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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be thinking of moving to Bath rather than London?

58 replies

AgainWhen · 13/05/2011 22:17

Currently live in Doncaster. Can't stand it.

We're moving this autumn and have been looking at the suburbs in SW London - can afford a teeny tiny 3 bed house. Have always wanted to live in London and as the plan is for our next move to be our 'forever' house this feels like the right time.

However I've just looked at what we could buy in Bath for £400k and we could get someting fantastic for our money.

Anyone got any insight? Best/worst areas etc.The main thing I fear is ending up somewhere provincial and wishing we'd moved to London all along.

OP posts:
flagging · 14/05/2011 20:30

Bath over London? - every time.

It's great. Shopping, arts/theatre, so pretty, surrounded by beautiful countryside, nice and relaxed. Down side dreadful one way system, hills and tourists. Cribbs Causeway (outside Bristol) just up the road. Easy access to Wales and Devon for the beaches.

Also (and this depends on whether you like cities or towns) don't forget the Cotswold towns which are near both the M4 and Kemble train station with direct and regular route to London (i.e. Cirencester, Tetbury, Malmesbury). They are great communities.

animula · 14/05/2011 20:32

Would K400 really be enough to buy you something nice in Bath? I did a property search for Bath the other day, and the nice houses/areas all seemed to be K750.

Realistically, K400 in London is surely going to be outer London?

"Living" in a place comes down to the experience of living there, if you see what I mean.

K400 in London will probably buy you the experience of living close to all those central London amenities, and the reality of living in a suburb - which is not the same as living in central London, and that has its good and bad points.

Not living in central Bath - I have no real idea what that would be like. My mil lives in central Bath, and it is pretty wonderful: popping out to Waitrose of a morning, beautiful architecture, a cultural life on your doorstep (and, no, it isn't the cultural life of the capital, but on the + side, it's all on her doorstep), and gorgeous countryside, minutes away.

Living outside the centre of London has upsides - there is a vibrant life a short commute away; there is often a wide mix of people which is invigorating; transport is pretty good, so you can travel and widen your day to day experience further (on the other hand, you will have to travel, probably losing three hours of your day, every working day, so that may get old quite fast!!).

Bath, apparently, has a huge issue with secondary schools. It does have a problem with drug addiction - though that doesn't seem to have made a deep mark on the general culture of the city, so it may not be a realistic issue for you, at all.

Conversely, depending on what you want from your "London" experience, you can find pretty good schools, and peaceful little boroughs, or vibrant ones - London is very much a number of little areas, of very distinct character.

How lucky to be in a position to choose! I think you should think about what it is you would like to experience from the place you live, and have a great time looking. it must be lovely to not be tied to an area through work.

MilaMae · 14/05/2011 20:37

Hmmm I lived in Bath for a long time and Bristol both pre kids,adore both but wouldn't raise kids in either. Bristol has dire schools and Bath gets a tad boring at times. I found the whole Somerset area quite tedious ie buggar all to do at the weekend.My in laws have discovered the same and have just moved.

Pretty much all there is to do is sit in cafes,eat out,go to the cinema or stroll round the parks/canal. Great without kids but eating out every weekend with kids is expensive(and stressful) and after you've done the parks a few times-tedium will reign.It was fab in our 20s/30s on our own with plenty of money but no way would I do it now.

Also you have no idea how bad it gets with the tourists both at Christmas and summer,it's horrendous. I don't know how anybody can use a buggy.Bath is quite small so it gets rammed.Cars literally crawl everywhere.

We're in Devon now with masses to do.If I was going to be out of London I'd do the whole hog ie Devon/Cornwall. Strangely I'd rather raise kids in London than Bath,far more to do???? Haven't tried raising kids in London so could be completely wrong.

Having said that when dp has carced it and I'm a little grey haired old lady on my own I'm going to try and buy our lovely little attic flat back and will move back.I'll enjoy annoying all the toroids with my zimmerframe. As it is it's probably waaaay out of our league at the moment-sob!

MilaMae · 14/05/2011 20:42

Sigh I could hobble out to Waitrose and pop into the Adventure Cafe on the way back,maybe look round all the gorgeous shoe shops.God can't believe I used to do our complete shop in Waitrose and the organic supermarket.I used to have shoes to match handbags instead of one pair of cloppy boots and a massseeeeeeve ruck sack..

MercurySoccer · 14/05/2011 21:01

Why?

"The main thing I fear is ending up somewhere provincial"

BambinoBoo · 14/05/2011 21:05

Bath is just grey. Even when the sun is out it's grey, absolute dullsville. I hate it. I'm a Londoner now living in Bristol and can say that if you'd like London, you'd probably like Bristol. We love it here. Yeah, there's some dodgy parts but same with London really. Go on, go on. Come to Brizzoll!!!!!

BsshBossh · 14/05/2011 21:50

OP, Bath is lovely (in the main) but life is short and if London has always been your dream then for God's sake go for it. You will always regret it if you never found out what it was like. And you could always move out again, really (easier to move out then move back in in terms of housing costs).

London was always my dream when I was growing up in Kent and Norfolk and I always said I could always leave London if I ever lived there. I never have. Still don't want to leave. But I've climbed the property ladder in London and if I did want to leave it would be a serious upgrade in terms of what house we could afford outside London because of the current value of our house here.

But really this is all besides the point. If London is your dream then DO IT!

