)
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Boy, this seems a bit high. We are paying £165 a month-£1650(10 months) for a small 3 bed detached in Harrogate....which isn't a cheap place to be. Although when I looked at the council site just now.....I can't see how we fit into it.
 
F4mandolin said:
We moved back to the UK for good almost 2 years ago....love it here. I wanted to move to the coast, but my wife nixed that one. About 16 years total living in the UK...about half and half South and North. I've lived in warm weather.....it's nice for a while but got old. Sure wish it was a little bit sunnier at times....but when I lived in that sunnier place most of the people who talked about how nice it was.....never actually went outside, they just liked the idea of it.

I am actively selling as much of my US retirement savings as I can these days taking advantage of the exchange rate. Right now my pension of just over $2100 a month pays for everything unless we buy something big (like updating the bathroom pretty soon).

I can make a nice list of things we like or dislike about both places....but I like it better here than I did in the US (I'm American, wife is from the country of N Yorkshire).
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How did you pick Harrogate to live? I have never heard of it but from a Google search it looks like a beautiful town.
 
I like England and like English people. I spent a semester there during college and loved it. However, the idea of living there long-term!? Heck no. WAY too cold and rainy for this Californian. We are visiting this summer though. I hope the Dollar stays strong against the Pound!
 
check6 said:
How did you pick Harrogate to live? I have never heard of it but from a Google search it looks like a beautiful town.
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Harrogate is beautiful. I had family there until recently and always enjoyed visiting.

This whole thread makes me want to dust off my citizenship by descent application and send it in!
 
check6 said:
How did you pick Harrogate to live? I have never heard of it but from a Google search it looks like a beautiful town.
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I spent my last 7 working years (teaching) at the local military base.....shhhhh ......Menwith Hill. Got married to a local lady. We moved back to the Spokane area (Nine Mile Falls) for 4 years and then we just got the urge to move back. Sure miss the nice 4 seasons of E Washington....although you can not golf for about 3-4 months during the winter there. Harrogate is a local spa town that is considered pretty [-]snobby[/-] well off and expensive. The first few years I was working at this base I lived here (the cottage middle/left in picture) until I got married.... Wooden stile (C) bronja :: Geograph Britain and Ireland Prettiest little place I have ever lived....just outside a touristy town called Pateley Bridge.

I spent about 7 years working in the South part of England back in the 80's....High Wycombe + Newbury at two other military bases.

Now if they could just fix the traffic issues in Harrogate....and to be fair...pretty well all decent sized towns in England. I grew up with one blinking red light in my town (Castle Rock, WA).....traffic is not my friend.
 
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F4mandolin said:
I spent my last 7 working years (teaching) at the local military base.....shhhhh ......Menwith Hill.
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shhhhhh indeed. I interviewed with GCHQ a long time ago.......

When I was young, Harrogate was where all the rich horse farmers lived. Rather genteel and a bit stuck up.....it's the posh bit of Yorkshire. My brother now lives near Skipton so I'd often drive through Harrogate, past Menwith Hill and over Blubberhouses.
 
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Lsbcal said:
Looks like a beautiful place to live. I envy you two and if I could just have a few more lives .... Are there any Detectorists around? Love that Netflix series.

In 2013 we were in Ripon and saw Rievaulx Abbey and then Fountains Abbey. But then took a left turn to Hawes. Would love to go back there and sketch some of those ruins plus all that nice stone work in the buildings.

Sometime when you are settled maybe we could have a thread on backdoor ways to visit the UK. It's not just all well known cities like London and Bath.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see such a thread! I've been to London many, many times, lived in Bournemouth for 4 months, and I travelled the countryside SOME, but I feel that I haven't even scratched the surface as far as really traveling the UK. Always looking for places to explore - especially if they are reachable as day trips from London by train (we have done day trips as far as Edinburgh, so a lot of territory is in play....)
 
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