Where in the UK should we move to??

[ifihavetomove]

Do you live somewhere affordable and nice? Where do you recommend?

NCed as I know some people on here and not up to discussing this in person yet. My DH and I both born and raised in Sussex but with our incomes and the housing market we will need to move if we want to buy a home - we rent at the moment and have a 1 year old DC.

We can move anywhere, I'm a primary teacher and he's a dog trainer. We both work part time on different days in order to do childcare ourselves, we earn around 30k between us. (Total not each). We've known this was coming so we've been saving well, had a cheap registry wedding, no holidays etc and with good savings accounts and some help from family over the years we'll have about a 70k deposit.

We both have Help to Buy ISAs which means we'll get given 25% of what we've saved - if the property is maximum 250k, so this is our budget. We're not picky about where we live, we'd love to get as much garden as possible as we love to grow our own food. We don't mind where as long as decent schools nearby and ok size house with a garden. Happy to do work on a place.

I'm looking and looking and just don't know where to narrow my search. Honestly I'm sad we have to move at all as our whole lives are in Sussex, our family, friends, memories, favourite places...but with our jobs, wanting more kids in future, and the housing costs in Sussex, we just can't stay. So - recommend me places! Where is nice?

Primary school teachers in NORTHERN Ireland do not need to know any Gaelic at all.

It's only the Republic of Ireland that has that condition.

Have you considered Hastings ?

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/62191185/?search_identifier=783ef1f3f4bfdd312de6510a5663b9a6

Or Bexhill (schools are massively improving, lovely sea front, lots of good restaurants)
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/121428134#/?channel=RES_BUY

Another vote for Moffat, purely as a work colleague relocated there from London and is so happy. I've visited and its a nice place, beautiful countryside, and accessible to the Highlands and England.

You'll get a lot more for your money.

Think really hard before committing to moving away from the South. I have a friend who moved up north for cheaper housing and now can’t move back and she hates where she lives, really misses her family and not having any support being so far away. She also really misses the South and bitterly regrets moving. Financially, it’s v hard to move back.

plenty of room here and views to die for. Depends if you would fancy the prospect of being a head teacher in a small rural school. There are £50k posts with a handful of children.

www.estateagencyshetland.co.uk/properties/olna-cottage

Scarborough and the East coast. I grew up there. It has a beautiful coastline. Loads of places to explore. The town is a little run down but there has been some recent investment in the area: open air theatre, brilliant open air pool and some lovely restaurants around the harbour. Culture too with Ayckbourn’s theatre in the round. Plus you’re close to York.

We moved from Sussex to Norwich last year, our move was to downsize, needed a bungalow due to my disability etc. We also knew our DS (21 & 19) would struggle be able to get on the property ladder in Sussex. So it was now or never as we wanted to relocate all together.

Best move we have made for so many reasons, property prices represent better value for money, in fact we have found everything is better value for money here, sandy beaches within 30-40 min drive, people are friendly (much friendlier than Sussex IMHO) lovely city centre. Traffic is also much easier.

And if your DH is a dog trainer, his business would do well here I would imagine, dogs galore in Norfolk!

Good luck with deciding and your move, it’s a wrench to move from family, but it’s only 3hrs or so, not Australia.

Rather than move away from all of your family and friends could one of you retrain in a career with more earning potential?

Southport. Cheapish property, lovely parks, beaches, good schools, lots going on for families :)

Moving to Scotland sounds too dramatic to me - especially if you don’t want to move away from family!

Another one for the North East, suburbs of Newcastle, Whickham, Low Fell, Great Park, Gosforth

Think it would be v difficult to find something in these areas within budget?

The Peak District?

Ashbourne is a lovely market town

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124593896

I live down in Hampshire on the south coast. It's absolutely beautiful down here. And we're in driving distance of beaches, foresters and major attractions as well.

There is a good train line connection to London and the north.
My family used to live is West Sussex which is also a very beautiful part of the UK. IMO

Might be worth checking out Hampshire.

Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Here is a lovely house in Lochaber

Snowoctopus - but it’s very far from anywhere! And I’d like to see a picture on a normal wet and windy day!

What utter crap people post on MN sometimes. Can you not grow lettuce, carrots, spring onions, leeks, tatties etc??? All possible to grow well in Scotland.

We moved to a village just outside Doncaster last year. 3 bed was just under 200k. Nice schools (just normal schools, not London fancy). Lots of stuff for the kids. Great road network. We chose it for the central location as DH job moves around a lot.

I was thinking the same 🙄berries also do brilliantly here - we are surrounded by strawberry farms but in my own garden we have blueberries, raspberries and red currants galore all through the summer. We pick kilos and kilos of wild blueberries every summer. The usual suspects like peas, beans etc also thrive.
My friend with a greenhouse gets brilliant crops of tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumber…

I would look in Northwest England, Wales or Scotland to future proof from droughts as heatwaves are only going to get worse even if the world does pull it's finger out on climate change.

Cumbria, avoiding the Lake District. Beautiful area, affordable housing, good schools but plenty of vacancies and loads of dogs!

Wild blueberries? Blueberries don’t grow wild in the UK. I think you’re confusing bilberries for blueberries.

You might still be able to grow plenty of food in Scotland but there’s no denying that the growing season is a lot shorter. I live in the southeast and we picked our first outdoor tomatoes in early July. If someone was trying to be as self sufficient as possible they would do better further south unless they wanted to grow everything in polytunnels.

We currently live in a nice area of Bristol - 'worst house on best street' kind of thing - and have ds1. We're looking at moving over the bridge to Wales soon. For the cost of a two bed flat no garden we can get a 3/4 bed with large garden nice views and good schools. It's close enough to Bristol that there are still good train networks for you to get home regularly/have visitors?

Definitely worth looking at. I’ve got family in Hastings Old Town and it’s lovely there, very affordable and everyone is really friendly.

In your situation, I'd definitely give Norwich a look, but then I'm an urbanite and would sacrifice space to have good local facilities, not need to drive everywhere and be in a nice small city with lots going on. I see it has already been mentioned once or twice and some friends of ours moved there recently and the move seems to be going well. Depending on where you looked, you'd get a 3-bed terrace/semi although might not be the most spacious.