Moving Away from the Southeast... What am I missing?

shortcrust

Spelunthus wrote: »

Grantham's nice but please consider the OPPORTUNITY loss for your children. In the South-East you have a wealth of services, leisure & facilities. In Grantham, these will be less, and you will find yourselves having to travel extensively and work hard to back-fill. Providing your kids with the CHANCE to TRY as much as possible is pretty important (IMO), especially around 8-14 age group.

Please consider that, in the long run, this may be more important than a Grammar school, or Private school.

Also, a place is just a place. It's people who are important - how many do you know now? How many do you know in Grantham? I'm sure you'll meet lots of nice people, but why disrupt your family and social life when there is no need?

Crikey. Anyone would think we were talking about Syria rather than Grantham.

ReadingTim

shortcrust wrote: »

Crikey. Anyone would think we were talking about Syria rather than Grantham.

Quite - there are plenty of Syrians who would take exception to being compared with such a sh!thole.

shortcrust

ReadingTim wrote: »

Quite - there are plenty of Syrians who would take exception to being compared with such a sh!thole.

Probably true. After all, there are loads of Syrians who haven’t been recently killed or displaced, and Grantham doesn’t even have a Waitrose.

MysteryMe

I'm not sure the OP is being realistic TBH, particularly with commuting time and schooling. Even considering moving for the choice of secondary schooling for a one year old at this stage seems bonkers as so much can change in 8/9 years.

The OP really needs to spend a good week in the Grantham area and do that commute for a few days so they know exactly how long it will take. That means door to door. Getting off a crowded train at Kings Cross to get to Bank is not a quick little jaunt in rush hour even when there are no issues on the train or tube.

If they were working from home 3 days and in London 2 it might be worth it but can't see the point otherwise. The OP has already intimated that the chances of getting work in their sector outside the SE are very slim so they are committing themselves to that journey potentially for many years ahead. He'd hardly see his child during the week so where is the quality of life?

If I were in his shoes I would honestly be looking at options closer to home, where his family are not losing their social network and putting further distance from family.

There are plenty of places not costing a million quid to live in the SE that are not on crowded new housing estates, are close to some of the top performing schools in the country and with countryside and coastal regions on the doorstep.

Whatever the choice the OP decides upon I wish them all the best.

kinger101

MysteryMe wrote: »

The OP really needs to spend a good week in the Grantham area

I think you're being optimistic.

quantumlobster

Or just get a not-as-well-paid-but-still-entirely-serviceable job that's (whisper it!) not in that London.

This idea that one must work in London (or else you're basically sentencing yourself and your family to a life of penury and Tesco Value Beans) needs to die.

FBaby

- Less crowding / more rural / more open space, walks etc.;

You put this first on your list which surprises me as there is plenty of this on the Sussex/Kent border. It's a stunning area of the country, not mentioning more sunny days.

I fell your motivation is a bigger fancy house with still the option of grammar schools. Nothing wrong this but personally, I would give both up for a shorter commute having experienced it myself, maybe not right away but after a few years.

bertiewhite

shortcrust wrote: »

Crikey. Anyone would think we were talking about Syria rather than Grantham.

Which is just another way of saying what I said.

Smodlet

quantumlobster wrote: »

Or just get a not-as-well-paid-but-still-entirely-serviceable job that's (whisper it!) not in that London.

This idea that one must work in London (or else you're basically sentencing yourself and your family to a life of penury and Tesco Value Beans) needs to die.

:rotfl: Yep, there is no intelligent life outside of London. Here be [STRIKE]dragons[/STRIKE] carrot crunchers, oo-ar!

Andalya

quantumlobster wrote: »

Or just get a not-as-well-paid-but-still-entirely-serviceable job that's (whisper it!) not in that London.

This idea that one must work in London (or else you're basically sentencing yourself and your family to a life of penury and Tesco Value Beans) needs to die.

In this case I think the OP stated that their job is quite London-specific. Lot's of us would happily leave London if it didn't mean switching industries and starting from the bottom again.