South to north move - aka escape to the country

Slinky

seven-day-weekend said:

We moved from the West Midlands to Spain when we first retired.  Not on the Costas, but to a little village halfway up a large mountain, still very traditionally Spanish.  We knew one couple who lived in the next village, about a fifteen minute drive.

Although it's a different country, some of the same things apply.


We had a lovely eight years there, but it was never meant to be permanent and we came back eleven years ago.  If possible have the means to do so.

@seven-day-weekend is it really 11 years ago? I remember you posting up some photos of your home, it looked idyllic.

deddajay

Lots of good advice here, which I'm also taking as I'm planning on moving from commuter belt Sussex to Lincolnshire - just haven't decided exactly where yet. Just have to persuade the other half that renting first is a good idea.

seven-day-weekend

Slinky said:

seven-day-weekend said:

We moved from the West Midlands to Spain when we first retired.  Not on the Costas, but to a little village halfway up a large mountain, still very traditionally Spanish.  We knew one couple who lived in the next village, about a fifteen minute drive.

Although it's a different country, some of the same things apply.


We had a lovely eight years there, but it was never meant to be permanent and we came back eleven years ago.  If possible have the means to do so.

@seven-day-weekend is it really 11 years ago? I remember you posting up some photos of your home, it looked idyllic.

Yes, we came back at the very end of 2011, just before Christmas.  We have never been back.  We have decided to just keep the memories.

pinkteapot

deddajay said:

Lots of good advice here, which I'm also taking as I'm planning on moving from commuter belt Sussex to Lincolnshire - just haven't decided exactly where yet. Just have to persuade the other half that renting first is a good idea.

Some of the things we learned while renting which we simply wouldn't have known from afar: 

• The main road in/out of/through a large area we thought would be good is single carriageway and busy enough that it's very rare you're able to overtake. It's used by a lot of HGVs, so you're normally stuck at 50 rather than 60. Worse, it's regularly used by farmers in tractors who don't pull in to let traffic clear, even if they've got a mile-long queue behind them. It would have driven me NUTS having that as my main road to get anywhere. 
  
  
• At work and in social groups, we heard about some areas/villages which weren't so welcoming to outsiders. Also, by being nearby, once we did find a house we liked we were able to visit the village plenty of times, stroll around, get chatting to people, visit the pubs and have a natter... There was one house we came close to buying but we got a pretty unfriendly vibe from this, whereas where we are now was immediately friendly (first place might have been fine once we were in, but you don't know). 
  
  
• Also through chatting to people, got recommendations for a decent GP practice (not so relevant if you're healthy but we have ongoing conditions). 
  
  
• That we didn't need to worry about having a motorway run to work, as the motorway up here has barely any traffic in rush-hour (whereas down south you avoided a town-to-town commute by car as you wouldn't get above 40). This one meant we bought much closer to the Lake District National Park than we thought we would - we can see our favourite fells with a short stroll from our house!
  
  
• That one side of a town near us is a pain to get in/out of from July to September as you exit onto a main road that gets badly jammed up by tourists.
  
  
• If you'll be working in your new area rather than WFH and bringing your job with you: We needed to both get jobs up here, and it was good to get those, get settled and make sure we were happy, then buy a place that worked commute-wise for both job locations. 

(Skiddaw1 also moved to Cumbria and is probably sitting there guessing at where I'm talking about with some of these  )

My mum did a shorter distance relocation, but retired from a large town to a coastal town in Essex. She's always loved the sea. She rented what she thought would be her dream home - a townhouse right on the beachfront with a first-floor lounge with balcony overlooking the beach. This made her realise that the early-morning dog walkers banging car doors outside her house, plus the racket from the beach when it was packed in summer, weren't for her. She bought a house on the same estate, but just set back - she still has (more distant) sea views but it's dead quiet. 

Tiglet2

I'm also reading with interest.  Currently in Essex but daughter is East Cheshire, so we have been looking at Cheshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire.  Sounds like renting first is the best idea.

pinkteapot

Tiglet2 said:

I'm also reading with interest.  Currently in Essex but daughter is East Cheshire, so we have been looking at Cheshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire.  Sounds like renting first is the best idea.

I will champion it till I'm blue in the face. Beyond all the practicalities, there is the fact that a proportion of people who relocate rapidly realise they don't like being so far from their family and friends, and move back within a year or so. If you do this without buying, firstly you save a fortune and secondly it's much easier to do (no waiting for a house to sell). Renting gives you a low-commitment way to try the move. 

Having been banging on about this, it's not always simple... We blithely thought while in Essex "we'll sell up and once near exchange find a rental", because in Essex there's loads of rental properties. Turns out there's not many in Cumbria as people with a spare house tend to run it as a holiday let instead. Plus we have a pet, which limits which rentals will take us. There was a slightly fraught week or two of finding a house! Managed it though.

