A better life in Norfolk... really?

[LittleRobin112]

We have so many family members who have moved to Norfolk in the last 10 years and a few friends too. They have mostly gone there for a better way of life. Away from the hustle and bustle of the south east where we are.

We're constantly being told how amazing Norfolk is - the countryside, the villages, the coast, Norwich, etc. And some family members are very keen to tell us how crap it is where we live in comparison, knowing that we are settled where we are and wouldn't want to move. Nowhere is perfect (about from Norfolk apparently) but we like where we are. These family members have moved from where we live which although busy and a London commuter area, it's also fairly affluent in parts, a coastal place and with countryside/woodland still accessible nearby.

What is the attraction to Norfolk? Is it the most ideal place to live? Are people happier there? Are there no down sides to it at all?

I don't doubt some aspects of life quality could be better in Norfolk but I've been on holidays there and many family visits over the years and I can't see how it's as incredible as some family members are making out. Maybe they're just showing off or justifying their reasons for moving there? But to be really negative about where we live is just becoming annoying. It's almost like they're now better than us for living in Norfolk, it's so odd.

Any thoughts?

Norfolk is lovely, we used to go there a lot and my husband worked there for several years. There are beautiful unspoilt beaches, quaint market towns and villages (of course there are rough bits as there are anywhere but you just don't go there).

It is however extremely insular and almost inbred, with a lot of racism, suspicion of 'foreigners'. It's nice to visit or have a holiday home but I wouldn't live there all the time.

I hated it there. Too flat and the people were horrible
Beaches are gorgeous but no. I couldn't wait to get away

@LBFseBrom that's interesting and I have experienced that insular and almost suspicious side you mention. I remember staying with my cousin in rural Norfolk and helping her with a summer school when I was in my late teens. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time but the community were just a bit odd, almost detached.

Insular is an understatement.

I knew someone who warned me that "Norfolk is full of cunts"

He was right. I assumed he exaggerated, but he really didn't.

Obviously not all Norfolkians are like this.

I’ve heard that Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth are not very nice.

I moved away from a london borough up to somewhere not-quite-norfolk but close.

I remember when I still lived there people who had moved out would comment on how it's a crap place to live etc etc which wasn't nice. I did say on a few occasions "hey, that's my home you're talking about, I live there".

It is rude that they talk about where you live like that. Just plain rude. I am careful to never say anything like that to my friends 'back in London'. There are good points about where they live, too. (and also bad of course!) Equally, I'm careful to not wax-lyrical about the beautiful countryside and village etc etc

There are both pros and cons of course to the move to the country, like everything in life. And I agree - living in the country does not make someone a better or more 'successful' person.

It’s a big county. Of course there are bits ‘not very nice’.

i don’t think the whole of Lancashire is a shithole because it’s got Blackpool.

FWIW Great Yarmouth has the best chips ever, on the market 🤣

I found it bizarrely flat, not just the geography but the whole feeling of the places I visited. No experience of living there though. If you want countryside and coast, North Yorkshire and Northumberland are so much more spectacular IMO.

My friends moved there, irs lovely and we love spending the weekend but it’s not for me really. I’d not choose to live there. Irs very insular. It’s also a friggen ballache to get there too up that A12. So a ballache to get out. Oddly they thought we’d want to. When we retire, you know, sell up and move closer to them from the busy and expensive south east. As they love it so much. I had to say no this wasn’t our plan.

I can't understand the hype either. It is nice. 2 of my 4 sil's live there and like it. But they also acknowledge the insular narrow mindedness of some, the poverty is some areas.

Not dissimilar to certain towns in Dorset, or Devon and Cornwall. Beautiful, but problems that shouldn't be underestimated.

Kings lynn is the same as most towns, it has deprived areas and affluent areas, it depends on whereabouts you live and what your expectations are.

Norfolk is nice enough but I’d rather not buy a house that could well be under water in a decade or so. I think there are certain areas of the country where people from certain areas seem to emigrate to. I’m in the South Hams and it’s full of people who have moved from Surrey. Slightly further along the coast in Torbay it’s people from Birmingham. Cornwall is Londoners.

