What do you think of the Lake District?

[Serfisafleur]

We're doing the "leaving the city and moving to somewhere nice" research.

Looked into the Yorkshire Dales and it's maybe. Possibly Peak District.
Now we've looked at some houses in the Lake District. Some of them look lovely and the pictures look gorgeous!

The thing is we're from the south, and have never been to or even driven through the Lake District. At least we have actually been a few times to the YD and many times to the PD so have some idea.

I hear it rains all the time in the Lake District and it's cold. Also bad for shopping. We'll obviously visit if we're serious about it but in the meanwhile,
What's it like to visit/live?

Beautiful for a week in a holiday cottage / caravan, but as a townie, I'd hate to live there. It's not called the Lake District for nothing. Lots of rain, chance of snow, takes forever to drive places, plus lots of tourists everywhere so nightmare to get around.

It does rain a lot. You need to look at what you can get for your budget and the logistics of living in your new home - I presume you are moving from London as none of these places are cheap. Life is a lot slower, large distances to get anywhere and forget about Deliveroo! You may find the edge of the Peak District better as it's close to Manchester or Sheffield, or Yorkshire close to cities. I hated the countryside when we tried it, didn't last 3 years so we are looking at properties within 30 mins of cities only!

Should also mention don't forget the east side of the country, within 30 mins of Newcastle is amazing national park and national forest land and nowhere near as busy as the lakes, I'm told rainfall is lower too.

Living in Wales hasn’t stopped me going out in the rain. Why would raining put you off?

I live on the western edge of the Lake District.

Pros:

The scenery, obviously.

Lots of events going on most of the year, markets, fun days, parades, festivals etc.

Crime is pretty low and it's generally quite safe. I've gone out and left my front door wide open accidently before and it was fine.

It's a small community and people do generally look out for one another.

Round where I am the schools are pretty good.

Cons:

Depending on where you are in the county transport links can be crap / non existent.

The weather is pretty shit.

If you want to go clothes shopping the choices are quite limited.

In the summer the place is heaving and there's no escaping the tourists.

The hospitals are bad. If you are seriously ill at the weekend it can be a problem with very few consultants on duty (I speak from experience).

There are really two communities in Cumbria. Those who were born and bred here, and those, like me, who are incomers. The first group generally regard the second group with suspicion, sometimes contempt.