we are thinking of leaving london

[hoxtonchick]

where do you reckon would be a good place to live?

not in the middle of nowhere, but fairly rural. or maybe a small town. oh i don't know! so far we're considering norfolk (possibly not enough hills), devon, errr, that's it.

my family are in yorkshire so i'm trying to persuade dp that north is a good idea. ds is almost 4, dd 4 months, so need decent schools. help!

Brighton. Great schools, great people and by the sea. It's also very like London in so many ways.

can we get a 4 bed house & garden near decent schools for 350k in brighton spidermama? i challenge you!

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

oooh, that is nice, thanks meggymoo.

But what are the state primaries like in Whistable?

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

There will be no leaving of London. I am sick sick sick of everyone leaving London. DS1 has lost 3 of his playmates so far, and he's just starting his second year. Other local friends are going too.

I am thinking of starting to make people sign forms promising not to move away.

Oh, and anyway, HC, you'd have to change your name if you moved. :-P :-P :-P

West Dorset!

only 2 hours from London, fab jurassic coastline, very good primaries, esp in Bridport, Trent and Wimborne. You wouldn't get a mansion for 350,000 but Bridport is quite funky with a good arts centre and all very near Lyme Regis.

Message withdrawn

I'd say Dorset as well - you'd be in good company with half of London so feel quite at home and how it works is that you move down then your parents follow you about a year later and probably your PILs too !

Wimborne is East Dorset but really lovely-loads on, easy to get to lots of places (New Forest very close & so are beaches), loads of people recently moved down from London to make it seem like home and my DD's school has just had a completely outstanding Ofsted. I definitely recommend it.

oh you're all so tempting!

kittypickle is your school St C's?

I was planning for her to go there Enid when we moved here, it's about 5 min walk from us but when I looked round I felt a bit uneasy about it - I wasn't sure about the head and didn't feel the atmosphere was quite right for DD, so despite Ofsted & league results we decided to send her to one of the other first schools just round the corner from it. It's been absolutely excellent which showed up in their Ofsted that they had last month where they got all grade 1s (outstanding, it's a new style one) apart from one grade 2.

Enid, I hope you've noticed that you have featured twice in this thread as one of the attractions of moving to the West Country

how lovely! no I hadnt noticed

will shamelessly search for name

hi hoxtonchick, sorry I didn't reply sooner. We are only at the very very early stages. We are real "planners", so we are currently thinking everything through, doing market research for the business etc. I reckon we'll make the move in about 2 years time.

I think completely the opposite to you about p'boro, piffle. I grew up there, and it was a great place to grow up cos it was big enough to have everything you wanted (first the ballet classes, then the pubs and clubs) but on a small enough scale to give you the fredom to go off and do things independently. However, by the time I was 18 I had outgrown it and was desperate to leave. I have loved my 20s in London, and found P'boro mindnumbingly dull and provincial and spent as little time there as possible. But now it is my family that is most important, and suddenly P'boro seems to have things to offer again (cheap housing, short journeys, close to London, good schools and willing grandparents). Plus we already know that it can meet our curry and book needs. I'd say that P'boro has nothing for someone in their 20s, that it is a real family place. Maybe just my experience.

oops, just reread. Didn't want to sound too positive about P'boro - really if we could have the best of all worlds we'd stay here, move my parents in round the corner and ask everyone else to stay off the streets when we want to drive somewhere. But with our plans the way they are, we think it may be the best answer!

you are much more organised than us fisil!