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!

You could have a lake too, OP. Not ideal with young children, admittedly.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47638143.html

Ursula - you're right!

I don't know what's come over me. Southerners, you'll hate it; you should stay where you are and we'll just put up with our grim miserable lives up here.

You really wouldn't want to be us. Oh no...

I used to live in Reading. Don't tell me the North is worse. :o

While I agree there have been some ridiculous generalisations about it being grim up north that are frankly embarrassing, it goes the other way because the south does not equal London!

Personally the only thing preventing me moving is family connections - DH's job is not tied to any industry in the area but I see my parents weekly and the eye-watering cost of living here is bearable because of that. My friend moved to West Yorkshire to be with her partner and her mum moved up too (separate houses though). I did have a little envious weep when she was paying less for her 4 bed house than my 2 bed flat!

I live near Hebden Bridge, it's lovely but a bit claustrophobic for me and I live in a village myself!
For the money you're talking about I'd look at Ripponden and the surrounding area. Good schools, beautiful countryside and nobody cares if you're a bit eccentric!

dogsmom - I grew up in West Yorkshire and now live in Shropshire. It's really gorgeous here but I do miss Yorkshire! Torn!

If you're used to London I wouldn't go for Huddersfield or Hebden Bridge. Look at the bigger cities or market towns - I'm in Leeds which I love, and only 45 mins to the start of the Dales, but Ilkley is lovely and on a train line to Leeds. Liverpool is a great city and by the coast, as is newcastle - Morpeth is very affordable and well connected, and Jesmond is as cosmopolitan as you could wish. York is very well connected to London and is a lovely place, and Harrogate is where all the Leeds money lives.

I think there are lovely places in the South but I never understand why people sign up to the London commuter lifestyle - my sister is up at the crack of dawn and out of the house for 12 hours before she picks her kids up.

You do get an awful lot more bang for your buck in Huddersfield rather than Leeds,though. Both in terms of housing & schools.

& I say this as someone who loves Leeds to bits.

Northumberland is stunning with the best beaches in the country. The quality of life is better too. All my local schools are outstanding and you would get a lot of land for that money.

Agree with a pp that we get less rain than elsewhere.

Just be aware the further north east you go the less work there is. Northumberland is stunning but jobs aren't exactly take your pick.

The jobs market in the north east is poor! There are huge benefits and what's being said about Southern schools being better is a load of rubbish.

It's not rough either. Some areas are very very poor but your unlikely to be in those on your budget.

Personally I'd say stay Leeds and south of. I'm near Newcastle and it's beautiful, really beautiful but my dh and I are trying to move jobs (I'm middle management level he's Exec Board level) and 3 years in we're still looking. Recruitment firms have said there just aren't any!

We may need to move further south just to find work! North West much better jobs market (except Cumbria!).

Definitely don't write off everywhere with a BD postcode just because it's Bradford.

There are some really nice areas with great schools as you head up the Aire Valley towards the Dales. Skipton is absolutely lovely and Bingley (plus the surrounding villages) is nice, both have some really good schools. Some of the areas out between Keighley and Skipton are also nice and there's even very pleasant areas on the edge of Keighley itself. The surrounding countryside is amazing and Skipton itself is literally right on the edge of the Dales.

The Airedale Line goes straight through from Skipton to Leeds which is a fabulous city.

It's a much maligned area of West Yorkshire but most of the Aire Valley bears very little resemblance to Bradford itself.

DS and his family live in Cheshire. I may have missed it on thread, but it doesn't seem to have been mentioned. DGC go to an outstanding village school. Lots of rural locations within reach of small towns, and Manchester. We're on the other side of the Pennines, anywhere bordering the Peak District is a plus.

I live 20 minutes from the centre on Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is a vibrant cosmopolital. city full of culture and established financial, media biotechnology, medical and IT sector. World class Universities, excellent schools. Unemployment rates lower than London.
My 5 bedroomed home in a leafy suburb cost me £215 two years ago.
We are near good schools, shopping, countryside and the beach is a 15 minute drive away.

Quite few of my relatives have moved up north and it's very nice, different but nice. House prices are very good.
I visted many times and found it lovely. Loads of nice country towns and villages.

one of the biggest differences that struck me about 'up north' compared to London was the woeful public transport, and because of it everyone drives everywhere, usually very badly.
Bus fares are considerably higher, and buses far more infrequent (there will not be another one along in a minute), and often run by lots of little competing companies, so little integration. Trains are tiny, slow and smelly diesels that take ages to make quite short journeys. Maybe a little thing, but because of this I was struck how the parents I know are trapped into a never-ending series of car journeys, especially to ferry teens around in the evenings and weekends. Great if you like to live your life in a car, not if you don't.

OP the main problem for me would be the rain and more crap weather in general. Don't underestimate how this can affect your mood. I would never go back up north for this reason alone.
Have you thought of moving to Devon or Dorset? Some of the most beautiful countryside and coastline in UK and you can still get much more for your money. Would your DH go for this?

I would do this in a heartbeat for the reasons you describe but my husband doesn't have a job that would be easy to get outside the SE.
If DH could be convinced I think you should try it!!

Hebden bridge is lovely, one of my husbands was from Yorkshire so we went there a lot. I understand your husbands reservations but you can always move back down south once the children have flown and you can downsize.

If you're white European then you'll be fine.

If youre BAME then the SE is better for you.

Ifailed I agree about transport links being crap on the whole, but it does very much depend where you are. I didn't drive or need lifts as a teenager because I had the Metro on my doorstep. I lived in Sheffield for a while and never needed a car there. My friends living in Leeds don't have cars. I still don't drive now because I live somewhere with excellent public transport links. It obviously doesn't compare to London, and the disparity in investment is appalling - but it's not totally crap everywhere.

'Schooling is poor in the north'
'The North is rough'
I can't believe people still think like this in 2017...its such a cliche...

I'm from Derbyshire, went to uni in Leeds, currently live in the Home Counties, having lived in London for a bit.Even with my poor northern education I didn't believe the myth that the streets were paved with gold south of Northampton and I managed to leave my whippet at home. I wonder that it doesn't seem to work the other way with lots of my southern friends having a touch of the op's Dog's Attitude about the north.

Having lived in both I actually think it's a mugs game living in the south east. Yes I'm near London and all the culture. But because the mortgage is crazy, the roads are congested, the trains cost a fortune, and most things cost slightly more, I don't actually access the culture as much as I would like to be able to-can't afford it in terms of time or money.
I lived in Tottenham for a bit-and I work in social care in the south East...I can tell you that most of the places I go for work are a fair bit scarier than anything I ever encountered when I lived in Leeds...

Plus you can get all the aspects of cosmopolitan life in any northern city and a lot more in terms of lifestyle besides.

Your dh doesn't like the accent? Which accent doesn't he like? Again, not everyone talks the same in the generic 'north'. And when I lived in London it was such a melting pot that everyone had different accents anyway-I rarely met many true cockneys!

If I could I would move back up north like a shot. I can't as my exh works in London and my dd's need to be near him for the sake of their continuing relationship.It galls me slightly that I could have such an improved lifestyle were I able to move. Living where I do everything is much more of a financial struggle. When the kids are of age Im off back up the M1!

I live in Leeds and one of the best things about it is how close you are to some lovely places.

This summer we've set off on Saturday morning with the tent most weekends. Within 2 hours we can be in the Lake District, the North York Moors, the Pennines, the Dales, the Peak District, Nortumberland and in a little bit longer Snowdonia if there's no bad traffic.

tinypop4 what industry does your OH work in?

*If you're white European then you'll be fine.

If youre BAME then the SE is better for you.*

That's so rude.