My husband retires this Oct. and we were thinking of moving to a smaller community. Between selling our house and buying another, however, we were contemplating living in England for a year, probably in Kent/Sussex. Any idea what it might cost to live there for a year? We'd probably rent a furnished apt. or small house, don't care whether it's in town or in the country and would have the use of a small car from my husband's cousin. We aren't big spenders/shoppers, just love England and were wondering if living there for a year would be possible. Assuming we could get all the right paperwork, what do you Britain experts think it might cost - ballpark with noted assumptions fine. Thank you.

you'll need to do an internet search for house prices in the area. Try Knight Frank, Foxtons, Bargets, or better yet search estate agents essex and looking for lettings.
Your biggest issue will probably be getting a visa to stay in the country. Start with the British Consulate.

Try to get hold of several issues of Kent Life. Lots of good info there on housing and profiles of various communities.
We are living in a rental in Maidenhead in Berkshire. For £875 a month, we have a fairly dinky grade II listed Victorian cottage. Plus council tax and uts. Much smaller and not nearly as well built as what we were able to get in Brussels for the same money.

Thanks for the ideas. I'd hoped to get more responses, but perhaps I haven't worded the question to catch people's attention. Thank you for caring and sharing.

We often talk about doing this same thing. We have friends in London and they have told us that we have to live at least 2-3 hours from London to be able to afford anything..we have to figure out what to do about our Pup. It is very complicated and there are many issues to work out for anyone moving to England.
I wish you luck!

I meant to be able to buy anything, not rent.

Are you from the States? One thing you might consider, you can travel to the UK for 6 months just on your passport - no need for visas, etc. This might be less of a problem then trying to get paperwork to emmigrate.

While there, you can decide if you want to stay longer and work on getting the necessary documents. You could find a cottage to lease for 6 months.

It has been years since I've lived there so all of my recent first hand knowledge is for holiday lets, not longer term ones. So locals will have better ideas of current prices - but most estate agents have web sites w/ short term and long term lets and sales. Google "Kent estate agent" or "Brighton Estate Agent" or plug in any other county/town. You will find a lot of really good info.

I doubt ball-parks are possible in this: you really have to work out the lifestyle you want and calculate up from that.

If you're American, janis' suggestion is worth following: getting a retirement visa for the UK isn't as messy as it is for the world's truly insular countries (like Australia), but there are a few hurdles to go through, and "they" might insist on your going through them for any stay over 6 months. If you're Canadian, and if one of your grandparents was British, it's a great deal easier to get the paperwork for a year or more.

I can't comment on the point at which The System starts treating you as a resident, with requirements to file income tax returns (and therefore pay UK tax on whatever income you bring into the country).

However, Britain is still (Deo gratias) pretty laid back about these things, and certainly our officials won't trouble you for anything if you're only here for six months (though, oddly, if you're Canadian, even a short stay can make you eligible to vote in our elections)

Btilke's right about rent. £800-£1000 a month seems about the going rate for very liveable 2-3 bedroom cottages in pleasant locations within 60-90 mins of London along the Westbound railway, though there can be very sharp local peaks, and it helps to avoid places that are too attractive to expats in booming industries who want to commute to London.

Does the same apply in Kent/Sussex? Well round my part of the country, cottages in pretty villages just a bit inconvenient for a daily commute tend to be a lot cheaper to rent than well-built, ugly houses in dull towns with excellent railway links. You might find a lot of Kent is too convenient to London for low rents, and that places in Sussex with tricky train commutes are a lot cheaper. Anywhere in SE England, proximity to a railway line, and that line's time to the London terminus, is what really determines house prices.

Unfurnished houses are rarely cheaper than furnished. Council Tax varies widely, but is unlikely to be much over £1000-£1500 per year.The only other direct tax, apart from income tax if you're legally living here, will be the TV licence (£100 or so a year).

