I think I had a very rosy view on Norway, not having lived there since I was 20. I had never been a grown up there, and just found it backwards and cumbersome, compared to the UK.
Norway has a lot of bureaucracy, and long-winded rules. We struggled with tax returns, and did not like that we were taxed on our salaries. Taxed on the possessions we bought with our net salaries, not only in form of 25% vat, but in terms of tax on ownership of our car, our home, etc. Taxable value of house and car, should be on the tax returns every year. I found it taxing (forgive the pun) to deal with all that. In addition any possessions owned in Britain were also liable for this tax.
Everything in Norway is expensive. Going to a coffee shop for a bun and a coffee is easily £15. Eating out is prohibitively expensive, in a good restaurant you will spend £30 on a starter, £40-£50 on the main course, £30 a bottle of wine, another £30 for dessert, it makes the £3 spent on a glass of water seem reasonable. Per person. (aside from the wine) One glass of wine in a wine bar is £10. Life in Norway therefore become very basic. You visit coffee shops or cafes, or eat out very rarely. It affects your quality of life when you constantly feel that a nice meal out with friends is virtually impossible as a couple you cannot afford to spend £250 (including a bottle of wine to share) plus babysitter (usually paid £20 per hour).
My dad pays his cleaner £50 for 21/2 hours.... Our invoice from the accountant helping us with our tax returns were £16k the first year, 7k the following year when they had learnt how to deal with Norwegian/British tax regulations.
We could not manage to run our UK business from Norway, so this was one big reason to return.
The other big reason to return to the UK was bullying. Our oldest son had a terrible time in school. The children were almost without exception nasty. They did not accept our son because he spoke very little Norwegian. They said he was British, and Brits were stupid. They made fun of him at every occasion. He had nightmares. He cried, did not want to go to school. There is no discipline in Norwegian schools. The teachers tactics are to try be friends with the children, cajole them and persuade them to be nice to eachother. Sitting down for a chat, and write out a "Good behaviour Contract" for all the children to sign, and bake together if they managed to stick to the contract for one week!
The parents? Well they were all too keen to stand by their own offspring and not one of them tried to find out what was going on, as long as their own children were happy. If my son was hit or kicked, it was surely HIS fault. He must have provoked it. That was the general consensus from both the teachers and the parents.
Norwegian children are very "streetsmart", they play out unsupervised from a very early age, 3 year olds are playing out with 5 year old siblings looking after them. They fight and they squabble. Parents say "well, let the kids sort it out themselves, I was not there, so cant take sides. I am sure they will make friends again soon" And so children play without guidance and without adults supervision. No wonder so many grow up without empathy and dont learn right from wrong until they are teenagers and start thinking a little!
One of the teacher was quite happy to build up on the difference between my son and the other children, saying stuff like "My little Englishman" rather than look for similarities.
Norwegian school system is inherently bad. They dilly dally and learn at a very slow pace. My son came from the UK and were put together with children his age, 6, which was the first year in school. As you know children in Norway start school the year they turn 6. My son had been to school for two years already, but they like to follow the age group not ability levels. My son was therefore marked out as a genius. And that is not a good thing in a country where there is very little competiton and very little recognition for able children.
The flat management structure found in working life is reflected in school life. They learn as fast as the slowest learner. The motto: Nobody should be left behind.
It is very good for the slowest learner of course, but this means that majority of children are not stretched at all and end up bored and disruptive. And for my son who had two school years behind him, and finished Y3 maths curriculum by Christmas in Y1, it was not great. That is when the teachers decided to stall him until his class mates caught up. By Y4 they had still not caught up.
Well, you asked my personal take, and there it was.
My son woke up this morning, 1 1/2 years after we left, having had a nightmare that he was beaten up by hordes of kids, saying "mum please promise me we will never move to Norway again". 
This was in the North though, could be better in the south....