Life in the uk these days?

[Sundancer77]

Hi all,

I live abroad and we’re considering possibly coming ‘Home’ within the next couple of years. Just being nosey really and wondering what your general weekends are like? What do you do etc? How is the uk to live these days and has anyone returned back there after being abroad?

No one 🤷‍♀️😬

I think it’s a difficult question to answer without knowing (roughly) where you are returning from and what you like doing now. Also which part of the UK you will be moving to. So if you currently live near a beach in a hot country, and spend all your weekends there, then obviously it will be a lot different moving to say London.

I wish I could respond, but we’re thinking of leaving in a few years (retire early). Which country are you in?

Depends entirely where you live and how much money you have.

There is far too much 'depends' to answer your question.

Where you will live, the type of job (if any) you will have, the number and ages of any children, your housing situation etc.

Where in the UK are you from? What's your budget. Where are you now? Do you have children? Do you have qualifications and experience? Where in the UK would you like to live?
Do you just want a wandering conversation over a cuppa or do you actually have questions.

Personally at weekends I work.
When not working I go see bands and go to festivals.
One of the best country in the world for gigs and festivals (with germany)

How long odds a piece of string?
I know people who chill at home and go out to eat. Others who go climbing cliff faces or go wild swimming, it totally varies depending on your interests.

Yesterday dh and ds1 were at a rugby match. Ds2 and dd and I went to a museum with a friend and then to a board game cafe. Today I've taken ds2 to his swimming lesson and I've been relaxing with the Sunday paper. Half term is at an end so next in the list is making sure all homework is done and pe kits ready etc.

Doesn't matter what country you are in there is all the boring shit to do around the fun stuff. And the fun stuff depends on your interests but you can do most things anywhere. Ok so you can't ski every day here or scuba dive and see tropical fish but walking, hills, beaches, cycling, fishing, team sports etc are all available.

Just a general curious what your weekends are like? For example, the last time I was in the uk, I was in my twenties and Saturday’s involved shopping in the centre, hairdressers, ready for the night out clubbing, pub etc and Sunday invariably hungover in bed and a roast. Obviously not into the same things now, have a 10 month old and a dog and love nature, dog walks, trips away 🤷‍♀️
We live in Portugal and would either locate back to the North or Cornwall.

North Cornwall would be a great place to bring up a kid

We moved back after 7 years abroad to the SW, where we have no ties and hadn’t been to before.

We have no kids, so our weekends are more like your “before” ones, however we go for long walks etc and I would say more places are geared up for families than aren’t, if that makes sense!

We struggled with the idea of coming back, but we’ve loved it. It helped that last summer was our first proper one back, and it was so hot & we spent loads of time outdoors.

I've moved back recently and am really enjoying it though I am in London and thinking of moving out to get a bit more of a relaxed lifestyle.

You could always do the things you like doing now in the UK (although obviously the weather is a factor, and you need to think about where you live - Cornwall would be lovely), you did what you did in your twenties because that's what you liked doing then.

We like walking, obviously you'll be looking for somewhere near a lot of good walks. Cornwall or Cumbria perhaps? It's early, but obviously check local school reputations before you buy. Our DS is just getting to the age when he can be popped on a bike with us, so that'll be helpful for going longer distances with pub lunches on the way. There are a lot more craft beer brewery tap rooms about as well as pubs, so these days a full day out you might split the food from the beer stops.
Local fairs or other events can be fun with kids, as well as farm trips, strawberry picking, playground etc. If you want to research areas for events to take your child to; the Hoop app is good for classes, websites like dayoutwiththekids.co.uk or familiesonline.co.uk usually have events.

We usually go on family trips out during the week because weekends are busy and we can do mid-week. So we might go for a long walk to a fair / beer festival with playground stops and then home; or we might just do our home stuff and then go somewhere on a Tuesday.

