To ask for your experiences of living / spending time in North Norfolk..?

[Cockenspiel]

That's it really..

Due to flexible / WFH situation for myself and DH, we are considering relocating to N. Norfolk (from greater London) with our DC7.

We know Cromer, Sheringham and Wells from years of family holidays, but appreciate this isn't the reality of day to day life. We have no idea of the quality of the state schools or know what many of the smaller villages and towns are like.

We both grew up in smallish towns in the SE and moved to London for work so we have some idea of what to expect on that front I suppose.

We are by no means rich and won't be looking to buy a massive pile! More likely upgrade from our 3 bed terrace to a naicer 4 bed with some outside space etc..

Would be good to hear a range of opinions on the area, schools and anything else MN'rs think is relevant..

[quote Manolinette]@NFN85
@theemmadilemma

Excellent posts. Though I have long abandoned any hope that there is a solution. Once land is developed it is lost forever. There is no appetite for a government, of any leaning, to fix that problem. It would require a brave government to bring in housing controls and so many politicians across all parties are too personally invested.[/quote]
Agree. The Berkshire town we moved from was being over built. To the point the local council is trying to stop it, saying they have enough housing in the pipeline and yet are being over ruled from above. A particular deal with a large company working with a developer would net both £££££ on the basis they need more housing for staff. Absolute bollocks, but it like the rest will go ahead and the roads will choke. And so they will move on.

It's to ££££ for those who can to stop it.

Thanks everyone, some really useful and thought provoking posts. Particularly @NFN85 - I totally appreciate all of your points and have seen very similar things happening where my DH's family live in the SE - the place is pretty unrecognisable to how it was when he grew up with the countless new developments and 'out of town' shopping parks, which have really changed the sense of any community.

It's tricky as we don't really want to be 'part of the problem', but at least we hope that since we both WFH full-time (my DH is self-employed, so that would be the case wherever we live), we hope that we can be part of any community we move into - rather than looking for a holiday home and contributing nowt to the place, if that makes sense.

I'm definitely being swayed by the idea of a village / area just outside of Norwich and away from the coastline and all it's potential issues, plus being near to riverside walks could be interesting. My DH is into running and cycling so this would be ideal for him.

@Lepetitpiggy the beach at Old Hunstanton is perfect, the people sitting taking drugs in front of us not so much.

We owned an apartment there when the DCs were young, we were very glad we don't have it anymore. It's such a shame.

@Ithinkim

We've been to that beach a few times and it's really stunning. The drugs part we've not experienced, that's so sad though :(

It is a real shame. I spent every holiday of my childhood there - dont live too far away so it became a second home almost.
I even scattered my mum's ashes there last year. She'd be tutting at the 'young people' for sure!

@NFN85 a fair point but it applies equally in London - I can't see how my children will ever be able to buy here. The owner before last of my house was a market trader, now you'd need a big City/magic circle salary to buy a house in my street.

I guess that the answer is to try and stop second homes and also to stop so much of London being bought up by nonresident landlords who don't even bother to rent their properties out.

@Cockenspiel we currently live in Nottingham and we were priced out of being able to move to Norfolk about 20 years ago, even if we could have found jobs. we do intend to leave here as quite honestly we'll be forced out in a few years. We intend to return to DH's home country to a fairly remote rural area. The last 20 years have seen a decline here and the last 10 especially. The local area is very dangerous and I no longer use the main shopping area. We have rats, massive flytipping, drug dealing, robberies, stabbings and shootings you name it, it happens here. I can't wait to go really.

I certainly would swop (sic) it for what I have now which is like living in a mix of downtown Lahore and one of the nastier districts of Sofia. The highlight of my Friday nights entertainment being to watch the mass fight with a stabbing finale from my window.
Hmm, now why in the world would anyone use downtown Lahore and Sofia to suggest their neighbourhood is grim and crime-ridden? (I haven’t been to Sofia but I have been to Lahore and it’s fascinating, with some beautiful monuments and parks)

@NFN85 - well said - same happening in Scotland and Cumbria and what's really annoying is the many people buying into the rural idyll who aren't selling up their city homes and moving to the Highlands/Lakes/Borders/Northumberland, but are buying rural boltholes while keeping their city homes (I know this isn't what the OP is planning but covid seems to have exacerbated the issue as it has so many other issues).

[quote HellequineViriato]**@Cockenspiel we currently live in Nottingham and we were priced out of being able to move to Norfolk about 20 years ago, even if we could have found jobs. we do intend to leave here as quite honestly we'll be forced out in a few years. We intend to return to DH's home country to a fairly remote rural area. The last 20 years have seen a decline here and the last 10 especially. The local area is very dangerous and I no longer use the main shopping area. We have rats, massive flytipping, drug dealing, robberies, stabbings and shootings you name it, it happens here. I can't wait to go really.[/quote]
Ouch, that doesn't sound good; I don't really know Nottingham at all or much of the midlands (is it even classed as midlands?!).

