Moving away from London to have first baby

[Newmumlondon123]

Hey there,

I was wondering whether anyone had moved away from London and had any advice at all?

I'm 7 months pregnant and my boyfriend and I are contemplating moving away from London to have our baby. We're both freelance and worried that we won't be able to afford much with the astronomical rent prices in London.

We have thought about moving up North to Manchester or Liverpool where I have family but I'm worried that it will be too much of a change for us and that I'll feel cut off from my life in London (we've both been here for over 10 years). We're also looking at moving to places which are more commutable to London (Hastings/Brighton etc) but then there's the worry that we won't know anyone at all there and I'll feel even more isolated. I love London but not sure how I will be able to sustain living here with my income decreasing so much.

It's our first child so I don't know what to expect! If anyone has any advice at all it'd be great to hear your views.

Many thanks

x

[monkey2014]

Just tried to send you a message, think it didnt work, did you get it?

Ive done the same thing, moved to Luton. I was freelance too. For the cost of a 1 bed high rise flat where we were living before weve got a 3 bed house with garden, near shops park and train 40 mins to central london. Its easy to see friends and were also closer to family this way too. If you move further south will you be less likely to see your family up north?

I dont really have any advice but i have made a lot of new friends here from volunteering before i had my baby and from going to childrens centre groups since. The bit which is probably most isolating is the months after newborn where visitors have tailed off but before baby is old enough to be a bit more predictable/be awake long enough to join playgroups.

I dont drive having been in london but i can see now it would be less isolating if i could drive, as i could visit family/friends more easily rathe than asking them to come to me so i am going to learn. It would also make getting to some groups/events around town a bit easier so i might be more likely to go to different things. Having said that, the childrens centres are brilliant here and there is something on for us every day of the. Week so once baby got to 5 months or so we go to most of them.

Ive noticed it can be harder to meet up with friends who are working in london because in the work i was doing, theres lots of late evenings whereas sionce baby the pattern of my day haschanged if that makes sense. Not many other people i know up as early as me :) also although train in is great i time it around rush hours/peak times so only good time to meet is middle of day if im going in to town - im less flexible than my friends. Im finding theres a lot of peole that want to meet atthe weekend, its more the weekdays where you can feel a bit alone.

How long is the commute from brighton or hastings? From my limited experiencei would say i wouldnt want to move so far away it makes it a job to arrange tosee your friends or family, but also youd be committing yourself to a long commute when you go back to work which ithink i would see as wasted time you could have spent with partnerand baby.

[DeepBlueLake]

I understand what you mean OP as we've just had DS2 and DS1 is almost 3. We're currently in central London atm but are looking to move out to West London or further out into Surrey so the boys can have some greenery growing up. Just looking at the house prices wants to make me cry.

We're considering moving to Bristol where DH is from and it is in a reasonable distance to London but am worried about job opportunities (or lack of) and missing the London life. Also my income will be higher in London, we are at a loss what to do.

We've also been here 10 years and it is home, I really don't want to be pushed out but we may have no choice if we want to buy a decent 3 bed house with a garden.