Moving further north from south - did you miss anything?

[bibbedy]

We’re thinking about leaving London for maybe midlands, Birmingham etc.
We absolutely love love London. Can’t imagine being anywhere else, whenever we go to cities abroad we are always thinking ahhh but it’s not London.
Anyway London definitely does not love our budget! We were born and raised in the south but I lived in Birmingham for a year ten years ago. Back then I thought not very highly of it and really didn’t like that lack of integration in some areas, I was constantly being pushed into ‘belonging’ to a certain area (I’m mixed race but born raised here, dh white English) I’ve heard things have changed though?!

But on top of that I really really missed the weather. It rained all the time and really badly I had to forget wearing all the dainty shoes I wore down south and trade in for some better soles as I walk pretty much everywhere. I also felt myself getting very depressed at it tbh.
When I look at job prospects we could both get good salaries in say Birmingham but not sure if there’s less long term prospects moving up than there would be in London ie wider job market in London etc and basically as much as we think about it it’s a big deal to love away from London and wondered if anyone can give us an insight of anyone that’s moved out of London (whenever doesn’t have to be Birmingham but that’s where we’ve looked due to property prices) be that positive or negative!

@PlayingForKittens hahaha oh your post made me laugh thanks for that.

Ok so I was being completely honest about having to change what I wore up north, my shoes genuinely got destroyed in all the rain and let’s not even go there when it snowed crazy like I’d never thought it could in England although to be fair there was a sprinkling in London this year.
The darkness for me came with the rain. It was often dark before it rained and the sky’s seemed to be grey a lot more then down south but i think I may be very fair weathered south softie here and if I want a house like I can afford maybe I’ll have to get over that. Although perhaps that big garden won’t get used much ☔️
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@HundredMilesAnHour that describes exactly my issue. However I suppose I could just change what I wear. Silly as it seemed ten years ago I couldn’t fathom this perhaps now I might embrace a tougher rain Mac?!

@kenandbarbie why do you say I won’t like it now? My friend moved to Birmingham and said I am wrong about it being not so great ten years ago. She can never specify why though and seems to be back in London more often than not so I am a little bit dubious.

I can't help as I'm a a proper Northerner so for me, Birmingham is south! I've turned soft here with the better weather 🤣

I do think Solihull might suit. Parts are properly posh, Birmingham has a good range of arts, concerts, shopping etc etc and it's within 20 minutes. If you go for the Knowle/Dorridge area it's very much countryside on the doorstep but 20 minutes in the train to big city. Best of both worlds.

Warwick business lovely but it's far smaller than most people think. Just a few small shopping streets and nearest thing to a chain shop is s branch of WH Smith a small boots and Costa. Might be a bit too provincial?

Id definitely check out travel times from Worcester too.

How much do you have to spend on a property?

I think you'd be better posting your budget and possibly moving areas in London

London is entirely different weather wise. I'm from up north and have lived everywhere - I now live in London with only softy southerner coats, a range of cardigans and no proper wellies or muck boots. It barely rains down here - I seem to use my brolly about twice a month.

There really is something undefinable about London that makes it special for all the busyness and grime etc. Birmingham (I know it very well) hasn't got it really but it's not a bad alternative. Personally I'd go for somewhere like Leeds or Sheffield - small city life, diverse but also lovely countryside easily accessible. Only 2 hrs 10 mins to London. Or somewhere totally different with an alternative feel - Totnes in Devon, Brighton/Lewes, Hebden Bridge?

Birmingham being "the north". ROFL.

I moved from London to Scotland and miss Savaloys!

I missed spring happening in early March, rather than late April.
I moved to the industrial NW, the enormous amount of continuous rain surprised me, and the grey skies. Lack of seriously large trees, and gardens.
The overt racism was a shock.

Thankyou @ScarletAnemone for linking to those met office maps they're really interesting

Bristol/Bath has v similar weather to London, and the advantage of stunning sunsets.
Personally I quite fancy Cardiff as I grew up near the coast and miss it.

Moved almost 400 miles north a year and a half ago.

What do I miss:

Staying dry
Staying warm because it's freeeeezing in winter here
That shredded coconut stuff you get in Indian restaurants

And that's about it really. To be fair I am a lot further north than Birmingham but I haven't regretted moving for one moment.
Everything is cheaper here including property. There's no traffic jams in the morning either and I can get to work in 20 mins.

