Life outside of London

[Neitherherenortheir]

Crime, pollution, living costs and expenses all being reasons to wonder what life outside of London is really like. Nearly all our friends and family are here so we have huge ties. But as DC grow older I wonder about leaving. Looking for recommendations for places that aren’t too dissimilar, do not require a driving licence (DH plans to learn but I’ve no want to drive), good secondary schools without moving a million miles away. AIBU?

I wouldn't move if I were you....

Yes, I was about to mention, we don't have gardens, only yards where we keep our whippets and pigeons

Pigeons, I'm well jel. We don't even have pigeons round here.

It never ceases to amaze, me how blinkered Londoners are
No that's not true - the OP seems quite naive and small minded about 'life outside of London' (whatever that means), but the other 8 or so million of us are generally not like that! Many people who live in London are from elsewhere. Honestly that kind of sweeping statement is nearly as bad as the OP's attitude!

Essex
Bristol
Bath
Edinburgh

I did london for uni. Was gd as a singke person with no kids. But actually thought that it was inconvenient...want to go cinema, had to get on bus to nect borough, want to go big supermaket/ikea/shopping mall...had to go to 2 different boroughs, popular museums...had to get on tube.
Some areas of london actually didnt have much to do in them imo as a studenf, just collections of residential towns, surrounding central-london.

What's all this bollocks about needing a car if you don't live in London??! I never had one until I was late 30s and only then because I moved very rurally. There are loads of big and not so big cities with perfectly good public transport systems.

Reading is eventually going to be on the Elizabeth line. Think that's possibly the closest you're going to get without going too far away.

Yeah the car thing is weird. I'm in small town just outside of Glasgowland and barely half of households here have access to a car. We somehow manage to get to work, shops, cinemas, leisure facilities, restaurants, Loch Lomond, various islands, the city centre, the airport all without using cars.

Ok, maybe we have to wait 15 minutes for a bus instead of 5 but it isn't that bad.

Yeah people are really welcoming, open minded and friendly outside London.
Unless you’re a Londoner apparently, then it’s ok to pile on the sarcastic comments. Hating Londoners = the acceptable prejudice these days.

Probably a good time to move to the regions anyway what with all that regeneration and end of austerity thats definitely, absolutely about to happen. Any day now.

It does depend where you are and I don't mean rural v cities. As a PP mentioned, Bath is a lovely city and yes, there is public transport but trains are run by GWR so late, often cancelled, not enough carriages, and go down to one train an hour after 9pm. It depends on the level of inconvenience you're willing to stomach.

If you dont have a car, how will you get away from the dragons??

Oh the bubble of London, where no other life exists. Excuse my massive eye roll

If you dont have a car, how will you get away from the dragons??

Oh FGS do you not remember the promise you made at immigration? We don't mention the dragons to Outsiders.

I think there’s been a lot more judgement towards Londoners than from Londoners on this thread

Glasgow,
much better,

Having lived in london for decades & then moved on. There's definitely life outside of london & in our experience it's so much better. You do need to choose somewhere more cosmopolitan & without that small town mentality that can see a single attractive woman as a threat. A good friend unfortunately suffered that one & was desperate to get away from her new town after only a few months. Choose wisely& it'll be the best move you've ever made. Especially if there's easy transport links to london, so you can pop back as & when you please.

Oh & choose to live in the town/city centre & you won't need a car

What about a Herts commuter town? Good secondary schools, clean air, little crime (just occasional burglaries, no violent crime). But also good public transport links to London. Harpenden, Hitchin, St Albans, Radlett etc

This is exactly what we did, would recommend!

I’d be more inclined to ask if there was life inside London.

My ds 26 works there. He’s paying a fortune in rent, has no chance of buying, and he hardly goes out due to the cost of it all. Doesn’t seem much of a life inside London to me.

He’s looking to escape London when he’s got the experience he needs

The small-minded parochialism OP has shown would seem to indicate that Liverpool might be a good fit

Hating Londoners = the acceptable prejudice these days.

Nobody is hating Londoners. Some of us, however, are mocking the insularity and ignorance of so many Londoners who genuinely appear to have little knowledge of or interest in their own country outside the M25.

I don't live in London but don't find the post at all difficult to understand. Op lives in London as do her friends and family, she's thinking of moving out of London and wants suggestions and descriptions of places she might consider moving to. It's really not an outrageous thing to ask or very difficult to comprehend.

OP how about a town in the south like Canterbury? I think the issue you'll have without a car is that even if you live in a town the DC's are bound to be invited to parties and playdates etc at put of town places that require a car.

OP doesn't sound at all small minded, although the defensive comments will probably put her off moving away - we're not all like that op!

Personally I’d stay right where you are OP - there are some great places outside of London, but nowhere can beat it for the sheer multiculturalism and diversity.

You need to learn to drive to seriously leave London.

But check out South Oxfordshire.

We moved here and haven't looked back.