Fiance has got a job in York city centre..

[ScotlandtoYork]

So me and two little ones are preparing to move. Hardly know where to start! Naturally I went straight onto rightmove and drooled over houses we cannot afford to rent and then googled the streets and shops and things to do with children, but my fiance starts work in a month and I am feeling overwhelmed by it all. My son will be 4 in August and I have no idea about the nursery schools or how far in advance his name needs to be down for primary? We are moving from Scotland, but me originally from africa I am finding everything so complicated and looking for ANY advice that anyone could offer.
I dont drive so would like to live near enough for a short bus journey between home, school and shops if not walk.
Wont be able to find a house to rent until much closer to the time of move as cant get time off to come down and view! Thus dont know how to go about choosing a nursery school and if we are cutting it too fine to get a place. HELP me please :(
Do I want to move to York? It does look beautiful :)

It IS beautiful

It's small enough that you don't really need to be able to drive. We live in Heworth and DH walks to work in Fulford which is the other side of the city.

Am not much use on schools as DD is only 2. Any ideas on what sorts of areas you want to live in? If you share your budget I will happily perve over Rightmove for you!

Ah thank you for your comment Antoinette!
I saw a couple of houses in Heworth that looked close enough to my partners work which is right next to the cathedral (york minster?). It is very encouraging to hear your husband walks that distance.. I think we could cope with a 10 - 15 walk. Our kids are 2 and 4 so just little legs.
As far as our budget for rent goes, we are just tryingto figure out what electricity gas and council tax will be like but probably between 550 - 700/month for rent. Do you know if the prices are likely to have anything included like water rates or council tax?
Would love a 3 bedroom but I know our budget is a bit tight, so could make do with kids sharin a room for a while.

You said your little one is 2, am curious if she is entitled to any hours at a nursery school yet?

Thanks for your help

DD won't get any hours until the term after she turns 3, but there's funding for some 2 year olds, family finances dependent I think. There are two nurseries right in Heworth, one of which is brilliant but expensive-don't know much about the other one unfortunately.

Our house is council tax band A (the cheapest) and we pay about £940 a year.

We're in a 3 bed and our mortgage is about £650 p/m so I'm guessing rent would be similar though I'm not sure on that. Our street is one of the less posh ones though, put it that way! It takes me about 15 mins to walk to the Minster from home, though with DD it would prob take me an hour! She is veeeeery slow and likes to stop and look at stuff every 2 mins...!

To put the distances into perspective, DH's walk from Heworth to Fulford takes him about 35-40 mins.

There's a big Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Waitrose just outside the city walls (Heworth side of the city) and an Aldi in Fulford. Monks Cross is an easy bus ride from anywhere and has a huge Asda, Sainsbury's and Aldi. There's a big Tesco in Dringhouses and another at Clifton Moor (a bit further out of the city-not walkable). Shopping shouldn't be an issue without a car

Hi - have you thought of Acomb? It is York's largest suburb and 2 miles from the city centre. Being larger than anywhere else in York, it has have a couple of council estates which Yorkies call rough ( trust me, as a native Islingtonian, York rough isn't the same as metropolitan rough at all).
Acomb has the best and most frequent bus routes into the centre of town but if the weather is good and you fancy giving your legs a stretch, you can walk from Front Street to the centre of town in 40 minutes.
It would take your partner 10 minutes on the bus and he'd be dropped off outside the Theatre Royal which is 1 minute from the Minster.
I live on the Acomb/Holgate border and I love it. Acomb has a lot to offer and some of the most beautiful houses in the city with plenty of open parks etc. There are plenty of shops/pubs locally ( some nice and some not so but hey).
There is a brilliant Yoga Studio and some lovely tea rooms and a fab new Bistro called Conlan's, next to Morrisons.
In short, Acomb does have it all, plus really good schools. I know this because I teach in one of them.

PS - I know it is overwhelming but trust me, you will love York - as the children grow, you'll be grateful that the whole of Britain is on your doorstep as train links are second to none. I was very busy last week - went back down to London (2hrs), popped to Newcastle (1 hr), bobbed to the Manchester Trafford Centre (50 mins).
I would never live anywhere else now, ever.

Oh yes, Acomb's lovely and its yoga studio is fab!

York is great - yes, I can recommend Acomb.

Might also be worth having a look at anywhere around Fishergate, towards the Uni and along the river (though not ON the river unless you have good wellies ...) Easily walkable into town and Fishergate Primary is a lovely school with a fantastic Early Years unit which includes nursery. Fishergate is especially nice if your family has a mixed cultural/ethnic heritage (just noticing you said you were originally from Africa), as it has a very diverse intake with lots of languages spoken, and goes out of its way to celebrate that. That is slightly more unusual in York schools, although others on the University/Fulford side of the city are similar eg Lord Deramores.

The formal application rounds for school admission closed at the end of Jan, so it would probably be a good idea to speak to the Council to find out how best to apply for school places for the older one. If he is only 4 in August then remember he would be due to start reception in Sept 14, but doesn't legally have to be in full time school until the summer term, so if the schools you like are full you could put him on a waiting list and keep him in nursery, rather than sending him elsewhere.

