I live here?

[ButternutSoup]

My husband and I are South African and are immigrating to the UK (with an ancestry visa as my grandmother is British). While we were researching nice places to live, we stumbled upon this funny website called ilivehere.co.uk, where people write scathing reviews of their towns/cities. It must be satire, as nearly every town is made out to be some kind of crime-infested hellhole, which can't be true.

Some of the reviews do seem to contain elements of truth, I'm sure, but which ones? I've always had a romantic notion of living in the Scottish Highlands, but the "I Live Here" review makes it seem like the setting of The Hills Have Eyes.

Can anyone here recommend nice towns/suburbs? Our three criteria are: low crime rate, clean air, and house prices that are not clown-shoes expensive. We don't care that much about weather (my irritatingly pale skin has had enough sunshine for a lifetime and every time I go to the dermatologist his warnings become more severe), so maybe somewhere up north would be nice?

Between the gushing estate agent write-ups and the pessimistic "I Live Here" reviews, I don't know what to believe.

I just put into Righmove some of the places suggested - rental, 2 bed min, £1k month max.

St Albans - nothing.

Bath - nothing.

Stow on the Wold - nothing

Cambridge - House shares

Bristol - a couple of 2 bed flats, but mainly house shares

Cheltenham - decent selection of 2-bed flats

Stockport- 2-bed flats

Nottingham - lots of house shares, but some 2-bed flats

Louth (not mentioned so far, decent little market town near Lincoln) - 2 and 3 bed flats and houses

Cardiff - 2-bed flats and houses

Stirling - 2-bed houses and 3-bed flats

Where I live (Northern Ireland, easy commute to Belfast) - nice 3-bed house

Head north, and quite possibly out of England.

Wirral might be worth a look. Lots of countryside / beaches /clean air, but within easy reach of Liverpool, Chester and Manchester.

Oh sorry! I did indeed misread that and thought she said each.

Even so she will be able to rent somewhere in those areas with a £60k budget - plenty of people do - just not a two bed garden flat. It depends on the priority and where the job ends up being I suppose.

Ooh Louth is a great shout. Beautiful town but by gum it really felt remote.

I think if I were you OP I would focus on trying to find work in the North.

Yes, I can read, thank you - but she will need to live somewhere on arrival, won't she?!

I was last in Joburg about 15 years ago and it was 'gilded cages' then and so I can't imagine what it's like today. I always remember my friend meeting us at the airport and saying, 'welcome to Joburg, where the sun is hot and the bullets are real'.

Anyone who tells you that crime or the outlook is bad in the UK, likely has very little experience of how two thirds of the world live! I've travelled loads across Africa...astonishing beauty but also wealth and poverty living side by side, with all the problems that both of those bring.

If you're looking for safe, secure and stable, the UK is a good place to be. There's lots of pressure on public services and infrastructure but at least there ARE public services and infrastructure and oh water and power and also you don't need a panic room or to lock yourself into your bedrooms at night in case an armed intruder decides to break in!

We have lots of gorgeous countryside, seaside, decent cities and quaint villages and if your Rands won't translate well into pounds then you'll defo need to be further North. Could you come over and take a holiday/road trip? Hire a camper van and just get a feel for somewhere you can call home?

We live in the northwest in a lovely village surrounded by countryside and about 30 miles from a big city. Great quality of life and you could get a decent 2 bed property for about £200k

I hope you're able to make your way to a much more peaceful and stable life soon.

Wiltshire/ Hampshire borders perhaps
Commute into London Paddington or Waterloo( cost of commute a factor though obviously)

Richmond!?

But that's not what the OP is asking about?!

When you have a rough idea where you want to live, pop a postcode into this and it gives you statistics, I used it to check crime levels in the area I was moving to. note I popped a random postcode in and not my own. https://www.streetcheck.co.uk/postcode/b147lb it’s a high street so the crime stats are higher than lots as it’s on a high street

Genuinely, I think the OP's focus on 'low crime' is understandable given her experiences but entirely unnecessary in the context of the UK. As has been said several times on this thread, there is absolutely nowhere in the UK that has crime levels anywhere close to her experiences in Johannesburg. That's not to say that muggings, burglaries, street violence etc don't ever happen (sadly we've seen it just this week in Croydon), but the risk for the average person of ever being a victim of violent crime is still tiny. As a pp says, no need for panic rooms here!

