Moving to Norfolk???

[womanwholivedinashoe]

hello Ladies,

My husband was recently made redundant and we saw this as the ideal opportunity to search for the lifestyle that we've always wanted. We are seriously looking into Norfolk and I have 4 boys 19 (& Autistic), 14, 8 and baby 6 months and need to know where might be best to bring up kids.
I'm a nurse so will be looking for work and hubby said he would do almost (lol) anything for work. We would prefer to live out of a large town, we like the seaside but not a large beach area more quieter resorts. But in the same respect love the countryside too, so generally just a nice area but facilities within a drive for the kids to not get too bored?
Can anyone help??? We are so far considering Acle and Loddon? Shouldham and Marham although they are quite far from the secondary school is there a school bus service that operates?

Many thanks wwlias

Oh my goodness! I am feeling massive massive envy of OP having quickly perused rightmove for the villages/towns recommended.

God you get a lot of (lovely) house for your £.

My cousins grew up in cambridgeshire, near Norfolk borders. Their childhood always seemed impossibly idyllic compared with mine (SE London). However, as teens I think it was a bit of a pain being carted about reliant on lifts because of non-existant public transport.

But if you find an area with public transport links - sounds perfect. Of course moving to Norfolk expecting Berkhamstead or Surrey in terms of proximity to London would be daft. But OP seems to have done lots of research and to be going into this with eyes wide open.

lljkk - sorry not telling.

No Bronze I didn't expect Norfolk to be like Godalming! I knew Norfolk very well before we moved here. I was raised in a rural farming environment in Devon - that is the childhood I was seeking for my son. Villages with schools and shops and a genuine heart to them. Not soulless wastelands of holiday homes. And endless bloody caravans. I admit I may just be nostalgic for a place that doesn't exist anymore - the whole of rural Britain is struggling.
I visited a friend in Dorset recently and out of the 40 houses in her village 36 of them are now used as holiday properties. As a result the primary school, shops, petrol station and pub have all closed down.

There is nothing wrong with "yokels" OrangeBernard I come from good solid yokel stock myself.

I have lived and worked all over this country but I have to say that Norfolk is the only place I have encountered a white woman casually referring to a black woman as a "stupid ni**er" in a meeting - a business meeting FFS!
Of course Norfolk doesn't have a monopoly on racist twats - but the casual way xenophobic comments are dropped into conversation just staggers me.
Always amuses me when white English people say "Oh there is no racism here."
Oh really? And how exactly would you know if there was?

I think Norfolk is a big county and the character varies a lot from place to place - in that broadland is not much like south Norfolk, and the north coast has become a playground for weekenders from the south.

In my experience not many villages have a pub, shops and a school - sometimes one or maybe two of those but not often all 3 now.

As with any place you have to do your homework and find somewhere that suits you. And as with many rural places it can be hard to break into close nit communities. Bits of the towns and bigger villages can be rough - but other bits are wonderful.

As with anywhere - you can't tar it all with the same brush.

It is a shame lubberlich has had such a bad experience, hopefully Sussex will work out better for her. As for the OP - I think the problem may be work rather than finding a nice place to live. Norfolk is not awash with jobs and not many big companies - so maybe try job hunting first and then find the nice areas within easy reach of the job.

You must have come across a whole different load of people to me as I have never encountered this. Well nothing that strong maybe the odd little thing but at the same amount I've come across in all my other places I've lived.
I admit I don't know if there's racism here really as I am white but I am truly shocked by the examples ou have given as I have never encountered anything like it.

I suspect your idyll isnt so common countrywide any more but there are places thats still have strong hubs and community spirits.

As I said I'm not norfolk born or bred either, moved here 7 years ago and am now trying to get dh to move to somewhere with hills (I get bored) so I don't feel defensive of it as my home but do find this picture you have s0 different to mine

We moved from London to near Sheringham two years ago. Cinema in Cromer (5 miles from Sheringham) lovely beaches, great small primary schools and have only met one arsehole - everyone else very welcoming and friendly. A good balance of locals and in-comers like ourselves. In fact the arseole was originally from the Peak District so not even a local with a chip - just a person with a chip! There is stuff to do. Our children have become very outdoorsy - very old-fashioned mostly in a good way! They run wild, make dens and now the winter is over barely ever watch TV. This isn't our doing - they just don't think of it because they are too busy playing outside. Whenever I miss London, which I do, I think of their priceless freedom to be children and I wouldn't take them back. Aylsham is a nice town, with a good high school and easy reach of Norwich - which is also a great city with vibrant cultural stuff and lots for kids. Also - you can be on the beach in 20 mins. We take ours down to the beach after school - it's wonderful. And there aren't many dual carriageways and no motorway so it is a bit like moving to the 1950s but people really have been very kind and welcoming.

