Nervous Mum moving to Newtownards, Northern Ireland. Can you help me?

[Mumof2EmmaLou]

I’m not sure what I am looking for in this post to be honest. Some reassurances? Maybe someone else who has had similar worries, or real life experiences, or someone with knowledge of the area? Who knows! I felt the need to reach out to other Mum’s, so here I am. I suffer with anxiety and perhaps all the worries of moving have heightened how I’m feeling.
A little insight to where I am at the moment. Myself, hubby, 7 and 3 yr old kiddies are currently living in England. My parents are moving to Bangor NI. My Mum wants them to retire and move back home. We haven’t been happy with our surroundings for some time now, also not happy with current school etc, so a big move has been on the cards for a while now. We have decided to join them. We have been more proactive, as in, our house was on the market sooner than them and overall look to be the ones that will be there first. Not a problem really, but trying to convince my head of that thought is another thing! They do an awful lot for us and perhaps the thought of time away from them is a little daunting.

We visited Ireland back in March. Viewed surrounding schools, viewed a lot of houses. Fell in love with one. Since being home, we have now got a buyer for ours and are purchasing the one we seen and loved. We seemed to have steered more towards the houses in Newtownards. Not a problem, but it is a place less familiar to us. Whilst we are well aware we will be moving somewhere that isn’t as familiar to us, it would be no more daunting than had we of been moving someone further afield in England and not knowing anyone. After all, there are only a certain amount of times you can do a ‘recee’ before you kind of have to think, you just have to bite the bullet and live it and see.

I seem to be worrying more about the surrounding amenities. Things I feel I can’t research. I mean, I can look and find places, but let’s face it, that’s not like a real life insight to what somewhere might be like. Always aware everyone has different experiences at different places, but I’m after more of a generalised day to day experience/advice. My recurring thoughts, are such of NHS Doctors and Dentists. Like everyone, we struggle to get a GP appointment but have a walk in centre 10-15mins away that offers a 4-5 hr sit and wait service. It’s reassuring to know it’s there. Do you have similar? Ever had any problems with registering with these kinds of places? Will it be relatively easy ? Do they offer booster vaccines for 3yr olds, like they do here in England ? Are you easily referred on from GP to specialists that kind of thing.

My husband has been offered a job in Belfast, so will be commuting from Newtownards to Belfast daily. Could there be any potential issues with this plan to commute? Everything surrounding this move seems to be running smoothly, so I can’t seem to work out why my thoughts are running away with me in the background. Typical Mum I guess 🙄

I know of the troubles that went on, which now forms part of the history of Ireland. Also my Mum has talked about troubles when she was a girl. I am aware of this, and am sure this is a different world now, but also don’t want to be too ‘blazee’ about it, if ongoing issues still occur. Should we be worrying about anything? We are also aware, Newtownards is a more Protestant area. I mean, makes no difference to us or our views but should I be concerned about any of that? More so as my 7 yr old will be starting school here.

We are a very outdoorsy family. We like walks and bike rides, trips to the beach. We are very much looking forward to a slower paced life and exploring what Ireland and its beautiful surroundings has to offer us. I should really be focusing more on these kind of things as all the positives, but real life things get in the way don’t they😒
We particularly liked the fact that when we visited we seemed to talk to more people in that time frame, than we had done most of the time in our current town. We liked this, it was a great positive for us. We hope to make many new friends. Given anyone’s experience, is this too much to ask for moving to a new area? Especially given how hard it seems to be at 30 something and having kids and finding new friends anyway! Anyone else share this problem?
Also,things like girl guides,or equivalent. Street dancing? Football clubs for the little one, or even an insight to nursery waiting lists etc would be helpful.

My goodness me, this is a long one. If you’ve got this far….thank you!
Not sure on the response I’ll get to this post if any, even writing this I’m over thinking now and doubting as to why anyone else would be able to tell me all these things, as they are quite unique to us and what we do. But hoping someone can🤞You never know.

