Talk to me about real life outside London

[Herewegoagain84]

We’re considering the big move out. I’ve been a Londoner all my life and always considered I would stay, but I’ve got a third child cooking and I think it’s time. I know it sounds mad but I’d love to hear what your life outside London is like - especially with children at the weekend. We have everything so accessible to us here and always plenty to do. Can you talk me through how we might be spending our time and what activities you do / how weekends are spent? If you lived in London previously was it a good decision to move? Thanks!

[quote Xtraincome]@aloe987 where do you live? I live in a standard suburban town and it's diverse. I get that political views can be a bit of a struggle to get your head around as some places tend to hold onto to their blue status for generations. But, no one I have met every speaks politics except to talk about how shit Boris is lol.[/quote]
St Albans. The place white, middle aged, middle class people come to die

We like to walk our ferret on a lead . Seriously though we moved out of London when DS was born and DD was 2 and its the best thing we ever did. DCs have sports at the weekend, we visit family, go shopping in town, cinema out for meals etc, normal stuff. The thing I love is how safe it is (village). I'm happy for DCs 9 and 11 to go and call on friends, go to the park etc on their own. I'm not a true Londoner though I lived there for 12 years after uni and never felt it was my home. I always knew I'd leave.

@MyAnacondaMight

This thread is hilarious.

Maybe ask the question again as “how much time do you spend, of a weekend, driving your children to their various hobbies and social engagements?” This is what puts me off.

Serious question - do you really spend less time getting to places in London than in other smaller cities/large towns (I appreciate that living more rurally would mean longer drives)?

When we lived there, we were in zone 2, about 5 mins walk from a Tube station. But once we'd walked there, waited for a train (that we could get on), usually done at least one change, walked at the other end, it took us at least 20-30 minutes to get anywhere central, longer for e.g the West End/South Ken museums. Where I am now, I can get to anywhere in MK in 20 mins in the car. Yes, it's driving rather than public transport, but with my kids at their current ages, it's going to be years before them going alone on public transport would be an option.

@Tealightsandd we were "fortunate" that our area was "dangerous" so could buy for a good price before it became desirable. May still need to move out for more space though.

I think some non Londoners who move here have a romanticised view of London - which they cling on to even when planning to move out.

Maybe I definitely can acknowledge its flaws 😆

I guess the thread also highlights peoples’ hostility towards Londoners too perhaps

I was called a dirty Southerner when I started work in a town south of Birmingham and it was a running “joke”

I actually came from a town in the north and have the accent to go with it.

Geography I assumed wasn’t their strong point. Nor was the fact it was the 1990s and there were laws against racism and equality.

@SockQueen this is what I loved about my uni town. Everything was within 20 mins walk, which wasn't the case for everything back home & as you say my quick commute on the tube was twice as long due to crowds, waiting, walking.
Having said that I also hate when people say I moved x miles out of London but can be back in 20 mins. Well maybe if you live on the platform & aren't planning to leave the platform at the other end.

@WellThatsMeScrewed

We send our kids down the pit at the weekends

We stay in a hole in the road😛

Honestly OP is this a genuine question.

We used to go sweet chestnut picking in Greenwich Park, throwing sticks up to make them fall. Now we're stuck playing pooh sticks with fenceposts over the side of the Forth Road Bridge.

I live in the Home Counties after having first child in London and second child in a different large city.
At the weekends we go swimming, country parks, birthday parties. When it’s warmer we go to the beach about 30 mins drive away. In school holidays we often do a trip into London which is 30mins on the train. There’s lots to do outside of London, you might spend a bit more time on the car to get to the cinema, theatre’s etc but I also like the fact that we now live in a big house with a big garden.

It’s the same as life in London!

If only someone had told all those people who have left London recently looking for a different life.

Honestly what attractions do you go to in London? I gives me the fear thinking of taking my 3 year old to a museum. My older one would be fine. I think they'd like the aquarium

I offer you this, OP: just an example of where you could move to;

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E82166&propertyTypes=&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

A short walk to Bute Park where there are events throughout the year, Cardiff Castle and then the delights of the city centre. You can walk into town and go to John Lewis and the Museum and the rugby and the cricket. You can take a short bus or train journey (15 minutes) to the Bay. This is one of the most buzzy, desirable areas of Cardiff: some nice independent local shops, good cafes and bars and restaurants. You can park outside your house and you won't have to spend 12 hours a week in the car, getting the children to school/ nursery or whatever. Every imaginable activity you can think of based at Chapter Arts and all the other fantastic initiatives within walking distance.