[quote diplodocusinermine]@NFN85 - well said - same happening in Scotland and Cumbria and what's really annoying is the many people buying into the rural idyll who aren't selling up their city homes and moving to the Highlands/Lakes/Borders/Northumberland, but are buying rural boltholes while keeping their city homes (I know this isn't what the OP is planning but covid seems to have exacerbated the issue as it has so many other issues).[/quote]
Nope, we have no intention to keep the existing home, we will need to sell that to fund a move and the reality is we won't hugely be 'cashing in' by going to Norfolk, but we would be getting an extra bedroom and a bit more garden etc, something we'd never be able to do here.

Think we'd have to move to rural, full on arse-end-of-nowhere France to 'cash in' these days.

We lived at RAF Marham some years ago. Dime beautiful coastline from hunstanton, Cromer and around to Yarmouth. Thetford forest is nice.
Hated kings Lynn and Swaffham, awful, grubby and rough.

Aylsham & sheringham are lovely & good schools.
Stay away from north Walsham it’s awful and always had an awful reputation.
Cromer also is nice as a town however the schools aren’t great and is known for being a bit druggy.
There’s obviously lots of little seaside towns such as mundsley but they don’t have high schools and can them be a bit of a commute.
If you fancy going a bit closer toward the city, you have taverham, Drayton areas.

I would also avoid Dereham/swaffham/fakenham. They’re not the nicest of areas and definitely not the best schools.

Hi @Cockenspiel, No, not the commute, although bear in mind that as your children become teens they will want to go into the city with friends and UEA for gigs etc. There is nothing for them to do in Cromer, the schooling isn’t great, there is a drug problem and you can’t park anywhere in Summer.
I lived and worked in villages around Norfolk and Suffolk for twenty years. Moved North two years ago but all four of my children live in and around the city.

I grew up in one of the broadland villages mentioned by pp and it was lovely. Not many young families live in that village now though. Mostly retirees. And of course in the summer it is overrun with tourists but close enough to Norwich (and food transport links from Wroxham), 30 minutes to beautiful beaches (Winterton, Horsey etc). I also grew up sailing which was such a happy privilege. So I would say, good for primary school age, secondary school probably the same issues with most rural schools!

@Gilead

Hi *@Cockenspiel*, No, not the commute, although bear in mind that as your children become teens they will want to go into the city with friends and UEA for gigs etc. There is nothing for them to do in Cromer, the schooling isn’t great, there is a drug problem and you can’t park anywhere in Summer. I lived and worked in villages around Norfolk and Suffolk for twenty years. Moved North two years ago but all four of my children live in and around the city.

That’s a really good point quite a few posters have mentioned regarding taxiing DC around when a teen, luckily we just have the one so at least it wouldn’t be for multiple kids!

This thread is certainly did for thought regarding how deprived and drug problem-y the coastal towns are. I suppose it might not be as bad somewhere like Wells (or Southwold in Suffolk) but we can’t really afford those places and I tend to see them as full of second or holiday homes.

Out of interest, why did you move away? Another place we’ve considered is Lincolnshire (not the ‘true’ north I realise!) but I wonder if that’s just too far from anywhere to be honest!

@HellequineViriato

I grew up in mainly North and West Norfolk and for the last part in Cromer. I must admit I've not been back to Cromer for a few years but I will say there has been on and off drug issues for many years, a friend of mine died from a heroin overdose one Christmas, my dad who was the local bobby had to inform his mum. My dad and sister now live in Norwich in reasonably nice areas.

I mainly grew up though in the little villages and despite it being the arse end of nowhere I had a good childhood I would say. I certainly would swop it for what I have now which is like living in a mix of downtown Lahore and one of the nastier districts of Sofia. The highlight of my Friday nights entertainment being to watch the mass fight with a stabbing finale from my window.

Norwich is nice and out towards Dereham and Wroxham are I believe good. I was born in Sheringham and when I last visited it was quite nice. Holt way has always been nice and the villages I grew up in were Melton Constable and Briston.

The public transport has always been patchy there and you really do need a car but I would say we managed alright.

It's making me want to go back now...

a mix of downtown Lahore and one of the nastier districts of Sofia

The casual racism does not really sell North Norfolk to me.

Reading about the drugs comments... being very honest there is a huge drugs problem amongst young people in Norfolk. As someone who used to be a bar manager in London I know full well all about the drugs culture and how common it is and yet I’ve still been shocked by how prevalent it is in Norfolk. I suspect a lot of it is to do with lack of jobs / poor infrastructure and lack of transport from nights out etc (the last trains back from Norwich tend to be about 11pm and if you get a taxi back to a village you’re looking at about £50). So if you’re a youngster who likes socialising it’s quite easy to get swept into the drugs scene for something to do - hanging about locally, taking cocaine or doing weed etc. I’ve never actually ever taken any drugs myself but one of my first jobs in Norfolk was working at a local hotel and nearly everyone who worked there was snorting cocaine in their breaks. It was really shocking.