Newtownards is in Northern Ireland, not Ireland, you might want to remember that 😉

I don't know the area (apart from the ards shopping centre!) or the commute, but nowhere in NI is very far from outdoor activities and some lovely scenery, if you're prepared to put up with a certain amount of soggy weather.

All the best with the move!

Ards is gorgeous.
The commute to Belfast is sometimes a bit slow moving and locals will say it's "bad traffic" or "the worst in the UK" but they've clearly never sat in traffic in a major UK city at rush hour.
There's a decent swimming pool in Bangor.
If you like yoga and have a baby, look up Little Ducklings Baby Yoga.
There are NHS dentist in County Down. We had a fantastic one in Holywood. I've never had an NHS dentist in England as never been able to get one but in NI they seem much more accessible.
The NHS in general is decent as long as you don't need psychiatric care which is outdated and clinicians need more modern training (by about 20 or 30 years) as they rely on outdated stereotypes.
There's no "Catholic" or "Protestant" areas really now. It was always Unionist (want to stay in the UK) and Republican (want to rejoin Ireland). There are unionist Catholics and republican Protestants. The song "we don't talk about Bruno" sums up how everyone handles it in conversations these days. Just stay home on the twelfth if you're anxious or think you might get verbal diarrhea.
Sometimes people in shops will ignore you or do the bare minimum (with a face on them) if they hear your English accent. It happened to me in Dundonald ASDA and in the big Tesco near Ikea in Belfast. Most people aren't like that and they think those people are dicks.
Most people in NI think the staunch political lot are dicks, TBH.
Hit me up if you want some names of beaches/other places for day trips, you cannot MOVE for great days out if you love a good beach and they are usually so quiet all year round because there are so few tourists there compared to England. If you fancy learning Irish there's a friendly class in Holywood that's not at all political.

NI is Europe's best-kept secret as far as I'm concerned.

Honestly, it's the best part of the British Isles (geographically speaking) and I'd move back in a heartbeat if we could get jobs over there.

There are unionist Catholics and republican Protestants.
Just to clarify, I mean these exist as well as the more commonly-found unionist Protestants and republican Catholics.
Also most people in NI aren't really religious these days, same as across the South, there's been a huge culture shift in recent decades.

https://www.eani.org.uk/parents/admissions/placement-notification

Try this link for applying for a pre school place.

When does your 3 year old turn 4? Worth remembering our school years are slightly different to in England - so if your 3 year old turns 4 before 30th June they'd be starting nursery school this September but the places have already been allocated so you'd have to see what's available.
I know lots of people who do the ards to Belfast commute every day as pp said it can be slow but certainly doable. Is he driving or public transport and I suppose also depends what part of Belfast he's working in.
Football for the little one there's things like little kickers or sportstopia have a few different venues. There's a forest school for little ones at clandeboye which is good (you stay with them it's just a couple of hours but my 2 enjoyed it)
I'm belfast so not sure what other clubs are ards direction but there should be plenty

I'm from that general area (grew up there, went to school until age 11, then to boarding school in England. I'm back there regularly, and have spent most of the the last years 6 there for family reasons. But am back in England now. Our kids are older and did not go to school there (younger one in Uni, the other just started 1st full time job), so can't comment on that.

I've an English accent (Mother!). That's never been a problem for me there. Same for DH. People have always been super friendly and helpful, much more so than where I live now. You will meet and make great friends! I'm sure.

Walks, beach, bikes, the whole area is an unknown gem. We've had lots of visitors over the years, and they've really really enjoyed the area. So much on the doorstep. Don't know the football clubs in that area, but my DS had played and trained with Abbey Villa when he was much younger during summer.

The NHS "is what it is". Both my parents received OK care through their illnesses. The issues/concerns I'd have relate to the situation of the system overall, it's on it's knees, and getting worse with demographic changes. It might be worse than some other places? Better than many others?

With respect to commute, it really depends on where you are going in Belfast, you should check that out.

My only negative, and it relates to that area specifically, would be in relation to sectarianism and (drug related) crime. Have a very close look at the area you're moving too. A little searching online and you'll find the locations, issues, and it's not always where you would it would be think.

