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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To move to Plymouth?

207 replies

PaintingOwls · 09/02/2018 11:01

I'm sick and tired of my job in London. Someone said getting up every day was like a cheese grater to the soul, and that's exactly how I feel. I don't have time to do things like I like (without sacrificing sleep) and I live in a mouldy flat with DP. Every stereotype you can think of.

DP was looking at jobs (NHS) and saw a hospital in Plymouth was advertising and is thinking of applying for it. I'm not sure how serious he was, he said it in a kind of, fuck it, let's pack it in and live by the sea kind of way.

I've been looking at houses and they are SO AFFORDABLE! In theory we could survive on his salary alone, which is very exciting. Obviously I will want a job, but the idea is still incredible, given that we can only afford a tiny shared ownership flat in London if we were to buy.

Only trouble is, I've only ever passed through Plymouth in the train and coach to Cornwall, so I have no idea what it's really like. I don't know where to look, which areas are nice, good for schools, etc etc. No DC yet, but definitely in the pipeline for the next 5 years.

Can any MNtters (especially if you relocated to Plymouth) shed some light on what it's like to live there and which areas to avoid, etc?

OP posts:
Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 14:50

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff I lived there for 25 years basically so I know the south west inside and out. Your a newcomer basically Smile

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 09/02/2018 14:50

Pottery I meant green in the sense of having a green ethos. I've previously lived in New York, Leeds, Geneva, and eastern France.

I will probably not stay here forever but right now, raising a family on 1.5 salaries, it's a good bet for us.

We'll just have to disagree. It is far from perfect but I'm just giving some balance given how negative others are. I get you don't like it Wink

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 14:51

*leach pottery

Oblomov18 · 09/02/2018 14:53

I wouldn't. I grew up in Plymouth and then Tavistock.
Friends of mine were back there recently and the pictures of Mutley Plain were shocking. They were all shocked at the poverty and how many areas of Plymouth have become rapidly run down, even more so than they ever were.
And I went nightclubbing, all through my teenage years in Union Street, at the Academy etc, Grinbut by God I wouldn't let my ds go there now!!

scaryteacher · 09/02/2018 14:54

It is relevant Potterybecause you are so effing rude and dismissive of that part of the country and those who live and work there.

Multiculturalism and ethnic minorities are beginning to get past Bristol. Even in 96 when my ds started nursery in Plymouth there were Indian kids at his nursery; when I was teaching in Cornwall, there were Eastern European kids at the comp, plus a couple of Spaniards. I frequently see women in hijabs in Tavistock, Saltash and Plymouth, more than I see where I live outside Brussels.

The moors are fantastic near the Tavys and driving to Sourton. No need to go further imo.

Archietheinventor · 09/02/2018 14:57

Oblomov - I had forgotten about the Academy - my first ever night club experience. Good times! Sad to read your post though - I haven’t spent much time there for several years but I had always imagined it had got better. Shame.

Praisebe · 09/02/2018 15:00

Plymouth is grim. Shameless style grim

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:02

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff it absolutely sounds perfect for you at this time of life, and I'm sure you'll move when your kids are in their teens and begging you anyway Grin. Seriously it is fine for the few, an excellent choice even for your specific situation and I'm so pleased someone is happy there. There are worse places but that cant be the benchmark surely?

You'll be quids in when you sell in 5 years or so anyway @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff I'm sure, you moved at the right time for you and the family and you will have a lot of choice as regards the future. I am just worried about the op or others reading this and thinking 'hay plymouth, the sustainable city in the countryside' are going to get a huge shock at the reality.

And once you leave London or a city, you can get trapped in these more rural places and will certainly not be able to return to somewhere like London easily once you've left.

And fyi, Totnes is the 'green' place (we have the Totnes pound don't you know Grin

(I also hate Totnes and Newton abbot if anyones thinking of moving there!)

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:04

@Oblomov18 oh my days did you go to dance academy? We may have crossed paths Shock

We used to do Millennium club too around 2000, so rough

TeaMeBasil · 09/02/2018 15:06

Be fair, there are tons of green spaces in Plymouth, parks everywhere! I found one in Stoke the other day that I had no idea was even there! 😂 my office is halfway between town & Derriford so not miles away from the centre by any stretch & all I see out my window are fields. Not exactly a concrete jungle!!

And Writersblock2 - I bloody love that chocolate orange story! It might just be me but that would make me warm to the place! It might also be because it is a very 'Jam & Jerusalem' type of thing to see for anyone else who loved that programme!

Crispbutty · 09/02/2018 15:11

Can I just say, Jam and Jerusalem was filmed in my uncles shop and all over North Tawton. Grin

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:13

@scaryteacher I meant lack of minorities and LQBTQ in Cornwall not Plymouth obviously.

I just think if your also in the minority of people who like it, have lived there and still encourage the OP i think that's a bit irresponsible and more about you personally defending your decision to move back or live there. The brief is clear from her and the consensus is Plymouth is a massive NO (for her, not you though). Its not personal, I'm as much, if not more of a local then you actually to that area. I should be defending my wonderful childhood in the south west, but why aren't i?

