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Or are there any nice and affordable areas? I grew up in a leafy part of Hampshire but ended up in east anglia due to relationships and work. DH and I bought a house and had children. This was all good until the dcs started school. There are a lot of parents with low aspirations, they stand outside of school smoking, swearing and drinking energy drinks. I am worried that my DCs will have no prospects here. I would love to relocate to a better area but we could never afford to live where I grew up. Any recommendations for nice but affordable towns?

Yanbu to wonder.

Most towns have a 'nice area'... often near the 'good school'. If your town is universally rubbish then ask estate agents in nearby towns where they'd recommend. You might find you only have to move a few miles and downsize a little to get something better.

Are energy drinks a sign of low aspirations?

You need to be more specific - East Anglia covers a huge area and has some lovely areas and what do you mean by affordable?

No one smokes or swears in Hampshire.

If the people smoking and swearing outside the school are also necking Energy Drinks I imagine they are scarily twitchy.....

Sounds like it's a case of the school catchment not meeting your aspirations. Have you looked locally to see if you could find somewhere you would feel more comfortable? How are your dcs doing there?

Buggered if I can see the problem with high energy drinks though.

In Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen.

And red bull is never consumed.

Not sure if you are genuine or not

Assuming you are, do you have to be in or near a particular area for work or family and friends, or can you move just about anywhere?

The Hampshire parents drink Costa Mochachinos at the school gates.

Well I live in East Anglia, from oooop North originally - there are plenty of naice towns around here with some very naice schools - Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Cambridge, Ely, Stowmarket, Woodbridge, Framlingham etc etc. Even the not so nice towns have good areas along with the bad.

Visit an estate agent !

Prospects are what you make them. I live in a cheap, economically deprived area. I drink Berocca, swear like a navvy, but am considered posh because my parents are middle class and I talk proper, like.

My children's prospects are fantastic, because I believe in them and invest time and energy in their education and the expansion of their horizons. I can do this because I don't waste my life pining for an enclave of Stokke-pushing, organic deli- shopping scrummy mummies called Tabitha.

I can only suggest you do likewise, it's incredibly fucking liberating.

Eh!?

I moved from London to east Anglia... south Norfolk. Some very nice areas here!!

There are so many lovely places in Hampshire. Totton springs to mind

I do beroccas every morning.

It's a right buzz.

Totton makes Shirley look classy!

If you are serious OP, what is your budget and what are you requirements for a home?

Totton sounds like Trumpton.

Mmmmn, or Aldershot.

Nice areas in south Norfolk that are not too expensive... diss, bungay, roydon, lopham, banham... we have a 3 bed semi detached house in one of those areas for £140k which after London prices is a bargain.

I had a daft idea I could maybe get a flat in Winchester (for the schools) and we would suck it up and use parks instead of having a garden.

Even the flats were out of my price range.

You want to try East Sussex. It's Camomile tea all the way. Mind you we pay a fortune to live here.

So, have I got this right? Despite your superior aspirations, you cannot afford to live in an area more expensive than the one you live in now? Along with the people drinking Moutain Dew?

Fairylea I LOVE Banham Zoo - when DS was little I used to practically live there.