Has anyone relocated from the South East to North of England?

Prothet_of_Doom

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

' The North ' is a big area.

Starting from the River Trent to the Scottish borders.

Work out what you want, city life, suburban life, small town life, country life, coastal life.


Then look at transport links to the south, I would suggest within striking distance of a station on the east or west coast mainline.


Then where you could get employment.


After all of that get in your car and spend a fortnight looking round all the areas you have shortlisted.


Don't worry about moving to an area where you don't know anyone you will find the people are much more friendly than your typical Southerner as long as you are prepared to be friendly in return.

As a man that was born in Manchester and grew up in a village near The pennines, and a village near Macclesfield, and then in Miseryside, and as an adult, lived in Coventry (4 years), Birmingham (5 years), the Yorkshire Dales (3 years), and Back in Miseryside now for 20 years, I reckon the North for Londoners starts about Banbury.

In reality it starts at Crewe, and then heads Southwest towards Oswestry, and East towards Just north of Derby.

And it's Big, and some of it is MORE expensive than London, and some of it is cheaper.

Most big cities have Affluent suburbs where the rich live, but in general, you'll get more for your money up north.

My experience of moving with a family to a village on the edge of the Yorkshire dales, was not the most positive. The people were friendly, or were they actually just very nosey, and judgemental.
My wife felt isolated, it was miles from a DECENT shop, and in the winter there was sod all to do.

The OP needs to find a job, and get them to pay for relocation (is that a thing these days). Then ask the question, like "Where's the nicest bit of Merseyside (L23 ?) ?"

trailingspouse

Having lived in Hull, Sheffield, the south coast of Devon, Shetland, Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, Morpeth in Northumberland and now West Yorkshire, I've done a fair amount of north-south-north moving.


I'm not sure what you think will be different about living up north? People are people. There are some grotty areas - but that's true all over the country. You'll get on best if you don't come along with any pre-conceived ideas of what 'northerners' are like - we're all different. Just like southerners I suppose...


And absolutely, property prices are much better. I live in a 4-bed, 4-storey house which would sell for between £300,000 and £350,000 at the moment. And I can be in central London in 2hrs 30min if I need to be.


First of all you need to decide where you want to live. Depending on work, the outskirts of one of the big cities might suit best. Come up and have a look round!


I've just had a thought - you never hear a northerner saying 'I'm thinking of moving down south, anyone know what it's like down there?' But southerners seem to think it's going to be vastly different. Strange.

enthusiasticsaver

We moved from the south east to south west due to difference in house prices. My husband had a job with the same company lined up though at a comparable salary. We bought a 4 bed detached in a nice area for the same price we got for our 3 bed semi in an ok area in the south east. Schools were brilliant, good quality of life and reasonable job prospects for me in neighbouring city.

coffeehound

You need to learn to say “Y’alright?” as a greeting and “See ya later” when parting, whether or not you are likely to ever see that person again. Also, when speaking to a member of the opposite sex between 0 and 130, you should address them as “loov” or risk being seen as a bit standoffish.

Davesnave

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

My experience of moving with a family to a village on the edge of the Yorkshire dales, was not the most positive. The people were friendly, or were they actually just very nosey, and judgemental.
My wife felt isolated, it was miles from a DECENT shop, and in the winter there was sod all to do.

This sounds like our Devon village. People are friendly, but there's a lot of gossip, which is quite natural in a small place with relatively few social outlets. It's also 13 miles to a 'normal' supermarket.

All this would be very tedious for many people. It isn't boring for us, as we like the countryside, nature and farming-type activities, which keep us busy, but we can see why many others come here and then move on when the 'rural dream' fails to match reality. They go for a few walks, try all the pubs and then think, "Now what?" because their interest in rural life is shallow. They don't want to watch a film that's 6 months past release in the village hall, where you must bring your own cushion, or ache for days! Even worse, their shiny car gets continually covered in mud and scratched in the filthy, narrow lanes. It's all very inconvenient.

Incomers who stay tolerate the hassles because they get payback from something quiet rurality offers, but it's not for everyone, and there's no reason why it should be. We don't need a homogenised countryside.

TripleH

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

Harrogate is very expensive and a bit 'snooty '

A bit snooty??? I would say something else about rods inside rods inside rectums but... besides it is a pain to get from Berkshire up there and they will get less for their money than other places.

If you have family around where you currently are, think about the following :

1. Do you visit them often (or will you expect to)?
2. Does your desired location have easy transport links to get back down to see them? (It's not fun when half a day is spent in the car driving up to see family)

It might be almost worth planning a route to home and choosing locations along the way (find somewhere nice you would like to live in).

LottieLou

I have to admit I’ve never heard of Cottam, Preston from what I know of I wouldn’t choose to live there.

Shoot me down here too but not another southerner coming up north :rotfl::rotfl:

I live in the North West, a friends mum was planning on making a move from London (I think West) to not far from us to the posher bits Hale/Knutsford/Mobberly and decided against it because she wasn’t getting anything different for her money, on some occasions much less. On our road (not in those posher areas) a 3 bed semi has just sold for 455k

My point - the north is a big place. Living costs will be cheaper everywhere but there’s some areas you need to stay away from if you want a detached with all the mod cons.

I’d start by looking at job prospects and commute.

Good luck

ProDave

I moved from Oxfordshire to the Highlands 16 years ago. Yes that may not be your definition of "the north"

I was totally fed up with the over crowded roads in the south, employment in my field was proving less than ideal, and we had long realised we would never progress beyond a 3 1/.2 bedroom semi.

So we moved to near Inverness. Been mortgage free ever since. Currently own 2 houses now, one is for sale (tenanted at the moment) and the other is a 90% complete self build.

We love hill walking and the countryside in general, and being close to the sea now, we have a share in a sailing boat.

I cannot think of a single reason why I would want to go back. We visit roughly once a year, and 2 days of putting up with the traffic jams and I am glad to be out of there again.

Grumpelstiltskin

When someone has ideas that any other part of the country is different to where they live now I think of TV programmes such as Escape To The Country.

A southerner couple say they want to move to X area for peace and quiet.
They are shown a house in the middle of the countryside and they turn it down as it is too far away from amenities.
So they are shown a house in a village and they turn it down as it is too close to the road, used as a rat run.

You guess they are not going to be interested in any house they are shown as none of them meet the idea they have of the countryside.

I know people move to my area from the London area as here they can buy a 4 bedroom detached house for under £300 K problem is here is lack of well paid jobs without a 15/20 mile commute.


Nowhere is perfect there are plus and minus points everywhere.

chelseablue

Had a quick look on some job sites this morning

Seems I could get an Office Manager job for £28 - £30k.

£6k less than I'm on, but houses are £100k + cheaper. I searched Warrington, Bradford and Blackburn. Obviously would need to spend some time visiting a few places