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.

God's own country (and city) what's not to love? West is the best btw.
The most important question though is Wednesday (cough, no) or United?

My children go to an excellent primary (considered to be one of the best in the country) and there are a few secondary schools to choose from which are all up there in the league tables so I'm a little confused by the educational side there Iona. Whent hey get to uni age they will have free choice around the country anyway but if they wanted to live at home/had to financially then I don't really consider being forced to apply to Durham or Newcastle as second rate.

We even have airports and train stations.

I do have to agree that once you move then it will be difficult to move back due to the difference in increases in house prices, while London has continued to increase our house is worth a little less than when we bought it towards the bottom of the crash. However, if you stay then unless you get a major salary increase or a tidy inheritance then you may never be able to afford a bigger property because while your own property will be increasing so are all the bigger ones. The same may be true here (ish, if they go up!) but the gulf between them is not as wide. Here Dh has a decent, not massive salary and I am not working (full time study) yet we own our own home and are in a position to move should the right, bigger house come on the market. Down in London there is no way we would even be close to contemplating buying a house.

What travelling do they have in London? An hour to travel 1 mile at snails pace? Yeah, fantastic travelling.....

We have culture and fantastic education up north too you know

Leeds, Durham, York, Manchester, sheffield, UMIST, Manchester....all fantastic universities. Sheffield has some amazing schools too. Talk about Londoncentric...

Lost-penistone. Always gets a snurk.
Iona-i disagree, I think a few extra bedroom and a garden are worth it.(if you take them symbolic of a lifestyle with more room, fresher air and freedom from the pressure of crap neighbours)And amazingly we have airports and rail stations and even roads. A choice of a wide range of schools and excellent Unis. We even have posh restaurants!
London will only be accessible to oligarchs and those able to afford crazy rents anyway.

What the hell is wrong with some people's views of the North? How incredibly offensive Iona ... As well as incredibly ignorant. We have train stations and motorways and oh gosh even airports. Being in Sheffield you won't be far from Manchester airport op (clearly Iona hasn't heard of it) and in the past 12 months I have managed to fly to America and Hong Kong directly and indirectly to more remote places (which I doubt would be direct from London either). Oh I almost managed to get an education here as well as did many millions of others.... Although the millions of northerners unable to read or write due to lack of education may have escaped me, me having a lack of education and all that

Do it, although come from North Lancashire I have to say Sheffield is firmly in the Midlands!

I have no idea what the pp is talking about saying DCs have better access to travel, education and culture in London. We have some fab schools and in our area there are still grammar schools, there are plenty of theatres, museums etc in the cities, although there aren't many where we live and of course saying there is better access to travel in London is ridiculous, we don't still use horses and carts!

IonaNE

As someone who has lived in a number of areas your points about studies, culture and travelling are nonsense.

London is very inward looking and whilst it has some of the traditional sightseeing opportunities that we all know, the rest of the country has amazing cultural opportunities and areas of interest.

Travel is much easier because the road networks are so much better and there is so much to see and do within easy travelling distance (and more if you are happy to travel further afield)

Again, because travel is so much easier you have the choice of a better range of educational opportunities.

You probably won't be able to move back down again because the house prices are so inflated but chances are you probably won't want to!

I was brought up down south and with the exception of visiting family I hate going back down.

Oh, and the humour up here is bloody brilliant! Cant get used to the opening times for chip shops though - it's like some kind of weird secret only known to people who have lived here their entire life.

(I'm in South Yorks too if you want some friendly conversation when you get here!)

Do it!

I live on the South coast but am facing the prospects of living with the DC's in hospital accommodation in London an awful lot (half the year every year!) in the coming years and I'm flipping devastated, I'm there now and you couldn't pay me enough to live here. It's crowded, loud, expensive and busy.
Give me my boring and slightly posh coastal city anyday

I dream of moving far north to try and escape it all, not that it work.

Penistone confused me when I first moved here - I saw it on a form at work and very nearly phoned a customer to check that it wasn't a spelling mistake

I'd do it in a heartbeat if my job permitted (although I do have northern roots)- its a quality of life thing - if you are living in central london you have a housing cost problem - anywhere outside you have a commute problem. Its also hard to live in london and have easy access to both country and city - simply because of the size of London.
Its also probably almost as quick to get to central london from sheffield by train as it is from the commuter belt - to do theatres etc

I walk to work.
That is all you need to know.

Up North is great. I live even further up north than Sheffield (not that far further, but still..)

Can still get to London on the train in just over 2 hours too.

What's not to love? You have nightlife, good shops, good schools, good areas, and the countryside is glorious.

We went London to the north about seven years ago. Good good move. Big house and garden (comparatively) lower mortgage and it is beautiful here. The restaurants are great the culture cultural and actually London doesn't seem what it was. I can remember when housing hadn't priced out idiosyncrasy.

Eeeee, it's grand up North.

There's some shit'oles [Mexborough, Doncaster, Hull, I'm looking at you] but there are dahn sarf...

Sheffield, Wakefield, Lincoln, Cleckhuddersfax, Wetherby, Beverley, Hebden Bridge, Whitby, Scarborough - can't go wrong really.

And they let you go back to London, once in while, as long as your papers are in order.

Penistone confused me when I first moved here

Its twinned with Scunthorpe, now...

TheCatAteMyTaxReturn

Excuse me! I live near Doncaster, and not in a shithole. I make a point of not living in shitholes, I am not shithole material.

I also lived in Scarborough for ten years and I can assure you that has some very shitholey parts, they just make sure they aren't located within sight of touristy areas.

Newcastle area

Come to Scotland. You know, the actual North .

I live in penistone (pronounced penny stone) when you live here you don't notice the genital connection. It is a lovely place to live, great schools close to motorway and reasonable house prices.

I am from the NE and have been travelling more than once, I had to get to that there airplane place in London town on my horse and cart though.

Hmm london a great dirty grey blot on Britain's landscape or 'ooop north' im a northerner and choose north (green countryside not guaranteed) we have a few dirty cities up here too looking at you Leeds

Was about to say that actually there are some lovely parts of Hull, Doncaster, Mexborough etc. The town centres are a bit tired but some beautiful places around there.

Doncaster is a bit murky though saskia not the best place to live. york on the other hand is brilliant like the Dorset of the north