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

MatyMoo

Not as drastic as you at looking but after 20 years in a Hertfordshire 3 bed mid terrace I moved back to a 3 bed semi in Cambridgeshire to be mortgage feee and couldn’t be happier.

Salary drop was only £2k but I think I was lucky;)

Owain_Moneysaver

Skiddaw1 wrote: »

we're in process of selling our house in Berkshire

Rightmove link please :rotfl:

Albala

swingaloo wrote: »

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.

I am a bit concerned about that- like you, I'm an expat Northerner, but my OH is sort of from the Midlands but moved around a lot and has no accent to speak of, not even a Midlands one. I just hope that he doesn't meet with that sort of thing if we move North, as we hope to do eventually; it does worry me a bit. I'd be mortified if that happened. I was thinking of this today, as I was out and about here in the Midlands. I tried smiling at people I passed/met and got the frosty '!!!!!! off' Midland look in return even more times than usual. As I hadn't said anything in most cases, I assume it's not because I'm not local. 'Up north', I reckon I'd have got a smile back at least, accent or not.

couriervanman

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

Harrogate is very expensive and a bit 'snooty '

Full of snooty relocated shandy drinking southerners

phoebe1989seb

Albala wrote: »

I am a bit concerned about that- like you, I'm an expat Northerner, but my OH is sort of from the Midlands but moved around a lot and has no accent to speak of, not even a Midlands one. I just hope that he doesn't meet with that sort of thing if we move North, as we hope to do eventually; it does worry me a bit. I'd be mortified if that happened. I was thinking of this today, as I was out and about here in the Midlands. I tried smiling at people I passed/met and got the frosty '!!!!!! off' Midland look in return even more times than usual. As I hadn't said anything in most cases, I assume it's not because I'm not local. 'Up north', I reckon I'd have got a smile back at least, accent or not.

I guess everyone's experiences are different, but we found people in the Midlands very friendly during our three years there (late 2014 to early 2018), although we couldn't abide the accent We lived between Bridgnorth and Wolves and compared to other parts of the country when we moved in, we were greeted with gifts of prosecco and new home cards as well as party invites (it was the week before Christmas). Had never experienced this anywhere else and we've moved about eight times to several different parts of the UK.

We're originally from Hampshire - I was born and brought up in Southsea while DH is from the outskirts of Southampton and moved to North Essex a few years back. In Southsea where we lived for twenty years our neighbours were very private - which suited us as we are too - and we never befriended any/were befriended by them, although this might in part be due to the type of neighbourhood. In a street of twenty houses, only five were lived in by single families, the rest were either divided into several flats or else were nurseries/care homes/language school. Our friends were all from outside of our immediate neighbourhood. However, when we moved to Essex we found the people rather intimidating - very 'in your face' so after a short while we couldn't wait to sell up and leave!

From Essex we moved back south - to the Wiltshire side of the Wilts/Dorset border. Our village was disappointingly lacking in a community feel, although we put that down to the fact the village straddled the A30. We also had some of the nosiest, most gossip-led neighbours there - what you hear about villages but hope isn't true

We then sold that place and bought the Midlands house. For me the main issue with living there was the distance from the coast. Some great countryside though and some of the villages and market towns are great.

Last year we bought a cottage with a bit of land in Carmarthenshire. We absolutely love it here - although our only neighbours are not great (luckily we are far enough away and tbh, in fifteen months I've met him once and her never!) - the countryside is stunning, the beaches are fab and often empty and we've found everyone except those neighbours really welcoming!

Neither of us has an accent at all but one elderly Welsh lady DH was chatting to said she couldn't understand his accent - it's all relative I guess! We are attempting to learn the language but don't think we'll ever be fluent.

We couldn't afford to buy back our old house in Southsea now (around £800-900k :eek:).....not that we'd want to as traffic was a nightmare. It was a great location when DS was growing up though.....

Davesnave

lisyloo wrote: »

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

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.

While it's true that some rural areas are expensive, there's a big difference between, say, somewhere like Wellow on the outskirts of Bath, or Chew Stoke on the outskirts of Bristol and one of the ex-mining villages, like Paulton (see, I know my geography!)

And while we are more out in the sticks here, there's a railway that bisects this part of Devon, so I'd have a choice of a train or a bus every hour to Exeter/Barnstaple if I wanted it. I can also reach my doctor/dentist in 5 minutes from here, but B&Q or a normal sized Sainsburys is a 42mile round trip!

What you get in the country is often an anomalous mixture when it comes to convenience. Another example would be schools here, which are excellent, but there's no way children can safely walk to them, in winter particularly, so everyone pays or ferries their kids. In town, my children would walk a greater distance than they'd need to here to go to their chosen school.

Yes, there are problems, some of which can be overcome by knowing the areas really well before buying. I'd say 'near Bristol' is vastly different from here though; they're not comparable, though we do have horses, like Charlie Watts' wife's Arabian stud, which had 56 of them last time I looked. Now there's someone with taste!

lookstraightahead

I moved from the north midlands ish to surrey in the 90's as a graduate. I was turned down for jobs in London to start with as "my accent wouldn't fit" (was actually told this can you imagine that now!). I don't like the South (personal choice). I slowly started moving more north again (firstly north London) then out of the south altogether when I could afford it. I don't like the layout of the countryside (not sure why). I suppose it doesn't feel rugged enough.

My personal experience is that I spent too much, went out too much and had too much stuff. I made some good international friends but you can do that anywhere.

It's not far, it's the same country. But it is personal preference.

Albala

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

I guess everyone's experiences are different, but we found people in the Midlands very friendly during our three years there (late 2014 to early 2018), although we couldn't abide the accent

My trip out yesterday was in Stafford, and people from other places locally tell me they think that think Staffordians are 'stuck up'.:D But to be fair, generally it's just that they are more reticent. If you make the first move, they are pretty much the same as anywhere else. The main differences I have found are largely superficial. But they can still get you down a bit if you're used to a more openly friendly culture.

Skiddaw1

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Rightmove link please :rotfl:

I'd be far too scared!!

Skiddaw1

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

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.....

I think we're lucky in that Mr S is an ex-pat Northerner so has (more or less) the correct accent.