Really need help finding somewhere to live!

[breadnbutterpudding]

We've sold our home and are living in temporary accommodation which we have for a further 6 weeks. All our stuff is in storage - we were planning on moving to UK. However, we are really stressed following the news of the new Covid variant and wondering if we should still make the move - anxiety through the roof!

Our house sold very quickly but with lockdowns we haven't been able to visit potential new areas / homes. We've been told that Cirencester and surrounding areas are a great place to live but we've never actually been there.

Our main concern now is we have an 8 YO DC and we are worried about moving to UK with all the updates on Covid. We're also in a very difficult position where we are as we are finding it virtually impossible to find anywhere to rent as we have pets! Our pets are currently being cared for in home stays which is costing us a fortune.

Can anyone please help to either reassure us that a) the areas we are looking at are good places to live and b) that life in the UK isn't actually as bad at the moment that my very active imagination is making it?!

Thanks for reading!

It really depends where you are coming from, do you need to come to the U.K. for work and if so, where do you need to be?

The U.K. is doing better than most on vaccinations, is that available to you where you are?

Are you even allowed to move here?

So many questions

Where are you living at the moment? Life in the UK isn't terrible - the vaccination program has gone very well, Covid cases are as low as they have ever been (around 2,000 per day) and crucially hospitalisations and deaths are very low. Of course there is concern about the Indian variant but unless you are living somewhere that can close all it's borders every time a new variant appears this is going to be life going forward - yesterday Kent, today Indian, tomorrow, another variant.
Cirencester is beautiful - my SIL lives there and it's a lovely place to bring up children (however her 3 moved off to the bright lights of big cities as soon as they could!).
It might be helpful if you explained exactly what your concerns are, what your price range is, what sort of amenities you would like locally, whether you need to travel to London for work.

Lots of places in the UK are lovely, Ciren included.
Where have you come from? What are you looking for? I lived in Ciren for 7 years, loved it. But I was from a coastal area and only when I went home did I realise how much I missed the sea.

Agree with PP. Vaccine programme has been so successful that things are changing for the better pretty rapidly now.

Thank you both - we do actually live somewhere they can shut the borders but we've been wanting to move away for some time now and then Covid hit.

We are both currently self employed. In terms of a home, we are planning to rent to start with and either look for new jobs or start up again as self employed. However, to take our house budget up to around £350k, we would need to get a small mortgage - meaning initially being self employed wouldn't be an option.

We're not looking for an area that's too big and busy, however we don't want to be too far away from an area (say 20-30 mins drive max) with lots to do and plenty of shops. We didn't enjoy our experience of living in a small village so unless it's just on the outskirts of somewhere bigger, then we wouldn't want to be isolated and stuck in the middle of nowhere. From what we've heard, we thought Cirencester sounded like a good option.

It all seems very messy at the moment and I just can't see the wood for the trees. For lots of reasons, we really want to move away from where we are currently living. Any help or advice is very much appreciated.

I really don’t think it feels that bad in the UK at the moment (let’s hope it stays that way!) and Cirencester is lovely. I’d say, crack on with it.

Does your 8 year old need state or private school? If so you need to consider that too.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it’s very hard to rent with pets in England. You might have to go via a private landlord direct and hope to find someone sympathetic. Try OpenRent.

Re: Covid, things seem fine here to me - our vaccination programme is going very well and the lockdown is only just easing. They’re now doing surge vaccination in areas of concern.

All the best with your move!

Thanks @Didiusfalco and @Nightmanagerfan. Yes we are looking at state school. It feels like a bit of a nightmare situation at the moment - trying to stay positive we will sort things out.

Bumping!

Do you know anyone who has pets and could look after yours?

I live in a shared ownership flat and loads of people have a dog even though its not allowed. No one bats an eyelid and the Housing Assoc don't know.

a) Cirencester is fine, not especially cheap. Deer Park secondary school has a good reputation, dont know the primaries. Why not try It, rent, give yourself a base from which to check out other places if it doesn't suit.

b) covid wise, in Gloucestershire right now, things are normalish, Gloucs' covid rates are on the low end, we're all just following the 'roadmap' . Surge testing is taking place in some localised other parts of the country. Vaccinations are happening quickly.