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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To move to Yorkshire from the south coast on my own?

291 replies

MintyCedric · 02/03/2024 22:26

It’s a medium term plan (DD currently at uni and elderly mum would make it difficult atm) …probably in the next 3-5 years…I’ll be in my early fifties by then.

I’ve lived on the south coast since I was toddler, but these days I have about 3 friends here…one is single but has a very active social life, the other two are married with family commitments.

I fell in love with Yorkshire when I visited for the first time about 8 years ago. I feel like it has all the cultural stuff that interests me, but with less pretension and I love the countryside up there. I’d also be able to get a nicer house than my current one with no mortgage…a major consideration as my mortgage currently runs until I’m 67 and I have limited pension provision.

Despite all these pros, my DD and my best mate are being quite negative and unsupportive. They feel I ‘made more effort’ here to socialise I wouldn’t want to move, but it’s really not about that…I just want a fresh start.

AIBU to think I could move in my fifties, on my own and create a new life for myself?

And if anyone has any opinions on Harrogate and surrounding areas or Otley/Burley/Poole in Wharfdale as places to live…bring it on!

OP posts:
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BIossomtoes · 09/03/2024 21:36

Cleaningupthemess · 09/03/2024 21:20

Take a look at Northallerton. It’s great imo

The towns the other side of the A1 are nice too - Leyburn, Bedale, Masham.

saraclara · 09/03/2024 21:32

I'd probably go for Otley out of the places you mention.

I really envy you. I was brought up in Derbyshire, studied in Yorkshire, but ended up down south for work. I always intended going back, but I met my late husband (from Yorkshire) we had our kids, they were happy with schools and friends, and somehow we just never did it.

I have really good friends up in Bingley and Keighley, would have a much better social life up there, and could get a cheaper nicer house and use the equity to help my kids. But my kids and my DGCs are what keep me down here.

Best of luck with your new start!

Cleaningupthemess · 09/03/2024 21:20

Take a look at Northallerton. It’s great imo

Original poster
MintyCedric · 09/03/2024 21:01

So…have spent a lot of time on Right Move today and will be checking out these areas of Harrogate in August but…

Killinghall
Bilton

&

Knaresborough

Any idea what any of them are like?

OP posts:
Original poster
MintyCedric · 09/03/2024 08:22

Hippee · 08/03/2024 22:56

Primary or Secondary? I work in a secondary school. Happy to meet up for a chat next time you are here.

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Oh wow, that would be amazing, thank you!

Secondary school…big co-ed (Student Welfare Assistant). Have previously done admin at another secondary and also 7 years at Surestart back in the good old pre-Tory government days!

Definitely want to continue working more directly with the kids…admin was never really for me, just took me a long time to discover that!

OP posts:
Hippee · 08/03/2024 22:56

MintyCedric · 07/03/2024 00:07

@Hippee I stayed in Bilton last year when I went to the Theakston Crime festival and it’s a great location. Going back this year and will definitely try to get more of a feel for the local community while I’m there.

Does anyone know about schools up that way (for work purposes)?

Primary or Secondary? I work in a secondary school. Happy to meet up for a chat next time you are here.

RampantIvy · 08/03/2024 06:58

Ringpeace · 08/03/2024 00:00

I'd move to Yeadon just for Murgatroyd's fish and chips.

DH used to work in Yeadon and said their fish and chips were great.

Ringpeace · 08/03/2024 00:00

I'd move to Yeadon just for Murgatroyd's fish and chips.

Heydiddlediddle10 · 07/03/2024 23:08

NC.
I live a couple of miles from otley.
Burley and Ilkley are more expensive areas. I grew up there.
Otley is more affordable..
I think you would enjoy living in any of those areas. Plenty to do nearby.
Yeadon is also similar to otley and is one of the more affordable areas around.

Original poster
MintyCedric · 07/03/2024 23:07

@Overloadimplode thank you so much 😁.

Not quite free to start afresh yet, but even being in a position to think about and plan for it is lovely after a truly shitty few years!

OP posts:
Overloadimplode · 07/03/2024 22:46

I haven't read the thread but just the first page. I am just here to champion you OP. I love that you are free and ready to start afresh. I would love to think I could be in this position in the future. Go for it. Yorkshire is fabulous. And to be mortgage free earlier on would be wonderful.

colouringindoors · 07/03/2024 22:34

I'd love to move to Yorkshire 😊 visiting dd in Huddersfield just reinforces it. Despite other pp not all Hudd is grim and there's some lovely villages (Thurstonland, Holmfirth) Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 30 mins to Leeds or Manchester. And insanely good value compared to Chilterns. And proper friendly.

