Not STRICTLY speaking overseas (unless you consider Northern Ireland overseas) but...

[TheRealMBJ]

We may have to relocate to Northern Ireland (from North Yorkshire) by the new year. I would prefer to live in SOuth Belfast but as that would mean an hour commute to (and back) from work for DH, so may not be the most feasible of options.

Would anyone be able to recommend THE Best place to live South of Belfast?

Yes to both HellYeah

What about Newry then? I've only been a few times so not sure about different parts but although Newcastle etc are all really lovely you will probably be really bored during the winter whereas Newry has a bit more going on rather than just a seaside town.

TheRealMBJ I live close to Newry and if you want to know more about a certain area, whether it be warren point, kilkeel, Newcastle, Newry or anywhere else I will try my best. If you prefer to pm me I'd be very happy to help.

Lived near Newcastle for a while when I was a teenager, I loved it, it's a gorgeous part of the world. Part of me wouldn't mind moving back there, but DH's job doesn't exist there.

P.S OP, it might narrow things down if you said what county your DH's job is in, that's not too specific IMO.

If you are reluctant to move to the "country" then I would suggest you consider Newry or Belfast and make DH commute, as any towns around Annalong/Kilkeel/Warrenpoint will feel isolated to you. They are all lovely places but are out of the way a bit.

If you are a city girl at heart I'd suggest you stick to South Belfast (Lisburn Road area so as to be near good roads for your DH). It also feels relatively (for NI) chic and it's an integrated area. There's a SpaceNK and everything. For a bigger house for your money you might try the Ormeau Road area or Four Winds. Definitely not upper Ormeau, stick to the south side of the bridge.

I think you'll need to adjust your expectations about a city life though, everything is NI is small (except for the countryside and the breakfasts), you can walk across central Belfast in about 10 minutes.

As an Englander living in NI, do feel free to PM me if you have specific questions or worries.

What's great about NI is that a lot of the people are very friendly, so even if you don't properly know anyone there'll always be people who will engage you in conversation in the local shop etc. What age are your kids, if you have any?

Thank you all.

Skoda we currently live rurally in North Yorkshire, so I am at least used to small town living. My kids will be 2 and 4. dad is due to start school next September

Well, a positive thing is that people tell me that primary education here is very good, certainly in our local area (nowhere helpful for you, I'm afraid!), all the local primaries are a mixture of 'outstanding' and 'very good'. DD is in preschool at the moment so we're not there yet. A quick heads up, the cut off age here is end of June, not end of August like it is in England, so if you have summer borns you might find they're in a different year to what you expect!

I have friends whose kids go to the Integrated Primary at the south end of the Ormeau Rd (sorry, just realised I was being unhelpful with my upper and lower earlier - basically, the nicer part of the Ormeau Road is the bit furthest south, the bit furthest from the city centre), and they speak really highly of it.

The vast majority of the population of NI live in Belfast, so you if you chose to live in the city you might find that once your DH starts work he can car share, or some of his colleagues might even live near you.

For countryside living, you could be spoiled for choice, there are some lovely areas.

Thanks. Luckily both mine are Autumn/Winter borns

Can anyone point me in the direction of a crash course in Cultural sensitivity wrt Northern Ireland/Ireland/England issues. I hate offending people but feel I am so utterly clueless about this that I am bound to

I'm not from NI, but I'd go with Say Nothing and you'll be fine . Most people don't care about other people's backgrounds and are keen to move on from the past, don't comment and you won't offend.

Stokes has it spot on.

Despite what is portrayed in the media, the vast majority of people here are really friendly and are just living their lives. Its not like you will be put on the spot and asked your view. IME it very rarely comes up.

I'm from NI & living in England & whilst I love it here, the people aren't a patch on the people from home for friendliness & helpfulness .

South Belfast is great - Malone Rd, Stranmillis, Lisburn Rd are all nice areas as is Finaghy & Dunmurry. Belfast is a fab city, & whilst its relatively small, it's got a great feel to it & has everything you need!

Nowhere in NI is that far from Belfast really so wherever your DH is working, I'm sure he'll be fine with the commute.

As others have said, there's nothing like visiting the areas to get a real feel for what's it's like.

Re the sectarian stuff, the vast vast majority of people in NI simply want to go about their own business & live peaceful lives. As is often the case, the small minority of bigots are the ones who make the headlines & ruin things for the rest of us.

Good luck - I hope you find what you're looking for. This thread has made me quite homesick - NI is fab

We are off on a 3 day whistle stop tour of Southern Belfast and the south of NI tomorrow. I am quite excited. DH is changing his mind. Which sort of piss me off cause he convinced me to be cool about it and now it backtracking.

Darn. If you were going to be here on Friday you could come to our Meet up!

Agreed about the sectarian stuff. No one cares except a few hundred hot heads.

My husband is fond of saying, in particular about the recent trouble over flags 'You call that a protest and a riot? That's not a protest and a riot. Go back to the 70s. We knew how to protest and riot!!'

I'm from NI too, although from a town north of Belfast rather than south of Belfast.

DH and I were just driving through South Belfast at the weekend and saying to each other that if we could afford to live there we wouldn't hesitate, it really is nice. Its got the lot; shops, restaurants, community feel, culture, parks, nice houses. We lived there when we were younger but could never afford to buy in that area, so we live out in the wilds now. You'd be fine as an 'outsider' too, there are loads of English people living here now, its not like when I was a child and an English accent was something that turned heads because it was so unusual.

DH is English (Northern though!) but I am properly forrin. Really looking forward to coming over and having a look. I am a little worried about it all and making friends (again after making such an effort out here) and being so far away from friends and family.

I'm properly forrin too, MBJ, being Amerucan! People find it interesting.

Enjoy your trip!

I can promise you you'll make friends. We're all queuing up to meet you anyway!

When you say your DH is changing his mind, do you mean about whether he wants to accept the job, or whether he wants to do the commute?

Newry gets my vote :)

Whether he wants to take the job at all

We have arrived and have spent the afternoon and evening walking around te Lisburn And Malone Road areas. We even had dinner at the Pizza Express (which seemed quite cosmopolitan for us from the rural backwater of North Yorkshire)

How did you get on? Any more cosmopolitan dinners?

Haha.

Just had (a lovely) lunch at Rabbit Rooms in Bangor. On our way back to the airport. It's been very busy and exhausting couple of days. As much as I would like to insist on living in South Belfast if we accept the offer, I don't really think that the commute is feasible. Currently not its feasibly between Newcastle and Warrenpoint/Newry. Need to do some research into schools nurseries etc etc