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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Biggest Shithole in the UK

513 replies

DickieDonkey · 10/08/2019 20:23

Am retiring soon so want to relocate away from the rat race but everywhere I consider away from the Home Counties seems to be regarded as a dump. Money goes further away from the SE, I thought about Norfolk which is within reasonable distance of civilisation but my friends think that it is backwards/racist. Is it true that Lincs/Cambs/Norfolk is best avoided. AIBU to move?

OP posts:
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8
HappyParent2000 · 12/08/2019 18:41

Is there any other answer than Yorkshire? Why would anyone want to live anywhere else other than for work? If you have a choice go and live in Yorkshire.

cheapskatemum · 12/08/2019 18:44

If you don’t fancy Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire or Norfolk, how about Suffolk? I can assure you that all 4 are accessible from London by road, train and bus.

mel71 · 12/08/2019 18:44

I live in Thanet. Its beautiful but the politics are ugly. If you read the daily mail and vote Tory - you will fit in fine.

cheapskatemum · 12/08/2019 18:45

I mean car, train & bus! D’oh!

Sara107 · 12/08/2019 18:48

It depends what you’re looking for and how long you mean to stay there. A rural village might be a lovely escape from the rat race, but if you don’t drive, or perhaps anticipate staying there into your elderly years then it wouldn’t be suitable. Or if you love going out to theatre and concerts or something. So how about working out exactly what you want ( eg 2 bed bungalow within walking distance of shops, good access to services such as doctors and dentists, public transport links to where family live, etc, depending on your own wishes) and then look around for houses that match your requirements, being open minded as to whether that property is in Norfolk or Tyneside or Bedfordshire. Have a look, find out about that location and see whether you feel positive about the area or not.

AnkleWarmersAndPixieBoots · 12/08/2019 18:51

If I could live anywhere it would be Dorset...love it.

bmbonanza · 12/08/2019 18:55

Yep definitely not somewhere someone like you would want to move (read that as please keep yourself where you are cos we dont want your snobbery here)

Whocansay · 12/08/2019 18:55

Why would you want to move away from your friends to a strange new place? You may feel extremely isolated and it may not be easy to lay new roots - although this probably depends how sociable / outgoing you are.

Being charitable, maybe that's why your friends are being so negative. They want you to stay near them?

If you really want to move, why don't you just go and have a long weekend in a few chosen areas and scope them out?

Tinca · 12/08/2019 18:56

I'd stay in the home counties. No racists there.Essex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Herts, Berks widely recognised as being racist free.

1forAll74 · 12/08/2019 18:59

I was just going to say, go and visit Norfolk,and you are doing, so you can get a rough idea of what some places are like. I don't like people saying some places are like shit holes,as some people just have to live in less than perfect areas.

I would like to move from Herts, up to Cheshire,but not on the cards yet.
It's not that I hate where I am,I just wan't to go back to where I came from.

Beautga · 12/08/2019 18:59

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madcatladyforever · 12/08/2019 19:00

I'm moving to Somerset from the south east in a few weeks because I'm sick of the packed roads and bad tempered people here. I need some rural peace and quiet. I hope I like it.

kaytee87 · 12/08/2019 19:01

Good god, please don't come to Glasgow as someone has suggested. We don't have running water yet or any museums, restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, theatres or culture at all actually. It's hideous here but I'm so backwards I can't afford to move to real civilisation.

CatkinToadflax · 12/08/2019 19:06

I used to live in one of the most expensive villages in Buckinghamshire, bang slap in the middle of the Home Counties. It was (still is!) a beautiful, cute little chocolate box village with little boutique shops, a perfectly manicured village green, ducks waddling across the road etc etc.

It was also one of the snootiest, cliquiest places I've ever been in. Everyone seemed to drive a BMW X5 and the worst thing imaginable was if your cleaner was running late.

We moved away to a south coast seaside town. Is it a dump? In many ways, yes. Are our lives immeasurably better for the move? A huge yes - we love it here. As a seaside town is has its fair share of problems, however our boys are growing up to see that life is broader than the white BMW-driving middle classes, and there are few things better than being able to go for an ice cream on the sea front whenever we want. Funnily enough we'll never darken Buckinghamshire's perfectly varnished doors again.

grizzlybearatemyhomework · 12/08/2019 19:09

Definitely don’t move to the North West. Up here we don’t have electricity, we still send children up chimneys and most of us work in the mills from the age of 14 anyway. Probs better staying down south so we don’t get coal on your clothes. That said I believe Preston has a lovely Waitrose. Hmm

Hanywany · 12/08/2019 19:11

I lived in norfolk for about 6 years and will warn you that if your not from there and dont have the accent you are not liked you are classed as an outsider and by christ they do not like outsiders! Its clique really clique and everyone wants to know your business! Its seems nice on the face of it but underlying the people there are pretty backward and moronic! Confused

Gbtch · 12/08/2019 19:13

We retired to Ludlow, Shropshire. Have never regretted it for a second.

OhtheHillsareAlive · 12/08/2019 19:17

Mrs Windsor it is said she would want to live in Lancashire, in the Trough of Bowland

shhhh, don't tell anyone how horrible nice it is here!

Ivy40 · 12/08/2019 19:20

@gamerchick Apologies, Baker Grove then?

@grizzlybearatemyhomework Shhh, don’t mention supermarkets, they might google and find out about Booths.

darkcloudsandsunnyskies · 12/08/2019 19:25

Fundamentally Norfolk is a marsh populated by marsh people. There are cannibals. If you are fat they will welcome you with open arms.

Zenith123 · 12/08/2019 19:26

There's good and bad everywhere. I think you're being rather narrow in your outlook. Hey not everyone in US supports Trump!! See what I mean....

AnkleWarmersAndPixieBoots · 12/08/2019 19:29

I agree about Norfolk Hany I have had the misfortune to live there in the past.

Skaife · 12/08/2019 19:35

Trough of Bowland is still north of Watford though, so no roads, electricity or mains water. I think that’s where our Scottish dragons migrate to in the winter. Dangerous place.

TheSandman · 12/08/2019 19:43

Am retiring soon so want to relocate away from the rat race but everywhere I consider away from the Home Counties seems to be regarded as a dump. Money goes further away from the SE, I thought about Norfolk which is within reasonable distance of civilisation but my friends think that it is backwards/racist. Is it true that Lincs/Cambs/Norfolk is best avoided. AIBU to move?

Jesus fucking Christ! Please DON'T move to Scotland.

Al2O3 · 12/08/2019 19:48

I am amazed there are a number of posters recommending the OP relocates to their locality. There are five sections of OP’s opening post that indicate they are judgmental, anti-social and I now suspect probably racist. Why would anyone want OP to live near them?