What part of North-West England should I live in?

[CanIHaveChocolatePlease]

I hope it’s okay to put this in here, I couldn’t see a dedicated section for relocating!

I’m Irish and live in Ireland, but have wanted to live in England for a few years now for various reasons (things like more choices of shops, types of schools, towns etc, not as casual attitudes to rules etc), but I’ve come across better job/training opportunities in England than I can get in Ireland, which makes me want to live there even more now

I’d be targeting moving there late this year/early next year (yes I know I’m mad with the uncertainty of Brexit coming up but I feel that personally it’s the best choice for me!)

My preference has always been the North West region (no offence to any other areas, I like the idea of there being so many areas/towns/regions near each other and feel that the climate, lifestyle etc would suit me best)

I am hoping to do the school-based primary teaching
degree at Edge Hill uni and then work as a teaching assistant during the week, and then maybe a Saturday job in a shop to boost my funds more.

So I would like to be accessible to Ormskirk (where Edge Hill is), but also accessible to more non-student towns and cities, especially Manchester and Liverpool .

I would like to live in a decent sized town rather than in the city or in the rural countryside.

From looking up houses in the area, I think somewhere like the town of Leigh would suit me well, but I would just like people’s advice and opinions so that I wouldn’t regret my choice

I’m single so wouldn’t have to be worrying about having to bring family members over with me

Thanks in advance, I’d really appreciate people’s insights☺️

Personally I would avoid buying until you have completed your uni course. Rent for now and that will give you the time to get to know the local area more and make a better informed decision over where to live. Remember your placement could be anywhere and you could have a very tedious commute.

Not wn8!

I would look at Warrington. Depending where it’s 30-40 minutes from Ormskirk and good transport links

I'd also rent until you've done your degree and then you won't be tied to a house when you are looking for your first job.

You don't know what type of school you'll like yet. You might want a little village school with 40 kids, in which case you'll want the freedom to choose a school from across a wide area. Alternatively, you might find you like big urban schools, in which case you'll perhaps not want to live far from it as the traffic around it might be bad.

I don’t have an undergraduate degree so can’t do a a PGCE or SCITT, otherwise they’d obviously be the most sensible options as they’d be shorter and there’d be more choices, and I don’t really want to have to go to uni full time, hence why I’d be interested in the school based teaching one at Edge Hill

To all the people saying I couldn’t afford to be over there-I’d be willing to work as a teaching assistant during the week if I could and then work in retail/ children’s entertainer or something at weekends to boost my funds more (and for day to day things like a car, food etc) plus I have a decent amount of money already saved up from my current retail job that probably nearly would cover a 5-10% deposit for a mortgage (obviously depending on the value of the house), but I’d say I probably would end up renting for a bit first before committing to an area or mortgage

Mind ya, I can tell you right away that I wouldn’t want to be living or working in a very small school or area as I’ve had enough of that here in Ireland (and can’t say I like the small town life) but wouldn’t want to be living in a city centre either (and either relatively rural/ small town or city and suburbs are the main options here, which is another reason I’d like to move-i’d like to have more options around me without having to be in a big city)

Thanks again for all of your advice, I really appreciate it all

Oh God! No! Not WN8... Sirzy, why not??