I don’t think it’s supposed to be a dig at you, exactly. It’s more that they happened to live a lifestyle similar to yours, now they don’t and they are happier. You may well not be happier if you did that. Horses for courses. I love where I live and wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world. I don’t think that makes me any better than people who choose to live in other places.

I grew up there and can confirm it is shit.

I worked in King’s Lynn for a few years. My clients were generally nice. And King’s Lynn centre has some interesting history.

QEH hospital has a bad reputation.

It’s pretty. I can see why people would like to live in a quaint flint-walled village. We’ve had some good holidays there. It’s just a bit dull really (and I say that as someone who would happily move back home to Pembrokeshire).

We have moved to Norfolk and I much prefer it to the south east. I am much happier here

The people are very friendly. It's calmer.

Some places are insular, but it was much the same in Kent where I grew up. Some people are racist but less so than Essex/Kent. I was in Essex/Hertfordshire before and I hated it. The people were rude, the pace was fast but still nothing going on.

Each to their own and everyone is different. Not everyone will like it. Some areas are obviously better than others

We went there on holiday a couple of years ago.

The pace of life really does seem much slower, which probably stems from the fact that it takes so long to get anywhere! I wanted to go to a manor house while we were there. It's 18 miles away from where we were staying, but Google was saying it was about 45-50 mins to get there.

We enjoyed our stay and the beach was gorgeous (and the seals were amazing), but we said we couldn't imagine living there. It just felt so far away from absolutely everything.

We went a few years ago and loved the quiet beaches and miles of walking. But the flatness of it completely freaked me out (we're from Gloucestershire). I found the towns very quaint and it was quite unspoiled but the locals weren't always very friendly... though I'd imagine they get very fed up of tourists.

I do wonder if people say this if they have a shred of doubt moving to a very different area.Almost to convince themselves of the right decision! Take no notice OP .My friend comes from there and wouldnt move back .Never visited so cant really say one way or another .Enjoy your area and see if you can nab a couple of short breaks out of it!

Retirement yes it's lovely north Norfolk especially but not enough jobs or prospects for young people

I thought the same - bigging up where they've moved to and running down the area they came from sounds like they're reassuring themselves that it's great!

I live in Norfolk. I love it but don't know any different, I've always lived here.

Whereabouts are they? I'm from Norwich and it is my favourite city in the world, it's beautiful, artistic, historical. I also love other parts of Norfolk, particularly the North Norfolk coast, I haven't lived in Norwich since I was 18 though and wouldn't want to live anywhere other that Norwich - the rest is quite sleepy and a bit boring to live all the time. Maybe at a certain age it would suit someone better.

Agree with this. It’s nice for a holiday, the beaches on the north Norfolk coast are beautiful, lots of outdoor things to do, slow paced life, quaint villages with lovely pubs. We stay in a little village near the Holcombe Estate most years and enjoy it.

I couldn’t live there though, and can only suspect that people who move there and hark at what a wonderful place it is to live secretly share the racist, insular views some of the locals do. I think part of the problem is that many residents literally can’t get out of parts of Norfolk: trains only run as far as Kings Lynn and Norwich and bus services are pretty poor so the remoter places in the north aren’t much connected to anywhere.

QEH hospital has a bad reputation

This reputation is deserved, I worked there briefly and couldn't get out fast enough.

Many parts of Norfolk are lovely but if you are retiring there it is worth thinking about where you are getting your healthcare from, where your care package is coming from and how long it is going to take a district nurse to reach your beautiful but isolated cottage in the middle of the night.

We had loads of patients expecting London levels of healthcare (where they used to live) who just hadn't thought through that QEH could only recruit from the small pool of staff who lived or wanted to live in Kings Lynn.

I love Norfolk. I couldn’t live there though. We did consider it at one point because DS2 lives there but we chose Yorkshire instead, which is so much nicer.