To not have a clue where to live?!

[DitzyPrints]

So confused.
Since starting a family we were set on moving to a particular ‘village’ great school lots of friends nearby, shops etc. Since moving to our ‘dream’ home 2 years ago I knew I’d made a mistake.
It’s a newbuild, the estate is noisy and busy, all packed in. The village is not a village anymore 3 huge estates being built. School is failing.

We can move at Xmas but now I’m looking and I feel lost there’s literally no areas I tied to or drawn towards. I would like a village feel but not too isolated and then I’m worried about moving kids.
Anyone else felt totally lost when it came to making a move?!
Moving to where we are now was a 5 year plan now I’m clueless!

Me too OP, I grew up in NZ. Moved to London when I was 22, met British DH. Lived in London for 10 years, plus a brief spell in Toronto and Melbourne.

What I will say OP the grass is not always greener. We moved to Manchester (where DH is from) when pregnant with DS1, nothing against Manchester but really did not gel there - did not love the city, I struggled to make friends and a lot of DH friends had moved on / drifted.

Had planned to move to NZ but after visiting there again I really did not want to live there (again most of my friends / family had moved on, I could not find any jobs and its expensive as fuck).

Anyway after 18 months we moved back to London where DS2 was born, I still really enjoy London, and its where most of my adult live has been but not sure I want to live their forever. Quite a few of our friends have left since having kids and no close family is here either.

But I got a job offer a few weeks ago in Melbourne so are now moving back there for a couple of years at least. I am hoping I have made the right decision, otherwise if it all goes to shit we will be back in London!

If your kids are primary age then they will cope with moving. Do you want to stay near friends? If so draw a circle on a map and keep within that circle. If not decide if you want to move completely to a different part of the country? Otherwise think about which parts of the move haven't matched your expectations (were they realistic to begin with) would moving somewhere quieter within the same village work...you need to get to the bottom of that bit really to not make the same mistake again. Was it the house or the area. Are you not really a new build person? I love the idea of no work needing doing but deeply value not being overlooked so Victorian semi works for us in spite of the tlc needed! Do you genuinely love the area. Were you just sucked in by the school....hope you figure it out.

Exciting swimmer hope the move goes well for you.
Pash the school was the big draw.alway village had good reputation but since the big estates have been built there’s been big increase in antisocial behaviour.