Downside is you need a car here because outside of the major cities public transport is non existent. My oldest is at a sleepover which I need to go and pick her up from. That's an hour's drive on country roads.

Stay east of the pennines of you want less rain.
I missed public transport. A lot. I still can't get over how shit and expensive it is outside of London. And after I left public transport got even better in London.
Having said that I feel like London has changed for the worse.
Ordinary people used to be able to live fairly cheaply there, in great areas.Now it just feels like somewhere for the rich.
I would move if I were you but not Birmingham..

Why not just move out of London and commute if you think you’ll miss it? The weather is a factor that I hadn’t considered until relatives moved further south to retire. They couldn’t believe the difference it made to their lifestyle and it hadn’t been a factor at all in their decision making.

You can get summat wet in the chippy tho, gravy!

I moved from London to Scotland over 40 years ago, and would never go back!
I really don’t miss:
the limited summer daylight (it’s light up here til 11pm in June),
the unfriendliness (up here everyone chats to strangers at bus stops, makes eye contact voluntarily, treats checkout staff as human),
the sweaty heat in summer tube trains and non air conditioned homes,
the house prices,
the traffic jams,
the lack of mountains,
the overcrowding at every beach or beauty spot within day trip range, the unaffordable ticket prices for opera and ballet,
having to book months ahead to get seats at all for theatres, (up here, a best seat for opera is £40),
the ridiculous restaurant prices....
Need I go on?!

Have you considered moving further south, instead of north. I’m presuming jobs aren’t an issue to consider in the move.

Parts of the south coast are less expensive than London, although not as much as areas of the north I imagine.

North?!!? Birmingham???
Have you seen a map of Britain?

Is the weather and daylight really so very different?

Ok, it is north of London but not by much.

TBH, from what you have written I don’t think anywhere else is going to measure up to London for you. You are always going to compare the weather/transport/diversity/culture/anything else unfavourably to London. The only draw for you is cheaper housing.

For the record I moved from London to Leeds many years ago and have never regretted it. I do miss the weather, especially when London mumsnetters moan that it is too hot (at 20 degrees ) when it is damp and miserable where I live. I now live in South Yorkshire and love it, although the public transport could be better (bastard Northern Rail)

“Anywhere north of the M25 is perpetually dark and wet, it is racist, there is no culture and no tarmac on roads or pavements so you have to wear hobnailed boots at all times rather than the dainty footwear of Londoners.”

@ PlayingForKittens

PS despite loving where I live, I'd move back North in a heartbeat.

Proper North, mind. Cumbria or North Yorkshire. That said, I'm a countryside kid and not fussed by urban attractions more than a few times a year.

"That said, I'm a countryside kid and not fussed by urban attractions more than a few times a year."

Same here. Although I am from Greater London originally.

There are a lot of places in England that I have loved living in, North and South. But the thread title was about missing things from the south/London.
The weather is drier in the NE, but the wind can be alarming if you live near the coast. I love N Yorkshire.

Oh dear this thread has actually really helped me realise how pathetic I am.
Yes Birmingham is in the north for me and those mentioning Scotland forget it. It’s like saying perhaps try Australia for me.
Those saying place are more friendly than London I’m 100% with you!
My budget with London salaries and London school fees is £800k but when I’m looking at the cupboards we might be able to afford in London ( well without a lengthy commute) it seems perhaps we’d be better off moving jobs outside of town and setting up where we can have more space and less commute. Think we could earn the same when I’m looking at potential jobs in Birmingham so would imagine a similar budget. But when I lived in Birmingham I felt like unless I was in the small city area there wasn’t much going on. Loved the Christmas market though!

It's really funny but I recently moved from Surrey and working in London to Somerset and working within walking distance.....despite going out anytime in London as I had the car, I now go out far more and there is something on almost every weekend here. Far more social, cheaper, beautiful, got all the moors, Devon, Cornwall and the Dorset coast right on our doorstep and what a first summer to have had!!

Good luck with your decision and I hope it works out for you x small town community living is definitely for me and I hope you find it too xx

After retiring fifteen years ago I moved to a town approx 50 miles NW of London, having lived there all my life.

I still miss it and would go back in a heartbeat but can't afford current London property prices. I live in a town which is devoid of a lot of things I enjoyed in London. I need to start doing the lottery so I can afford to move back.

The first thing I noticed when moving from the south further north was how much damper it was. I'm still not used to it a few years later.