RE racism - the arsehole I referred to is the only eg I have of that - very racist man - and homophobic but as I said he'd not from Norfolk. Of course there are people who just don't know anyone who isn't white and they can have a skewed view - especially if all they hear on the news is crime/terrorism stories. But we have lots of black, Muslim and gay friends and have been out with them a lot when they come to stay and never had any odd glances etc. Our lesbian friends with kids said they love coming because they feel so accepted (maybe no-one gets their relationship! or maybe just don't care) but said they felt much more judged in Devon and haven't at all here. There is prejudice everywhere though - I always lived in East London and the racism there is much more aggressive and threatening.

We live on the Suffolk/Norfolk border near Thetford and it's wonderful. I work in Bury St Edmunds (waves to diablo as a fellow MS worker) and despite being too far from the sea (I grew up on the Sussex coast) I have never regretted moving to this area.

I grew up in Norfolk, still do lots of work there, holiday there and have parents, siblings, nieces and nephews there. I love the landscape, the quirky community init iatives, the peace and quiet, and the holiday-visitor-orientated shops. There are some great pubs, fantastic cafes, and good days out. But I can get better fresh small-bakery bread more readily in London than I can in many Norfolk villages, ditto good quality meat and veg!

I love the N Norfolk coast - good for painters, birdwatchers and those who are happy to make their own entertainment in all weathers (me!). Terrible for culture (as is most of Norfolk - including Norwich, compared to most cities), public transport, and it can be hard to access certain services. Children who need to attend special schools spend hours in taxis travelling in to Norwich, for example.

If you want to live in the most beautiful wild isolated coastal areas, your best bet might be to live along the Huns'ton to Sheringham stretch and work at King's Lynn - or one of the small 'cottage' hospitals such as Kelling. The coastal villages have a good service on the Coasthopper bus - but even one village inland, like Langham, has a very sparse bus service, no shop, no post office, etc. Though it has a good village school.

Rural Deprivation has tangible realities, and many teens are reduced to taking drugs in bus shelters, driving illegally souped up cars too fast on narrow winding roads, and becoming disaffected by boredom, lack of jobs and housing bumped up by second home prices.

There are many lovely people in Norfolk, obviously, but many areas do seem to have a high proportion of people who are not au fait with life in a multi-cultural, multi-racial age. My sister is a TA in a school in North Walsham and is shocked on an almost daily basis by the casual racism of parents and the parochial nature of thinking. My Mum has non-white grandchildren and has had numerous ignorant and rude comments passed her way. But that is not to say that people are aggressive or unfriendly to individuals, just haven't caught up, or had the experience of living in a mixed demography.

It's a huge county, made bigger by the distinct regions and slow transpot routes - you surely aren't thinking of moving there without visiting, staying there a bit, scoping it out? Take a cottage for a month in the area you you think you fancy (maybe as a house swap or something), do the potential journey to work a few times, and experience all the facilities.

I love Norfolk, but I suspect that with Norwich and County Councils having to make even more swinging cuts in the next 3 years, life could get pretty bleak in some ways.

Pooka - the property price issue is very significant. You don't get cheap property in areas with decent incomes and buoyant local economies. Shropshire & Lincs are like Norfolk in that respect.
There is always a reason why property is relatively cheap!

Bronze - Good luck finding your hills. I am craving some too.

Carobeaner - Really enjoyed your post. And I agree that the £60m cuts will only make things much worse - particularly in Norwich where so many people are employed by the council.

Yes, property prices tell a story.

Property on the fashionable (and very beautiful) N Norfolk coast can rival London for prices 3 bed cottage £775,000, especially in Burnham Market, the Deepdales, Blakeney etc. because of the second home and posh holiday let effect.

Also many of these places have numerous retirees - in my Mum's village the majority of housing is now holiday accommodation and retired people. There used to be a butcher, fishmonger, 2 grocers, a bank, a bakers, a greengrocer. Now there is one small supermarket, a very posh deli and some posh gift shops. The only people who have lived there all their lives, with few exceptions, manage to stay because they have HA or council housing.

But then presumably many others sold up their old family homes to make a killling at London prices and went elsewhere - I don't know where! Members of my family are in original homes, or have built have built on former agricultural land. (converted sheds - 'Barn Conversion' would be pushing it!)

Carobeaner which school in N Walsham?

Do you know there is a 2 bedroom bungalow at Burnham Mkt on the market for £1.75m?! Meanwhile in Yarmouth you can grab yourself a nice little terrace and still get change out of £55k.
A county of extremes it most certainly is!

