Relocating up north - looking for recommendations!

[Relocationlady]

This is my first time using mumsnet so hope I’m posting this in the right way but I’m after some advice please!

My husband and I think we’d like to relocate up North (currently in Sussex) for better quality of life, house prices etc but all our family and friends are local to us now so we really don’t know where to start!

We have a 1 year old and would like to continue growing our family so somewhere suburban, family friendly with good schools, parks, nearby towns as well as green space would be ideal, bonus points if it’s within a reasonable driving distance from the beach.

Has anyone got any recommendations of nice areas we could research? Or has anyone ever done a move like this with new prior connections and might be able to share their experience/some tips etc?

thank you in advance!

Cheshire used to be quite affordable now it's 1000 square foot for 400k with very small gardens. It's very poor value for money compared to how it was. We are looking at relocating to East Yorkshire, Lancaster or North Wales.

Somewhere like Worcester is within budget too and is a decent enough place- with nice countryside very close by- well connected to London/southwest and Birmingham - in budget too for a modern 4 bed detached )there were lots to pick from) if that's the kind of thing you might go for

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/120452666#/?channel=RES_BUY

@AlisonDonut I can see why that attitude would absolutely cause offence so I’m sorry if my post came across this way, we are by no means rich nor do I consider the lifestyle we want to be particularly outlandish or luxurious. We’re grateful for what we have but we’re going to outgrow it and it’s not untrue that the midlands and Northern parts of England do have cheaper houses and a lower cost of living. I’m sorry if it reads as ignorant but having never had the opportunity to explore the country and without knowing anybody who lives north of London I don’t see how else I can get a starting point for ideas without asking the question🤷🏻‍♀️

@Crikeyalmighty thank you, I’ll definitely take a look!! If you have any tips on the nicer towns and villages vs areas that may not be as suitable for a young family then I’d be very grateful!

Regards North of England/ Scotland, it’s just hard to take seriously the concept of up North being somewhere in England, when you live in Inverness for example. And North England seems pretty far South.

Somewhat similar to Dumfries being termed the ‘South’, and compared to London etc.

Just to try and explain…I’ll leave reading the answers as someone will be annoyed.

I just think of Britain as Britain, not individual countries. I’ve been to parts of the North of England, and it’s lovely.

Thank you for everyone’s comments and suggestions, we obviously have a lot of research to do but this has given us some really good starting points!

Apologies to anyone who has taken offence to my post, I hadn’t realised that referring to the Northern half of England as “the North” was an issue but I welcome the education on the matter and going forward I will keep this in mind and be more specific.

Honestly, it’s not as much as offence - good luck with your search. X

@Relocationlady With regards to what I said about Worcester etc if you decided not to go further north- loads of nice areas are in budget for a 4 bed modern detached and some nice 3 bed older detached etc - plus extended 4 bed semis.

Certainly I would consider Malvern, Evesham and Worcester itself as well as Tewkesbury closer to Cheltenham- all are nice attractive towns with lovely countryside close by and in my opinion nice places for a family but within budget- and I'm a self confessed property snob!!

Thing is I think the 'naice' areas of places further North can often be as much if not more than some areas further south. But it really depends on reasons for moving. I've seen prices on here quoted that aren't much different to decent parts of Surrey, Berks or sussex. But you may have other reasons for further north too such as proximity to Manchester/Liverpool/Leeds-- however if it's just property prices I would look all over!!!!

Away from the north-- Sticking to the £400k in areas that I know with good air and nice for families - lots of Somerset (with exception of Bath) places like Taunton, Yeovil, Frome, wells , lots of Wiltshire- places like Salisbury or Bradford on Avon, the places I've mentioned in Worcs/glos plus other places like Stroud , newbury, chipping Norton

You might not necessarily get detached in all these places- but you would get a nice house in a town that tends to hold it's money

@Crikeyalmighty thank you for your input, this is all very helpful, Wiltshire is very much on our radar but I’ll definitely take a look at those other towns you’ve mentioned!

Just to add to what I said earlier re Lincoln, we do have a couple of days every year without fail, where it absolutely stinks. Yesterday was one of them days, farmers spreading their muck, it can be smelt throughout the city.
yesterday’s local Facebook group was full of people asking about where the smell was coming from 😂
Its only ever 2 days a year though, definitely a downside to Lincoln as you really can smell it inside the house regardless of whereabouts in or around the city you live.

Carlisle is a very nice place to live. £400k will go a very long way. And we're not going to run out of water!

Shrewsbury. Beautiful place

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125751440#/?channel=RES_BUY

I live in South Scotland. North is the Highlands, south is England including North England.

