To relocate up north

[StonwEd]

From East Anglia? Has anyone done it? Am I mad?
I’ve just spent yet another lovely week in the Lake District, greater Manchester and Derbyshire. We do this often although not as often as I would like due to very low holiday allowance.
Daydreaming a bit but also not really.
Kids all moved out, own my house outright, prob will sell for around £375k.
Enjoy my job but it’s crap money and hasn’t really got prospects but it is a field I’m sure I can get another job in and I’ve seen plenty of remote working jobs that are related (and better paid 🙄)
Husband is on board with this fantasy, he has a small business so can work anywhere.
I had kids very young so have lived in my home town all my life. Never left but always wanted to.
I’m 45 and I’m finally thinking it might be time. Financially as long as I get a job, we’ll be fine, and I’m so poorly paid as it is, shop or bar work will be fine to start with.
I’ve got a fair bit of savings and I’m thinking of travelling round the north for a couple of months, stay in local b&bs and to know some areas better before we take the plunge. I’d have to quit my job obvs but it’s a risk I’m starting to think is worth it…

And most importantly, where should we be looking? Want nature on our doorstep, but easy access to a town.

Chester is nice, lots of country side,.close to North Wales, 40 mins to Liverpool and Manchester and an hour to Birmingham, not far from the peak district and not a ridiculous trek to the lakes.**

If that's what you call following your heart and being happy.
Happiness is what I want to achieve, not a fat inheritance for my kids.
She's hardly frittering it all away.
Plus as others have said, the property value won't devalue. It might not go up as much but they won't lose money.
And its not a whim, she's researching, weighing up the pros and cons.
We're all different i suppose.

To be fair I think you started it "Don't buy up North......it is anti-social in many places:

To be fair I think you started it "Don't buy up North......it is anti-social in many places:

Poverty? Poverty? I dream of mere poverty, we are proper brasic and not fit the lick the (knackered, holey, ill fitting, hand me down) boots of those that have attained poverty.

www.zoopla.co.uk/discover/property-news/house-price-index/

This just isn't true. The housing market in lots of places is very steady and actually positively trending compared to some southern areas.

There are areas of significant social deprivation (as there are in the south) but when you quantify "the north" as one homogeneous mass v London and a very small area around it you are going to get some very skewed results.

But you’ve stomped right in there suggesting buying in the North is a bad investment. I definitely didn’t find Cheshire to be a poor investment. In fact, our current house on the south coast isn’t in anywhere like as buoyant a market so is probably a far worse investment. But it doesn’t need to be as it’s our home and we’re not moving again.

I found the North-east so much easier than the north-west because of the weather. Broadly, north is colder, south is warmer, west is wetter, east is drier. Up to a point. In winter, east is colder, west is warmer. High ground obviously is going to be colder and wetter than low ground.

It always seems idyllic when you visit for short holidays, the scenery, the charming towns and villages but the reality can be far from that.
I live in the North but have family in the south who I visit regularly. The standard of living is much higher in the south. Its cleaner with much better public amenities. The over riding impression is one of prosperity. The North in comparison is pretty neglected, dirty and with poor facilities.

Thank you for your lazy stereotype.

@midgetastic re The very cheap areas, parts of County Durham for example are very poor with all the problems that can bring

Not sure what led you to pick on Durham

Yes, it has some socially/economically deprived areas, but then show me a county in England that doesn't.

It also has historic cities, rural market towns, hills and dales, a dramatic coastline and plenty more. You can even be in London in less than 3 hours by train.

A hugely underrated county IMO

She was asked her opinion, and is has the experience to offer OP her POV, no need to tear her to shreds for it.

God where the hell do you live? There is as much poverty in the South as the North. You can't tar half of England with your experience of 1 or 2 towns in the South. I've lived in London, Leeds, Newcastle and now County Durham. You couldn't pay me enough to move back to London but I know that the whole of the South isn't represented by London.

But it is a lazy stereotype as not ALL the areas up north are very poor. So I called her out on her lazy stereotype. If she had said "some areas of the North are very poor and socially deprived" I would agree with her.

I really think that’s a massive generalisation. Other than the shitty train service we found facilities for our young family (at the time) to be overwhelmingly better in South Manchester than we had in the Home Counties. The place was packed full of high quality activities. Not to mention having 3 Waitroses within a couple of miles. 😆

The standard of living is much higher in the south. Its cleaner with much better public amenities. The over riding impression is one of prosperity

Tell that to the people living in Jaywick, Luton or Haringey in damp overcrowded rental properties, spending most of their income on rent.

For most people on lower to average incomes, they will have a better chance of a higher standard of living in the north, simply because housing is much more affordable, including in areas where people want to live and there are jobs, amenities, cultural opportunities etc.

@StonwEd I hope you find a lovely place to live (or even if not lose many happy hours browsing rightmove listings and many lovely holidays exploring- if you haven't already, spend a bit a time up in the dales, also go to Fountains Abbey just because it's my favourite place in the world - it's National Trust and you can book to stay in an apartment in Fountains Hall which let's you wander round when no one else is there).

I've enjoyed this thread a lot, I've lived both sides of the Pennines and I love it here. It's made me laugh to hear how how we all live in poverty, in negative equity, dying young while waiting for a bus that never comes in miserable weather. Must be all these things that contribute to our traditionally friendly approach to one another. Got to make the best of things!

I moved from the south east (Essex) to West Yorkshire (Hebden bridge/Todmorden). I do love it here in a way, but the weather is totally different, much more rain and colder for longer in the spring. Also been treated like an outsider in lots of places too, because of not being a local.

Not quite ;)

I live in North Derbyshire on the edge of the Peak District. We had a lovely drive out yesterday, within ten minutes we were driving through the grounds of Chatsworth House. We have friends that have moved here from London and Salisbury, they love it, we’re a friendly bunch. Access to the motorway and other Road networks are really accessible. The town centre is pretty dead, much like a lot of others in the Uk (Chesterfield). The West of Chesterfield is where I live and you can probably get a 3 bed detached for your budget. Sheffield is a lovely city with many parks and green areas and a great vibe, but the prices can be a bit more, but the café style living is great there.

@

I have two cousins in their late 20s that are fairly early on in nursing careers and have DPs with similar jobs. One lives in the north the other in the south (but not London). Guess which one is on the second rung of the property ladder, could afford a biggish wedding, has had a baby, drives a newish car and holidays abroad and which is in a tiny rental flat and goes without holidays, drives an ancient car etc because they are scrimping to try and buy a property and start a family.
It's such a lazy generalisation to say the standard of living in the north is lower.

North Yorkshire doesn't have the decrepit poverty or gangs like Manchester for example. The villages are lovely. However, the roads and transport links are crap. The North is well known for having poor transport links and inadequate public services in general.
Plus it pisses it down all the time and the people are friendlier is just a mythical trope.

@StonwEd what do you want - town, country, city, coast, hills? Easy access to motorways and railways? Hospital, cinema, theatre, restaurants , concert hall/ in walking distance? Public transport - at night? Let us know and we can advise.

I'm a Londoner by birth, but I have now happily spent 62% of my life in Sheffield or north of it.

I haven't but family member moved from built up town in Hampshire to North lakes. House is gorgeous but a pretty penny nothing I could ever afford but do I think the landscapes in the north are better... yes, would I move - yes if I got what I wanted

Good luck!