Hi Ladies,
Have just returned from sunny Norfolk and have enjoyed viewing the vast array of areas that have been suggested to me.
Norfolk is as ever beautiful (biased I am of course or I wouldn't be thinking of living here) have settled on the South side Of Norwich in particular the broadlands area. Lubberlich I am like you and probably not prepared to meet up with any racist comments because I was born in London and my best friends are all from ethnic minorities so it may be hard to hear (in fact v v hard to hear) and also in the Diss area. Although we have seen a house in Acle and are seriously considering putting in an offer tomorrow. Acle has the countryside close by, but has all the amentities that we require for the children and for ourselves to not feel too isolated at first. When settled into their schools and once knowing the area better we can perhaps move out to a village close by but for now we'll see how it goes (and if said offer gets accepted).
So not quite rural and not too big, fingers crossed it has the community we crave.
Have taken on board everyones concerns and spoken in depth to dh but we feel the time is right now to make the move.
Wish us luck

ps carobeaner very interesting post, went to see what I considered an absolutely terribly old grade 2 property in Wissett, which hasn't been looked after and in my opinion about to fall down (one bedroom couln't be used because the floor would fall through) and when dh asked the estate agent how much it would cost to buy as it would sell better than renting as then someone could sympathetically do it up (not ourselves I might add lol) she said it would fetch around 850k shocked just a tad!!!!!!!!

Time for a chill and I think!

Blimey - loads of generalisations about Norfolk and the people who live in it! From reading some of these posts you would imagine that Norfolk is entirely populated by either drug taking yoofs, millionaire second home owners or the born and bred Norfolkians who have wattle and daub huts and casually flinging racists insults at any passerby. None of which is true.

There is an issue with second homes in 2 or 3 villages along the north norfolk coast. But it is confined to those villages - like Burnham Market, for example or Cley. It does not stretch inland or further along the coast.

Rural deprivation is an issue - there are pockets of deprivation in most counties. However virtually all of the anti social behaviour areas occurs in towns, as you would expect and it's low level compared with most other places. I don't tend to recognise the casual racism that one or two posters describe, that not to say those views aren't expressed by people on occasion and deserve to be challenged. I have to say I don't find that threatening. I did, however, when I lived in West Ham find the knife wielding psycho screaming "Get the paki" quite intimidating but I know that most people who live in the East End aren't like that.

As for cutbacks in public service, I don't think that we're that different from other counties in the UK. Those cuts will affect people, but that would happen anywhere.

We started looking at Cornwall and Devon first off in our search and all we found in all the coastal areas and slightly inland was second homes / holidays homes and its such a shame that people aren't getting the chance to live in these wonderful places full time but then again if you can ask for £1600 a WEEK for a holiday let in Rock,Cornwall then why would you rent it out to a normal joe bloggs for a much lower monthly rent but it does mean when the seasons are over everything shuts down in these towns :(. Also how are people affording to have 2nd homes, I get barely get the one lol!!!

MBC you're absolutely right there is racism everywhere and in some places worse than others. We live very close to an area that once had differnt sections of minorities fighting the other so racism even occurs when you're in the same race but support a different religion and just for the record whislt they were fighting it was pretty scary.

Just came back as I said from Norfolk and ds1 phoned me up and said that someone had been murdered down his road (he lives in his own flat with carers at the moment) so we were hit with reality really really quickly when we arrived home.

And yes cutbacks are happening everywhere :(

MissBeehiving - well, I would say my family are perfectly ordinary, nice, community minded people, not millionaires, don't converse entirely in the 'Slow You Down' Naarfuk talk of the Wiveton roadsign, sniff glue or cause fatal crashes on the Roughton - Cromer rd in a souped up Ford. But whilst everyone considers crime, schooling and general 'quality of life' factors for inner-London, so they do for Norfolk or anywhere else anyone seeks views or perspectives on. And unless we are going to discuss the inhabitants and crime levesl in a particular cul-de-sac in Dereham then there is going to be some 'in general' advice.

Good luck womanwholivedinashoe - hope it works out really well for you. I wish I could follow suit - I'd go to Wells, Burnham Overy Staithe or Brancaster, given free choice and no travelling-to-work restrictions, but I am a creature of the saltmarsh coast.

And could not be so indiscreet as to name the N Walsham school!

My hills are going to have to wait until the children grow up. We're going to see a house in Aylsham on saturday if the agent calls me back

Please don't me theres loads of us in competition for the same houses

I like Aylsham - good luck with the house offer!

KatyMac is in Acle.

Good luck with the house Bronze! Thanks lljkk have already pm her lol.

Acle is a nice place and they have a lovely Indian takeaway and a fabby butchers.

Thanks IWTBAFWIGU fingers crossed, offer has gone in and landlord is talking to wife tonight.

House went to (apparently) they're friends :( back to the drawing board.