Relocation - have we considered everywhere or do you have any other ideas?!

[nellyelloe]

Hello!
So for very personal reasons, we have planned to totally relocate (away from England). It's been a very long time coming, but the right time is next year and we are so excited.

We have a few essentials to consider, mainly universal healthcare because both me and our child are T1 diabetic.

We also want somewhere very pretty, with a slower pace of life.

I want to know if we are missing other places to consider. This is our once in a life time chance. So far, we have considered (and obviously have been to) these places:

-West Wales
-North Wales
-Isle of Man
-Channel Islands
-Scottish isles (inner and outer Hebrides)

We are happy to go further or consider literally anywhere!

I'm an atheist in NI. It's fine. As @TheLadyofShalott1 says, you'll want to pick one of the less, um, exitable, areas. But I'd recommend that for anyone moving in regardless of religion.

The whole strip along the train line I mentioned would be no problem at all (as far as towns/villages go; there are some individual streets I wouldnt live in but that's true of anywhere). And at least here the flags and murals make those areas easy to spot.

If you want to have a browse of housing, the usual UK sites tend not to have much in NI. The main one here is https://www.propertypal.com/

Sample houses - pretty much anywhere in these areas should meet your requirements without being too remote for a teenager. I've started the search a good bit below your max budget. www.propertypal.com/search?stygrp=2&sort=priceLow&sta=forSale&st=sale&pt=residential&min=275000&max=400000&currency=GBP&minbeds=3&term=BT18&term=BT19&term=BT20

If you are NHS, do enquire via States of Guernsey whether there are any jobs for you as you may get a licence and assistance with accommodation costs for the first couple of years. you can also do a job search on their website.

Alternatively look at medical specialist group or the gp practices.

The States are really wanting people of working age to move here at present

Just seen your budget. 400k would probs only get you a 1-2 bed flat in guernsey but there are 3 bed houses available for 600-700k. I think people are starting to lower their prices now/take offers as the market is apparently 50% down activity wise on this time last year due to the interest rate rising

the other place to consider maybe Isle of Wight?

I know you said not England, but looking at your list, I wouldn't rule out Northumberland. It has a very different vibe to the rest of England, Scottish stuff bleeds over the border.

Not the point of the thread but I love seeing Northern Ireland being mentioned in a positive way.

Very ditsy? Really. FFS

Will reply properly to everyone when I'm on my lunch break, but £400k is just our mortgage free budget. We could go over that to say £650k and have a £250k mortgage . Mortgage free is the dream for all haha but certainly not essential

I can't thank you all enough for your support and advice

Speak at lunch

This is fantastic, thank you

On the stretch you talk about, which are the prettiest places? Holywood seems a good option. Are there scenic rural places between the towns?

Also I notice it's only a couple of hours from
Belfast to Dublin. Teenager loves big concerts which we travel to about 3X a year and favourite artists go to Dublin a lot.

Holywood is a very small town (1 and a half shopping streets - very much 'old fashioned high street' of almost all independent shops, butcher, baker, hardware store, deli, lovely cafes...) with a lovely community feel.

Bangor is a larger town that may technically now be a city but really is a medium-sized market town - has more chain shops, plans for a big redevelopment along the seafront including a fast electric ferry into Belfast in a couple of years.

Almost all the 'places' in between aren't really 'nameable places' (certainly not towns), just a light scattering of houses spread along the shoreline/coastal walk with occasional train stops to collect people who commute into Belfast and walkers with tired legs. Helen's Bay is very popular with people who want to be out of town, or Groomsport if you don't mind being past the end of the train line. And Cultra is the 'posh' bit with some gorgeous houses but not much else except a big golf course and the hotel where American film companies stay if they are working in NI.

Belfast has some big names (when we lived there we got a free Springsteen concert by opening the windows) and even Holywood has bigger names than you'd expect - the Boomtown Rats played the rugby club just before Covid. And you're right that 1 change of train (or to a cheap coach) gets you to Dublin very easily.

Pembrokshire is stunning but the hospital has been downgraded and the next nearest hospital is stretched beyond - do some research on Withybush. Depending on where you are in Pembs, the nearest hospital could we over an hour away on a road that is frequently closed due to RTA. Plus, the schooling situation is seriously lacking unless
your child can slot into one of the better resourced Welsh speaking school.