Ah thanks 😊 Yes we're prepared for the Weather! Will invest in some decent rain coats ☔️

Wow, thanks so much for all the info. It's really helpful. Will look into the swimming pool, as both kids will need transferring. I imagined a lot would have changed since my Mum grew up there, but didn't want to be ignorant to it all kind of thing. Sounds a little as I expected to be honest.
Would love to hear your top beaches you'd recommend visiting. Love a recommendation 😊 Thanks again!

👍

Wonderful, thank you very much! 😊

Thank you so much for info. I say he's 3, he's almost 3, not 4 for just over a year yet. Perhaps that's something I actually dont need to worry about at the moment then.
Hubbys commute, as far as I know at the moment, it's somewhere off of, W.bank Rd Belfast??
Will most definitely look into the forest school, sounds right up our street!
Thanks again!

Thank you. Yeah, the people seem so lovely there, and we can't wait to explore all around.
Agree, NHS is on its knees. I am not working at present, but have worked for the NHS for the last 15yrs. I fear we are unknowingly walking ourselves into the end of it, well, within the next coming years. The pandemic has brought such long waiting lists for some, so people are going for private scans and appointments to save waiting. Not realising this is also showing there is willingness to pay for our own health care, etc. I actually can't really complain in our current area, we are ok at present. For mental health, currently very long waiting lists, probably much the same all over, I'd imagine. I know lots of people who manage to get seen in a decent time frame for other referrals and things. Thanks for the heads up. I will try to research more about the area and see what I find. Take care!

@Mumof2EmmaLou
Your wee one would be eligible for pre pre this year he might be lucky and get a space depending on the area.. Otherwise you'd be due to apply this year I think the closing date is around January time. He's going to to be one of the oldest one in the year when he starts next September. At least it will give you time to look around and see some schools get an idea of where you'd like for him 🙂

It's several years away, so could well have changed by then but North Down is one of the places (Lisburn wider area being the other one that springs to mind) where secondary school places are tricky. New houses, more children....same places. But as there are enough there probably won't be any more created. In reality most people don't want to send their kids to the end of the peninsula or somewhere, they want school close to home.

There is a loyalist feud going on in Ards atm. BBC news will have lots of articles, so I'd just check road names and check you aren't accidentally moving in. It's not that I think you would be targeted, it just sounds awful for the people trying to live normal lives while their neighbours petrol bomb each other.

I'd be more concerned about the loyalist fued that has been going on for months. However, I have a friend who lives in Ards, grew up there before moving to England then recently back with her English dh. They love it there but they bought one of the big fancy houses in the nice part and prob not as affected by the gangs.
Personally I'd look at Bangor itself (has a train route), Ballyholme or Holywoid area.

There's loads to do for kids in north down- football, sailing, paddle boarding, golfing, beaches, lakes, walks, stately homes (check out mount Stewart- it's fab!). You will find all the normal girl guides, dancing, drama clubs that you would anywhere else and they're not as in demand as in England so much easier to access (my dd was on a waiting list for rainbows for 2 years in the SE and waited a year for swimming lessons).

NI is fab! I'm down the road in Bangor. Lovely parks around Newtonards, my 5yo loves both Londonderry park and the playground at Blair Mayne (sp) leisure centre.

I'm from Dublin and DH is Catholic and my gut is that I'd be avoiding Newtonards but that may be unfair, I don't know it well enough. We're in Bangor with no issues, using a state (i.e. Protestant) school rather than Catholic as we're not religious.

I think you would be lucky to find an NHS dentist, and there are long waiting lists for hospital treatment. But on the whole it's a wonderful place to live.

There's a FB group called Northern Ireland Women that was originally just for North Down, it's great for recommendations.

Came on to say don't say Ireland in Ards 😅. What's your budget like? If possible I'd think about Bangor, schools are better and I think it's a bit more diverse. Or better still Belfast.
Generally speaking I'd say Ards is a bit rough, we are a mixed race family and have had abuse several times in Ards shopping centre.

Came on to say don't say Ireland in Ards 😅.

Well yes that's what had me wondering

How did it go? I’m considering the same move.