'There is life outside of London': converts to Leeds sing its praises

Art, culture, nature and property prices are tempting people away from the capital

In the past five years the number of Londoners moving up to Leeds has risen by 58%, from 2,720 in 2013 to 4,296 in 2018. Home to several universities and a cosmopolitan population, Leeds boasts a flourishing cultural scene, quality nightlife and large-scale regeneration that has transformed the West Yorkshire city in recent years.

Beyond the Victorian architecture of the city centre, there are leafy suburbs of Victorian terraces and high-rise apartment buildings. With average house prices around £182,700, 62% lower than the capital, Leeds is proving attractive to first-time buyers, families and renters alike.

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Let’s move to the New Forest: jolly, if you have the lolly

Ignore its more suburban edges and concentrate on the oaks, ickle ponies, witches and ye olde Norman lore

What’s going for it? Thanks to the Brothers Grimm, I’ve long had a fancy to live in a forest, aside from the obvious downsides of witches, wood-trolls and big bad wolves. Just a log cabin in a little clearing will do, so I can live out my Henry David Thoreau dreams – in easy reach of a decent coffee, of course. Since we Brits deforested our land centuries before palm oil conglomerates started work on the Amazon, there isn’t much choice on this island. The New Forest just about fits the bill. Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst are the two main clearings: smart, mostly Victorian affairs Lycra-bombed by cyclists on an average weekend, but jolly spots nonetheless. One can quite imagine Arthur Conan Doyle or Alice‑in-Wonderland Liddell trotting the streets here, under gothic gables. Forest would be a slight overstatement to anyone from Brazil or the Congo, but if I squint a bit and ignore its more suburban edges, concentrating instead on the oaks, ickle ponies, witches and local lore from ye olde Norman times, I can fill up on my bosky romance and be within a short drive of, say, The Pig, when I’m in desperate need of some yuzu juice.

The case against Traffic, especially in summer: gridlock, just to get home for your tea. Verges on the unromantically suburban, for those looking for rural idyll. Expensive: I don’t remember any Maserati showrooms last time I read Little Red Riding Hood.

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Let’s move to the New Forest: jolly, if you have the lolly

Ignore its more suburban edges and concentrate on the oaks, ickle ponies, witches and ye olde Norman lore

What’s going for it? Thanks to the Brothers Grimm, I’ve long had a fancy to live in a forest, aside from the obvious downsides of witches, wood-trolls and big bad wolves. Just a log cabin in a little clearing will do, so I can live out my Henry David Thoreau dreams – in easy reach of a decent coffee, of course. Since we Brits deforested our land centuries before palm oil conglomerates started work on the Amazon, there isn’t much choice on this island. The New Forest just about fits the bill. Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst are the two main clearings: smart, mostly Victorian affairs Lycra-bombed by cyclists on an average weekend, but jolly spots nonetheless. One can quite imagine Arthur Conan Doyle or Alice‑in-Wonderland Liddell trotting the streets here, under gothic gables. Forest would be a slight overstatement to anyone from Brazil or the Congo, but if I squint a bit and ignore its more suburban edges, concentrating instead on the oaks, ickle ponies, witches and local lore from ye olde Norman times, I can fill up on my bosky romance and be within a short drive of, say, The Pig, when I’m in desperate need of some yuzu juice.

The case against Traffic, especially in summer: gridlock, just to get home for your tea. Verges on the unromantically suburban, for those looking for rural idyll. Expensive: I don’t remember any Maserati showrooms last time I read Little Red Riding Hood.

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Rent-to-buy scheme aims to help breach the ‘deposit barrier’

New homes at reduced rents give first-time buyers a chance to get on the housing ladder

Mental health nurse Nicole Richards had been renting privately for years and had always found it impossible to save anything towards buying her first home, let alone the UK average first-time buyer deposit of £46,000. But she has now moved into a brand-new property, slashed her rent bill by more than £250 a month – with most of that money being channelled into an Isa – and will hopefully be in a position to buy her home in five years’ time.

Richards, 27, is among hundreds of key workers who have taken advantage of an innovative government-supported scheme that is expanding across the country and aims to remove the “deposit barrier” that is probably the biggest obstacle to home ownership for many on low and average incomes.

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City penthouses for sale – in pictures

From a Grade II* Georgian apartment in York to a 1750s apartment on the Circus in Bath

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Top interior design tips for getting that show home finish Nottingham Estate Agents

Those fortunate enough to have bought a new build property have a chance to put their stamp on a house which no one has lived in before. They really are a blank canvas for the interior designer within all of us to get creative and make that house a home. But how do you turn […]

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Nine questions all first-time buyers should ask

Never feel embarrassed about asking these.

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