to want to move 'up north'?

[onemiddlefinger]

That is if South Yorkshire is actually considered 'up north'?
We have always lived in London and now DH might have a job offer near Sheffield and i'm actually surprised that really want to move.
If someone told me 3 years ago that we might be moving nearly 3h away from London i would have been laughing, but now it might be a reality and i'm really hoping it works out.

We would have less money each month, but i would be able to stay home with DC for a few years and we would have much more space, a lovely house, a garden and DH would have more free time to spend with us.
I'm just so sick and tired of squeezing into our tiny flat and worrying about the downstairs neighbours coming to complain again about the noise and the commute on packed tube trains and just generally people everywhere.

AIBU?
Maybe it's just a phase of being fed up and once we actually move i'll be missing London? This is really all i can think about the last few days and in my head i'm already decorating the house and imagining us there - kids happy playing, our family able to come and visit (they live in another country) and actually be able to stay with us comfortably.

Whereabouts in Sheffield do you have in mind? YANBU Sheffield is ace (there are even naice bits in Rotherham PP ;))

Eeeeee

That is all.

Spent all my life until 3.5 years ago in London and the SE. South Yorkshire is a revelation in housing affordability (renting at least, no experience of buying).

I spend £205 a month LESS on a 2/3 bedroom house here now than I did lodging in a teeny tiny bedroom in Shepherds Bush 5 years ago.

Sheffield itself is great, with loads of other fab places a short distance away. The Peak district is beautiful.

Oh, and when you go Down South to visit people, most of the service stations on the M1 have either an M&S or a Waitrose to pick up snacks from

YANBU.

Beware though. If you move up north, your brother will kill your kestrel.

Sheffield is the middle at best

Come to the north east, it's proper north

I am a Londener and moved with DH eight years ago to work in Sheffield, having only been North of Watford about three times in my life. I miss absolutely nothing about London. The comparison between the cost of living in London versus up here still shocks me, and that's before you even consider house prices. I fricking love it here and despite my DH getting headhunted to move back we wouldn't even consider it.
The countryside is wonderful - breathtaking on a good day; great culture in Leeds & Sheffield; I particularly love the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Hepworth Gallery half way between (near Wakefield). Don't even think about & just do it!

Sheffield is great! Lots of greenery, culture, theatres, gigs, sporting facilities. The city centre is pretty shite as Meadowhell killed it, but it's got plenty of good bars and restaurants even if it lacks decent shops.

There's good parts and bad parts just like everywhere. What's your budget?
South of the city is best!

Don't do it. If you do it you won't leave (no-one does) and then you'll tell all your Southern friends to make the move and all the house prices up here will go up and where will WE all go?

Seriously, do it. There are LOADS of southern accents that I hear on the school run. Plenty of us northerners do a few years in London and find that it ain't the promised land it purports to be, and return to to the motherland! I don't know of any southerners who choose to leave once they're up here. They know they're onto a good thing.

Research and research and do test run weekends. I'm in Liverpool which is very mixed in terms of areas and I'm assuming Sheffield is the same. Don't just pick something off rightmove without really having a good look at the area.

Random!

DP is from Cumbria and definitely would not classify South Yorkshire as up North. We live in the SE and if it wasn't for 5 children (most grown and flown and the last one at home would leave if we moved) and my elderly parents down here we would move like a shot. Oh and work but that is reasonably transferable.

And you get brilliant sledging/tunnelling out of your house when it snows!

Sheffield: come for the cheap housing, stay for the tobogganing

Seriously, it's ace here. I wouldn't swap it for anything apart from a house on Sennen Cove, then you wouldn't see me for dust .

In the North East - just near Middlesbrough.

wouldnt change it for the world - like to visit london and play at being a tourist but thats it!

grew up in a village, now in the suburbs in my 3 bed detatched house for 160k! its not all grim you know :)

YANBU

I'd love to live near sheffield, it's a great area.

It's worth living in Sheffield for the hot roast pork sandwiches alone, providing you are not vegetarian, Muslim or Jewish of course.

Beaware though that Sheffield has some of the most affluent areas and hence high house prices outside the South East, but it also has a wide range of more affordable options.

As other posters have said, our public transport is crap by London/SE standards due to concentration of investment in the hallowed south, so consider your DHs commute carefully when choosing somewhere to live.

But overall, you are totally NBU and most northerners simply can't understand why anyone would want to live within a hundred miles of London, because Yorkshire is fucking brilliant and probably one of the best places to live in the UK.

It's dandy up north

Chips and graaaavy
Crackin countryside and beaches
Flat caps and whippets
My village even has the internet!

Can I add I grew up in North Yorkshire, personally not a fan of Sheffield city. But the surrounding areas are stunning! Also Leeds is a great city

The North is beautiful!

I think southerners look out of the train windows when travelling North and assume that's it! They've seen the North! of course that's rubbish and real beauty lies beyond the tiny space seen when travelling on the tracks. York, Harrogate, the Peak District and Lincoln are all within spitting distance of Sheffield. You'll love it. so much green beauty, fresh air and Leeds has Harvey Nicks. You'll be able to get a stunning 3 bed detached for £350,000.

We moved north (Manchester) last summer, and it is fantastic, we love it, we have a home we could never have even dreamed of, and live in the type of neighbourhood that we could not have aspired to, in London.

Grew up in the NW and would love to return. 4 years ago we nearly moved back to Manchester area and I really wanted South Yorkshire, DH wanted Hale area. Both areas are wonderful.

Cost of living in South Yorks is much lower and there are some excellent jobs around. I would move there in a heartbeat.

As others have said just be aware of the areas. Def rent before you buy and get to know the areas. Some parts of the North are not cheap mainly because the houses are HUGE.

Many many years ago we were swapping our rented flat for buying a house in St Albans. My boss said: "why do you want to move up north?"

But she did live in SW3 and Londoners do have some funny ideas about where "up north" starts

We've moved even further up north since then. Were she still alive, bless her, I think she would imagine us living in an igloo and fending off polar bears….

Do it OP. It's fine. Just be sure you don't want to move "down south" again or you will be in deep doodoo property wise.

Is Sheffield north?

Just kidding, I know it is really. It just seems so far south to me, but then again a lot of southerners probably think that anywhere higher than the M25 is up North

I love being a northerner. I love London, but wouldn't want to live there. A weekend away is enough for me.

Oh don't worry about it. "It's fantastic up north" - a message from the PEak District, which is I guess where you will be OP?

Besides, you can tell when you're in S. Yorks - the M1 is cobbled.

We did it 6 years ago, haven't looked back. Several years on I still appreciate on an almost daily basis the relative ease of leaving the house compared to.. Well.. Any part of london we ever lived in.

I second the bit about being fairly sure you won't want to move back later. That's true for us but when I think about it it's not really any different to if we had stayed as we wouldn't have been able to move up the property ladder anyway.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the variety in a general sense but not more than I enjoy the lifestyle we have now. Also work, I can't do what I did in London here, no opportunity but that's also fine

We moved up North six weeks ago (although being scottish I'm struggling to think of South Yorkshire as north ) and it really is lovely. And everything really is cheaper and we only moved from the Midlands. It means there is no real rush for me to find a job, although after 6 weeks home alone and not knowing anyone I'd quite like to find one.