Utlilities? We pay £360 a year for electricity, £300 for water, and £300 for gas. Basic tootling about means one car fillup a week (£35)

It's a myth that basic supermarket prices convert at £1=$1: my experience is that, if you understand how British shops work, $1.50=£1 is about right (with one or two exceptions, like Wiskas catfood and Persil detergent, it's hard-wired into all sensible Britons that only the feckless and the adolescent buy manufacturers' brands. Grown-ups in Britain buy retailers' own labels, at proper supermarkets, not convenience stores, but wherever possible buy their fruit and veg from open-air markets) But you can check this at www.tesco.com

The one near-certain cost I can't help on is healthcare. My understanding is that, while the state system gives you free treatment in an emergency, for ordinary care most non-Europeans don't get free access to the state system if they're here as tourists (as you would be if you followed janis' suggestion). They're supposed to pay, though in practice some GPs (and you have to start with your local GP) don't bother with the paperwork of billing people, and it's not clear how rigorously hospitals interpret "emergency". Outside the posh Harley Street specialists, few bits of Britain's medical system are really designed round billing people If you get the proper paperwork for a long stay, you get free treatment. But then you get to pay income tax.

You need to check the Inland Revenue site for tax specifics, and there are inevitably special provisions for all sorts of people.(www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/rates/index.htm You need to add National Insurance - Social Security anywhere else). But, for an employed Briton, including social security and rounding the numbers, the first £4750 is tax free, the next £2000 is taxed at 10%, the next £29,000 at 33% and everything over at 51%

Otherwise, it's really up to you. Do you need a gardener or a cleaner? Do you need the kit to watch junk TV? How quickly do you envisage joining all the local societies and forking out to all the local charities?

The answer to all of these things, of course, is that you won't know till you've tried.

Just a footnote on health care.

The "horse's mouth" on charging for access to the NHS for overseas visitors is at www.dh.gov.uk/overseasvisitors. Under pressure from tabloid newspapers, the NHS is trying to tighten up on this. It can be quite complicated, but if you're from the USA and only here temporarily, it's unlikely you would be entitled to free treatment on the NHS, except in real emergencies (car crashes, heart attacks, falling off a ladder) - and even then it would only cover the life-saving part. Check the website to see what applies to you.

A really good guide is UpMyStreet at http://www.upmystreet.com/
you just enter a post code of the name of a town and it gives you statistics on house prices, education, crime etc.

"£800-£1000 a month seems about the going rate for very liveable 2-3 bedroom cottages in pleasant locations within 60-90 mins of London...it helps to avoid places that are too attractive to expats in booming industries who want to commute to London."

Thanks for the laugh, FlannerUK. I would hardly call Maidenhead "too attractive." It's just your bog standard suburb with expensive mass built houses constructed to mediocre standards (and that's being generous), although there is the occasional luxury house here and there. Lots of chain restaurants, chain stores, and bored, chain smoking teenagers.

I know plenty of people will tell you that your plan is wonderful and you should go for it. And if this is what you truly want, then you should! But let me offer a cautionary, less rose-colored view.

If you are moving from the U.S., be prepared to lower your standard of living in most cases. For some (perhaps many) people living overseas for the first time, the novelty of a new/different culture, etc., will overshadow the not so pleasant bits.

We've lived in France, Germany, and Belgium (besides Canada and the U.S., of course). My husband has also lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, and Australia. Of all those places, we probably find the UK the least agreeable. It's not terrible, but not great either. That's just our experience and opinion, and we're certainly entitled to it, no matter how hypersensitive FlannerUK is to the slightest criticism of his country. We find it overpriced, somewhat cold and not good value for money (and no, we don't shop at convenience stores and we aren't addicted to brand names).
This is not just our opinion--it's a sentiment we heard echoed over and over and over by the British expats we know in France and Belgium!

We're here because our work requires it, not because we had a burning desire to live in the UK. But when needs must, the devil drives ;-)

The funny thing is, when you get here, you quickly learn how many Brits are looking forward to moving elsewhere. British TV is filled with programs on relocating to Spain, Portugal, Florida, France, Italy, Cyprus, Australia, and Canada (and given the British love for seeing people fail, there's also the obligatory shows like European Nightmare, which showcase how horribly wrong things can go for some hapless Brits who move to countries with no steady income and no command of the local language). Next weekend there's the annual fair in London on buying property in France. Attendance at this year's fair is supposed to break all previous records.

I know some expats love living in the UK. I'm glad they're enjoying it. But living someplace is NOTHING like visiting it as a tourist. Have you thought about going over and taking on a short term let for 3 months in a community similar to the type you plan to live in? I recommend it. And spend most of your time in that community, rather than traveling and sightseeing other areas. You will get a better idea of whether you really want to go through the palaver of relocating.

