To move away from london but where to?

[Hotmad]

I've got a little baby girl now and I don't want to bring her up in london, I love london but I feel she would have a better childhood out of london.... Do you think this is fair to say?
Where In UK is nice to live for young family life that doesn't get affected by flooding or near an airport.
Is it reasonable to think I could find somewhere affordable with the requirements above?

I love London and have two DCs who are now at Secondary school. I think it's an excellent place to have children, actually, as long as you can get out to the countryside or seaside for short trips or holidays.

The great things about London are: public transport, parks, museums, free arts and creative activities in the local coomunity, any sport you might want to take up, theatres, moxing with a vibrant and varied bunch of people, great restaurants etc etc etc.

Of course it depends where you live, but as my Dcs got older I found a solid bunch of friends.

The only places I would consider moving to would be near the sea - SE Essex or South coast - Dorset.

What is important to you about having children that you want to raise?
I did both and looking back think staying in London would have been better but I loved living out of it too!

I live really near an airport and never, ever hear a plane.

I always assumed that I'd move out of London and back to the countryside where I was raised when I had kids. And then thought I would when the kids were of school age. But by that time I'd realised what a fantastic place London is for children. There are endless parks, free museums, theatres, tennis courts, ice rinks, playgrounds. We could have done several different pre-school activities every day of the week. Now they are at school (and don't forget London schools have better results on average than elsewhere) all their school friends live within a ten minutes walk and we have drama/art/sports clubs and music teachers coming out of our ears.

I still dream of returning to live in the country sometime, but it's a retirement dream now. The girls would never forgive me if I took them away from all this now! If/when I do it would be to Hampshire, Wiltshire or Dorset; to the edge of a market town. I would need to be within easy reach of hills or down land and the sea.

I think being able to walk or bus everywhere is the biggest advantage of living in London.

Once you move out of London everywhere is affordable in comparison.

I lived in London when I was in my early 20s and, looking back, I'm really glad that I moved out before we had our DC.

If you want to stay in an urban area then maybe look to East Anglia with places like Cambridge or Norwich. Or perhaps more to the north west with some of the really nice areas surrounding Birmingham or south Manchester/Altrincham.

There are also many many other smaller towns and cities that are great as well.

YABU - London is great. DD has parks, school, trains, buses etc on her doorstep. When she is a teen she will just be able to get a bus to the shops etc. which will make my life so much easier too!

I can't imagine what more country living would give her other than more time in a car!

I don't live in London, but if I was going to move anywhere in this country I'd move to County Durham. So close to cities, countryside and the coast on your doorstep, and everyone is dead friendly. Plus it's cheap!

Do you have any links to anywhere else? Having lived all over the country (north and south) I realised that once it gets down to every day life most towns/cities are essentially the same. They all have nice bits, not so nice bits, suburbia, more rural bits further out. Having family/friends around you is most important so if you have family/friends elsewhere that would be my first choice x

Whereabouts in London are you now? Is your job moveable? We spent ages researching where we should move to when ds was born and berkhamsted won, mainly because its only 30 mins from Euston but is like the countryside. We never did it in the end because it cost too much, and now we enjoy London as a family, ds is v much a city boy!

YANBU

I loved living in London as an adult.

No way did I want my children growing up there.

Where do you work?

I just moved to live in Market Harborough, I LOVE it :) 1 hour on the train to London but so much cheaper, was in last years Sunday Times top 5 places to live. Not sure if we are in 2014 maybe me moving in has lowered the tone!

I just can't afford a house In london ever I don't think is another big factor. I work locally but to be honest my job (nurse) is easily relocatable so that wouldn't hold me back.

We moved to the SW a few years ago. (Not a bit that has flooded.) Love it here. Close to cities, good road links and nice house/good schools.
I wouldn't move back if you paid me!

Our DC are older teenagers now. They would be deeply distressed if we moved from London. However, if we hadn't been able to afford in a nice part of London and educate them privately we would have left London in a flash.

The great things about London are: public transport, parks, museums, free arts and creative activities in the local coomunity, any sport you might want to take up, theatres, moxing with a vibrant and varied bunch of people, great restaurants etc etc etc

Think carefully I think perhaps winchester or brighton.

Do you have any links to anywhere else? Having lived all over the country (north and south) I realised that once it gets down to every day life most towns/cities are essentially the same. They all have nice bits, not so nice bits, suburbia, more rural bits further out. Having family/friends around you is most important so if you have family/friends elsewhere that would be my first choice x

Have a really small family and all within an hour away but to be honest I don't mind if I'm not near family etc

wilmslow, knutsford, tarporley, Chester,(all in Cheshire) Edinburgh, lakedistrict, Dorset, are my choices

Teenagers don't usually want to be stuck out in the sticks. Raising children in the middle of nowhere is much more of an adult fantasy than a child one. In winter you're inside much of the time you're no in school because it's dark anyway so it doesn't matter where you are.
Go where the jobs are and the adults are happiest, the kids will usually be happy too then.

We moved out of london just before DS started school to west Norfolk - best move we ever made. I work in Cambridge (1/2 hour on train) Norwich 45 mins away and can be in London either by driving or train in just under 2 hours.

We had a lovely life in London, fabulous house but 2 years later have absolutely no regrets.

What do you like doing? Yourself and as a family? For me if I moved out of London I'd need to be walking distance from town centre, nice restaurants, vibrant indie arts scene. For some people they'd rather be near the open countryside, or the coast, or a mega shopping mall (perhaps). How do you imagine "our new life outside London"? Then maybe posters here can help you find a location.

If you're used to London prices, nearly everywhere is affordable! There are some lovely parts of Manchester for example that would be a fraction of the cost of the equivalent home in London.

Out of London, not prone to flooding, and affordable?
You need to move to Yorkshire. Where I am is perfect for all of those!
Beautiful scenery too.

Oh, and we're practically town centre. So things shut at around midnight where we are. Although we're only about 10 minutes by car into glorious, uninterrupted countryside!