Winchester, Surrey or Bournemouth... Need your advise !

[Esten]

Hi there ! I'm very confusing to select a right place to move in UK. Need your valuable advise, please. Talking some background for ourselves. We're come from HK. Not sure you know this tiny city and Anti-Extradition bill movement here in last year. We're deeply depressed and disheartened. we don't know how to express such painful or losses of freedom here. Sorry to say that..

Ok, go back to my questions. My hubby and I with daughter (aged 10) are considering move either Winchester, Surrey or Bournemouth. Those places that we consider have good school and suburban to raise our daughter. Since we are outsider, we need yr advise !
-->which location is good for child (good neighourhood) and also consider any school discrimination there.... u know, people may not define Mainland or HKers. That's why we are looking a location to stay is more open-minded.
(Our budget to rent 2 bedrooms around $1000 PCM)

Thx all ! Stay well !

Hmm Winchester and Bournemouth are not what I think of when people say they want somewhere open minded.
Have a look at Cheshire, I'd say it's pretty open minded, some excellent schools, good access to major cities and much cheaper than Surrey.

None of these places, lovely as they are, would even appear on my radar if I was looking to immigrate to the UK. I'd be looking at a large(ish) city with plenty of work opportunities and diverse population - London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds - you get the picture.

There are good and bad schools everywhere, but if you can't find work or spend a fortune on commuting then what's the point?

Actually Bournemouth is pretty open-minded..... I live in the centre and we are very diverse in many ways.

As to budget, rents are pretty high at the moment and student shares take over family sized homes - although depending on how the virus goes it's possible the market will adapt.

Good luck with everything OP - and if you do end up in Bournemouth drop me a message if you want

If I was in your situation I would base your search between Surrey and Winchester. Winchester is the next county along from Surrey (Hampshire). There are lots of other nice towns too.

I lived in Bournemouth for three years (no kids so can’t advise on schools). We paid £1075/month for a 2 bed/2 bath beachside apartment to give you an idea of prices. We absolutely loved it. We were really surprised by how diverse Bournemouth was, there seemed to be a thriving Korean community in particular. There are several oriental food stores such as Wah Hing’s if you want to look some up. There is a buzzing English as a foreign language school scene particularly in the summer, which brings a lot of people from other countries to Bournemouth.

Southampton is nearby (30 miles) and seemed to have a large Chinese and HK-er community. Shanghai Bay(our favourite restaurant in Southampton) was always very busy and the other patrons seemed to often know each other. Hopefully this is of some help

My daughter lives in Winchester and my own children were born there.. It’s a lovely small city. It’s mainly white but the non white friends of my daughter are happy there. Some excellent schools, good sense of community, lovely countryside close by but it is quite expensive for housing. Eastleigh is much uglier than Winchester, less middle class dominated but scores highly on ‘best places to live’ surveys.
Surrey is very mixed. A bit smug and considered ‘nouveau’. Some areas hideous but some lovely, with higher housing costs to match. Surrey is a county with numerous towns and villages. Winchester is a small city no comparison really.
Look at Petersfield. Lovely small market town with good schools and facilities but good road and train access. Slightly cheaper than Winchester and easier to slot in because it’s smaller. Many commute to Portsmouth for work.
If you want a Chinese community, none will really fit the bill. If you’ve decided on the south, look at Southsea, a suburb of a Portsmouth with a more diverse population. Good schools, more jobs, lovely seafront.

Appreciate all your advices!

For sure HK is small city yet have hundreds of hiking trails and beaches and we are living in beachfront here (not only TV news show only skyscraper ...) I have been experienced cold weather in North England when I was studied university there. That's why we preferred down to SouthEast England. We love nature, strong community and beaches.... so, ideally above locations. Winchester is really nice place combine with cultural & living ! (Yes, Manchester but such high crime rate is a bit scary for me) For Surrey is focusing in GU or Epsom but yes truth expensive.

Jobs also take into consideration if location is rural which might not fit. We are not hurry to looking for a job. We count it all for few years at least. Now only focus for living and school, daughter good at English, shd be ok. I must say some good words for people in HK : ) they are very hard working and won't rely on government support or no intention to grab benefits from local here. (that's why i said Mainlanders vs HKers culture is really different ! its hard to use few words to tell ... and also not a right topic here) . Goodnite ! I've take some times to make up my mind..... thx w. hugsss ~ stay well !

Winchester is lovely and I would say (I live near there) very open-minded.

It is primarily white British so not ethnically diverse however it's a very liberal area, very safe, great schools.

Hi, I haven’t read the entire thread. I’m from HK and you don’t have to worry about Chinese stuff in Winchester. There’s a big Chinese supermarket in Southampton and there is a small one in Winchester city itself. The southampton one has mooncakes from maxim and wing wah for example.

There is also a Chinese School in southampton but they cancelled all the Cantonese class as there weren’t enough demand. So if you want to continue with Chinese School then it will be in mandarin and simplified Chinese.

You will be in a shock how quiet Winchester is. Most people drive around Hampshire and you will be looking at a 2 bed house, not an apartment. If you go to kings school then all her classmates will live in houses. My children goes to kings school for their swimming lessons so I do know the area. We live in Chandler’s Ford and it’s very popular with Chinese. (Mostly mainlanders). That said you might find your child the only one or two Chinese in her class, as it’s very white here. And the Chinese children are all born here not migrants. My family left in the 90s so I am not active in the Chinese community.

