To want to move to Isle of Wight

I've never lived there myself but pretty much all my family do. I love it for all the reasons everyone else does, its a very special place, but I won't live there for the reasons given here.

Re helicopter service - probably expensive & impractical. The hovercraft and fast cats are there for those who commute without a car go the mainland, but red funnel & wightlink operate a monopoly on travel between the island and the mainland. There have been a few serious attempts to introduce a 3rd option over the years and each time red funnel & wightlink have worked together to ensure they failed.

IMO better & affordable transport to the mainland would make a huge difference to the islands prospects. Add in improved NHS services there (including St marys) and improved schools and it could be transformative.

Sandown is very rundown. I never go there. My son lives in Ventnor and I used to live in Ryde. The schooling is not great and I opted to send my kids private (there's only two on the island).
The most negative thing is that it is a bit backward and provincial. I moved after my husband passed suddenly and it was great for my kids, but as PP says everyone pretty much leaves at 18 and return once they have a family. My son has stayed but doesn't have many friends his age (20). I left with my DD as she wanted an all girls sixth form.
I made some great friends there but few were from the island, most had moved there like me.

The car ferry can cost £300 plus in the summer. Can be cheaper with planning but always £100 plus.
Most of the available work is seasonal or care / hospitality.
Once you’ve done the tourist stuff there’s nothing much to do. The beach is ok in small doses!
The locals might be nice to tourists but they HATE mainland people moving here, they are obsessed with their houses and jobs being taken.
Some of them think all mainlanders are criminals.
There’s a fair bit of crime for a small space.
Friends soon get bored with visiting because of the cost.
Schools are awful unless you go private.
Weed is everywhere, I’d say drug use is quite high.

Fairly racist.
It’s common to have to go to Southampton, Salisbury and London for medical care. Imagine having to get a ferry back home after chemo.

I've lived here all my life, amazing for kids up until about 12/13 then there's naff all for them to do except hang around & even if they are well behaved they get moved on.
Roads are manic in the summer with all the tourists getting lost & trying to drive massive caravans down little lanes. Winters lovely & you can actually get from one side to the other in decent time although a lot of attractions shut down.
It was really safe growing up & I'm quite happy to let my 11 year old have his freedom. But we do have the same social problems as the mainland. Just a smaller scale.
Schools are really hit & miss, SEN provision isn't the best.
Only 1 hospital, does a little bit of all basic care but for anything major or requiring a specialist you do need to be prepared to travel to the mainland.
Ferry costs can be extortionate, deals can be had but it's the most expensive bit of water to cross so if you have family to visit or going away that's an extra cost to factor in.
We have a massive rental problem at the moment, so many families who have been born on the island unable to get housed & men being given tents to live in.
However it's also lovely & most people know someone you know so the community feels great.

We are here on the IOW at the moment, in Seaview. We’ve been here 5 times in the past 10 years, 3 times in Bembridge, once in Brighstone and now Seaview. Yes, it’s really nice in the summer, but you should experience it in the Winter to see if you still feel the same. In 2020 we had to put back our holiday, so we chose end of September and although we had good weather daytime, the dark mornings and dark evenings weren’t great. So many houses have nobody living in them.

I come from Ryde and NO WAY would I ever permanently return home.

• Education is poor (I went to Medina which, at the time, was one of the poorest performing in the country).
• Few employment prospects out of season.
• A real gap between the wealthy buying second homes and locals.
• Expensive, occasionally unreliable, ferries (I can, and do, travel abroad for cheaper than the Wightlink crossing)
• Medical care sometimes requires mainland travel (family have to go to St Barts for genetic surveillance whereas I just go down the road)
• Intolerant aspects (some racism, homophobia ...)

But ... you have stunning scenery, a slower pace of life, ostensibly better weather. I visit once in a great while but I was glad to escape!!!

I lived there briefly in the winter and there's lots of brilliant sports clubs - squash, table tennis, sailing etc. The people were friendly. My friend, a poc was spat at which freaked me out. (Cowes)
However there wasn't quite enough going on for me there in other ways. I prefer being in a city on the mainland or 'north island' as it's known there 😂

Sandown is really deprived. I personally wouldn't live there. It's not a good example of island towns.

I moved here 5yrs ago and LOVE living here.

Yes, the downside is cost of taking your car to the mainland but you can get discounted saver tickets from Wightlink which makes it more affordable. You can also get a foot passenger ticket for £10 return with free parking with Solent Cruises.

No, no same day delivery from Amazon but you can get next day. Petrol is cheaper here than on the mainland. Food is no more expensive.

