Newly single and priced out of the south help me find a new home town

[Shitonthebloodything]

My absolute peach of a husband is buggering off leaving me with 3 kids and no hope of securing a mortgage anywhere close to my home county of Essex. I can’t rent forever and I don’t qualify for any single parent help from UC so it’s time to put down roots somewhere new.

Budget £150-170 (yeah, I know!)
I need at least 3 bedrooms, close to a town that’s good for shopping and teenage socialising.
A college where ds16 can finish his plumbing training or equivalent opportunities
A decent secondary to start ds10 in yr 7
A decent primary for ds3 to start reception
Plenty of things to do
Somewhere reasonably safe
Somewhere friendly that will welcome us
Somewhere with nice outdoor places to visit seeing as I’ll be bloody skint forever.
Poss near a motorway to allow for regular travelling back to see family etc.

And the moon on a stick.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated, at this point I’m basically just sticking pins in the map and searching on Rightmove.

It seems likely that interest rates are going up, this is something for the OP to consider. Mortgages will be more expensive but house prices might come down.

In my searches I’ve come across Lancaster a looking like a decent option, good schools, close to the coast, uni town so poss things to do for teens and plenty of green spaces. Would it be a nightmare connection wise for getting back?

I think Lancaster is on the West Coast mainline so you can get a relatively fast train back to London - about 2.5 hours? Not sure what the drive is like.

I don't know that part of the world, Morecambe is near there which seems good value too (although I'll defer to anyone with local knowledge about whether it's a good place to live or not), this house is lovely (albeit 5k over budget)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115934957#/?channel=RES_BUY

You'd get what you're looking for in Gloucester.

No to Norfolk, Burnley, and Wales

OP, where is your twunty ex in all this?

Is he going to pay maintenance?

Will he expect some of the equity in your rental property?

Does he know youre planning on moving the kids?

What do your family think?

Lancaster is nice, but it really is a long way to Essex. I live in Lancashire and avoid the M6 as there seem to be daily issues on the stretch around Preston.

Lancaster is nice but the M6 really is hell-ish about 90% of the time! I live near Preston and my DB lives in reading and I dread the drive every time, it's taken us 6+ hours on far too many occasions.

OP, where is your twunty ex in all this?

• he knows what I’m doing and won’t challenge it

Is he going to pay maintenance?

• yes, definitely

Will he expect some of the equity in your rental property?

• no, it was mine long before he came along he wouldn’t and couldn’t touch it

Does he know youre planning on moving the kids?

• yes I wouldn’t do it in secret

What do your family think?

• my family aren’t really around, I’m close to his family who are understanding but obvs upset at the thought of being far from grandkids

Ah x post!

@Shitonthebloodything Burnley isn't brilliant but some of the areas around are good, Padiham is attracting a fair amount of investment and there are train links from Burnley into Manchester/Preston/Leeds/York. Beautiful countryside but not isolated, Burnley College is huge and some decent schools as well.
I don't know much about Lancaster but always looks nice and again not far from Preston which has fast trains to London every half-hour.

Does anyone know any more about Durham?
Looking on google maps if I were to drive there now then it’d be quicker than getting to Lancaster.

I live in Durham as a sp. My 3 bed house is worth about 160k and walkable to town. There's 3 primary schools within 5 mobs walk and 4 good secondary schools. A couple of different FE colleges. PM me you'd like. I was pretty much in your situation a few years ago and am v happy I made the move.

@Freysimo

Cant add to the suggestions but not Wales, education isn't good and the NHS worse. The People are nice though.

I'm sure those of educated in Wales would disagree with you!

I thought the same about Durham op! That the journey would actually be quicker. It's a long way but you are so close to the A1.

There is lots of cheap housing in County Durham but there are lots of old pit villages and in some areas there is deprivation/anti social behaviour (like anywhere I suppose) but there are also some really great places to live. Plenty of good schools. I live about 20 minutes from Durham city, further north in Tyne and Wear and love it round here.

Durham is lovely I think OP. Much as I would like not to, I have to concur about the Welsh state school system for secondary level not being great in a lot of places.

I moved from Chelmsford to Newark a few years ago, it is well connected for travel with a train going north-south and another east -west. Houses are reasonably priced, Nottingham and Lincoln nearby. Trains to King's Cross take 1 hour 15 mins, we have a lot of London commuters. Can't speak for the schools but everyone fairly friendly

@spotcheck

Budget £150-170 (yeah, I know!

I don't understand.

170k

That isn't terrible though?

It is where I live, and I'm in Yorkshire!

This is the area I would look at with your budget & requirements

That's nice to hear about Durham. It's such a lovely city, I'm glad it's still affordable.

@Neurodiversitydoctor

Sheffield? It's a great City and quite easy for Essex.

What can you get for that budget in Sheffield?

Yeah, Sheffield is quite expensive now. We looked at moving there a few years ago, we’re not far from there at all (commutable distance) and I needed at least another 33% to find a vaguely comparable house size wise. And I wasn’t been fussy about area.

Lots of areas in the North West within that budget ( although many will be over it too). Two great cities , coast not far on one side and the Peak District on the other.

Deeside North Wales
It has a big college which I expect does plumbing.
Deeside itself isn't particularly pleasant but if you look at the upper connahs key/Northrop hall area it's okay and you'll get 3 beds in your price range.

Close to good road networks, although a long way from Essex.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/map.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E18669&minBedrooms=3&maxPrice=170000&numberOfPropertiesPerPage=299&radius=1.0&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&viewType=MAP&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&viewport=-3.14208%2C-3.00713%2C53.1384%2C53.2761&keywords=

Also look at Wrexham area, to the north West of Wrexham there are some villages with easy access to big country parks. Plenty of 3 beds in your price range. College with plumbing course. Good access to road network.

Shrewsbury!