Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you ever hsve the urge to live in your home town?

111 replies

Twopizzafriday · 06/09/2024 19:31

I’ve not been back for around 18 years…lived there from birth until 23, when I then travelled lots and lived abroad. The last time I went back was before my family moved house to another area of the U.K.
I had my whole childhood, amazing teenage years and early 20’s there. I’d always wanted to travel and live abroad and thought I’d be back one day…I never returned to live. My immediate family don’t live there now or I suppose I would have been more likely to have gone back. I still have a few good friends there, but many are scattered everywhere. I’ve been dreaming about it lots recently and my old house and my old life as it were. I’m mid 40’s, is this normal?
Did you ever move away for a long time, then move back?

OP posts:
LeanIntoChaos · 06/09/2024 20:33

I still live in my home town and I absolutely love it. Although objectively it is not considered a lovely place to live.

My husband and I met at school and both families are really close. And we like each other, so that's ok.

I feel like I know all the good bits. Plus it's by the sea, and I think having grown up by the sea, I couldn't ever live somewhere that wasn't on the coast.

HannahinHampshire · 06/09/2024 20:33

Yes, and I will. Originally from Scotland and moved to Hants 30+ years ago, both kids now in north England. Been perfectly happy in Hampshire but now at 64 just want to go ‘home’.

Flibflobflibflob · 06/09/2024 20:29

No, it’s a dump tbh.

spaceshooter · 06/09/2024 20:28

Christ no. Never. Bad memories and the same people from my year at school are still there in each pockets and have not moved on one iota and it's weird.

KitsyWitsy · 06/09/2024 20:15

I'm from Bradford. So. No.

TheDandyLion · 06/09/2024 20:10

I would have loved to have stayed there but I got priced out years ago.

QueefofSheena · 06/09/2024 20:09

I live in my home town after years of living all over the place. DH had a house here when we met and it was more suitable for DC than my old house. It’s changed a lot and prices are ridiculous now. It’s one of the places that is always mentioned when people are looking to move out of London.

Ratisshortforratthew · 06/09/2024 20:09

Howdyboob · 06/09/2024 19:34

God no. I don't even like visiting my home town.

This - but it’s a popular place on MN that’s often suggested when people are after a “nice market town with independent shops and amenities” 😂

PoliteOtter · 06/09/2024 20:08

I go back to my hometown a lot because my parents still live there. I went through a phase of wanting to move back there when my kids were young and sort of hankering after it and I think it was nostalgia. I don’t think I actually do want to live there though. When I am there too long I feel the same sense of mild suffocation that made me want to move away but when away from it and just visiting I can objectively really appreciate it.

Ethylred · 06/09/2024 20:06

No. It was small and boring.

MaybeImbad · 06/09/2024 20:06

Christ, no.

I grew up in a village near a town, I need to be in/near a city.

So horses for courses.

I get the pull of nostalgia after you hit 40 tho! And if I’d grown up somewhere similar to where I live I might feel likewise. I think you need to either go for it or remind yourself grass is greener…

Cherrysoup · 06/09/2024 20:04

Yes! I left at 18, went back for uni holidays and then school holidays (teacher) and still go up a couple of times a year. It’s so much more historical/prettier than where I live and if it weren’t for my OH wanting to go back to his home town eventually, I think I’d be looking. However, I really want to go to his home town (also historical/pretty but in very different ways) so I’m not too bothered.

Itiswhysofew · 06/09/2024 20:02

I'm from a fairly expensive part of West London. Left when I was 39 to live in a small village in another country. I've lived in a couple of countries, and although I go back to visit DM in London, I actually can't wait to leave it. I never felt good living in London, not like an individual. I find it quite a depressing place to be.

Octavia64 · 06/09/2024 20:02

No

My parents moved there when I was three.

I have returned to their hometown though,

focacciamuffin · 06/09/2024 20:01

I left 45 years ago. I have been back twice.

I have no urge to return.

MasterBeth · 06/09/2024 19:57

Nope. Southern commuter town with not much going on. Pubs and restaurants but no sports/arts facilities. I have a much better lifestyle here.

blueberrycherubandbump · 06/09/2024 19:56

Absolutely fucking not.

FastFood · 06/09/2024 19:53

My home town is Paris, I go there twice a year, always love seeing friends and family but I wouldn't live there again.
I'm much better in my shitty area of SE London. Its home.

Suzuki70 · 06/09/2024 19:47

Smallish village in West Yorkshire. I get the odd pang as my best friend lives there but I would rather move back to the NE where I went to uni.

BrigadierEtienneGerard · 06/09/2024 19:46

No. It's a part of South London that's now been heavily gentrified. There is nobody left there that I know. All family and friends moved away/dead. From Google earth there's only one shop, the public library and two pubs remaining of what I used to know in the High St.

I don't want to go back.

Liverpool52 · 06/09/2024 19:44

Nope. If I never had to go there again it would be too soon. Sadly my parents still live there.

BG2015 · 06/09/2024 19:43

Moved back for 8 weeks whilst we waited for our house purchase to go through. My parents and lots of my friends still live there but I've no desire to live there again now.

Waitingfordoggo · 06/09/2024 19:42

I’m only ten miles from my hometown and go there reasonably often, even to my childhood home as my brother lives there! It’s a nice place but houses there are ££££ because of proximity to London, plus lots of lovely countryside, nice standard of living etc. I like being close enough to visit often but don’t want to live there as it’s too far from the sea.

CoffeeCakeAndALattePlease · 06/09/2024 19:39

Even if I wanted to, it’s very expensive to live there so well out of our budget. It’s known for being alternative too which would drive me mad in a few days.

oldestmumaintheworld · 06/09/2024 19:39

God no! I left at 17 to go to London for a reason. Admittedly to go to university but because where I grew up was as boring as hell.