Moving to the Northern Ireland

[Germoo]

Hi everyone.
in a bit of a dilemma here. We live in the UK. I’m Irish and he is from the Uk. We have a lovely life here with our 3 year old. I would ideally like to move back to the my home Southern Ireland but the way things are it seems impossible and my husbands job will allow him work in the North of Ireland not south. I really want to go back before our DS starts school but my DH wants to stay here. My question is I’m sure others have moved from the Uk to the north of Ireland. What is it like is it much difference. It’s a compromise for both of us. Thank you

Hello, I am from NI and moved back here from London about 8 years ago. I suppose it depends where you are living, but major draw for me was house prices. My husband is English and he absolutely loves it here, loves the friendliness etc. It definitely was the best decision and it is a different place from when I moved away. Seems to be more opportunity etc now and Belfast has a lot more going on!

Belfast is a small city. House prices are increasing but you will still get more for your money than the south of England. Good schools. Lots of nice middle class areas. Two hours to Dublin by car.

As someone who is NI born and bred, I couldn't get out of the place quick enough! But it has its charms, and YMMV!

I’m from NI- DH is from Dublin. We lived there for a while but then I persuaded him to move up north when I was expecting DC1.

It’s worked out well for us. DH gets a Dublin salary, and with the lower costs here we have a standard of living we could never dream of down south or anywhere in English.

The schools are generally very good, and private is very affordable. Our DC’s go to a prep which is £4K per year, not per term. A lot of English accents at the school gate every morning, so it’s obviously a draw for those parents who have already made the move.

People are friendly. I’m very biased as I’m from here already, but we live in a really unionist village outside Belfast and DH was worried about fitting in. He’s joined the local community group and has made friends with lads from the orange order and helped plan the jubilee street party. We’ve had no issues at all with not feeling welcome.

House prices are great. Cost of living is cheaper than ROI. Live close to the border for easy access to ROI.

Thanks for getting back to me my DH has asked me for a pros and con list this morning but I said this is futile as if it was just me and my DS I'd be back in Ireland no matter where it was. Great to hear all of you me experiences. I live in the east of England it's a lovely place but not so friendly. I've very little friends here and Covid didn't help. I'm used to having lots of people and family around. But since having my DS that kinda thing as become more difficult to make friends. My boy is 3 and rarely gets to see his family at home. My DH is of the reserved type and would happily just have us and his mum 😂.

DH is from a nice but non-descript part of the midlands. His friends couldn't get over the price we paid for our house when they recently came to visit, compared to the going rate for the same size and style where they live. I left them off in town (Belfast) and they rolled back steaming raving about how cheap the food and beer was. There's no doubt our money goes further here, we have a great quality of life.

If you want to sell it to him, go on propertypal and look at houses for sale in Hillsborough. It's a very sought after village and a prime location for commuting throughout Ireland, but house prices are still lower than most parts of England. It's-

Half an hour from both Belfast airports
20 minutes from Belfast City Centre
1hr 45mins from Dublin City Centre
1hr 50mins from Cavan
3.5hrs from Limerick

There are other towns and villages along that A1 corridor that would also be good locations for the same purpose, but Hillsborough is just at that sweet spot with its proximity to Belfast, excellent amenities including active community groups within the village, and a good selection of decent schools there and in Lisburn. I don't live there btw 😄

I'm originally from NI, but went to Uni in England. Worked in a few places in England for 10 years, then to Dublin, then in recent years back in my home area in NI. My DH is from the south east of Ireland. A few comments:

• I love living here. Price of housing, cost of living, scenery, etc. It is very very underrated IMHO :)

• I'm from a strongly unionist area (80%+), and family background. While I'm not very political myself, sectarianism is alive and well where I live. Since we live in a very homogenous area, it is no impact on my daily life. Look very carefully at the areas you're thinking of living in. I'd recommend spending a few days in potential locations, so you get a real chance to experience the locality.

• Depending on the area you work in opportunities can be very limited (I work in tech). My work base is Dublin, but I work mostly from home. I know many others in the same situation.

• Our kids are at Uni in Dublin now, having spent some school time in both school systems here (North and South), and had no problems to transition between them.

It's a very personal question. It's a big decision to make. Best wishes!

