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?

In total agreement with ChloeRose. I love London and I've spent the majority of my life there but there is plenty of life, culture and civilisation to be found outside. Particularly agree with the comments about the suburbs or commuter belt. My idea of hell.

I live in an inner city with plenty of public transport and a prerequisite for our search was that our children should be able to get about independently and not be reliant on us for lifts. We wanted to be somewhere with its own identity where we could live, work and educate our DC in the nearby community and not have to commute for hours each day.

Yes but commuter belt you get countryside, you have your own community, AND you still have access to our capital city. And you can afford the house you want. Not sure how that is hellish!

There is more than one commuter belt in the UK... some are easier to get to the nearest city than others - they even have "shock horror" public transport that teenagers can use.

My issue with the commuter belt is the word commuter. You are right that there is plenty of variety in commuter belts across the UK, but the suburbs are not for us. Purely a personal opinion. I think the point was that there is plenty of urban life outside London.

DYMCHURCH, is perfect.
it's called a "childrens paradise! and it is too.
it has it's own "micro climate", mild, just about misses the worst of the weather, storms etc.
peaceful and safe,
excellent links to London/airports/Europe.
couldn't live anywhere else!

2 large hospitals - check
Fantastic variety of kids activities within easy reach from computer game design workshops to surfing - check
fantastic local music/theatre scene -check
good public transport - check
multi-cultural-check
really good libraries - check

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43081828.html detached
www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-44840396.html new build
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42857258.html period property.

There's lots of property under your budget too - a smaller mortgage with kids is always a good thing. Simple Coranation street style terraces can be snapped up for £60-70K

Kids learn a second language from reception at school.

Swansea's pretty cool.

According to the papers, Skipton in Yorkshire is the best place to live.

Hi there! Are you still looking to move out of London? If so my nan an s grandad have just put there house up for sale in Martin in linconshire it's a beautiful house it's detached and has a lovely long driveway up to the house and lots of garden for your little girl to run around in, I had some of the best days of my childhood at there house it's just beautiful and very safe as its set back of the road, it's also right next door to the primary school which I loved being next door, it's got a very good reputation aswell it's just lovely, they have already found the house they want to buy so its up for sale quite alot under the price it got valued at for a quick sale, if you want to no any more please let me no :D xx

It's such a joke that Londoners think that there are no parks, theatres, restaurants, art galleries etc in other parts of the UK. Some cities outside of London actually have electricity as well!!!

Places I've either lived or worked that I would move to with kids are Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, Exeter

Somewhere by the sea. I grew up in a seaside town and it was brilliant. I'd live to live in a small village style place on the sea with perhaps a larger town nearby

Lovely schools with no ridiculous hoopla to get a place- no pretending you go to church or measuring catchment areas with a ruler or smooth talking petty tyrant headteachers who relish in their godly powers....

No all our schools are great - you pretty much go to the local one which is great. We have parks, museums, art galleries, pubs and clubs, a lot of award winning restaurants mentioned in national guides and some of them showing London ones the way. Loads of kids activities too. You can walk to school, start them off in a cute village primary or choose a larger town one. Plenty have breakfast and after school clubs too.

We have beaches and seaside resorts packed with Londoners every weekend trying to look like they are to the waves borne, we have castles and boats and rivers. We have large shopping centres, streets of independent shops, amazing local food producers and the best ice cream anywhere.

Large skate parks and council budgets to maintain them and eight of the best universities in the world within one hundred miles; some within thirty and internatonally famous hospitals for you to practise in and achieve your CPD.

Where is this amazing place? PM me and I will be happy to offer you a guided tour anytime OP

Oh and the reason London needs so many parks? Sadly because so many of you cannot afford a garden or something more than a shared sliver of grass. I lived there for decades. I know which I'd pick especially as I can be in town within forty mins- faster than I was when I travelled the central line / District and Circle home each day.

tell us bailey where is this, am thinking kent?

We live in South Warwickshire - dh commutes into London 2 or 3 days per week and it's very manageable. Warwick and Leamington Spa have excellent rail links. It's gorgeous here with a good mix of town and countryside.

I'm in essex and I love it. Try looking in the with am, Halstead, braintree, dunmow, Chelmsford area. Were about 20 miles from stansted so close but not too close to an airport.

Great train connections to London. Lots of countryside where I am. Good schools, beautiful parks. Some good house prices too!

I'd never move from here. With our 6 year old DS he is a 5 minute walk from the best school in the area. We walk to the beautiful park after
School most days, there's lots of things to do around.

Good luck.

Oh and forgot to say £150k will get you a 2 bedroom house here.

No flooding also. London in 40mins - direct train.

London is lovely, I had a very fulfilling childhood there and provided you aren't in an extremely high crime area is a fantastic place to grow up.

Would you still be working in London, i.e. to commute?
Lovely towns in East Hertfordshire & Essex that are less than 45mins into central London.

My DPs moved us out when I was 16 and I am still bitter, so it'd be better to move whilst DC is young. Rural life isn't for me!

I think the London posters here are perfectly aware that there are parks, museums, theatres, public transport etc in other parts of the country. But the volume, scale, quality and diversity of them is something you only get in London. I think there are fantastic art galleries in Liverpool and museums in Manchester but there are just SO MANY more in London.

OP if I were you I would be looking at South Wales or Edinburgh / Glasgow.

Also I think it's ridiculous to talk about London (or any big city) as one place - it's hundreds of villages rammed together

Yorkshire. It's amazing and affordable.Beautiful scenery too.

According to the papers, Skipton in Yorkshire is the best place to live.

Skipton in Yorkshire's a lovely town. Can well believe that!

I want to move to Cardiff, this thread has really sold it to me!! Op I really envy you, I would love to be free to move anywhere. However I cannot cope without my family by me, moved 30 mins away just after we got married and was miserable until we moved back near them. Sad really!

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.
That's a really good point, actually. I grew up in a village and area that I would kill to move back to now as a grown up, but as a child/teenager I just wanted to poke my own eyes out and couldn't wait to move the hell away to something more EXCITING.
(Rose tinted glasses now, I believe.)
You need somewhere that's a nice suburb of a big town with lots to do. As I'm all about the Yorkshire, great places to live would be somewhere like Horsforth in Leeds, Haxby in York.
Nice and quiet but close enough to get to the action/activities for bored out of their heads kids!

If you need to be within commuting distance, particularly of London, I would recommend going that bit further away, preferably towards the end of a commuter line. You might add half an hour to your journey but you will get a seat which makes a HUGE difference to a commute. From home to London office is 2hrs 40 mins for me, taking into acount a 20 min walk at home end and two tubes office end - but my journey is relaxing. I work on the way there and get emails sorted, documents read etc so arrive at work ahead of the day. Within a few stops the train is crowded and people can be standing for a good hour.

The journey home is for day dreaming, Mumsnet, Facebook, a book or magazine. Lovely walk home from the station through the town (pick up a treat from the co-op en route) then through a park, admire the view, and count my blessings.

I am lucky to be working for an employer that allows flexible working so don't have to do this every day, but to be honest it still would be less stressful than one of my old commutes on the train from Hither green up to Oxford circus - Sardines all the way and some trains I simply couldn't squeeze onto.

I moved 20+ yrs ago because I didn't want to bring children up in London and I've never regretted it for a minute. The dc think this is a fab place to live and spend most of the summer on the beach.