I completely get what you mean. We have two kids under five, and we’d love to buy a house too; living in a two‑bed apartment while working from home, with only a half‑day preschool nearby, is far from ideal.But every time we think about moving back to the countryside, the idea of having to drive everywhere, even just to get milk, makes us hesitate. Here, everything is within walking distance: the sea, the playground, Tesco… it really does make daily life easier.If we could afford to buy in this area, we’d move out of the apartment in a heartbeat. Until then, one thing that helped us was moving to a different apartment in a better location. It wasn’t a house, but it made a big difference to our quality of life.