I won’t choose Bournemouth as the traffic is terrible. Don’t know much about Surrey.

Hope that helps.

Winchester is lovely but expensive and not very diverse. There are a few ex-Gurkhas knocking about (Nepalese not Chinese obvs) and an Asian supermarket. But that’s pretty much it. Can also be a bit quiet. Schools are great though and it’s well located to travel to jobs in Southampton London or Reading.

By the way, Southampton city center is a short drive from Winchester. Kings School and Badger Farm area that was suggested up thread is in South Winchester. They are actually really close. It might not be clear from my post.

You are going to go from a beachfront apartment to a two bed terraced house in a potentially claustrophobic setting. I cant speak for the others but winchester is a cosseted town on the outskirts of greater london where people are commuters or wealthy retired for the most part. You are not going to have the active, multicultural, busy feel that you will have been used to in HK.
The north of england is not hugely colder than the south - the weather is going to be shit wherever you go, compared to what you're used to.
If you have savings and dont need to work straight away, I honestly think you would be better off looking north and going to live in the (nice, leafy) suburbs of manchester or sheffield or somewhere. Possibly leeds.

Winchester is a great place to live. I wouldn't expect you to have any problems at all although it's expensive, on par with a lot of Surrey. It has great transport links to London, Southampton, Basingstoke, Portsmouth. Highly recommend it.

Winchester is 60 miles from London. Not exactly Greater London suburbia.

Winchester is a lovely city and has a great quality of life, but is quite expensive.

You could also consider Salisbury which is also a lovely city, but a little cheaper as it is further away from London. However, it is not that far from Southampton and the coast.

Romsey is between the two and quite affluent and has good schools.

I don't know about Bournemouth, I am personally not keen on seaside towns but it has more than one university, so has lots of students and lots to do.

Surrey is quite a large area. Camberley has nice housing which is more affordable than say Guildford, which is a great town but expensive. You could also look at towns like Reigate and Dorking which are lovely, but again expensive.

Hampshire has very good state schools, so is always worth a look - not just Winchester but towns and villages like Fleet and Odiham.

Winchester is a Libdem leaning area, as is Guildford, so liberal and tolerant places to live - there may be some unconscious racism but not intentional.

You could look at Liverpool - has a massive Chinatown and some lovely areas in the south of the city. Also Chester (though Cheshire is about as expensive as areas of the south).

Romsey is between the two and quite affluent and has good schools.

I live and work in Romsey. Its lovely, but really quite small compared to even Winchester. Cheaper than Winchester but more expensive than Salisbury. Not very culturally diverse at all, but pretty close to Southampton where there is more going on.

My husband's family are from HK and live in Winchester and have for many years. They have fitted in well and love it.

I've had a DS go through secondary in Winchester, and now onto the sixth form college which is very popular. We don't live there as we can't afford the prices! Love Winchester, it has a nice feel, excellent links to the motorways, coast and just over an hour into London

I lived in Bournemouth until quite recently. It is lovely in the winter but unbelievably busy in the summer. It would often take over 40 mins to make a journey that in the off season would take about 10. I lived one road back from the beach and moved away because people parked across my drive and even on my drive because they wanted to go to the beach and there was no parking to be had.

I’m from Dorset & currently live in Surrey .....& want to move to Winchester !

I find Bournemouth very busy now and difficult to travel around. We also can’t find a school we like that as good as the one our child would move to for secondary in Bournemouth.
I’ve accepted now that we will probably stay in Surrey (thankfully we are in a nice area and lots of green areas) but once secondary school over I’m moving to a village outside Winchester- I really like the area. Have to say I haven’t really looked at the Winchester schools though as an option.

Wishing you good luck in the move. UK is dreadfully racist esp outside London or big cities, shockingly so, though so please brace yourselves. The best place to get info on renting is NOT here but look on Rightmove. Your budget is worrying small frankly, sorry.

You’ll need a uk bank account, a lot of documentation and be prepared to pay 6 months rent in advance. Tough move coming to U.K. in current terrible situation, frankly I think Australia might be a more welcoming option. Best of luck.

Actually what @Bootikin said is right about racism. I don’t find it bad here and I moved to Auckland when young from HK. What I will say is your daughter might have a had time adjusting to school in around winchester area as there aren’t many migrant children. I was a teen when I moved to secondary in Auckland and it was terrible. My school only had a handful of HK kids and non in my year. Things got a lot better when I got into university as there were many HK kids in my course. Your daughter might have another Chinese girl in her class but they will be British Chinese. They won’t see themselves as the same as someone who isn’t British. It’s just my experience but I find secondary in Auckland awful. If I were my parents I would have find a school with a larger group of kids from similar background. Basically what people in the thread as a diverse area. With the situation in HK and the BNO path, there must be areas which is popular with HKer.

@NotGenerationAlpha Your post is confusing. You say you agree with above poster and then immediately follow with "I don't find it bad here". Then you talk about racism in Auckland (? Not the topic?). Quite confusing

I mean I don’t find it more racist than Auckland, which has a very diverse population. People are very nice in England. You have racists and bigots everywhere. It was a response to Bootikin’s comment about England being dreadfully racist outside London. However, kids can be quite mean to people that are different. It’s not all racism. That was what I mean about being different as the only migrant kid in school in white southern England. Younger kids maybe colour blind but the OP child also have a language and cultural barrier.