To want to move up North in my situation?

[Barefootsummers]

We have 2 children and would love a bigger family. We currently live in the south east in our own home which is a small 2/3 bed flat with no garden. Up North we could afford a detached house with small amount of land (550k). Thinking West Yorkshire. I love the countryside and this lifestyle rather than fancy restaurants / boutiques etc. We could work in similar jobs up North. It's a no brainer for me but my DH is not convinced. His reasons against are that the housing market is always secure in the south east, schooling is better and it affords more opportunity. I guess I'm not looking for anyone to tell me what I should or shouldn't do but just need some perspective on this. Anyone? Thanks in advance!

I was also called posh at school due to not having a strong local accent, but I did go to school in a particularly rough area (it didn't manage to ruin my life though )

heres I'm not sure, probably due to what I've seen on tv, I more than anyone should realise how people can misjudge an area without going as I live in the Midlands (staffordshire) and know that people assume it's all factories and bad accents whereas I have a country park 1/4 mile one way, a huge forest 1 mile the other way and lots of pretty villages dotted around.

We moved to Newcastle for 3 years. Hated it. It was just too far north, too cold, too unfamiliar to us. Moved to south Cambridgeshire 5 years ago - love it. Very settled and happy (quite expensive though so we are in a very small house with 4 kids so that is the pay off!). We have family in Leeds and Sheffield and they love it. I think if you can do your research and pick the right 'up north' place then you will do great. I have heard lovely things about York and Leeds. Maybe visit a few of your favourites and get a feel, do a lot of research into schools and what's in the area etc... go for it though, if it feels like you should move, do it!!!

Yorkshire is a HUGE part of the UK - North, East, South and West. All 4 counties have their pluses (and minuses) like anywhere.

Where on Earth does he get his information from that education in the North is not as good as it is in the South? Check watchsted website for very quick and easy access to OFSTED reports. You can search by postcode and county and it shows where all primary and secondary schools are in your search (so easy to navigate if you have a particular area)and their overall OFSTED grading and links to the actual report, rather than searching through OFSTED direct. Of course, OFSTED only gives a brief oversight but it gives you a fair idea as to the success of a school and then checking out schools of choice yourself.

As for value for money, you'd certainly get that if your budget is 550k. But West Yorkshire is a little pricier than East Yorkshire IMO. East Yorkshire (depending on where you choose to buy) gives you easy access to the North, South and West - especially if you like city shopping, countryside walks, national parks etc. Check rightmove and compare the prices.

I live in Yorkshire although I am not a native but I have been here for 20 years this September. I vowed NEVER to return to my roots because there is so much scope here. I love city shopping in York (and Leeds if someone else drives!) but love the Dales, the Moors and the East Coast - it has everything.

I have friends who have moved from the South and vowed never to return. Their biggest reason is because they wouldn't get a lot for their money. I live in a 5-bed 'bespoke' detached house (we're fourth ones here after being built in 1949) with an acre of land (and very lucky to a 'leisure' activity within our house) and for the price that our house is valued at, I would simply get a bog-standard (and by that I mean it looks the same as the rest of the 500 hundred) 4-bedroom house on a housing estate down South!

Have you thought about a holiday here and explore all 4 Yorkshire counties? I could give an endless list of things to do!

OP for your budget you could get some beautiful large detached houses with gardens in Kent which is still within commuting distance to London and I'm talking nice areas too

Or the North East ! Maybe a bit too north for you beautiful coastal regions.

I love north east. I have spent a great deal of time driving around the area. I speak from experience.

*live

Don't come up here - it's awful, you won't like it.

Who the he'll is harvey Nichols? I didn't say that there weren't some great places up north. Yorkshire dales are lovely but if you're used to living somewhere nice northern cities can be a bit hard to stomach.

Yorkshire is stunning

I have friends who moved for similar reasons. Their house is huge and we stay at theirs when we visit as they have about 4 spare rooms.

The pasties and roasts are so good I would put on a stone in a month if I moved there.

The only thing I don't like is the weather. It's often cold and rainy during a heatwave down south.

I am really surprised at some of the thoughts on this thread. The North is not a cultural wasteland; hell, even Preston has a gay scene, theatre, concerts, university and festivals going on in its beautiful Victorian parks.....

Excepting family reasons, I don't know why anyone wouldn't move up here. There isn't a job wasteland either; it just depends what you do. We still have and need doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, financial services, scientists and engineers up here if you're that type of professional, for example!

I'm from the NW, and have lived in various parts of it all my life, so I suppose I'm biased. Cumbria is currently winning on places to live though. You can get a huge house with land in my area for £450k. There are excellent schools, and some parts of the north have grammars.

I ought to say 'no, it's as shit and rough as you've heard' so not too many people come up here though!

Our relatives are at the Grammar School at Leeds - private school.
A third of the upper sixth just got A or A at A level. 16 got 3 or more A.
www.gsal.org.uk/sixth-form/exam-results/

if you're used to living somewhere nice northern cities can be a bit hard to stomach.

Unless you - you'll find this surprising - live in a nice part of the northern cities. Clearly if you move from a leafy Surrey suburb to the arse end of Middlesbrough it would be a culture shock. With the budget the OP is considering, I don't think they'd be moving to the arse end of Middlesbrough.

Some of the snobbery on this thread! There are some lovely parts of West Yorkshire and you could get a great house within your budget.

@Dogsmom haha, I know what you mean! I'm always surprised by these threads when people make quite sweeping statements about places they've often never even been to but I can see how it can be easy to do particularly if all you see of an area is from the TV (Byker Grove anyone!? 😀) Quite surprised by people suggesting it rains a lot up here though. I don't even own an umbrella as there is so little need for one but I'm starting to think maybe I live in a little microcosm with its own weather system!! It is cold all the time though but I don't mind that; a night out in Newcastle would be a real eye opener for some of the PP on here - no self respecting Geordie wears a coat on a night out, even at minus temperatures! 😀

i live in north yorkshire. some places close by are grim. some are beautiful.

i would move to york in a heartbeat if i had the money. it is a wonderful city.

Iive in south yorkshire a notorious area of it too, but in my immeadiate village it is lovely all 3 main schools are outstanding, crime rate is insanely low ...the textbook white picket fence, everyone says good morning, everyones lived here forever street.. very bus route accessible ...most houses are 200k or less here ...i agree with PP regarding some of the views about the north.

But they are pretty small so you inevitably come across unpleasantness. It's very hard to insulate yourself against it unless you live in a nice village. Even in London it's hard to avoid. British cities a quality strange that way.

Some of the comments on this thread have really shocked me. I'm gobsmacked 😮

Ttbb so it's not a north/South thing then is it, it's an urban/rural thing.

I'm pissing myself thinking about some of you southerners sat at home thinking the north is just a freezing grey wasteland with awful schools and no culture. You have some shitty areas but so does literally any city in the UK.

Most of Yorkshire is beautiful. Food/music/arts festivals, great restaurants, the coast, the dales and moors, museums, galleries. In york you can be in the middle of a bustling city and out into some of the country's most gorgeous countryside in 30 minutes.

There's a reason why people from oop north are so smug/vocal about it

OP didn't say anything about currently living somewhere nice, did she?

Ttbb hahaha
accrual the arse end of Middlesbrough isnt a nice place I agree, but 15 minutes away is here. What could be wrong. I love 'Boro me. Ha.

"The only thing I don't like is the weather. It's often cold and rainy during a heatwave down south."

That is the only negative aspect of living where I do.