There seems to be two lots of teenagers in the town we live in - the party lot who get stoned all the time and basically just want to get off their faces and then the other lot who are really studious, really hard working and basically turn into total homebody’s, wanting to be with their families and then go to university and get a career etc etc. Thankfully my dd aged 17 has fallen into this camp and actually she hardly ever goes out apart from to the local Costa for a coffee with friends (!) but many of her peers are taking drugs - from families you would not stereotypically assume would have children that are doing that. (And yes, I know that makes me sound like an arse but I’m trying to explain what it’s like here).

Norwich is lovely but be careful of the secondary schools. I think a lot of them aren't great.

@Dollyrocket I wouldn’t recommend Lincolnshire. Lived for some years in North Norfolk now in Lincolnshire. It’s miles from anywhere, roads are dreadful and takes a bloody age to go anywhere. little to do, will be ferrying kids around unless we move. At least in Norfolk there was the coast, it’s just the muddy wash or Skegness. North Lincolnshire has some lovely coast and the Wolds but not a lot to do. My local town is becoming more deprived, homelessness increasing, drug problems increasing, it’s underfunded in most areas, high street has all but vanished. Everyone holding out for Brexit (big leave voting area) as apparently it will solve all the social ills.

There is an eye watering amount of Londoners and people from the SE upping sticks and moving to Norfolk, as a result it’s becoming less of a rural idyll and less affordable for people that have lived here there whole lives.
What do you think us Londoners experience times 100+? It's all very well moaning about "those Londoners" but we have the same issues but are expected to suck it up because it's "that" London.

Lived in Norfolk now for 11 years. Love the place, the people and my family have been very happy here. I know North Norfolk well and it is lovely. The big disadvantage for anyone who needs to get back to London is transport. With no motorways and limited dual carriageways it could take an hour to get to Norwich before then heading on to London. I would consider a village slightly east of London (look around Wymondham, Attleborough and Diss. Close enough to get to the coast in 30-40 mins, but able to drive and park at Stratford in under two hours if you time it right. Schools at Wymondham High and College are good and achieve good results. At Diss, you can also get close to the Suffolk Coast, so Southwold, Orford etc.

Agree with other posters that you will need to play taxi driver for your kids- limited public transport here, though lots of kids cycle everywhere these days.

It works both ways with us Londoners as well... we are the ones who often choose to spend in the local farm shops and cafes or buy other goods from small independent shops because we want that country type lifestyle and have the disposable income to do so. Without people moving into Norfolk and similar areas a lot of those businesses would not survive, and they are part of what gives these areas their original charm.

hmmm.. I'm gonna defend Cromer (No, I don't live there).

For young people they have ...
a vibrant raquet & lawn tennis club including a good junior programme
a secondary school with rising reputation
very active life saving & surfing club; the pier gets swarmed with winter surfers
nice fairly new skate park
go kart track
very newly built hospital, wonderful to have an MIU with typical max. 10 minute wait
Amazona zoo (employment)
a lot of indie shops, pubs (employment)
arcades, ice cream..
The Cromer peregrines. I mean, really, what more do you need?!

For kids there is also ...
regular football camps for juniors (CSF)
...the Cromer museum (mammoths anyone?)
Walking distance to Felbrigg (if you walk as far as me)
crabbing
cliff walk to the lighthouse & back, or onto Overstrand (great cafe)
boating pond (models or bigger)
sports centre programmes, lots out of school activities
whatever is happening in North Lodge park -- ok, the "artificial ice" skate rink sucks, but it's a laugh at how terrible it is

For middle aged there is ..
the tennis club
North Norfolk Beach Runners
2 supermarkets
big employer (district council)
Golf course
The pier
This happened at Cromer Lidl.

I can always find a free parking space in Cromer, any time of year.
I may just go thru selling some of the merits of other places...

My kids are very anti-drug, btw. However much drugs there might be locally (I have only heard of it at Sheringham), it's far less than I had access to in 1979.

Come to think of it, Look at Overstrand OP.

Hi - I lived in sedgeford which was 2 miles down from Hunstanton for around 4 years.
I loved living in Norfolk but would suggest being somewhere midway between Norwich and Hunstanton , but litcham, north Elham could be ideal.
Didn’t like Fakenham at all either.
Docking could be another suggestion.
With west Norfolk you always have to go back to Kings Lynn to get anywhere which is a pain.

Have you thought about top end of Suffolk? Have some friends that moved out to outskirts of Diss which seemed nice?