I’m in the north!
My weekends are a mixture of leisure shopping, visiting museums, visiting coast or mountains, walking
Swimming, going to gym, spa, sauna etc
Car boots and antique centre shopping
Lots of hanging out drinking coffee, going out for meals, having family and friends round for BBQ, drinks or meal dependent on weather
Depends what you are into I suppose
DD and her partner go to beer or gin or food festivals and watch sporting events or play junkyard golf, bowling etc
DS is either at a gig or music festival or hanging out with friends in nearby cities

Define "The North".

Its a very individual thing. I can only speak for myself but i relate quality of life to things like population density,quality and affordability of housing,environment, economic and political stability , tax regime.

I think many parts of the UK are overcrowded unless you can afford to live in the countryside,lincolnshire,far scotland, ireland etc.

Houses are definitely too expensive

The tax regime in the uk is much more favourable than many other european countries

Envirnoment in uk is going down hill due to population density. Ever tried to go anywhere on BH or weekend ?

Ive made my money in UK and i have thoughts of going to live in spain away from the coast

Just outside Manchester-close to city but also countryside ideally. Cornwall is closer to our currently life-beach, surf, less populated etc but also wages I imagine would be lower and less cultural things to do (also really miss music festivals, good restaurants etc) although have become very used to the sea and open air 🤷‍♀️
Reassuring to know so many things going on though 👍I remember feeling very bored just before I left, but again I was early/mid twenties and was dying for a change/travel.
Also glad to see that there seem to be proper summers these days! ☀️

It's a big country, my life is very different to someone in London or the Lake District! But it's fine, life is what you make of it. If you have complete choice of location it's a different proposition to having to move to central London which is crazy expensive and super busy

What's probably changed since you were living here is CRoW - Countryside Rights of Way Act, which gives free access to most "wild" land above 400m - more useful in the N than in the south. That means given reasonable map reading skills it's easy to get away from crowds and walk for a whole day without meeting someone.

That said, if you're used to being in Portugal, there's a lot to be said for the eastern side of the country, E Alentejo, Port Alegre or Castelo Branco districts, or Tras os Montes for nature and walks. If you've got jobs, then Portugal seems to be on the up at the moment, whereas the future in Britain looks uncertain.

Just outside Manchester-close to city but also countryside ideally. Cornwall is closer to our currently life-beach, surf, less populated etc but also wages I imagine would be lower and less cultural things to do (also really miss music festivals, good restaurants etc) although have become very used to the sea and open air 🤷‍♀️ Cornwall has some of the lowest wages in the country, with the highest proportion of the population on minimum wage. There is culture - St Ives, Minnack Theatre come to mind, but culture-wise you'd do better in Manchester. Summers are noticeably cooler in Manchester than in the SE, and there's more rain on the W of the country than on the E.

Yes, Mere, wages in Cornwall being considerably lower is a massive issue, although it would be a lovely place to live and my parents retired there and sister and brother live there too.
Wages are low here too, so we’re used to that, but it’s not easy! We’re considered to be in good professions with good wages for the country but it’s harder to survive than it would be in Cheshire/Greater Manchester I’d imagine.
Those are lovely places in Portugal but again, to find a decent paying job would be tricky I’d imagine.

We returned a few years ago from EU. Is Brexit playing a part in the decision? It makes for a difficult one. Britain outside the EU is likely to go downhill fast imo, and life is already hard here if you don't have assets, like most of the population doesn't. Of course, if you are in the typical 'ex-pat' wealth bracket, with assets, you'll do alright in most places. I would avoid Cornwall, based on my experience of coming to the far north of England, and stick near the cities: no doubt I will get flamed but I am finding the insularity and small-minded judgementalism of locals very hard to live with. I find Britain's inequality, class system and misogyny generally very hard after northern Europe, but from Portugal things might be different. We're planning on moving back towards the cities.

Why are you coming back, out of interest?

If I had a choice and the money, I would move to North East.