Life changing event...........can I really do this?

[emmatmg]

OK, so it's still not definate yet but......

Dh has gone for a job in Gloucester, about 150 miles away from where we live now in Surrey.

We found a lovely house, which needs tonnes of work but will be gorgeous when finished and will be a fantastic investment.

It's on the outskirts of the Forest of Dean, beautiful countryside just a few miles from the house and the town where we'll live. Lovely and excellent schools. Park on the door step and although not everybodies cup of tea there's a staem railway line at the end of the (big)garden( as some of you may know Dh is a train driver so our 3ds's are train mad)

At the moment we live in a small terraced house with a reasonable garden, Ds1 loves school, ds2 will be starting the nursey there in January. We are happy here and have lovely neighbours but crave more outside space around us and will eventually need more space inside.
There is no way we could afford the same sort of house around here as there is about £100,000 difference for the same thing.

I know that eventually we will all be happy there BUT it will take along time to feel like we do now. I will deparately miss my best friend and our DS1's will be gutted to lose each other(we met in the antenatal classes when PG with them).

The question is, I know I can do it, but can I do it to my children? They are excited about it, especially the steam train at the bottom of the garden but the reality of actually doing it will be very differnet for them.

Have any of you relocated to somewhere completely new? How was it? How did the children cope?

I'm very scared about the whole thing.

Haven't read the other posts but remember quite vividly moving when I was 5 nearly 6 - my mum made a real effort to keep me in contact with old friends and, without wanting to sound ungracious -I really didn't give a shit! I was more than happy with our new big house and garden and fitted into a new school with no problems at all - it was a much bigger deal for my mum than it was for me. Go for it!

LOl hatter, you ungratefully little thing, you!

Lydney area - lovely countryside. Personally wd avoid Cinderford & also possibly Gloucester itself for shopping as neither particularly nice & rather run down, nearish to Cheltenham though which is great.

meant to say great local museum of country-life -Dean Heritage Museum, check out the many types of duck & the Gloucester Old Spot piglets!

ZP, we had ruled out cinderford with just one drive through it, funny how first impressions can count for some things(the estate agent said to avoid too). We quite liked Gloucester for the shops etc but bearing in mind our local shops are Croydon or Sutton it doesn't take much to better it.
Gloucester didn't make the short list for houses either as we wanted to get away from city/big town living. Lots of the towns/villiages around the forest seem ideal but Lydney has the house we want and isn't too small.
Do you have any other info? You seem to know the area well.

I live in that area. Wouldn't call Gloucester the prettiest town in the world but it does have good shops. My DS is only 11 mths so I can't advise you about schools or anything but personally I love this area. The surrounding countryside is beautiful, I would recommend Cheltenham (such a pretty town & it's got great restaurants), Oxford is only an hour away, and if you feel the need to go to London you can be there in approx 2 hours.

Emma

My mum lives very near Westbury-on-Severn, just a few miles up the road from Lydney. She shops in Cinderford, I wouldn't want to live there either, but Westbury, Newnham, Elton (my mums Hamlet) Lydney and round there are lovely.

Shopping is good in Gloucester, excellant in Cheltenham, and you can easily get to Bristol or even Birmingham for theatres etc.

If you need to know any more, just ask.

BTW my sister lives just a few miles further over on the Herefordshire Border, Quite near Ross-on-wye. Lovely villages out that way, try Linton or Aston Ingham

See you when you've moved.

Tweenie, where are you? Just being nosey.!

Easy, Westbury-on-severn and Newnham were on our short list. DH needs to be on the main route to gloucester for his 4am starts so we drove around the forest ticking or crossing the villages as we went.

I'm glad we got the choices right!

Tweenie......I'd like to know too.......just arranging my first MN meet-up in my mind

I support taking risks, and think we should all be adventurous at least some of the time. HOWEVER, just because an opportunity presents itself, it does not mean you're a coward if you decide to take the safe option and stick with what you "know". I think it's all about what constitutes "quality of life" for you and your family. It might be a bigger house/garden, but it might be friends, family and community.

Of course, the hard part is that there are no guarantees when you take a risk. It might be the best thing ever, and it might be something you regret. I think it's essential to realise that if you go, it WILL take you/the family awhile to settle in and you WILL have moments of thinking "what have we done?" when things are rough. But, you'll either grow to love it, or will decide you preferred your old life......in which case you CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND! I put that all in caps as much for me as you, because I always seem to think every decision is permanent! It sounds a very tempting option, and I'm not surprised you're finding it hard to decide. Good luck!

Easy, Emmatmg - I live about 5mins from Gloucester and 15mins from Cheltenham - perfectly placed for shopping .