I'm sure I'll get flamed by the usual batch of anonymous posters for not saying that moving to the UK has been simply wonderful beyond all belief. But I think these forums work best when people share their honest experiences, good and bad, and not get intimidated and jeered into silence or taking only the approach of Thumper rabbit's mother.

Best wishes for a successful retirement--no matter where you go!

You get what you expect, I think. If you come prepared to enjoy what is better and grumble (like the natives) at what is worse and have a good laugh at your mishaps and adventures, then you'll have a wonderful time. If you like the theatre, country walks and living where people have lived for thousands of years, again you'll have a great time.
I've lived in the US and enjoyed it very much. I had very pleasant colleagues, enjoyed the wonderful scenery and certainly liked the fact that many things like hotels are very cheap.
However, en route to those wonderful natural sites, I had to pass ugly towns with sprawling used car lots and so many billboards that you could hardly see the countryside I was driving through.
The food in supermarkets was cheap, but there'd be shelf upon shelf of breakfast cereals but very few varieties of yoghurt, one variety of (inferior) bacon
and very little decent fruit. However, I overlooked the minuses in favour of the pluses.
The reason for all those TV programmes about moving abroad is that Britons have always had itchy feet. Remember those founding fathers?

>...We pay £360 a year for electricity, £300 for water, and £300 for gas.<

Per YEAR? That is very cheap.

>... if you understand how British shops work, $1.50=£1 is about right ...<

Current prices here in Madison, GA

Special Kitty (off brand) cat food 12.3 oz can 51 cnts

Bananas 33 cnts/pound

Milk $3.19 for 128 oz (1 US gal)

Eggs - Grade A large - 99 cnts/dz

Coffee (off brand) - $3.99 for 13 oz

Pork loin - $2.49/lb

Mediocre cheddar cheese (off brand) $4.59/lb

Not very good white bread - 99 cnts/lb

Good bread about $1.90/lb

How do these prices compare to the UK?

www.tesco.com

or www.sainsburys.co.uk

will reveal all on food prices

Wow! Thanks a lot everyone for your helpful suggestions. We're from Canada and have spent up to three months in Britain - believe it or not in the Cotswolds before everyone in the world wanted to visit there, about 23 years ago. We rented a cottage in Sibford Gower, learned how to appreciate a pint at the Wykham Arms and leased a Renault that we picked up at Calais, and for the entire trip I hugged the middle line while my husband drove in the ditch (the French, of course, have their steering on the opposite side to the English). It was wonderful. We've also visited for 3-6 weeks every second or third year since the 1970s.

But, for some powerful and inexplicable reason, we want more. We think we're pretty aware of the negatives, the cold, the damp, etc. - although we are from the Rocky Mountains and today it is -34C, with the wind chill, -42. We know we'll miss family but if we wait any longer our parents will be at ages that would make it risky for us to be too far away. And as Canadians, we have a pretty good health plan that covers us while we are overseas. We just adore England, the lumps, bumps and all. I start crying as soon as the pilot says we are approaching our final descent into Heathrow - or Gatwick - or Manchester. I'm just so happy.

Thanks flanneruk for the reminder about the distance from London. I'd forgotten how far people commute. And for the all the financial information. We are very simply living people, that's how we afford to travel, so wouldn't be expecting anything grand. We've had some preliminary discussions with government officials re: paperwork and didn't hear anything that scared us, but wanted to know whether we could afford it first. I will do some googling this morning at the various estate agent sites and see what I can find.

The idea about comparing the actual cost of food items is also great, would never have occured to me.

Again, thanks.

Here's a site I've had bookmarked..it lists rentals as well as for sale properties with excellent descriptions and prices.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/rm/svr/30...A9A28386F85B61

Don't worry about missing family and friends. An American friend of mine moved for a bit to rural Cheshire and she said that she didn't know why she didn't just put up a B and B sign. Friends and relations descended on her from the US. The oldies wanted to visit Wales and the young'uns wanted to hit the clubs and record shops in Manchester.

when putting together a budgt don't forget to add a travel line! Sems to be more important when your in the UK. At the end of the day, what do you have to lose going to a year (or more)? Go for it!

flanneruk, retirement visas are one of the many subjects I remain blissfully ignorant of. However, I'm happy to accept your word that it may be harder to gain entry to Australia that way than to the UK. Insularity is one possible explanation for this disparity, but if the term means anything like its face value suggests, a more obvious one presents itself.