Its because she is a adult woman wanting to raise a family there, had never been, lives in London currently, looking for a lifestyle that does just not fit with the place she is suggesting.

Its about her and what would suit that situation.

(Plus Plymouth is pretty shit Grin)

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:14

Also i'm suspicious, why has no one mentioned the evil seagulls yet?Only true locals know how these sky rats can ruin so called 'green spaces' and walks by the coast with sandwiches Grin

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:15

@Praisebe can I be your spirit animal Smile

Polarbearflavour · 09/02/2018 15:18

I used to live in London. I’m in Bristol now which is okay but I’m not at all attached to the place! It’s become expensive to buy. Traffic is awful.

DP is military in Plymouth. I can rent my own flat whilst I look for somewhere to buy - something I couldn’t do in London and I’m too old to flat share! I like Plymouth. The pay for jobs is somewhat lower than in Bristol and I’m on less than I was in London. But cost of living is lower. Yes there are good and bad areas but you get that in any city.

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:20

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff they certainly have a 'green ethos' in Plymouth if you go by what the locals say about the quality and quantities of marijuana you can get there Grin

Crispbutty · 09/02/2018 15:20

“The brief is clear from her and the consensus is Plymouth is a massive NO (for her,

Its because she is a adult woman wanting to raise a family there, had never been, lives in London currently, looking for a lifestyle that does just not fit with the place she is suggesting.”

Where have you assumed all of that from. The op has posted once and not given us any other information about her lifestyle.

You clearly hate the area but you don’t know anything about what the OP might like. 🙄

Rumpledfaceskin · 09/02/2018 15:23

I like Plymouth. We have friends there who we stay with sometimes. It’s got some quite nice parts and some ropey parts like any other city. There’s lots of students and small pockets of ‘trendy’ cafes and galleries opening. I think it would be a good place to buy property and the surrounding area is beautiful.

Oblomov18 · 09/02/2018 15:24

Archery and Pottery Grin
We can reminisce about our happy Union Street / Academy nightclubbing days .........

Rumpledfaceskin · 09/02/2018 15:28

I think Bristol is completely overrated. Don’t move there if you're looking at the West Country. It’s a dirty traffic filled shit hole that’s outrageously expensive. Unless you’re a millionaire most areas are still really grotty. Sadly my dh works there and probably will for some time, I’m so trying to avoid it!

Oblomov18 · 09/02/2018 15:28

But bless your cotton socks, I doubt we were there at the same time.

I am very old !!

and was there during my A-levels - of the late 80s early 90s!!

A LONG time ago! Wink

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:32

No one suggested Bristol? She wants to move to Plymouth so people, including myself, have suggested Exeter or more village based.

But Bristol is overrated I agree. Though I personally enjoy living here. Everywhere is overrated these days, it's impossible to find 'that place' that has everything, and if you have you are very lucky.

Rumpledfaceskin · 09/02/2018 15:34

Polar mentioned Bristol, I was just backing up the view that it’s a bit shit.

Potteryprincess30 · 09/02/2018 15:34

@Oblomov18 early naughties here so I bow down to your raving prowess. I have to say the idea of dance academy does make me shudder these days though Smile

scaryteacher · 09/02/2018 15:39

There are minorities in Cornwall - I taught some of them and there are LGBTQ there as well - you evidently haven't been to Cornwall recently.

Her brief is clear, that she wants guidance on where to live - so Mannamead, Pevrerell, Compton, Plymstock, in Plymouth, and Tavistock, Tamar Valley or Saltash outside.

You have been unremittingly negative about that part of the world, and evidently loathed it, so I hope you don't live there now. Some of us, who love it and can't wait to get back there (and wouldn't live elsewhere in the UK, especially Hampshire, if you paid for the house) are trying to balance your negativity. Hardly irresponsible, in fact I think you are irresponsible in your portrayal of Plymouth and its surrounds.

Your consensus might be a massive no. but that isn't what is coming over on the thread at all - wishful thinking on your part.

I don't know why you aren't defending your childhood - I lived in East Anglia, Hampshire, Scotland, Dartmouth, Hampshire again, until I moved into a cottage on Dartmoor with dh when I was 20 in 86, I didn't leave the area to live lesewhere until I was 40, and that was kicking and screaming, as I had found my niche and adored it there. I was back for 9 months in 2014 sorting the house post tenants until I had to return to Brussels again, so I'm hardly less local than you, given my Mum is in Tavi, and I am back as often as I can get there, and we have a house in the Tamar Valley.

I'll be 53 when we move back, and I am sooo looking forward to it. It's my happy place. The OP may well move down and feel like that. When I moved in with dh in 86 it was like coming home and I still feel like that every time I go back.

FYI Totnes isn't 'local' to Plymouth really is it? It's like another planet. I always found it a bit odd tbh. Modbury made more sense to me.