To wonder what's great about SE England?

[Babyzoo]

I hear that everyone wants to live in the South East of England.

What is it that attracts everyone there?

Is it really a wonderful place to live?

Norwich is in East Angular.

Jobs & family really. DH has never lived anywhere but the SE. I would secretly like to move home (not SE) but my immediate family don't live there anymore so here we stay.

Surely East Anglia counts as south east? Or is the question only about London and Kent?

It's definitely warmer and drier here than the rest of the UK. That's not saying much though!

South East is London, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Herts, Essex, Bucks and Berks, isn't it? Maybe Oxfordshire? But definitely not Norwich!

Oops! I thought it was classed as south east

I'm a 45 minute train journey away from London.
I've always lived here, I like that it's close to London for day trips etc but just about far enough away that although it's expensive it's manageable. Also near the sea and weather always seems better than most other places in the UK.

I like it but then I've never known any different!

Hmm, well Essex is definitely in East Anglia. I've never seen a definitive list of the south east, I suppose it's open to interpretation.

Are you in Norfolk Bastard, bloody love Norfolk,

I live in the se. I grew up here.

I hate it actually. Most people i know aren't from here but from all over the uk and are really aspirational, unlike me. And, actually, those who grew up here are quite different from those who settle here. I feel like a stranger. The pace of life is rush rush rush and most people are quite unfriendly and aggressive

If I moved I'd go to the South coast.People are far more laid back, calmer and
down to earth

Jobs in London.
And then once you have a job you make friends and meet a partner with a job here. And then your antenatal group is here and even friends who move out don't go far because of commuting to jobs. Then when your children start school you can't leave because you don't want the upheaval. And then they go to University outside London because if they stayed they couldn't afford to live in halls and friends who've stayed at home are having a grim time. So you think about cashing in your ridiculously overvalued house but you stay because your dcs are planning on moving back in after university because that's where the jobs are...
I love it really.

I'm a mancunian but I lived in Brighton for three years and it's lovely there, I love east/west sussex too. It is expensive, but the weather is definitely better, in August it's always muggy and cloudy in the NW but it was lovely and hot and sunshiney when I lived in Brighton. I'd go back if I was young free and single again, but it was time to settle down/buy a house.

I think SE /London is great because this is where I am from....why so chippy?

I can see the sea from most of my windows and couldn't think of living away from the coast.

I do think the weather is slightly better in the SE, it certainly has higher temps most days when Carol the BBC weather lady has her charts out.

Very low unemployment where I am, jobs for teens, loads for them to do, theatres, gigs, museums, open air cinema on the beach, festivals, comedy shows. Higher employment naturally = lower crime.

As well as living less than a mile from the beach, my house also backs onto the South Downs National Park, so there is plenty of walking territory and natural beauty around.

Being close to airports and Eurostar is also a bonus.

I don't think 'everybody' wants to live in the SE of England at all, not sure where you got that idea, but it's a very large and varied place with lovely bits and crappy bits, just like other regions of England.

I guess it's pretty popular because the weather is marginally better than other parts of the UK and it's handy for London. That's all really.

London and the south East has better weather and better public transport, I'll give you that, but stupidly priced housing wipes that advantage out for most people.

Most northern cities have most of the advantages of London combined with massively more affordable housing. So what needs to happen is for all the jobs and opportunities to be not concentrated in a tiny overcrowded corner of the country and for these to be spread more evenly around the country.

South east born and bred. Ready for a change tbh. Would love to live somewhere less busy.

it is too busy isnt it?
I could feel the red mist descending today with the hordes of tourists and out of towners standing around obtusely, blocking the way for normal people who know where they are going...

Was that to me adalovelace?

It's a genuine question. Apart from London I've never visited the region but I've heard it said that it's very popular and that property is expensive.

I'm imagining a London lifestyle but without all the traffic. I'm also wondering where to book my next holiday.

I was born in the SE, lived in Brighton for many years ( including uni). I upped sticks and moved to the Midlands a few years ago, for many reasons, including:

Great schools
Cheaper housing
Bigger garden
Less unemployment
Cheaper living costs
Lovely countryside.

I personally wouldn't go back to the SE. It's way too expensive. I understand the great travel links to Europe, which I do miss, but within the UK we are in a great position. Only a couple of hours to NE, 90 mins by car to Liverpool, 30 mins to Welsh borders, and can still hop on the train to London when needed. Living in the SE really suited me for a while, and I loved it, but I wouldn't go back now.

Nah, I went to uni in London and grew up in the south east, found it to be dirty, busy, weather and landscape is meh.

Moved up north, cleaner, more friendly, proper weather and countryside.

When I travel down south for work now I cringe (although in fairness it's mainly because of commuters) with all the people who talk like someone from the apprentice. Also found it to be very little England (if that's the expression for NIMBYism).

I've lived in London, Bristol and the North East and I far prefer the North East. Yes, it's colder, but in general, dryer; people are friendlier and more genuine; everything is much cheaper; in the urban areas, public transport is fine, if expensive (I've only ever had to stand on a bus a handful of times in 7 years, for example); and the scenery and beaches beat any in the South, even Cornwall's and Devon's.

holiday Babyzoo? What about Lewes in East Sussex?

I never want to live anywhere where, if I hated my job or lost my job, I would be relatively to find another without uprooting my family and incurring huge costs.

In my field at my level, that's London, London or London.

Plus also, the weather, and that I feel more or less at home here now, and that immigrants seem to upset people here less than in some places I've visited, which matters because I am one.

I'm from the North (Cheshire / Greater Manchester) but moved to London immediately after finishing university. I can't see us ever leaving - the industry I work in is London based, so if we moved out of London I'd have to commute.

Or DH and I would both have to find new careers

All my school friends from up north bar one are all now in London. All my friends from university are all in London.

If we ever left the SE it would be out of necessity not choice.

The thought of living in the suburbs and having to own a car makes me feel quite claustrophobic tbh!