If you like wildlife, there is a costal footpath that runs the full.length of that stretch that is amazing for watching seabirds (turnstones, oyster catchers, barnacle geese, cormorants, eider ducks, black guillemots ...), I quite often see seals when the tide is right (some come right into the beach to watch the dogs playing) and if you're lucky you can spot an otter or 2.

We are on the edge of town and have counted at least 22 species of birds in the garden, sometimes see bats, and have a terrible back lawn because the badgers keep digging it up.

If the budget goes about £400k, how about this: https://www.propertypal.com/21-demesne-park-holywood/794018

Up the hill and right on the edge of town - lovely quiet area full of trees, but a 10 minutes walk gets you to the shops, train, and sea. (And at least 3 places that have just been included in the Times '100 best restaurants in Ireland' list.)

[Above, not about.]

I should probably clarify that I don't work for the tourist bord, or a local estate agent, I just really like it here.

£400000 will go a very long way in Scotland

This for example

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/129688292#/?channel=RES_BUY

I also think that whilst in agreement generally with the welcoming attitude of the Welsh people to incomers in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, there can again be pockets where this isn't the case so care needs to be taken when choosing a location.

For us personally, the day we completed on our rural Carmarthenshire purchase five years ago, we went round to our nearest neighbour (there are only two other properties in our rural road) to introduce ourselves as our previous attempts to find someone home had met with failure. We had moved 150 miles so hadn't been able to visit the house more than twice during the purchase process. On completion day the wife was out, but the husband (late sixties) initially seemed friendly, then suddenly began a rant about the owners of the third (considerably larger) property. This quickly descended into a moan about incomers. Both sets of neighbours are Welsh born and bred, although none are Welsh language speakers. By the time we left ten minutes later we were completely disillusioned and felt like sticking the house back on the market. Since that day I have seen him to speak with once and her never, although I've heard her talking on their land - fortunately our properties aren't that close. My DH has passed him a few times and despite attempts to be friendly, is usually ignored/stared at.

This experience is not exclusive to us. Anyincreasing number of recent movers from England into Wales have told us they are moving back. One lady (from Berkshire) moved her entire smallholding with many animals here three years back but hates it so much she's selling up. Another (retired in their case) couple bought a bungalow in a supposedly friendly village but were made to feel so unwelcome they sold within 18 months and returned to rural Devon.

Other friends (mid fifties, from London - she has two sisters living in Wales who love it) bought a semi-rural attached cottage in 2020, spent time renovating and moved in a year ago. She got a job (NHS) locally whilst he mainly WFH. Their attached neighbour, an elderly Welsh speaking lady, made it known in no uncertain terms that she doesn't trust them because they're English and that they weren't wanted in the village. She has had similar conversations with her twenty-something neighbour the other side (it's a terrace of just three houses), yet he moved to Wales as a child and considers himself more Welsh than English. Both her neighbours are now planning to move - with our London friends going back to England.

We also encountered a Welsh guy (DH was working - self employed - alongside him) who 'joked' about burning down the homes of English incomers in the past and that he still felt that way inclined. It put the fear of god in me fora while. A pub fairly local to us in rural Carmarthenshire with English tenants had anti-English graffiti daubed on the outside during the past year.....

So it's not all idyllic here.

The East Neuk of Fife is lovely too, but with easy access to major medical facilities in Dundee, Perth and Edinburgh, plus lots of local medical services.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/129124682#/?channel=RES_BUY

I'm in N Wales. It is such a huge area - why have you discounted it? It is truly breathtakingly beautiful. I live in a little village close to the border, which might not be suitable for you, but we love it. We go further into N Wales for short holidays.

I moved from England to N Wales and don't speak Welsh. I work for the NHS. It has never been a problem with my children going to school or me working in a very rural area in the community.

Mainly as people keep telling me that we wouldn't be welcome and everyone would hate us 😬 Seriously lots of people say that to us!
Your experience seems very different though?!

Wow! Isle of Bute on the list to visit and explore!

This honestly sounds like heaven to us. So it's the stretch from Belfast to Bangor that has beautiful coast and is worthy of a visit for us?