to think it's grim up North?

[threefeethighandrising]

We are going to relocate in the next few years, and Manchester is a serious contender for DP for jobs.

If DP was to get work there then we would live somewhere semi-rural and commutable.

But ... the only experiences I have of Manchester and the surrounding areas are though my ex. He was an arsehole of the highest order, and the many people he introduced me to (his family and friends, in Manchester & Glossop) were the most painfully dysfunctional, damaged people I have ever had the misfortune to meet.

My opinion of the area is that it's the last place on earth I'd want to live, and my skin crawls when I think of the time I spent there.

But it can't all be like this can it? Surely IABU and my experiences with my ex are clouding my judgement? Surely there's a good (great?) side that I've just not seen?

Can you sell it to me?

"He [your ex] was an arsehole of the highest order". Then what were you doing with him? I mean, ever?

Yup, good question! Sadly one I have no answer for. Big mistake!

SharonGless I'm not so bothered by the sun. In fact I hate really hot days in the summer, my body is just not built for it!

I'm not scared of rain

I love the North, never lived there but work takes me there all the time.

If I could choose somewhere I think I'd be looking at Derby or Yorkshire; I don't know what the job situation is like there but it's so beautiful it makes me catch my breath sometimes.

There are nice places in every town and city though so you're sure to find somewhere you like... not too close proximity to your ex though.

Sorry near Glossop, not in Glossop I think!

Sorry my geography of the area is not great (as you might have noticed!)

My flatmate comes from Glossop and she is absolutly lovely as is her family and her friends that I have met. I live in Sheffield and it is a lovely city, I have not met friendlier people in my life. I grew up in the Westcountry so was quite nervous about moving up North but it was the best decision of my life!

Ahem... the local radio station in Glossop is wonderful

"Glossop FM - All your ears can hear, and more." Funky.

I did actually see a man taking his ferrets for a walk the other day

Not Glossop Fm. Oh dear... :)

I think Glossop is lovely, me! I like the whole area

I saw a man waiting for a bus in Hackney, inner London with a sheep on a lead! It was a brown shaggy sheep so it kind of passed for a dog from a distance but up close it was definitely a sheep! Bizarre! This was about 20 years ago mind.

Oh and my old local in Hackney has a regular with a ferret on a lead too

There are places up north that are grim, same as there are places down south that are grim. I moved away from my home town as I just couldn't stand the utter lack of aspirations about the place at all anymore (Sunderland) - I'd define it as a pretty grim place to live. Having said that - there are parts of County Durham that are wonderful - I lived near Sedgefield for a while and loved it there... shame Durham City's full of the cream of students (rich, thick and full of clots) for a large chunk of the year.

I love where I am now in the midlands - there are some wonderful parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and I used to work at a tiny rural school up in the Derbyshire Dales which had the most amazing drive into work on a morning ever - where you'd round a corner over the brow of a hill and see all the valley open out before you - it could really really take the sting out of a shit Monday-rather-be-in-bed morning. Indeed I've decided I'm off to a country park for the morning with the dog - so much green space and woodland around here to choose from which is really nice!

Threefeethigh-Tebay services is the awesome services but is on the way to Carlisle.
I live in Lancaster which is about an hour on train to Manchester-moved here from Bath and love it-friendly, cheap, lovely countryside, the Trough of Bowland is spectacular moorland, near loads of interesting places and can be at the seaside in ten minutes (and I have a soft spot for Morecambe)
My blog www.unicycle-emptiness.co.uk has reviews of lots of places in North-West-I find it a wonderful place to live and don't miss Saarf at all.

Yawn
not another north bashing post

I think you should stop where you are as we have enough moaning suthners up here

Here we go again. The north is one big homogenous shit-hole full of in-bred, whippet-shagging people who left school at 12 to marry their sister.

I actually think it is great that so many people have these beliefs as it means that the north is spared from having prejudiced arses moving there in droves. Unfortunately I now live down south so don't get to reap the benefit of an arsehole-lite north.

Do people honestly think that you pass a magical barrier half-way up the country and it suddenly becomes crap? Ever heard of the Lake District? The Northumberland coast? The Yorkshire Dales? York? Durham? The regeneration of the Newcastle Quayside?

Of course there are crap bits - I am with Emptyshell on parts of Sunderland for example. But there are crap bits of the south (parts of south London anyone?) and people manage to work around this without screaming "The south is all crap. All of it!"

My aunt used to hold these views. When she came up north for the first time she was surprised we had parks. She thought it was all slag heaps and derelict industry.

My mum is convinced that anywhere below Hull is "the south" and getting down past Derby and Nottingham is into "Here be dragons" territory.

I couldn't ever live in the south-east, I'd just hate it - doesn't mean I think it's all overpriced (ok so I do think that part) unfriendly gangsters... just that it's not for me!

I love the North, but more for the countryside and smaller towns than the big cities. I love Manchester/Leeds/Newcastle for a night out, but would not want to live there.

I have only been to Manchester once. Within 10 minutes of leaving the train station I had been offered drugs, a companion for the evening and witnessed a car crash. Just saying...

The last time I went to Manchester, within 10 minutes I'd been offered a program, (took my own companions), and then witnessed a very entertaining concert by the Halle at Bridgewater Hall.

Just saying

Well, obviously YABU but from your OP it looks like you suspect that anyway. And where is this mythical homogenous country known as 'The North' anyway? Do I need a passport to go there?

I live in London but spend quite a lot of time in Manchester. I've got some great friends there and really enjoy spending time with them, and Manchester itself is a fantastic city. Great people, culture, music, countryside etc. I would live there in a heartbeat, if DH's job didn't tie him to London.

Oh, and I went to university in Durham. Made some great friends there, most of them from Yorkshire actually. It is a beautiful city, and I have very happy memories from that time. It is, however, a completely different place to Manchester. And Leeds. And York. And Doncaster. And Hull... (repeat ad infinitum).

I've always wondered where these weird attitudes come from. Why do some people decide that whole swathes of the country and population are unacceptable?

Its even funnier when you realise that 'the north' is roughly halfway up the country - the centre of Britain is in Lancashire, Dunsop Bridge if you include islands, Whalley if you don't.

I live in Cheshire - tis not grim!

What about Alderley Edge, Wimslow, them type of places?

My only word of caution to you is that we moved op north, have had a fab old time but now it's time to get home and the reality is we cannot buy the type of house/garden i've been spoilt used to up here anywhere else.
We are in one of the better areas and my 4 bed detached is about to be swapped for a 3 bed terraced shoe box, not happy.