What @VWdieselnightmare said. Penarth, Boverton, Llantwit Major, most of the Vale of Glamorgan is lovely. Cardiff is also a great city and yes I am biased cause I live here 😄 There's everything you could want within about 30 minutes, shops, beaches, countryside, mountains (so many hills and mountains!!). Plus the people are friendly but the weather is a bit shit!

Try not to pay attention to ilivehere - I think a lot of it is written by students about their hometowns and there's a lot of "my hometown is the WORST" teenagery sense to the reviews.

Everywhere's got it's nice and not nice parts, but personally, unless you're going to expensive nice places like Harrogate... In the north/midlands, towns I would avoid are :

Doncaster
Bradford
Stoke on trent
Mansfield
Grimsby
Boston
Wombwell

Nice enough places:
Lincoln
Retford
Beverley
Berwick-upon-Tweed (this is the best imo!)

Holmfirth area is very safe, very pretty and cheap.

Agreed.

I'm equidistant from Holmfirth and Penistone. Lovely area, rural/semi rural. Good schools.

Oh yes Huddersfield (although an awful town) has one of the best sixth forms in the country.

GPs and dentists also good.

I’m afraid I think you will feel poor on a salary of around £30k each, as new immigrants with all the additional costs you will have - health surcharge, very high car insurance as no UK no-claims history, etc.

Also, without a UK based guarantor, you will almost certainly be asked to pay a full 6 months of rent up front to secure even a modest property.

£30k is the kind of income people bring home from a blue collar skilled labour / skilled factory job, it’s about half what many professionals in their 40s will be living on - and in London and the SE, £30k each will be a tiny wage.

I definitely wouldn’t try to move to London or the SE on that kind of wage.

I was passing through Joburg airport recently and browsing the bookstore I came across a book which was advice for South Africans emigrating to the UK. I must say it made me chuckle. Perhaps having lived here and being of British heritage you might get 'us' more than this book suggested but it did sound like there was a huge cultural and language gap between SA and the UK. Is that true do you think? Is there anything you're not sure about apart from where to live?

With your jobs, I don’t think you need to be looking at London at all.

Come up north, you’ll get a lot more for your money and we’re a friendly bunch.

We live in Wyre, a mainly rural district of Lancashire. We’re half and hour from Lancaster, Preston and and hour from Manchester. We’re also an hour from the Lake District for days out. The only crime around here is the theft of agricultural machinery (which won’t apply to you) and people not picking up their dog poo 😂. We regularly go out and leave the door unlocked if one of us doesn’t have a key with us. Guns are only used for shooting pheasants or clay pigeon shooting.

To rent, a 2 bedroomed house with a garden would set you back around £700pcm, a 3 around £900 and a 4 around £1200 even with recent rent increases.

So basically, it’s all you want; safe, affordable and clean.

Thank you! I worked in a hotel in the Lake District after high school and I loved the people in that area. Funny, friendly, down to Earth - I made friends that I'm still in contact with on Facebook 20 years later!

I also lived in Lancashire, in Accrington, I sang in a band that was based there. Not the nicest looking town but again, I liked some of the people.

The clean air, the gorgeous natural beauty.... it's a very special place.

I promise I will always pick up my dog poo :)

Sounds like it’s meant to be! You will of course have to pick up your dog poo as it’s a requirement of living here that you immediately get a Labrador (working of course), springer or cocker spaniel (we chose Labrador) 😂.

Wow, it sounds fantastic! And apparently Inverness is not too far to travel.

When I think about the Highlands I imagine breathtaking scenery, mountains, lakes, peace and quiet, except when the wind is howling around my little house (hopefully with triple-glazed windows) while I'm all cosy and snug inside. I think of hiking and camping, fresh air, and yes, I'm afraid I do think of sheep as well!

We live overseas but my adult son has just moved back to the UK . We went to visit a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe how gorgeous the town was - Newbury in Berkshire. A very vibrant market town with stunning canal walks .

A couple of two bed cottages in the Peak District here, both lovely villages, both close to the Sheffield to Manchester Hope Valley train line (which is a beautiful route). You could be in either city in less than an hour and have fantastic countryside on your doorstep. Plenty of opportunities for jobs in your fields in both cities.

Cottage 1

Cottage 2

Many thanks, yes I've heard the Peak District is beautiful. I actually like the rain. I've been told I just need to get properly kitted out with wet gear, then we can go walking and hiking and not be bothered by rain.