AIBU to ask for advice? Need to move to a cheaper part of the U.K. for financial reasons, but don't know where to look...any ideas on locations please?

[laleila]

Hi,
I live with my 4 DC in a ridiculously expensive part of the SE. I've always lived here, kids are settled and happy at school. But I can't afford to live a halfway decent life, I can just about afford to pay my mortgage and bills and there's nothing left over. I work in a low paying job and I've increased my hours to try to improve things but it's not really making much difference.

I'm looking for ideas, suggestions, please, on nice areas that I can afford a 4 bed house, near good secondary schools and within reasonable distance of a town/city, as my eldest 3 DC are teenagers and will want lifts to venues/mates etc.

Hopefully a cheaper part of the U.K. would mean I have a bit more spare cash and I could clear some debts accrued from my divorce. I have pretty good equity in my home and selling shouldn't be a problem.

I wouldn't rule anywhere out, I'd love to stay fairly nearby for visiting family, friends but I drive and it's not too much of an issue.

I've looked at various places on right move but you can't get a 'feel' for an area just by looking at photos online....

Any ideas would be gratefully received and appreciated

It's probably too far away but NI is cheap compared to the rest of the UK. I know a couple of people who have moved there as the cost of living is so much cheaper, although with that comes less opportunities etc. Most people who go to uni travel to the mainland as there's more choice. On the upside it's a beautiful country, a beach is never far away and it's more traditional, a lot of people still go to church etc.

Newcastle! Gateshead/Low Fell/Whickham are all well priced and short distance into the city.

Cumbria, either on the Scottish border or closer to the lakes.

You'll get an awful lot for your money.

Forgot to say, we had no jobs to come to when we moved!
But we've managed, and I retrained as a teaching assistant after being clerical staff in NHS, and DH after starting in a factory here, works for a well known Supermarket now. So not high powered jobs, but we get by. If you're used to lower paid jobs, then you'll find it works well for you.

Scotland! Spent a huge amount of my life in Fife. Great places to live. Check out the villages around Cupar. Good countryside, easy links to Edinburgh and short drive to the beach (St Andrews).

I have recently moved to North Yorkshire, and I love it here too. Right by the beach, good facilities near by. Much cheaper than the south east.

Depends on your job options really.

Anywhere is going to be on balance cheaper than the expensive bits of the SE.
Is your job portable or available easily? Where roughly are your family? What's your budget?

Where abouts in the south east are you?
What's your budget?
You say you have teenagers. Are they happy to move miles away?

Norwich is lovely. Very close to seaside and beautiful Norfolk/Suffolk countryside, good schools, an area that regularly comes up in the top 10 places to shop/live/raise children in national surveys and reasonable house prices. Areas such as Thorpe St Andrew, 'the golden triangle' and suburbs such as Sprowston and Old Catton are particularly nice.

It really would depend on which part of the SE you would like to remain close to. The good thing about the Midlands though is that there are excellent transport links to nearly anywhere.

Which areas have you been looking at on rightmove that you weren't sure about? There will probably be enough people with knowledge of those areas to advise.

North West, Cheshire, Lancashire, parts of Yorkshire?