To want to move down south?

[BlackAppleCore]

Staying in Wiltshire for a few days. I'm from Hull, East Yorkshire.

I never thought I'd hear myself say it as a proud northerner but god I really don't want to go back to Hull. It's so depressing. A million miles away from anything decent, shitty weather, dark and dingy streets, shit schools, no prospects, council estates everywhere -

Down here seems to be a totally different way of live. An hour from London meaning we're never too far away from the big events, beautiful scenery, polite kids, beautiful houses, so much in the area to see and do, fantastic weather ...

AIBU to seriously consider leaving the North for the first time in my life? Is the grass greener down here or will it just taste fresher for a short while?

Try Swindon - the Hull of Wiltshire

I adore Yorkshire. Not keen on Wiltshire or other areas close to London. I like parts of wales though and the south west generally.

Brought up in West London. Never really felt at home there despite enjoying school and having lots of friends. Shares a flat in London with girls from a seaside town near Cardiff and moved here 43 years ago. Love it. Would never move anywhere else.
You just have to find a place that suits YOU.

I'm from London so I grew up in the south and never knew any different. I moved to Liverpool for uni and loved it, and realised wanted to stay there. Anyway long story short I met my now dh, we got married and had a baby (he's from there). We moved back to London for a year so I was nearer my family when I had the baby, massive mistake. I hated it. Meeting my husband made me even more sure I wanted to go home. So we moved back to Liverpool and i couldn't be happier about it.
People are nicer, living is cheaper, and life in general seems more relaxed.
I think it's one of them, people want the opposite of what they're used to

I have lived in various places and am now on the South Coast. It really is warmer and sunnier. You really can spend more time outside, or on the garden, or doing barbies, or boating, if you happen to like such things. Your garden starts flowering earlier, and carries on later. I grow grapes and palm-like trees.

When I moved here, I was taken aback when I went into waitrose after work, and people were wandering round in beachwear. In London, people are grey-faced, haggard and worn-out.

I've tried a few times to get work in Edinburgh, but now, I wouldn't like the short winter days, the relative coldness, and the lack of sun. I think I'm stuck here now.

I think the grass is greener on the other side.
I grew up in North London and have lived in parts of Herts and Essex.
People get ideas in their heads about different areas.
Apart from Hull being named The city of culture i know very little about it. I will say though we had a holiday last year in a beautiful cottage on the East coast of yorkshire. I was blown away by the cliff top walks and scenery. I was also blown away by the house prices. TBH i nearly cried when i came home.

No soft water in this bit of up north - we're a mile from an old gypsum quarry!

Sunderland is bidding for city of Culture 2021.

YANBU but Hull is a shithole, there are nice Northern places too.

I grew up in Greater London and worked in the City and then the West End before I moved to Yorkshire.

Nothing on earth would make me want to return to London. Where I live now is classed as semi rural, so we have country walks with lovely views on our doorstep, yet being only a couple of miles from the M1 I can be in two major cities within half an hour.

We have excellent schools, a low crime rate, houses at prices that won't bankrupt you - the 4 bedroomed detached house with double garage and stunning views opposite us sold for £300k last year, hourly trains and hourly buses.

The only downside is that the weather could be better, but it has been glorious just lately. Also the buses and trains only go to a couple of places and you really need a car to be able to get around.

I grew up in NW England but moved "darn sarf" for uni and have lived in London or overseas ever since. I currently live in central London in pretty much "hipster central" (no shortage of good coffee or beards!) and most of the time I love it. But I do miss the peace and quiet and the greenery of the countryside where I grew up. I do some voluntary work at weekends which gets me out into the Kentish countryside so that helps me get a "peace and quiet/green" fix.

I own my London property outright and am giving serious thought to buying a second home. For a long time I was considering buying back in NW England near where I grew up (I still have a lot of family there) but the weather is just so WET there. I'd forgotten just how damp it is until I went up for a weekend a few months ago and I was dressed completely inappropriately (like a typical soft Southerner lol) and it didn't stop raining the whole time. So now I'm looking in the South East instead, but with a view that when I retire, I will probably sell both properties and buy somewhere in NW England then.

Well it's all very subjective isn't it? I will give you my personal opinion, but I'm sure many would disagree with me.

I live on the border of Wiltshire and think yabu! Run, flee back to Yorkshire and never look back . Ok not that bad, but I am desperate to leave the Home Counties.