Myself, DH and Dc moved to NI from east of England a few years back. I had lived in d gland for 15 years. I'm from here but DH is English. Dh loves it here! Has a great job earning the same as he did in England. I'm earning more as my job is very in demand. We sold our house (expensive area) and bought a bigger one here for half the price and are now mortgage free in late 30's.
Schools are far better, not just in terms of academics, but the behaviour of students also (I worked in a lot of schools in England).

Not long returned from a trip to England to visit family and we all couldn't wait to come home. The traffic and busyness was awful. There are much better things to do in NI as a family and everything is cheaper. We live in a popular (but expensive for NI) village along the coast but only 10 minutes from Belfast) and love it.

Cons: I'd say the weather! I loved the weather in England but my argument is there's no point of having lovely weather and no family to invite to a bbq and we were 1.5 hours from the nearest beach. We are just more spontaneous now, so if we have a nice day we make the most of it!

Thank you ladies for those reply's. I know it's a no brainer and my DH is liking all of these responses and he's shocked how lovely the properties are for a fraction of the price that you would pay here for such a thing. It's helping with our decision. Really appreciate the advice it's nice to hear from people that have done.

Hi there, we moved here 2 years ago from SE England. Now live in an affluent (by NI standards) village not far from Belfast. A few random thoughts...

Good things:

• houses insane. We will have spent £650k on our house when all's said and done but would be over £2m back home
• generally schools good. Hardly any failing schools, not that I've heard of. Eldest is at a good grammar here. I will say I think the top schools here probably don't rival top home counties independent schools but there's definitely more equality here. It was also much easier for us to get DD into grammar here. There seem to be more places.
• general quality of life. You can sail, ride horses...whatever you want to do it's all accessible geographically and financially for many more people here. Also less populated, easy to park, don't have to book everything months in advance. We got an NHS dentist easily, haven't ever been under NHS for dentistry!
• Belfast is brill on a night out
• great access to the rest of Ireland!
• Belfast has a good job market for a city of its size esp if you're in IT or financial services
• amazing countryside. Lovely beaches, when weather fine, great walking

Negatives:

• generally I'd say people are more chitchat friendly but it's harder to penetrate inner circles and make 'proper' friends. Many people have had the same friends since primary school and no more room at the inn! Most of my proper friends here are 'mixed marriages', foreign etc. I'm hoping because they've also struggled and not that I'm the problem! I have loads of going out friends/mum friends but not the kind I would ring up if disaster struck IYSWIM
• weather is really shockingly different to SE England. I didn't realise how much it would get me down. We have an amazing garden which we use a lot but it's coming into late June and I think we've only eaten outside about 4 times whereas in England we used to start late April and by now we'd be having even breakfast in the garden. It's more the wind than the temp I think.
• the politics really piss me off. Feel quite ashamed to be British these days, to be honest. Bonfires, flags, all a bit mad and aggressive if you're not used to it
• feel a bit cut off from both Ireland and GB, and not really properly part of either. Hard to order things online. More limited on where you can travel to from airports.
• no right to roam so country walking is harder and you need to stick to proper routes/NT places rather than just have a ramble about. Maybe makes sense as farming is so prevalent here but just wasn't used to it!

All in all we like it here. There are better places to live, but many worse places. Right now I don't think it's likely this country will be our last home but it will be for the next few years.

Aw thank you for the reply and the helpful information. Yeah the weather can be grim alright and it's so much warmer here. We have the house on the market not much interest at the minute tho. But we have been looking for houses there and the prices are great for what you get

They really are! We love our home here and the kids are having a great childhood. I hope my post didn't sound too negative but I wanted to give a balanced view. We went from a 2 bed semi to what to me feels like a mini mansion!

No not at all. I want to hear it all as it's a big decision so if I've all the facts so thank you. Ha I want a mini mansion 😂

I’m originally from NI - couldn’t leave quick enough. Dh is English. The politics and weather would keep me away. Every time I go home, I find is really quite depressing. Nowhere to walk - took the dog to a park near Randlestown and there was dog shit everywhere, honestly have never seen anything like it - no ancient footpaths, very few parks. I just didn’t want my kids to grow up in that political environment - all that hatred. And the NHS is a complete and utter mess with waiting lists.

