to ask if it's grim moving up north

[Eugenekrabs1]

I am from the south (England) and have lived here for most of my life. DH is from the north but has lived in the south for many years. We have children who are school age.

Circumstances have changed for us recently and because of this, we are considering a move to H's northern homeland. I'm wondering what other people's experiences of moving their family have been like.

H has friends and family there whereas I (although being welcomed by them) will not have any friends and will need to find a new job. Our kids are not keen to move.

In short, we don't have to move but there are lots of pros to us taking the leap. At the moment I have a list of pros and cons which I will proceed to bore you with....

Pros
Bigger house with little mortgage
Job change for me (something I want)
DH is close to friends and family - lovely for him
Can get a dog (all want one, current house small)

Cons
Taking kids out of schools they are happy in. They will have to make new friends.
Once we sell in the south it is unlikely we will be able to afford to return
No friends/family close to me
Leaving an area I like (but a house that's too small and expensive to extend)
Rain up north

I'd be grateful to hear any tales of similar moves. Is it grim up north or should I just stop being risk averse and make the move?

Quality of life is so much better in the north, I can't imagine why anyone would stay in the SE if they had any option to be elsewhere

Can you rent out your place in the south and keep a foothold in the property market there?

Manchester is great, I doubt you'll regret it. Moving the kids will always be a disruption, but that would be the same whether you moved within the SE as well as to the NW.

Manchester is not grim.

Rain up north?? You don't get rain down south? Unless you are thinking of moving to Manchester/west coast where it does indeed rain more, but not enough to put anyone off moving there I wouldn't think. It's certainly not grim but I am hugely biased.

Mind you we usually tell people down South it is awful so they don't come up because we like it for ourselves.

It's not the rain, it's the cold. I lived 25 years all over the North (and Scotland) before I moved to the south east with its micro climate. And it is a very serious micro climate.

It's 17 degrees here in north London and 12 in Manchester, 12 in Glasgow, 12 in Newcastle.

I live in the countryside near Manchester and it is far from grim.
It's a tough one. Any chance you could keep house down south and rent out as pp said? I have a couple of friends who have done it and although hard at first, they haven't looked back.

Depends whereabouts near Manchester. There are some lovely places and some utter shit holes.

Tell us where OP.

Depends where you move to.
I moved to Oldham (NE Manchester area) from London and it was very grim, although the countryside was lovely. There was a lot of prejudice against southerners and asians, some of it very aggressive.
Then I moved back south. Happy with that.

Sorry it took me so long to type that answer that you had answered that you were indeed thinking of Manchester! Manchester is great, and that's coming from a Yorkshire lass.

We do this quite regularly. My dh is from the north, and we think about it and google dirt cheap houses. There is usually a reason why areas are cheaper though and we currently live in a safe, pretty and an enviable area. I think if it came down to it we couldn't give it up just for a bigger house.

I have lived in Yorkshire and loved it, and there's less rain.

And I love the North (I am northern ) but I'd never move back, it's too bloody cold

Dh says the worst thing of the north is the crime and the wind!

It's fab, you get proper snow and everything. We're southerners up north (same northern-ness as you're considering) and love it. Only downside for us is that it's a long way back down to family.

Well....it was for me. Love the South, hate being so far away from London but each to their own.

I live near Manchester. I lived in a vair posh area down South for 10 years so can compare.

I have not noticed any difference in the weather at all

Every place has good and bad areas. For the same money, you can live in a MUCH nicer house, in a nicer area, around Manchester than the South East. Have a look on Rightmove to cheer yourself up.

Cheshire has some lovely places, brilliant schools, parks and National Trust properties etc. Have a look at Hale for starters. There are also some really nice bits towards Lancashire like Ramsbottom.

It really is fine. It is home for me, I grew up here, but even if I hadn't, I'd be tempted to move here because quality of life for the cost is so much better.

However you do raise valid concerns about moving your children and being away from your own support network. I personally would be reluctant to move school age children against their will if I could help it, though you have to look at the bigger picture for the whole family. Also you might want to look into school place availability - competition is fierce around here, both state and private.

I grow up in the south west, had to live in london but left in nov 2014 to move north. (Midlands) Best decision ever. Everyone so friendly. We better off.. Do miss the sea but you cant get everything.

What about the Midlands? Its a compromise between his home and yours, that way you dont get left behind when he already has his family and friends around him.

There are some really lovely areas with good schools. The Derbyshire dales are further north if you want rural, the suburbs of Birmingham have some really nice areas and Grammar schools.

Do they sound southern? Barth and Grarss instead of Bath and Grass? The issue of them being bullied for their accents would worry me, I have to admit. Thats another reason for considering somewhere in the middle, there would be less of an issue I think.

Depends where you are going. Near Manchester covers a wide spectrum of places from rural Cheshire, Pennine moorland type places (eg Belmont near Bolton, Saddleworth near Oldham) and a lot of very grim places. If considering north of Manchester eg Wigan, Bolton-the accents are very strong and your kids may get picked on initially if they sound very different (I'm originally a native of those parts). It would be less of a difficulty in Manchester itself or Cheshire. Some really nice places-some not so much.

Spilose, plenty of places around Manchester are anything but grim.

Op, the areas south of Manchester are known for their excellent schools and General good quality of life. Trafford is top 5 nationally for schools. Has the grammar system. Beautiful but expensive housing stock although some more affordable Victorian homes. South Stockport also great schools both state and independent. There's also Manchester grammar and Withington girls which is one of the top 3 girls schools in the country. We are in NE Cheshire. Great state schools and easy for dh to get into Manchester. Easy to get to the Peak District and the Lakes. I wish we'd done it years ago but ds1&2 were already at primary but a good time to meet other mums.

Yes, it's awful up here. Rains every day, snow, cold, whippets, cold whippets as well.

I've never been to Manchester- too far south for me

I have a heat allergy so a Northern climate would suit me
I google nice houses in Yorkshire all the time on Right Move

I suppose I lived near London but couldn't afford to make the most of it!!

Even weekend trips - the train costs for all of us was a lot even if we went in and did free stuff etc.

Doesn't it rain down south then?