Femalefootyfan · 07/03/2024 22:27

We moved from suburban Essex to Yorkshire (not West or South) a few years ago and it was the best move we’ve made in nearly 40 years of being together.
We’re less than an hour from the coast, we’re between two major cities and near enough to visit the Dales and the North York Moors for a day. Our local community is welcoming and friendly, most things are cheaper, certainly house prices (at least where we are). We couldn’t afford to move back South but even if we could, we wouldn’t.

MereDintofPandiculation · 07/03/2024 22:12

I think I'm going to start pointing out the disadvantages of every place mentioned. All these people want to move here - I don't want it to get as crowded as the SE Grin

Driving is much more polite up here too.

BirthdayRainbow · 07/03/2024 20:26

I live in the SE. As soon as my house sells I'm moving to Yorkshire. It's home to me. Do it!

And if anyone wants a house in Kent, let me know.

Hartley99 · 07/03/2024 20:24

I'm in rural Essex and would move north in a heartbeat. It's becoming so crowded round here that I could scream. My local woods have been hacked down to make way for a new estate, and another new estate is being built at the other end of the village. The traffic is now so bad I hardly go out. I gave up yoga, for example, because I couldn't get there after work. And I won't bother driving to a local beauty spot on the first warm spring day because I won't get parked. Besides, instead of birdsong all you hear is the screeching and exploding of souped up car engines. My quality of life is really deteriorating because there are just too many people. I sometimes think the south east is going to end up as one giant new build housing estate.

I love Yorkshire. I love the landscape, and I'm a fan of the Brontes and also of the poet Ted Hughes. I've also got a secret yearning to live in rural Scotland. I went there on holiday as a kid and felt like I was returning home somehow. A lot of my ancestors were Scottish, so maybe there's some genetic thing going on. As for making friends, I'm sure you will. People are definitely friendlier in the north than in the south. I know it's a cliche but it's true.

Original poster
MintyCedric · 07/03/2024 19:39

@Blossomgate44

The St Agnesgate and Masham houses are both cute.

I visited Masham last year…it’s lovely although I wouldn’t have the first idea what owning a house with a septic tank entails!

The other place is gorgeous but tbh the Grade II aspect would put me off. I know a couple of people who’ve taken on listed places and they seem to be money pits waiting to happen. Definitely very much the kind of thing I’d like otherwise though.

I work in student welfare atm which I love but hoping to train as a CYP mental health practitioner over the next few years as the financial implications of term time only hours aren’t really sustainable. I’m doing a second evening/weekend job to make ends meet already and looking to increase those hours so from spring 50 hour weeks will be the norm 😵‍💫

The ideal is to move to Yorkshire, do away with my mortgage and earn enough that I only need to work 4 days a week.

OP posts:
Ulysees · 07/03/2024 18:58

@ToastedTCake how lovely. I like Richmond and also Reeth have you been there?

ToastedTCake · 07/03/2024 18:34

I'm thinking of moving to Richmond soon. I'm 51. I love the Yorkshire Dales and have just landed a new job (mostly remote working but I'll have to venture out on a trip through the YD once a week). I'm not as far from Yorkshire as you are though as I'm in the NE.

House prices are a lot less than on the south coast. Harrogate and York can be pricey though.

TheQueenMakersDaughter · 07/03/2024 18:17

Why wouldn't you want to move there?! Gorgeous, within reach of everything a person could need or want, including fresh air and wild places. I can't wait to go back.

MereDintofPandiculation · 07/03/2024 17:55

Ulysees · 07/03/2024 16:10

Why does it feel SE to you? Never has to me and I've been here eons. Just a question not a dig. Are you from the SE?

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Why does it feel SE? People on £50k+ explaining how very little money that is to live on, gardening board, assumption that everyone has good public transport, that there's a hospital within 30mins drive, etc.

Ulysees · 07/03/2024 17:48

RampantIvy · 07/03/2024 16:52

It often feels SE or London centric to me as well. I think it depends on the type of thread you click on. I find that Higher Education and Stlye and Beauty threads often have a lot of Londoners/London biased posters on.

Interestingly I'm a southerner who moved to live near Otley (I don't live there any more now).

Ah ok I don't really use those threads much. Dss are working adults and I'm very stylish 😉

Lifeinlists · 07/03/2024 17:45

@PeggyBoard yes, I agree with you. It's just that the OP specifically said Harrogate, Pool and Burley in Wharfedale, Otley and surrounding places as being the area she's particularly interested in. It's an area I know very well so my comments obviously reflect that.

Yorkshire is a very big and varied county (disregarding the sub divisions) so she's probably going to have to narrow it down to her preferences.

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