That's a shame to hear that and I don't blame you for not wanting to live there. It's good to hear the ups and downs of it

I'm leaving Donegal for London. Fancy a swap lol. We were in East Belfast until Jan 2021. Absolutely loved it over there, it's got everything you need and everyone is chit-chat friendly as other posters have said. We made the terrible mistake of thinking Count Donegal would be similar but with more scenic stuff. The scenic stuff is real but it's so undeveloped over here it's untrue. For example I have to drive 30km to the nearest baby group (so obviously I don't go 9 weeks out of 10).
I'd say Northern Ireland is much better than Donegal for comparable house prices and now we've got the issue that we might struggle to sell due to the mica scandal, which isn't an issue in Northern Ireland because building regs are better.
I wish we'd stayed around East Belfast/Ards peninsula because over there is really scenic but easy to get back to the big city with its amenities. I love Strabane/Derry but there's not a lot else around here except scenery. I love the scenery but when you want to go ice skating you have to drive to Belfast. If you want to go to Ikea? Belfast. Fly on holiday? Probably Belfast. Derry is awesome, but a lot smaller than it looks on a map.
PPs points about sectarianism being everywhere but not really impacting daily life, and about the weather, are also very true. It's currently blowing a gale and chucking it down here.
I'd say going to Northern Ireland is a very good choice especially if you already qualify for the NHS because theoretically that should transfer to eligibility for the HSC (NI NHS).
I had no issues moving England to NI, and I'm still having issues with various things moving NI to ROI even 18 months after we officially moved, such as the fact I still don't qualify for child benefit. If I could do my job in NI I'd stay but my qualifications aren't recognised at all over here, North or South (I'd thought I was ok in the North, but I'm not).

PS if anyone wants to pick me up on calling it NI/ROI, dick off to pedant's corner please, I usually avoid the terms but it was appropriate to this post for clarity.

We made the terrible mistake of thinking Count Donegal would be similar but with more scenic stuff.
Count Donegal of course being Duckula's younger brother who enjoys strawberry juice instead of ketchup.

Thank you for getting back to me. Yeah I'd say Donegal is hard alright. I heard that it's very isolated. Yeah NI seems like the best option as my DH is English and it's a nightmare to do anything in the south. It turns me off to be honest so I just like the handyness of the NI. Hope your move goes smoothly do you want to live in Suffolk that's where we are but I'm not so sure about Donegal 😂

Some very good advice about with respect to further east along the Antrim coast. Belfast is very accessible, with car and/or train. Scenery, biking, coastal hikes are all amazing in North Co. Down. It's super easy to get to Dublin too (I'm based there 1 or 2 days a week for work, since I work for an Irish company).

We're originally from this area, so I'm very well aware of the sectarianism (including some of my extended family!!). That's just the way it is with a lot of the population, and sadly it won't ever change. The weather has never been a problem for me, just have the right clothes :)

Sorry not trying to be antagonistic but what's wrong with NI/ROI as descriptors - pm me please if you don't wish to start anything - I don't frequent craicnet often, genuinely curious - I'm heading home in a couple of weeks - what should I be calling it now?

Some posters get ratty at ROI because the country’s name is just Ireland.

Fair enough, but it makes it tricky for those of us who are trying to differentiate between the two different jurisdictions on the island, also just named Ireland.

Oh God - my NI family mostly call it down South - my sister lives there. I usually call it Ireland and Northern Ireland when in England - never thought about it much. Here's the thing, even now - and I haven't lived in NI for 32 years, when I meet someone from NI I still want to know which community they come from - just so I don't fuck up with insensitive comments - my friends from NI who live near Belfast think my sensitively is related to me not moving on as Ieft NI - peak troubles. I was from a sleepy village - beautiful countryside, good pubs but the restaurants were not good and still aren't. Fantastic meat though, best steaks, I just cry at how good the meat is - we pay almost twice the price for boot leather.

It's not the South. It's either Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland. And it's obvious we'll be difficult to move to for British people, given we're a completely different country and we're within the EU.

I totally agree with everything @HelloHeathcliffeItsMe said, to the letter. Especially about it being hard to make proper friends, despite everyone being much friendlier. I think on balance the negatives have outweighed the positives for me and I’m looking too be back to England, but equally I know I will miss the positives so much. If DH was still alive we would have stayed here.