Best places in England to live

I'll be moving to England this October, and I will be working at a veterinarian. What cities/towns do you think are the best to live in? I'm looking for nice scenery, nice people, and lots of wildlife [foxes,otters, hedgies] I'm also a photographer so picturesque areas would be nice. If there is a Waterstones nearby that would also be great. Also hopefully I can find a detached home, maybe a thatched cottage or tudor house for a decent price. I've been looking online and for smaller detached homes they cost almost a million pounds!

I was thinking of moving to one of these counties; Essex, Hampshire, Devon, Dorsey, Surrey, Norfolk, Cumbria, Kent, Suffolk or Berkshire. The city I'm thinking most into is Chelmsford, so what is your opinion of Chelmsy?

Thanks :]

From your options listed Timothy, I'd go for Berkshire or Hampshire though staying away from large towns. As for your other options----Surrey, 2nd most expensive place to live after London;

Kent---Id prefer to go over the county into East Sussex. Dorset, property cheaper than closer to London options and no motorway in it. One county you might like to consider west of Berkshire is Wiltshire. 

Those cute thatched cottages aren't cheap. Re-thatching about every 15-20 years is very expensive. Where I live, vets not only treat pets as usual, but a lot of farm animals about and race horses too that use their services.

Jaunty Jane says:

I think there are some lovely places to live throughout England.  If you want a cheaper property however, the south tends to be more expensive than the north.  Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria are beautiful, Cotswolds has lots of pretty villages, Shropshire and the West Country are beautiful, as is Norfolk and Suffolk ..... I could go on and on.  England has such a variety of scenery for such a small country. I have not been to Chelmsford yet however.  Hope you find your dream location - Good Luck!

Hope you don't mind me closing down the other (duplicate) thread Jane and copying your response to Timothy.One or the other had to go. If you happen to read this and want to re-post your comment as above, I will then delete this post and nobody will know any different will they? Lol

Hi Timothy and welcome.  Not an expert by a long shot on the answer to your question, but I think I agree with Jane - the Yorkshire Dales.  Perhaps you could be the next Alf Wight (aka James Herriot) there.    Have fun here, Timothy.

Well what do you think of Harrogate and Carlisle?

 I'd really like to move to Southern England though, I really liked it down there :] .

Harrogate is a lovely spa town and, although the Yorkshire Dales are virtually on its doorstep, Leeds and York (and the Yorkshire Moors) are within easy reach.  Carlisle is in Cumbria - within easy reach of the Lake District. 

Depends whereabouts in the south of England.  Cornwall and Devon are in the South West, as is Dorset and Wiltshire, whilst in the east you have Surrey, Sussex and Kent and more central, Hampshire.  As I said previously however, properties in the south of England tend to be a lot more expensive than further up north.