In Scotland we don't talk about north and south in the same way as the English because there isn't the same cultural implications that those phrases mean in England. There's the Highland and Islands, the North East (Aberdeenshire), the Central Belt and the Southern Uplands. Growing up in the far north 'doon sooth' started as soon as you got off the boat (Sutherland was the 'southern land' to the Vikings). And the central belt is the closest equivalent to 'the south' in England, being both politically and culturally different.

OK so 400K budget.

Schools - do you want to be in a grammar area?

What work do you do?

Mono cultural or multicultural?

City? town? Village?

Do you need to be on a train line to visit relatives in the future?

What do you want for entertainment? Theatre? Cinema? Pubs? Outside sports?

@sashh

Schools- Just some nice community schools, grammar fine but doesn’t have to be, not looking for private schools or anything like that.

work- Both our jobs are remote.

Culture- we’re used to mono but open minded really, no preference

small town or village ideal, suburbs, if rural then ideally town within a 10 min drive. Not inner city, would be nice to have a city within 30 mins drive though.

train line would be nice for as our child grows up but it’s not a dealbreaker, we both have cars and drive so we’ll connected roads are more important to us.

entertainment- parks, leisure centre for swimming, maybe some sort of soft play or toddler group type places, cafes, anywhere family friendly really, don’t really have much time for pubs at the moment, cinema would be nice but not a dealbreaker

I'd add the North East, Tynemouth is very expensive at the moment, as is some of Whitley Bay, but Cullercoats or Seaton Sluice can be cheaper. Some lovely areas slightly inland but much more affordable with easy access to the coast and the city. Have you been to the North East?

Have a look at Skipton. It does have grammars.

This is what your money can buy

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126171206#/?channel=COM_BUY

www.welcometoskipton.com/events-calendar/

It has lots of indy shops and a thriving market and it's fairly easy to get to Leeds, Bradford, Blackburn and Preston.

It also has a station but not on a mainline.

Er.... you know that listing is just for a plot of land, right? There's no actual house on it, you have to build that yourself.

£300k might stretch to a 4 bed that needs some doing up in Skipton. Depends on the exact area though, and it probably won't be detached. The surrounding villages are nice too - Carleton is probably the best value of the nearby villages.

Having just done a Rightmove search, there are ten 4-bed houses for under £400k in Skipton and none are detached.

• 3 are shared ownership new-build semis
• 3 others are semi-detached
• 4 are terraced/town houses

That plot of land for £300k also comes up in the search, but I haven't included it for obvious reasons.

It just echoes what a lot of PPs have said - the idea you can buy a big house for pennies in the really nice areas of the north of England is a myth.

Skipton is indeed very nice, and it's priced accordingly. Same for a lot of the other areas recommended on this thread.

We moved to the North-East nearly 20 years ago, with no family connections or prior knowledge of the area. We live in a suburb of Newcastle (I know that's not quite what you're looking for) and quite honestly have never considered moving again. Coast, city, hills, airport, open country, all within 30 minutes; museums, galleries, theatres, more castles, stately homes, and Roman remains than I can name. An hour to Kielder where my DS regularly windsurfs. Easy access to the A1 where we are. Good public transport (including Metro between Newcastle and the coast). I also love the climate, although that's perhaps unusual.

Properties on the coast (eg Tynemouth, Whitley Bay) are pricey, as are some areas of town. You might want to look at market towns like Morpeth and Hexham, or Alnwick/Berwick if you want even further north.

Hi @Relocationlady

I know you mentioned you were interested in Wiltshire too. Here's a few recent ones I found- all 4 bed and detached

All in small towns but with good facilities that I think might suit.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123779987#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126000002#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125467301#/?channel=RES_BUY

I have a few friends that are in the Stamford area, I hear nothing but good things about the local area.

Anyone saying that you can’t get nice houses in nice areas anywhere north of Watford is wrong.
There are still pockets of places that are lovely to live and still reasonably priced, that are just hidden gems, and unless you know people who live in these areas, they will stay hidden gems to most of the population
I agree that many are awful or have little opportunities and culture, but if you’re lucky enough to know someone who lives in one of these tiny pockets, then you’ll do well out of it.

There’s still nice properties to be had around Stamford, but not many people know that it’s a actually a nice place to live, a nice community feel, and not at all in the depths of Lincolnshire that makes travelling a nightmare like it is when you really do get anywhere east of Lincoln.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124369532#/?channel=RES_BUY

@Mannymoomin Ooh that's lovely!!