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

lisyloo

Davesnave wrote: »

It's my contention there are thousands of communities up and down the land similar to this one.

I am sure you are quite right Dave, however there a few issues with rural living.

One has to take into account commutes particular of a couple both work and therefore there are 2 commutes. This is of course true with urban living too.

Public transport options are dire even in small towns in many areas so this isn’t really a good option for someone who doesn’t drive or who works somewhere that parking is an issue. I worked in Bath for many years and parking was a real issue which of course drives people to live near a railway station.

In the south west rural areas are expensive and often more expensive than suburban area (white van land). For example Near Bristol the rural areas contain race horses and prince Charles polo ponies.

I think you are right but commuting that people do twice a day is often an overriding criteria. Can’t wait for retirment.

chelseablue

iksbedd wrote: »

The idea was to lead a better life..... more rural is part of that for us - more open space, countryside etc. Otherwise we're swapping one suburbia for another.

You make a good point too about kids; I don't want them to grow up into the pressure to have everything down here and not have time for people :A

I think for me and my husband it wouldn't be a drastic drop in income if he could get paid the same up there and I dropped down to 28-30k

I'm so used to a certain figure going into the bank each month I need to remind myself that my mortgage would be £0 or about 300 quid so I wouldn't need to earn almost 40 grand a year

iksbedd

chelseablue wrote: »

I think for me and my husband it wouldn't be a drastic drop in income if he could get paid the same up there and I dropped down to 28-30k

I'm so used to a certain figure going into the bank each month I need to remind myself that my mortgage would be £0 or about 300 quid so I wouldn't need to earn almost 40 grand a year

I think this is it. We'd be looking a mortgage of around £600 pcm for a £400k property which is a £300 drop from now. But, we'd be losing monthly income of £1600 which is why it's not an easy choice to make!

Skiddaw1

chelseablue wrote: »

Good luck! Where abouts in Berkshire are you?

We're in Reading. We're in the happy position of being footloose and fancy free now (managed to run away from work a few years early) so have decided to follow our hearts and move (hopefully) to a part of the country we know and love . Fells, proper weather and decent beer- what more could you ask from life? :beer:

chelseablue

Skiddaw1 wrote: »

We're in Reading. We're in the happy position of being footloose and fancy free now (managed to run away from work a few years early) so have decided to follow our hearts and move (hopefully) to a part of the country we know and love . Fells, proper weather and decent beer- what more could you ask from life? :beer:

We're Bracknell so not far from you

iksbedd

chelseablue wrote: »

We're Bracknell so not far from you

I'm just outside Camberley so again, not far!

swingaloo

I was born and raised up in the North West then met my husband through work. He was living in South West London but originally from Hertfordshire.


I moved down there for a while but then due to me having a big family and him none we moved back to the North West. I used to spend ages looking in Estate Agents windows and being amazed how little you got for how much down there.


The North |west has some lovely areas. I cant understand why anyone who has property in the London area doesn't sell up and retire further north unless they have family ties. You can buy a property up here for less than half the cost and have a tidy sum set aside for retirement.


Its always said that Northerners are more friendly than Southerners and I did find that people down south didn't acknowledge a smile or seem to have any time for pleasantries and would look straight through you on the street.
But, when we first moved back up North I found that the attitude of a lot of those up here had a lot to be desired. Hubby was frequently called 'a cockney' despite telling people he was not from London and when he joined the local youth football training team I heard one of the guys saying 'We don't need his sort in this team, bloody southerner'.
There was a lot of rudeness and animosity although now they know him that has stopped. But its definitely not a given that the southerners are the rudest.

chelseablue

iksbedd wrote: »

I'm just outside Camberley so again, not far!

Nice M&S there!

Skiddaw1

If we all make it Up North we'll have to start a Berkshire ex-pats group!!

OldMusicGuy

Finchampstead here moving to South Petherton in Somerset. We couldn't afford to live where we are now (moved here 20 years ago) if we were buying today.

I think the issue anyone from the SE may face when relocating anywhere is the "incomer" sneer, especially as we are likely to have done pretty well out of property compared to the rest of the country. Fortunately my wife's family are from South Petherton so we are returning to her "roots" as it were.....