where's a good place to live in Northern Ireland Please? moving from England.

truewraith121

hi,

ive lived in England all my life but due to all our relatives now living in NI me and my family are looking to move there to this year and i have no idea what is a good place to live as we are looking for somewhere quiet and safe as it can get for our kids, and anywhere is going to be better than living in Manchester as we are totally sick of this place and the constant bad areas. any advice would be great no matter how little

thanks

Wkmg

South Belfast just off the Malone road. 

davidmcn

If all your relatives live there, can't they give any guidance? Presumably you want to be reasonably close to them anyway? 

[Deleted User]

truewraith121 said:

hi,

ive lived in England all my life but due to all our relatives now living in NI me and my family are looking to move there to this year and i have no idea what is a good place to live as we are looking for somewhere quiet and safe as it can get for our kids, and anywhere is going to be better than living in Manchester as we are totally sick of this place and the constant bad areas. any advice would be great no matter how little

thanks

I’m pretty sure the Shankhill could give Manchester a run for its money. 

Where in Northern Ireland specifically do your family live? What sector do you work in?  

Proofread100

I'd agree with the others to check with family. Plenty of gorgeous areas. Plenty of safe areas and great schools. 
But N Ireland being what it is, sometimes you move a few streets and go from safe to definitely not safe.  So you may need to be very specific. 
Best thing is that you are never far from the sea or mountains. I miss it so much. Especially in lockdown where we don't have anywhere within covid approved distance to go for a nice long walk. 

fiwen30

I moved from Derby to NI almost 10 years ago. There are ‘good’ areas, and ‘bad’ areas like everywhere else, but the difference is one area might be good or bad to you, depending on your erm, ‘cultural upbringing’. Some parts of Belfast, the west, and the south, might be less tolerant of an English family moving into the neighbourhood.

I’m biased, but I like living in County Down. It has great beaches, good walks, the towns have mostly decent shopping, but it’s also got good transport links to Belfast. Don’t have kids, so can’t comment on schools, but I do know that the schooling system is very different here, once you get past primary level. Mid & North Down are useful locations. I wouldn’t look at the Ards peninsular - it’s cheaper housing, but there’s far fewer amenities once you go past Millisle, and the transport gets unreliable.

But definitely check with your family - do you want to be close to them? Do you need to be 20 minutes from Belfast city centre? Do you need to be near the airports, or ferry stations? Do you drive (we only have 2(?) train lines)? Do you want sprawling country views, or are you a city family? What do you do for fun?

NI may be small, but it’s got a vast array of different landscapes - cultural, social, as well as natural. You’ll be able to find somewhere you love, but we’d need more info to help properly!

CookieMonster

fiwen30 said:

NI may be small, but it’s got a vast array of different landscapes - cultural, social, as well as natural. You’ll be able to find somewhere you love, but we’d need more info to help properly!

Ditto.
And take a coat.

youth_leader

My daughter has just moved to NI, she's living very happily in the Ballymacarret area of County Antrim.  I hope your family can help you relocate.  If you are taking your car, having sorted out her insurance here, I was told they wanted another £600 because of the move -  she's now insured with a NI firm. 

niknaks0285

Really would need more information in relation to the area your relatives live, do you want to live nearby? Size of house, city or country, how close to a particular city. I live in northern ireland was born here, moved to england lived there for 13 years and back in NI now 13 years. House prices in a good area depending on where you want to live and the type of house can be as low as £140k,  upwards to 800k depending on postcode etc. 
A little information will help to give a better insight into what we have here. 

Skiddaw1

A vote from me for County Down. I have family out there (formerly in Bangor and now in Conlig, near Newtonards). Love the Ards peninsula. Antrim is lovely too.

truewraith121

sorry ive not been able to get back to this for a while. Thanks very much for all the input it gives me alot to go by.

we have relatives in coleraine so i was looking around there about 5-10 miles around and we have 3 kids so was hoping for 3-4 bed house and hopefully somewhere nice and quiet but i did see some large homes with crazy low prices compared to here in manchester but they was very far out it seamed like 1 i was looking at in Garvagh i think it was called. and some close to the coast north of coleraine.