Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Original poster

So where *is* the best place to bring up children?

198 replies

BananaSkin · 06/07/2008 18:45

Following on from the thread on Parenting about bringing up children in London, where do you think would be a good place to bring them up? Is there anywhere that is safer, interesting, has cultural richness, good schools etc?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
LadyThompson · 09/07/2008 11:23

I would have said London - I live in West London, more central than West West - but I have to move to Oxfordshire when the baby is born end Nov. I do love London, but there was a murder round the corner from me the other day (not even reported!), and it makes you think about safety...Furthermore, my needs aren't the same as a child's. Keeping a London crashpad though. A tiny teeny weeny one. Would rather do that - have two really really small places in different parts of the country.

SummatAnNowt · 09/07/2008 12:28

Yorkshire of course!

Tortington · 09/07/2008 12:29

am not telling you becuase you will come here en masse and its quite nice ta

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Families General parenting
LadyThompson · 09/07/2008 12:34

Aw c'mon Custardo. Tell us. Is it Bristol, Dorchester, or, er...Leamington Spa?

Tortington · 09/07/2008 13:03

Darling, i'm hardly going to frequent those plces

VanillaPumpkin · 09/07/2008 13:22

I vote for Suffolk. We moved from Surrey and Kent (as a child) and I would never go back. It is just TOO BUSY . My Dad lives in Kent (near Tonbridge) and it does my head in how long it takes to get anywhere.
Suffolk is great, plenty of things to do, good culture (at Snape Maltings etc) rural when you need it to be, has beaches, and a perfectly do-able train ride to London or Norwich.
I am currently in the West Midlands and can't wait to get back to Suffolk. It is OK here but the crime rate worries me and I would not want my children to grow up here really. Plus it is just not home
I did really like North Yorkshire too when we lived there, but that is too far from family to be an option. Having said that choices are limited anyway being a forces family for now. (Cyprus was the best place by far but that was not real life while we were there. It was a lovely dream with warm weather and a cleaner and enough disposable income to eat out once a week )

LadyThompson · 09/07/2008 14:31

Ok Custardo, I reckon it's Winchester or Tunbridge Wells or...Chester.

Tortington · 09/07/2008 14:42

Winchester? Darling, i am not some knockedup army gf you know.
Chester!! i Couldn't possibly venture that far north. The words Grim and Gravy come to mind.
Tunbridge wells, although itself is a pocket of relative affluence in the otherwise dismal Kent, still sadly remans in Kent.

NigellaTheOriginal · 09/07/2008 14:46

Harrogate?

Pavlovthecat · 09/07/2008 14:46

Devon - obviously! (confused that anyone would think otherwise .

Beaches, countryside, woodlands, moors, cities, great schools, ferries to the continent, safe (as far as you can be safe), bright, fresh, beautiful, relatively cheap to live there, lots of things for children to do, depending where in Devon you live of course (same as anywhere).

Wages are low, but depending where you live, the houses are cheap to buy/rent, and wages are low depending on what you do for a living.

Drawback - the accent!

Original poster
BananaSkin · 09/07/2008 14:52

Nigella - we looked at Marlborough, but the parking was so bad we couldn't park the car to get to the estate agents!!

Pavlov - how do you cope with the tourists? when I've been to Devon in the summer it has taken hours to a mile down the road.

OP posts:
PixelHerder · 09/07/2008 14:57

Re Bath and Bristol, I've lived in both and really like both.

Interesting re the drug thing in Bath, am not surprised, though I don't have direct experience of youth culture and schools (DD too young and me too old when we lived there). It does generally feel 'safe' to wander around, although the town centre is pretty grim on weekend nights.

Students are definitely one of the banes of Oldfield Park (lived there about 5 years ago) but it does have a nice community feel and good shops and cafes - I know a few middle class mummies who wouldn't live anywhere else!

I love Bristol, but am a bit freaked by how much it has changed in the last 10 years, it feels a lot more scary than it used to in terms of crime, social deprivation and unrest. A LOT of drugs too.

bigTillyMint · 09/07/2008 15:08

Heifer, I was brought up in (nice part of)the Wirral (with it's grammar schools, etc)and I would NOT want to move back there, but I'm glad you like it! There was lots of drugs and binge-drinking in the Wirral when I lived there

London's the place for me, but I am getting a little uneasy about how safe my DC (esp DS) will be as teenagers.

LadyThompson · 09/07/2008 15:19

Custardo - I knew it. It's Beaconsfield.

Anna8888 · 09/07/2008 15:24

Custardo - if you think T Wells is a pocket of affluence, you need to look a bit more closely. The whole of the Weald of Kent (south/west) is immensely affluent... T Wells rather nasty in comparison.

iBundle · 09/07/2008 15:29

harrogate without a doubt

MABS · 09/07/2008 15:38

i know where custy lives

mrsshackleton · 09/07/2008 15:59

Brighton

NigellaTheOriginal · 09/07/2008 16:39

PArkings not so bad in Marlborough. Big car ark behing Waitrose and along by th river - also behind other side of high street. you just have to know where. local parking for local people

myredcardigan · 09/07/2008 16:45

Oi! It's not all grim up North! I love it up here and I've lived in Hampshire, Berkshire, Herts, Surrey and Warwickshire (LS actually) but nothing beats Cheshire.(IMO of course )

I can't believe we spent all those years with DH working 16h days in The City when he could have been driving up the road to Manchester!

madmarriedNika · 09/07/2008 21:33

Gosh, aren't we mainland UK, esp. England biased!

Can I put a huge vite in for Northern Ireland, esp. the north coast, where we reside. And I'm English born & bred- moved over here 6.5yrs ago. Love it. Wonderful, caring, friendly, generous people, gorgeous countryside, few tourists, brilliant unpolluted beaches, excellent state schools. Yes a lot of the kids classes haven't made it over here yet e.g. baby swim classes, baby/toddler gym classes, but they're coming (certainly already here in more urban areas).

I've previously lived in the New Forest, Hampshire, Southampton & Oxford. None can beat the stunning north coast of NI

madmarriedNika · 09/07/2008 21:34

huge vite - oops - vote, obviously!

myredcardigan · 09/07/2008 21:53

Yes Nika, you do have a stunning landscape in NI very similar to the west coast of Scotland.
Oh I could watch coast and listen to what's his name all night.

madmarriedNika · 09/07/2008 21:56

ooooh LOVE the west coast of Scotland too
Were once looking at moving over to Oban but DH's job here was better so stayed put. Still have notions of moving at some point but v happy where we are- just go on hols to Scotland instead (great NI-Scotland ferries!). Love west coast of Ireland too...
Yep Coast is a fab programme, agree

GrinningGorilla · 09/07/2008 21:59

If you were talking globally the World Health Organisation rates Canada as the best place in the world to raise children........health care is good, education system is brilliant, low crime rate in comparison to the U.K., loads of space, high standard of living, heavy focus on the outdoors and family leisure activites. (I am extremely biased though, waiting to emigrate there)

Swipe left for the next trending thread