Renting also takes some of the pressure off the move because you're not hunting around for your dream house. When you're looking at rentals, especially when you know it's not for the long-term, you simply want something that's (1) the right sort of size, (2) in vaguely the right area and (3) not a total sh*t-pit. It's a 100% practical decision as you don't have to love it.

knightstyle

We went from a 2 bed flat in Worthing, West Sussex, to a 4 bed house in Gainsborough, lincs. and had change!
BUT in 10 years the flat in Worthing went up and up in value but the house in Gainsborough stayed the same.
So be aware that you will be unable to relocate back and you will be a long way away from family and friends.

Skiddaw1

pinkteapot said:

deddajay said:

Lots of good advice here, which I'm also taking as I'm planning on moving from commuter belt Sussex to Lincolnshire - just haven't decided exactly where yet. Just have to persuade the other half that renting first is a good idea.

Some of the things we learned while renting which we simply wouldn't have known from afar: 

• The main road in/out of/through a large area we thought would be good is single carriageway and busy enough that it's very rare you're able to overtake. It's used by a lot of HGVs, so you're normally stuck at 50 rather than 60. Worse, it's regularly used by farmers in tractors who don't pull in to let traffic clear, even if they've got a mile-long queue behind them. It would have driven me NUTS having that as my main road to get anywhere. 
  
  
• At work and in social groups, we heard about some areas/villages which weren't so welcoming to outsiders. Also, by being nearby, once we did find a house we liked we were able to visit the village plenty of times, stroll around, get chatting to people, visit the pubs and have a natter... There was one house we came close to buying but we got a pretty unfriendly vibe from this, whereas where we are now was immediately friendly (first place might have been fine once we were in, but you don't know). 
  
  
• Also through chatting to people, got recommendations for a decent GP practice (not so relevant if you're healthy but we have ongoing conditions). 
  
  
• That we didn't need to worry about having a motorway run to work, as the motorway up here has barely any traffic in rush-hour (whereas down south you avoided a town-to-town commute by car as you wouldn't get above 40). This one meant we bought much closer to the Lake District National Park than we thought we would - we can see our favourite fells with a short stroll from our house!
  
  
• That one side of a town near us is a pain to get in/out of from July to September as you exit onto a main road that gets badly jammed up by tourists.
  
  
• If you'll be working in your new area rather than WFH and bringing your job with you: We needed to both get jobs up here, and it was good to get those, get settled and make sure we were happy, then buy a place that worked commute-wise for both job locations. 

(Skiddaw1 also moved to Cumbria and is probably sitting there guessing at where I'm talking about with some of these  )

My mum did a shorter distance relocation, but retired from a large town to a coastal town in Essex. She's always loved the sea. She rented what she thought would be her dream home - a townhouse right on the beachfront with a first-floor lounge with balcony overlooking the beach. This made her realise that the early-morning dog walkers banging car doors outside her house, plus the racket from the beach when it was packed in summer, weren't for her. She bought a house on the same estate, but just set back - she still has (more distant) sea views but it's dead quiet. 

Lol!! @pinkteapot, that's exactly what I'm doing!

I absolutely echo what you've said too. Especially having a view of your favourite fells (and being able to easily walk from the house to some of them). I have to pinch myself every day to make sure it's real. So happy here.

Mgman1965

Not had a chance to trawl through all this thread but my advice is this.

If your moving from a city to rural bear in mind that 

High speed broadband can be hard to get outside towns still at the moment. 

Public transport can be very limited or non existent. 

Seeing country houses on a warm summers day is very different to a cold, rainy, dark winters day.

Think how far amenities are away (a small village shop isn't really much good but for an emergency pint of milk) such as doctors, a decent supermarket, dentist, a decent garage for the car (a main dealer).

Chances are you will have a moderate to long drive to all of them, in all weather's all year, so a good reliable car (preferably two) is an essential.

Tradesmen can be reluctant to travel far for work if you need them.

Just remember if your used to everything on your doorstep and the likes of Just eat/Deliveroo, rural living can be a bit of a shock.

pinkteapot

knightstyle said:

We went from a 2 bed flat in Worthing, West Sussex, to a 4 bed house in Gainsborough, lincs. and had change!
BUT in 10 years the flat in Worthing went up and up in value but the house in Gainsborough stayed the same.
So be aware that you will be unable to relocate back and you will be a long way away from family and friends.

That is an excellent point. The house we sold down south had really run up in value in the few years before we moved, while prices here hadn’t changed much in 20 years. Worked moving in this direction, but if we ever want to move back we’re well aware we’ll likely have a much smaller house than we did before.