I need somewhere nice to live

I will add to what I wrote.

Hebden Bridge, where these photos were taken is a lovely colourful town.

On either side, along the canal, we have the towns of Sowerby bridge and Todmorden, which are depressed dumps.

These are tramp boats, but they are in a post industrial town that had reinvented itself as a tourist attraction with artists, musicians, small independent shops and hippies.

The other big problem with living on a canal is that they usually were built through the grubbiest parts of industrialised towns - which are now slums - so they get a lot of use by druggies and trouble-makers.     It's much nicer if you can avoid the towns and be more in the countryside between.    

British Waterways is also trying to discourage the 'Tramp' boats that are an eyesore and usually don't meet any safety standards - we had one explode about 1/2 mile away just before Christmas - no-one hurt, but the boat has burst wide open at all its seams like in a cartoon.

Canal boats are lovely. You need to but or lease a mooring to go withthe boat that's often the tricky ir expensive bit. I have 3 friends who don't and instead have to demonstrate they are constantly cruising, ie moving the boat every two weeks a few miles. Makes life a bit harder ie moving it, getting wood, cycling back and forth sometimes ling distances to town with shopping, laundry, to showers, water top up etc., they say it's a days work a week to live that way.

Canals rArely flood cos the water flows are managed. And when they do flood it's rarely an issue either for boats or area.

Good question, what happens during a flood?

The river valley floods but what about the nearby canal?  I don't know.

oh --- too bad. i was trying to suggest something uber-different, because i'm considering moving, and realize how uber hard it is to avoid all the sensitivities aspies might have...................... another consideration is mixed use housing, which also houses disabled people..... i would consider that, since my needs are so hard to fulfill

That sounds a nice lifestyle. I'm glad you have it. 

At least they don't have to worry about flooding! Which is a major problem sometimes in Yorkshire.

Some people have unconventional lifestyles, on my travels I came across a whole community living semi permanently on canal boats, here in Hebden Bridge.

Van life doesn't really work in the uk - the country is too small and congested to hide in plain sight.   It's much more of a US-thing with its history of pioneering and self-sufficient life in the Wild West..

In the UK, there'll always be someone around to notice sound or light coming from a parked van and you become an instant target for the low-life or the police.

So I'm in Lancaster. It's fairly small, you can walk most places. You can walk out into the countryside in 5 mins from most pkaces, canal, estuary, river, and hills in 10 min in a car.

I can shop in small town centre shops rather than deal with supermarket, but some small supermarkets that are quiet, ef Booths.

There's a strong sense of community. It's poor, so not lots of commercial stuff to do like new resaurants to visit, so you have to sort your own stuff out. So the community centres etc have stuff. Lots of yoga, running, etc things.

The 2 unis mean there's alternative cinema, cinema, etc. But unis out of town so not many students in the town.

The unis dominate, so you get quiet, reflective types, and i think a lot of aspies working and studying there, but also staying on afterwards.

Basically it's quiet, countercultural, and different social classes seem to integrate together more. I love it here!

It's a criminal offence to do this in some parts of the U.K. You need to be very aware of local guidelines if you're going to attempt this or you can be landed with a huge fine or jail.

some people literally live in............cars...............vans...............trailers............. here in the usa, we call it stealth camping... you're in a vehicle, you try to blend in, you've got your stuff with you. if there's too much noise or light or whatever, you move. people learn various tricks and strategies to not get hassled. this is probably the most out there suggestion yuou'll get......

I'm not allowed to do anything in the garden - interesting idea though!

Have you considered a 'man-shed' in the back garden that you can insulate for warmth and with good sound proofing so you can make your own 'chill-out' space and spend your days in there being creative - close enough to have good wi-fi with all the benefits of free food and having your washing done. .

Earplugs wouldn't work for me Elizabeth I'm afraid because I have shellshock from abusive situations I've been in and even just feeling the vibrations of people slamming doors or behaving in certain ways triggers me. Where I live currently I don't get abuse from neighbours but sometimes I get abuse from my dad and sometimes it makes me feel very, very low indeed. In the past two flats I had of my own I had problematic neighbours who were either abusive or just very loud and frightening.

I wouldn't go for the religious stuff myself probably having never attended church since I was a pre-teen. Some suburbs are very nice. It all comes down to money in the end. I've been too ill to work for a long, long time. I have severe mental health problems on top of the Autism. Most university towns look nice to me.

Really interesting reply. Thank you. I used to visit Aberystwyth every weekend when I lived in Wales and tried to convince my mum to move there when we were moving as a family but she wouldn't because she wanted to be near other family members. 

I've also considered Kendal, it looks really good. Has useful facilities like a hospital and well-connected train station but also lots of charm and character. Though maybe a bit busy with traffic on the roads, I'm not sure.

I suppose it's possible I could get somewhere to live in one of those kind of towns you mention. So can I ask what you feel it's like where you live? How you feel it's better than other places?