BsshBossh · 14/05/2011 21:51

easier to move out than move back in, I meant to say.

lubberlich · 14/05/2011 22:11

Bath is dull and provincial. It's alright for a long weekend but don't move there permanently FFS. Far too many drippy hippy types sniffing crystals and twatting on about ley lines for my liking.
Come on - you know deep down that a sunny Sunday afternoon by the river in Richmond is about as good as it can ever get.

bibbitybobbityhat · 14/05/2011 22:12

And this is in AIBU because ... ?

exoticfruits · 14/05/2011 22:23

Bath is dull and provincial

I love dull and provincial and would hate to live in London. However Bath is very touristy. It is a bit like London-nice to visit for a weekend-as long as you can get out again!

lifechanger · 14/05/2011 22:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

skybluepearl · 14/05/2011 22:54

bath is much nicer than london - and bristol close by has so much to offer too. nice water front flats right in the centre if you like a city buzz. have you considered brighton also?

Bunbaker · 14/05/2011 23:22

Why only London or Bath? I live in rural South Yorkshire near the Pennines and can be in Sheffield or Leeds in 30 minutes. It takes at least that long to get into central London from the suburbs.

We live near great schools, excellent farm shops and farmers markets yet can "enjoy" city life if we choose to (we don't because we hate city living).

Incidentally, I used to live in Greater London and work in the West End. I don't miss it at all. I much prefer the open space and fresh air, the more considerate drivers - drivers in the London area are awful, and the friendlier people. I wouldn't move back to London even for exceedingly large amounts of money.

wendyphunt · 26/05/2011 12:30

OMG all this talk of provincial, stuffy and boring is totally freaking me out! We are considering moving to the bath bristol area and I have hopped on the site to try and get some info on schools.

BTW we currently live in Sydney on the northern beaches.

We want to move back as we miss family and culture and need to make a decision as we have 1 starting high school sept '12.

Anyone got any suggestions of a great high school which excels in sport?

kerala · 26/05/2011 12:46

Staggered at the poster who said there is "nothing to do" in Bath - bizarre. Everytime I go away for a weekend (currently live in Bath) I feel like I am missing out. So much going on culturally and for children endless stuff plus all there is near(ish) beaches, Somerset, Wales etc. For us I feel it has the best of London (beauty stuff going on) but dont feel suffocated as you can see the countryside from the city. Also its very friendly within 6 months we had a good gang of likeminded families to do stuff with that never happened in London everyone seemed very insular and "I already have my friends sod off" type attitude.

We moved from North London (Hampstead) to Bath and have never looked back. But its a really personal decision - London is fab and you can't replicate the "buzz" of central London. We felt we had experienced the best of that pre kids so moved here when oldest 2. Plus have family down here so was easy decision. Schools in Bath mostly very good both our teenage babysitters off to Oxford from the local comp.

Tonytiger · 15/04/2012 03:06

My family ,hubby and three boys thinking about moving to bath. Boys will in time prob go to bryanston like to be within 10 miles south ish of city. Any help with nice interesting villages would be great.txs

rahhd · 15/04/2012 03:35

I live in Kew and it is a very nice area. The gardens are great, 40 GBP per year for unlimited entry. On the District line so not too bad to get into Central London. Also 1 stop to Richmond, which has fast trains to Waterloo.

Crime - well it is very limited. Apparently there were only 2 areas not affected during the summer riots. Westminster and Richmond. Infact during that time I saw someone spill a latte and I was appalled. ;-)

Not sure about schools as have no children, but I assume that they are adequate.

The problem is prices, £400k would get you a 2 bedroom.

startwig1982 · 15/04/2012 06:45

We live outside bath and are very happy with the area. There's lots to do, a thriving cultural scene, music, arts, restaurants, clubbing, walks, the river and canal. Plus shopping. It takes about 30 mins to get to cribbs or Cabot circus plus there are lots of lovely little shops in bath. The downside is the same to any city, in that it's very busy in terms of people and traffic, hence the reason we live outside the city in a more rural setting. However, the surrounding villages are not cheap and while £400k sounds like a lot, it won't get you a huge house. Btw, DH and I are both teachers and the schools are good on the whole: there's only really one you should miss but you'll realise that as soon as you get to the area!

GavisconJunkie · 15/04/2012 06:48

Bath every time!

PanicMode · 15/04/2012 07:57

I couldn't leave the SW London sprawl fast enough - hated it - but maybe that was because we'd spent 10 yrs there by the time we left. As a born and bred West Country girl, I would pick a village near Bath over London every time (even though we're now in Kent!)

charlearose · 15/04/2012 08:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StanleyLambchop · 15/04/2012 08:53

The schools are the main issue in both Bristol & Bath. Bath has quite a few private secondaries, so the state provision is flaky. Could you afford to go private? Traffic is awful, if you need to get somewhere on the other side of the city to where you live it can take an age.

Bristol schools are also a major problem- they are very short on primary places, and there are only a few really outstanding senior schools and everyone is trying to get their kids into those.
Charlearose- I would be wary of Nailsea until they decide where they are going to site the electricity pylons which are currently threatening to encircle the whole town!!!

MrFunnytheEasterBunny · 15/04/2012 08:59

My cousin lives in bath, it's a beautiful place.
She lives in Weston, and I love it there, such a beautiful part of the town with lots of old houses.
Also the countryside round about is lovely as well.

If you are not tied to areas, what about Salisbury? I used to live there, it has the "small town" friendly feel but still has plenty of big shops, and you are surrounded by beautiful countryside, and the Dorset coast is only about 40 min away?

gettingeasier · 15/04/2012 09:12

I grew up in central Bath and go back a couple of times a year

Its great but it is very expensive and yes even in my day the tourists were a nightmare

Growing up it felt ok for things to do but I suppose in the late 70's expectations were low Grin

Clearly there is far more to do in London but does one actually do it with DC in tow

Oh and I went to Hayesfield a state secondary which I still occasionally see in doing well lists if anyone needs an actual school name

Am on the fance really , ideally rent and decide ?

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