It's my husband, me, and our newborn daughter (8 days old!). My husband grew up on a farm in rural Netherlands, close enough to a small city that he had the best of both worlds, and we're thinking that might be nice for our daughter. My mother lives in Brooklyn so I'd like to be able to visit her a few times a month (it's easy to drive in and park right in front of her house, but public transport is always a plus). My father is in MA, but I think he'd move out to Upstate NY if we were to relocate there.

As the title says we're looking for a town, or rural area close to a cute village, and nature, where we could purchase a home on at least an acre of land for under $400k, within a 2-3 hour drive to NYC. Is this wishful thinking? Our idea is the spend a summer up there and travel around/stay in different places to check out if we're feeling it. We are not looking for your typical suburb, that is how I grew up (New Jersey) and my husband always says he didn't leave Amsterdam to live in an American suburb. No offense to anyone who has suburb as their American dream!

We currently live in New Orleans and I know it's not sustainable to buy a home here. I used to think I missed out pre-pandemic when prices were just right, now I realize I dodged a bullet because folks' insurance and taxes are twice their monthly mortgage. I love living here, so I am having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that we might need to leave in the next few years.

ETA: thank you so much to everyone who has made a recommendation, we’re going to look into all these places and hopefully be able to visit a bunch next summer to see how they match up, thank you!