AIBU - Relocating to Lancashire

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Hello, my DP and I have an almost one year old and we currently live in the South East. We are renting a one bedroom grotty flat and dreams of ever owning our own home in the SE seem pretty far away. We've been thinking that we'd be better off relocating to Lancashire as it's cheaper and seems nice. However, we don't really know Lancashire that well and so thought
I'd ask which areas of Lancashire are nice and which areas to avoid. We are currently looking at the Chorley/Preston/Wigan area but are open to some nice, family-friendly areas. We both work in healthcare so we think that it wouldn't be too difficult to find jobs in the area. We have saved up a good chunk of money and are planning to rent somewhere for 6 months or so and get a feel for the area and then buy somewhere after that.

So my AIBU is AIBU to want to relocate to Lancashire in the hopes of owning our own house?

@JacquesHammer Didn’t realise there had been horse deaths in the moor fires. P

Barnolds wick , barrowford, and Earby are lovely. As pp said, AVOID nelson, rough and depressing place

Not quite Lancashire, but Ramsbottom is a lovely place to raise a family- great high street, hills on your doorstep and close to Bury which has the metrolink to Manchester. Avoid Bury itself as well as Radcliffe and Bolton.

It does rain a.lot. In Lancashire though... If you want affordable/less rain look at the north east.

I live in Bury and we love it here. Loads to do, good schools and family friendly. I’d only look at north bury, south Bury and Radcliffe are awful.
When we were buying we only looked at BL8 and BL0 postcodes.

Jst to echo pp Lancashire is a great place in many respects, we live in a small village on the outskirts of an old industrial town(wonder how many people I’ve passed or even know on this thread!) but, the public transport is terrible and expensive, the wages are considerably lower than SE, the opportunities and activities for children are a lot more infrequent, but we have amazing countryside on our doorstep and can be in city centre Manchester in half an hour.

@Bowchicawowow Galloways are amazing

Another Wiganer here, £600 budget should get something decent to rent, and don’t forget council tax will no doubt be cheaper here too so might be able to go slightly higher, I think we pay £99 a month iirc.

Like everywhere, there’s nice bits and not so nice bits. Winstanley/Hawkley Hall/Swinley/Standish would be my first choices.

Yes we’re stuck with Northern Rail to get to Manchester, but as a recent new commuter I’ve not found it as bad as people make out.

We moved from Gloucestershire up to Lancashire 30 odd years ago. Beautiful place although damper and colder. Much cheaper. My m65 buddies previously posting I think are in my vicinity, but some towns such as infamous Accrington ( who are they- exactly) and their neighbours have 2 bed terraces at around 400 a month, 500 will get u a decent ish area and garden. Cheap to live and friendly as anything. People WILL talk to you when out and about, and help each other out like it's the old days. Care workers are always in demand- I know the above areas are advertising and at above NMW too. Feel free to message or have a look on Facebook as there are groups and pages with ads there. Indeed website also have them.

Got to say, I've enjoyed all the positive posts about Lancashire ( and even a few about Yorkshire!) The north is always written off so easily and it's such an amazing place. The scenery of the lakes and the first of bowland etc is second to none- I think when you live here it's easy to forget it's so special till it's pointed out

We currently live just outside of bolton in quite a green area and are moving slight further west (closer to Wigan) to ease the commute. Maybe you can buy my house ☺️

Depending on exactly what you're after, I always think Adlington is lovely and if you wanted to go further North, I've got a real soft spot for Lancaster.

Good luck with the move!

I’d recommend Standish if you’re considering Wigan. If you plan to stay long-term, the high school has an excellent reputation and there’s plenty for families to do. The only problem is that the traffic can be absolutely awful in and around the town centre.

I live on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border. The weather is always brighter over’thill.

I think it depends what side of the Pennines you are. My SIL lives 10 miles from us across the moor (east) and gets less rain. The clouds drop all the rain on us so the clouds can rise and go over the moor.

That’s what I was saying. We leave here in thick fog, drive through Standedge Cutting and the sun is cracking the flags.

Trying the trains have only been bad the last year. My dd didn't have any problems until last year, she travels to Manchester on that line.

The new guided bus route is supposed to be good, I haven't done it but dd has.

There are areas like Monton (although increased a lot recently) Atherton, Moorside, Swinton, Westhoughton (cayed), leigh, Tyldesley, Astley, etc etc

My Dmum and DDad get the guided bus all the time and they find it’s great.

I think it’s so sad that Radcliffe and Blackpool have sunk into such decline over the last 30 years. I was born in lytham and grew up in Radcliffe leaving when I was 22 and I had a brilliant childhood and teen years. Radcliffe has changed beyond all recognition with the loss of so many factories, schools, the busy market, the pubs (the Friday and Sunday pub crawls were legendary with almost 20 pubs from one end of town to the other and all of them packed)

Bow

My dd finds it safe, and it's great for those with no train stations.
What's the weird fact about leigh.

Something about it being the largest conurbation? without ever having a train line. As in it wasn't just closed, but never existed.

I think Radcliffe has suffered as a small town Crisp? I'm also from Bury but grew up.in Greenmount which has always been naice ,Farnworth is also a bit of shit hole these days although it's classed as Bolton not Bury

Bury town center's quite nice now, since being done up, Radcliffe's not particularly nice. Outskirts of Bury such as Tottington, Ramsbottom, Summerseat etc are all nice.

Basically it's a pattern that's repeated the country over... the closer to the town centre, the worse things get, drive a few miles out and you'll find breathing space, a bit of countryside and some nice areas.

Similar with cities but on a wider area. Inner cities are invariably deprived with pockets of wealth.

Barnoldswick and the road to Skipton are all lovely except there's no employment there. That's the big downfall of rural areas. If you're self employed and can muster up clients there, great, but for most people, it's not realistic.

It's one of the reasons why West Lancs is popular... it's not quite as picturesque as the Lancs / Yorks border, but it's along the M6 with relatively easy access to Manchester and Liverpool. Once you get North of Preston, things become tricky. Yes, there's Lancaster, and there's the seasonal opportunities of the Lake District, but by and large, it's just not great for jobs.

there is earlier evening darkness in the winter.

You must be talking about a few minutes, the country's not that big!

there is earlier evening darkness in the winter.

Manchester and London, sunset 16 18 in both places today!

Manchester is further west than London, sunset depends on latitude and longitude. Yorkshire must get dark sooner than Lancashire.

I live near Blackburn there are good and bad places everywhere. I love where I live can get to Blackpool, Liverpool the lakes Manchester all in less than an hour. Sone beautiful places to walk near us. There are some beautiful places round here to live, I would have a look at what there is for children to do. I'd love to live in Skipton or clitheroe but not sure they are very family friendly places.

For future reference the best pies in not just Wigan but the whole of the UK are Galloways.

Bugger off, Holland's or Hafner's, and then a sprint over the boarder for a proper stand pie.

Oh and if you are considering Rochdale

Or Yorkshire