I lived in Zone 2 from 1981 to 1989, then in Zone 3 till 2002. I worked in W1 for most of that time. I went to the theatre and gigs and all the other things London offers but never felt I had found my community. I came to Cardiff and it gave me a quality of life I could only have dreamed of in London. You don't have to give up cities, just find a more family-friendly city.

I live near a small town in very rural area.

preteen DC had clubs & sport activities.. but Mostly my kids of all ages on weekends have wanted to spend all their time on computer games and social media.

My DC3-4 as teens, also work, sometimes go to cinema, squabble with each other, snuggle with cats, can be coaxed out for walks & takeaway chips, procrastinate on homework. Is OP saying London teenagers aren't like that?

"It's the same as life in London"
So true...
Since getting back to London on Sunday from half term in The Shire I have built some Lego, gone to Poundland, done an Iceland shop and ordered KFC for home delivery.
Which is pretty much identical to what I did up in Northamptonshire last week

@Pluvia that house on Llandaff road is amazing

@Pluvia all the houses are!

I will comment as someone who has lived in London and outside of London. Whilst a lot of people are mocking the OP there IS a difference.

The differences I've seen are:

There are a lot more things on your doorstop in London - nice parks, better public transport, free museums. In my particular area of London the high street was 10x nicer than the high street I had outside of London, I would never have visited the one I had outside of London, same with the parks they were all run-down and attracted trouble.

The biggest change you will find is constantly having to drive your child around as public transport is poor and everything is more vastly spread out. That is the biggest change you will see outside of London.

It really does depend on where you are moving to. If it is another city then itl just be similar with things to do. If ur moving country or small village itl be different but still things to do! Maybe just different things.

@WellThatsMeScrewed

We send our kids down the pit at the weekends

Pit? LUXURY!!

@Cocomarine

I take my kids to fields to chew straw at the weekends, to entertain them. We don’t have swimming pools, football clubs, Stagecoach, museums, cycle paths, play parks or friends to visit here outside the M25. What do you actually think we do with our kids at the weekend? 🤣

We stay at home and look at fields. That's all people outside London can do.

Ok, so the OP is getting a lot of flack here! Obviously there is a wealth of things to do in London/attractions to visit and perhaps her children are not of the age yet where they are enrolled in clubs etc. It depends where you live in London, what you do on weekends at the moment and the age of your children. Also whether you are looking to relocate to another city or on the outskirts of one. A lot of my friends moved from London to Bristol. Weekends are spent running kids to classes, swimming, strolls round the harbourside, walks in the countryside, dog walking, cinema, brunch,
Sundays lunch with family, tv and a national trust property. We live in a village with access to the countryside/stately homes but 2-3 miles to the city centre. It's a ten min drive to the aquarium, zoo, harbour side, museums. You can cycle straight into the centre for work and the commute is 15 mins each way. So it's not just about what there is to do. The big attraction is easy access to the countryside, more space, large gardens, being part of a community and an easy commute.

@Xtraincome well hope you are happy with your move and the secondaries work out well.

I think Warwickshire has a lot to offer its residents, though love cycling into the Northamptonshire countryside. There are some great villages on the boarders

Don't move up north, it's grim up here. We are all in-bred and of reduced intelligence and enhanced bluntness, wear dodgy clothing and have whippets and ferrets as pets. There's nothing up here to do, no city nightlife, no theatres, no decent restaurants or art or culture. We have no countryside, no affordable housing and no jobs.

Don't look this way, and don't ever forget London is the centre of the universe.

The biggest change you will find is constantly having to drive your child around as public transport is poor and everything is more vastly spread out.

That really depends where you choose to live outside SE as it’s very varied. Birmingham & Manchester do have adequate public transport as do many smaller towns, where everything is within walking distance

OP are you sitting down? We DON’T have deliveroo, Uber or black bogeys (I always get these after being in London for the day). If you can manage without these I’m sure you’ll be fine