What amazed me most is, whatever your interest or hobby, you can find a group on the island! No travelling for hours to find your niche. It's all on the doorstep. And I have more friends here than I've ever had in my life.

They say that the longer you live here, the bigger the island gets. That's because you discover more and more hidden gems. Have you watched 'Jewel in the South' on Ch4?

Don't rule out living here. When I moved, everyone on the mainland laughed and said I'd be back in six months. I'm still here and I will never move back.

Friends moved there, had quite a public role. They found it partly wonderful, kids learned to sail etc but difficult living under the microscope all the time. Example- male friend took new colleague out for lunch away from business for discussion. People who saw him warned his wife he was having an affair. He wasn't. Friends took to going to Southampton on the fast ferry for the day at weekend to get away. Retirement brought relocation to the mainland.

If you have children check the schools out, not sure what they're like now but they were absolutely dire, it is one of the most deprived areas in the UK.

Awful for teens if that's a consideration but personally I love it.

Nice for a young family but not for older children/teens. Plus the roads are awful!

Lovely for a holiday although maybe avoid October. It was awful last October. 🤣 We go every year.

Indeed. My BIL and MIL live there and it has cost us nearly £150 for ferry tickets. So expensive!

I wonder why nobody has started a helicopter service from IOW to Portsmouth or Southampton?

My friend like you holidayed there several times and loved it. Steven loved there and lasted 2 years before selling up and moving back. She absolutely hated it. As PP: have said facilities were lacking, she struggled to get work other than seasonal and out of season she found it quite depressing.

You definitely need to do an extended visit during the winter before making a decision like that!

I live here it’s lovely, there’s loads for kids, especially if you’re sporty/like being outside, even in the winter. Never had a problem with delivery’s most come the next day, and no we don’t have high street shops but we have loads of small bespoke shops where the owners try really hard to keep heir customers.

A former colleague upped and left London to go there and has never regretted it. His parents moved there too in the end.

I live just over the water, and there is a reason IOW house prices are cheaper. Not only is the use of Ferries inconvenient; they are also the most expensive crossings in the country.
A day trip to Guernsey from Poole can be had for a similar price to one to the IOW.
I would consider this really carefully. Lots of people have boats over this way and happily hope across for dinner etc

As someone who was born on the IOW, lived there for 26 years (and still have the majority of my family there), I have to say YABU - sorry😁

As you’ll have seen, the island is a beautiful place in the summer and it’s wonderful to visit for a staycation. Living on the island is a very different reality. For one, getting on and off the island is not only expensive, but the boats are extremely unreliable. It depends on your circumstances, but if anyone in your family would be intending to commute off of the island to work even occasionally (or you regularly go away for family holidays which require airport access), I would strongly advise against moving to the IW. I spent a good few years commuting to work from the island and the stress was insane. You’re frequently faced with delays and cancellations either due to the weather, technical issues with the boat etc. Also, boat timings don’t line up with any of the main trains e.g. to London, which is also annoying.

Trying to get deliveries to the island is also tricky - Amazon won’t even deliver liquids there for some bizarre reason! Also, any heavy items like sofas and bits of furniture can either be very expensive to deliver or you’ll find that a lot of well known brands will not deliver there at all. Popular services like Uber etc have not reached the island. Other than that, you may have noticed that there are barely any decent high street shops on the island and more seem to be shutting down each time I visit!

In the winter it can be quite a depressing place. There’s not an awful lot to do, particularly as quite a few touristy related places close over the winter period. Many children find it incredibly boring and whilst the island is generally safe, there’s quite a lot of petty crime largely from bored youths with nothing better to do. Most islanders will tell you that crime rates are on the up (have a look at the Island Echo website), though I guess that’s the same in most areas sadly.

Theres very much an aging population and most of the people who move to the island are either retired or nearing retirement and looking to slow down. For this purpose it’s perfect, but I wouldn’t encourage a younger family to move to the island, personally. Career prospects there are pretty dire! Also, if you value your privacy you may also struggle living on the IW - it’s very much a case of everyone knowing everyone!

Sorry for the long post but hope this helps!

Friend lives there and struggles with the poor medical facilities ( and facilities in general.) Has to go to the mainland for a lot of medical help.

My best friend lives on the Isle of Wight and we visit her often. I agree it's lovely!

She says the pros are:

Beautiful scenery
Quieter pace of life
Friendly people
No motorways

Cons apparently are:

Secondary schools can be very hit and miss
Boring for teenagers and drug issues in some areas
At the mercy of the ferry for getting on and off the island
Health care a bit rubbish and would need to travel to Southampton for some things