There is a fine tradition of Scots coming to York - although usually as an invading army

It's great to hear all of these recommendations. Would any of you be able to add any listings or reviews of your favourite local shops/nurseries/schools, etc to our listings?

I really want to get our York page to be as comprehensive and useful as possible, but I'll need some help!

My goodness thank you all so much for your input! So encouraging and very helpful. Will have a look at Acomb, I can remember seeing some houses and flats available but had no idea about buses into the centre so thats useful to know it wouldnt take long to commute to work.
Am keen on the Yoga studio definitely and would be looking for good mums and baby clubs if anyone can recommend?
Rhino I am from Zimbabwe but family all from England originally.. fishergate does sound appealing as am always interested in different cultures and mixing with people of the world as it can sometimes be difficult to fit in with the community when youre an alien :)

Thanks antoinette and pityfala for the distances and cost examples, really helps to put things in perspective. York seems so beautiful and open planned but I am rather fixated on the fact that we are moving to the city and that is scary!

my fiance moves down at the end of the month and then the house hunt begins!!!

Keep all the suggestions and advice coming, thank you everyone!

One thing to bear in mind if looking at Acomb is that the buses from Beckfiled Lane side currently take up to an hour into the town centre. 8am bus for 9am start. Hopefully this will improve with the introduction of the new Park m Ride site at Poppleton

Hi all! Thanks for all the advice. We got a place in Huntington which seems to suit us well. Wondering if anyone knows of any toddler dance classes or mums and toddler groups that are good? Also we tried to go to the minster but was rather pricey.. am I right in thinking as residents we will be able to go for free?
Anything in particular worth going to see with the kids, as stress free as possible?
Cheers

Sorry that it went a bit quiet. I am in the middle of GCSE marking so have had to take a step back from MN in order to concentrate (clearly hasn't worked today)!

Have you found any good local groups? Have you looked on the listings here, although they aren't exhaustive yet.

Failing that the York council website, and particularly the Family Information Service, is really useful:

Council

The Minster used to give out Residents cards with proof of address, but I think that that's changed now. Go in and ask someone, they're really friendly in there and I was allowed in a few times before I got one.

Library cards are pretty essential. They'll get you into The Yorkshire Museum in Museum gardens and The Castle Museum near Clifford's Tower for free. Definitely worthwhile. You have to pay a small amount for them though so take some change with you when you get them.

There are so many great things on in York for families with young children. Sadly the library in town is closed for 6 months [shudder] for refurbishments and the WONDERFUL gallery will be opening again in Jan 2015 after a 2 year refurbishment programme. My kids practically grew up in that gallery.

I'm sure that you've found all of this out already, so apologies again for being a bit rubbish.

Oh, my top tip would be to take the kids to the Theatre Royal café. There's a children's play area there which is beautiful so you can just switch off with a coffee while they play. Essential!

Hi there,

Hope the exam marking is going well, that sounds like hard work!
Thank you for letting me know about Theatre Royal café, will definitely put that on the top of my to do list! Quite daunting in town trying to find a child friendly coffee stop.
For anyone else new to York, I have found a few gems, Piglets was a real hit with my two littlies and we enjoyed an afternoon picnic at a big park in Clifton today.
Got ourselves Library cards(£3 per adult, our kids age 3 and 2 free) and took a trip to the Yorvic Vikings centre last week which was very cool. Upon our quick hike up Cliffords tower, I discovered they only accept York cards one day a year.. although was worth the price for the view! Will have to do the Castle Museum next time, Yorkshire Museum and then Transport Museum (is that free, too?)

Look forward to the Gallery opening up again!

Am blown away by how friendly everyone is here and so happy that we made the move. Thanks all for your input and other suggestions, ideas and advice always welcome.

Smile mummys :) x

The Spurriergate centre in town is great with kids - we often pop in when we are town for a quick stop and I invariably end up reading loads of stories.

The Railway Museum is free Scotland and during term time they run a FANTASTIC toddlers/pre-schoolers play session in one of the main halls (the staff will point you in the right direction) for free too.

There are always things happening during school holidays too.

Piglets is great (I'm taking my youngest there for her birthday in august).

Creepy Crawlies in Clifton is good if you like soft play. It's big and can get busy but go during a school day and it's much calmer. It also has a really nicely laid out outside area with animals (goats, rabbits, donkeys, ponies, chickens, etc) and a large sandpit area as well as extras like go-karting during the summer.

Kids Club at the City Screen in town is a discounted cinema morning for the kids on saturdays. If you check out their website you can see what's showing. Turn up half an hour early and the staff run a nice little arts and crafts session before showing the film. My husband used to take ours there so I could have a lie in. Somestimes!

The more I think about it, the more it strikes me that York is just so great for families.

Oh! And take a picnic on a sunny day to Rowntrees Park, followed by cake at the Reading Café (also in the park), but take your library cards because it's also a mini library. Great place!

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