Bad points:

Despite being a quick train ride from London, the town I live in is devoid of culture. There is no live music, except for once a year when they put on a one night 'festival', which consists of people belting out cheesy chart music, karaoke style. There are no art galleries or museums, so you have to travel to London or Oxford for this, which is harder than it sounds as, despite being close by, it's a horrible drive to either and trains are no more pleasant. Nearly every restaurant and pub in my town are big chains - and I live in a naice town. We have an enormous mortgage, which we needed to pay for the soulless, small, circa 2010 house with postage stamp sized garden we had to buy here as it's all we could afford, despite the higher than average household income we have. The children in my town are probably mostly polite yes, but I've also come across some right cheeky feckers hanging round the children's playgrounds, swigging Monster, swearing excessively (even for me) and talking about who gave whom a blow job at the weekend. There is no sense of community as far as I can tell and a high sense of competition among parents, which I theorise is down to the fact that it feels so overcrowded in this area that it produces a sense that we are clamouring for resources, (which we are).

Good points? It's close to work for DH, it's relatively safe and schools are good, which is why we stay here. You can just hop on the train and be in central London within 40 minutes, (but I find I rarely do so since having dc).

If we didn't have to be here, we wouldn't be. It's as simple as that. It is beyond me that anyone would choose to live in this area. If you love London and can afford it, then I'd say move there.

There are plenty of nice parts of the world that are neither Hull nor the South. You need to get around a bit more.

I was born and raised in the South (on a council estate [shock[). I now live in the North very happily indeed. One thing I love is how quick and easy it is to travel between places in the North. From Manchester you can be in Liverpool, or Leeds, or the Peak District in half the time it takes to travel from Forest Hill to Hampstead.

Home is where the heart is. The South doesn't have a monopoly on "nice" places and the north doesn't have a monopoly on friendliness. I'm a Londoner born and bred as is DH and we live it here, including our wonderful hard water. It might be a little harder to find the ordinary population here among the visitors, new arrivals and short term inhabitants, but we are here all living normal lives, being involved in our communities and with family connections. Often people who come to live here don't integrate very well but suddenly they find themselves more "Londoner" than anything else!! It sneaks up on you

Eolian don't say any more. Keep it a secret but we live in the best place in the UK!

Yup! And yy to the lovely water. My dc now try to avoid drinking water at all when we visit relatives down south. They say it's disgusting. And I definitely don't miss the limescale!

I've lived in nice bits of London, Bucks, Oxfordshire and Essex, but nowhere as beautiful, or anywhere near as friendly, as where I live now in the north. I find it so weird, the bizarre 'it's grim oop north' thing. There are plenty of grim places down south and plenty of lovely places up north.

Nice to see some other Cumbrians on here! I moved from East Anglia last summer and I LOVE it up here. Stunning scenery, friendly people, decent schools, plenty of free things to do, lots of amazing cafes/restaurants and cheap houses!

I spent my teenage years in Cumbria and I hated it but I love living in Yorkshire (don't live in Hull )

As someone who has lived all around the world and currently lives in Yorkshire I can say it is rubbish, everyone wears flat caps and has a whipped and it rains 364 days a year (hence the hat), today is our one summer day.

Don't let the friendliness trick you either, secretly we either want a free pint off you to furnish our insatiable alcohol addiction, or we are about to mug you so we can afford to stock up on tea, rhubarb and Pontefract cake.

To be fair, it depends where in Cumbria you live. I've certainly been to bits I absolutely wouldn't want to live in! And the weather is... ummm... a bit damp more than double the annual rainfall of where I lived before .

I think enjoying life in Cumbria is very dependent on where in Cumbria you live, your personality and your age!

I know a lot of people who would hate living where I do, because the only activities are outdoor ones! There's very little to do that doesn't involve getting out on the lakes/fells. I don't doubt I'd have hated it as a teen!

A much smaller move is Grimsby. There's good nightlife, transport links direct to manchester and sheffield. The schools are ok and good in the villages. The coast is beautiful and the town centre is smaller but better laid out than Hull. Honestly it gets a bad reputation, but Grimsby is lovely.

Wasn't Brian the yoni massager from Hull? That tells me all I need to know.

I'm in Cumbria too! Love it! But we are a very outdoorsy family. I'm on day 9 of swimming in a lake or river, my dc have been swimming in Windermere or Coniston after school all this week, and the weekend. Love it!!
There are also lots of nt properties for families, great schools and friendly people.

It does rain lots, but when the sun shines it's a bonus! TBH though, I do love the moody cloudy mountains during the rain!

I'm on the Wilts/Hants border and I have huge love for my area as I just love the greeness of it all.

@NatureisAWhore sounds like you're very close to me - the weather has been stunning hasn't it? We were in Rydal at the weekend and it was gorgeous!