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Thinking of moving to Leamington Spa - opinions please!

12 replies

4ameternal · 22/02/2008 20:09

We're considering moving to Leamington Spa and I need to know if I'm doing the right thing moving there from London! We live in north east London at the moment and I fear ending up somewhere dull, white and suburban. I have a toddler and a baby, both mixed race. If we move to Leamington will I go mad with boredom? Is there any culture within easy reach? Is it a good place to be with kids? Is it very white? Anyone moved there from London who can relate to my fears and reassure me that it is a lovely place to live? (I don't want to offend anyone who was born and brought up there!)

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ChirpyGirl · 22/02/2008 22:56

I was born in the country and grew up in Leam, as did my husband. Whereabouts are you looking? It is made up of a lot of small villages joined on around the town (IYSWIM) as the town has grown. My family don't live there anymore but the IL's do. I think some of the edgey bits can be quite insular (in a 'all my family lives in the next few streets' kind of way) but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
It isn't dull and suburban for the most part, Warwick University is a short bus ride out of town so it can be a bit of a student town, lots of pub/winebar type nightlife.
I don't remember a huge amount for younger kids to do, but I was 9 when I moved there so I wouldn't have noticed it anyway. The schools are all quite good and the countryside is right there so it is easy to go from centre of town to nice parks outside town. Also jephson gardens has some great ducks! There are fairs and stuff that visit too for kids, nnot sure how often now though

With regards to culture you have the Spa Centre, the loft theatre, and also stratford and warwick are in easy reach with shakespeare stuff and the castle. The globe theatre is in stratford and cos of the student population you get quite good gigs and shows from tours going to coventry and warwick.

It is a lovely place to grow up but it is quite slow, I have lived in liverpool and madrid and leam is easily quieter than them, but it is a large town, not a city.

I would go and spend a few days there if you could, especially take a wander around the suburban bits. I can't comment on teh whiteness of it as, being white, its not something I have noticed. I know there is a large pakistani population, probably a third of my class were pakistani but there were only a few black children at my entire school, but times may have changed, I don't know.

Hope that helped! Got a bit waffley, sorry!

Off to bed now but feel free to ask on!

ChirpyGirl · 22/02/2008 22:58

Oh, one more thing, it is very safe, my IL's still leave their doors unlocked and when we lived in town (we lived literally a few minutes walk from parade, the main shopping street) we rarely locked our back door. I have never felt unsafe on the streets in Leam, even barefoot and paralytic

4ameternal · 23/02/2008 14:19

Thanks Chirpygirl, that's really helpful. We've just got back from a couple of days there and I do really like it, but wonder how I'd adjust to the pace of life. I talked to lots of mums and they said it's a good place with young children. Everyone seemed very friendly as well which is nice. Can't imagine leaving my back door unlocked in London!

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4ameternal · 23/02/2008 18:37

Forgot to say - we're looking fairly close in, looked at Milverton yesterday which we liked. Also looking at south Leamington - I understand that there's a bit of a north/south divide, but what we saw of the south it looked fine after London!

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tribpot · 23/02/2008 18:45

Only thing I can add is that I was born there and have always had a hankering to move back. Hope that if you do decide to move there you enjoy it! From what ChirpyGirl says, it sound rather like Bury St Edmunds, another town I would be happy to move back to (why is the work in Leeds, that's my question).

llareggub · 23/02/2008 18:52

Hello, I live in Warwick and to be honest Warwick and Leamington are pretty much the same place these days. One of the things I like about living here is that we are so close to everywhere else. For example, we popped into Birmingham today (20 mins by car or train) to go to Thinktank. Last week we went to Blenheim Palace so good contrast between town and country I think.

There are lots of things to do with young children here. If you want to know anything else I am happy to answer any questions.

4ameternal · 23/02/2008 19:16

Personally I love Leeds - I lived there for 7 years! I spoke to a lot of people while in Leamington and they were all positive about it. I guess I'm anxious about there being things to do with a toddler and a baby, whether it's easy to meet other mums, whether there are mother and baby groups, whether there is creative stuff going on as the children get older. Is the countryside good for walking? We're into creative stuff, theatre, walks, music...I was brought up near Banbury and hated it, so I guess I'm worried about my children being in a small town. As an adult I've always craved big cities, but now I've got kids I'm wondering what my priorities are.

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RustyBear · 23/02/2008 19:22

Ds is at warwick university & is living in Leamington for his 2nd year (& has just put a deposit for a different house nearby for his 3rd year, so he must like it)

When we took him back after Christmas we went to Zizzi's pasta restaurant for lunch - (very good btw) it seemed to be about equally spilt between students with parents & young families.

The university isn't far away & has the Warwick Arts Centre which has a lot going on.

ChirpyGirl · 23/02/2008 19:29

Like I said I couldn't help with stuff for young kids to do!
Re: the North South divide, it used to be a big thing, south was the 'ethnic' area (sorry, but couldn't think of a better way of putting that!) (and is still where the best curry houses are) and north was a bit posher but it isn't like that anymore, most of my friends who have stayed there have moved to the south when they left home.
Milverton is nice, it's about the right distance as well, I wouldn't recommend living in town, it used to get a bit noisy....and it is nice to have the village atmosphere while being so close to town as they are the sort of place where people stop and say hello in the street whether they know you or not.

Can you tell I would love to move back, (well, as long as IL's moved away first)

llareggub · 23/02/2008 19:42

You don't mention how old your children are but I know lots of mothers with toddlers aged around 15/16/17 months. I find there are lots of things to do with a toddler and during my maternity leave I found a group to go to every day.

MissM · 23/02/2008 23:01

Mine are 22 months and 3 months so I'm still on maternity leave with the second. Does the NCT have a group there? I need to talk to some Londoners who have moved there as well! THank you everyone though for such positive comments.

llareggub · 24/02/2008 09:13

Yes, there is an active NCT group. There is a lovely mother and baby group in Warwick where you'd be made very welcome.

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