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?

I was thinking Hastings too.

South Wales, something like this is easily within your budget www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118180910#/?channel=RES_BUY

you’d just need to get learning a bit of Welsh as it’s taught to a certain level in all schools.

Woke up this morning to so many replies, thank you all!

Lots of suggestions to look into. We'd be happy with the weather up in Scotland, we are not hot weather people at all and could grow in greenhouses. Also we've had other family already move away because of house prices (either to Europe or other parts that are still too expensive for us) so it's not like we'll be moving away from all our family as lots have already had to go.

Teaching roles are also few and far between down here, good idea to look at places that need teachers first. Also happy for more rural living and I love working in smaller schools so that could be a good option for us. Thank you all!

If you like smaller schools then Dumfries & Galloway is definitely your friend!

Not for a 3 bed www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122660615?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

We were you a year ago. We tried Northumberland renting and adored it but the prices had risen so fast we couldn’t get what we wanted. So we now own in Aberdeenshire 2 acres of land. Very rural. We absolutely love it.

We are in Staffordshire, near the cannock chase! It's pretty round here and we got our excellent 3 bed with a fabulous garden for under £250k.

Cheaper houses in Wales are no longer cheap unfortunately, most have gone up about 30% lately. There's still the odd decent find, this house would have been about £150k last year: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118180910
Something in the south east valleys would probably suit best as it's still relatively easy to get back towards Sussex.

Newhaven, hailsham, Bohemia or ore in Hastings?

Kingswood in Bristol. The cheapest part of the city but still a thriving community. Good buses into town

Lancaster. Quite a few surprisingly affordable smaller houses in a university town.

South Yorkshire. I've been here two years and adore it!

Oh I love these sorts of comments, Scotland is a huge place with a wide range of areas and house prices. It’s like saying “up north” and proclaiming everywhere to be cheap. I live in Scotland and their budget wouldn’t buy my 2 bedroom flat!

Also bear in mind that the curriculum and school system in Scotland is completely different, you’d need to check that your qualifications are transferable.

There are a number of districts in cities that are not well thought of but have good bits if you look around. I'm thinking of Gateshead and Heaton near Newcastle, crumpsall and levenshulme in Manchester, handsworth and Bearwood in birmingham. All good for jobs because near city centre but do pick your street.