Have chosen 3 areas to move,Can anyone advise which one is the best?

[HONEYBUG]

Hello,
This is my first message here. We live in Cyprus but I found this forum when surfing one day and joined and am quite a follower. I learn many things from other people's experiences and questions. Now I need help!!!I thought someone out there could ease my mind.
We are planning to move to England within a year time.My husband is British, I am Turkish we have 5 yo daughter. I am looking around wherever possible to find a good place to settle for my daughter,and looking through google earth etc..at the end we decided on 4 places
1-cheltenham or circencester
2-colchester and area
3-norfolk/norwich
4-yorkshire

of course, we want to be near good primary schools, away from drugs/nasty places/low crime areas, affordable housing prices.My husbad is away from England for 20 years, so he has no clue where is good or bad anymore...

Or any other suggestions please
with above criteria? I know everybody wants to find the perfect place and it is not easy, but at least for a guideline, I need help.

Many many thanks...

They're huge areas - Yorkshire, for example, is four counties and takes in major cities such as Leeds, Bradford and York as well as isolated rural areas in national parks. I think you should think about where you have friends and/or family and work from there. Your budget as well will play a major part in your decision making. I think you are going to have to visit the UK a few times over the next year and narrow it down yourself. Once you settle on an area, then I'm sure MNers will be able to give you advice on the best villages/schools/parts of town.

Thank you for your message,
I found Acomb area in York, I just want to have some opinions on especially which areas to avoid to bring up a family, especially with young girl.

I will have to do more diggings,
Many thanks,

Move to Norfolk - we're currently relocating there and that way I'll have a friend

NQS us too, where are you moving to?

South-ish. Haven't found anywhere yet and have a huuuuuuge search area (I set it as my profile pic for another thread if you're curious). Where are you going/hoping to go?

We're buying (fingers crossed) in Thorpe St Andrew.

We did consider Wymondham but decided to be nearer the city for transport and work.

That's on the Broads isn't it? I think I stopped at a pub there once!

When are you hoping to complete?

Hi Honeybug.

Just out of interest what made you pick Colchester?

I live in one of the villages that surrounds Colchester and I love it. Colchester is a very large town, very mixed, some very desirable parts and some not - as most large towns are. The surrounding countryside is gorgeous and peaceful, house prices are good compared to other counties near London. We are only half an hour or so from the beach, but only an hour by train from London. North Essex is very safe, with low crime rates and great schools - Colchester in particular. If you want to PM me I can give you more information on specific areas and villages.

wells next to the sea in NOrfolk is lovley- my aunt lives there and they have beach huts on the beach and everything (she rents it out for the day for a pittance too)

People are so friendly round that area.

Will your DH be working? What industry- as this may help you decide? Is he home based? What are your hobbies?

Hi all,
Many thanks for your messages.
I considered Colchester because it is close to the sea side areas like Clacton etc..I want to be in a bigger place than an isolated place, Colchester is only and hour away from London and I read in this forum that schools are good.
Reason for Cheltenham area is that I thought these are spa towns, must be good and nice places to live
In fact, being nearer to the seaside is important for me, and also I read somewhere that Clacton is the sunniest seaside in England, I am coming from sunny Cyprus I know I will not find the weather there but at least some seaside feel would be nice.
As I read through on the internet on many websites, Norfolk actually seems to be a strong choice for us as well.
neverquitesure can you give me update when you move over, how do you find the area? and etc... i would appreciate.
I will look at Thorpe St Andrews, see how it looks like
many thanks for your support, really appreciated.
Ebru

Mrs Vidic,
We are currently running our own furniture retail/manufacturing business in Cyprus, in the north side. Here is a lovely little island for holidaymakers and elderly retired people, once you live here permanently especially with a young kid and running business as foreigners it is really a nightmare. I think we had enough here, my husband makes websites, flyers, posters, also works part time in the bi-weekly local newspaper here as sub-editor. But he is the brain of our company, I am the operations part. I am a graduate of Tourism and Hotel Management. So, we have to find jobs to suit our skills and experiences or start up a business maybe. At once we were looking to buy B&B or a guesthouse but then the stories about drugs/drunk people causing troubles in pubs and stuff scared me a bit to be honest. My husband has always been so reluctant to come back to the UK, he says he doesn't like what the country has become, he says he still likes to remember what it has been once, I do not think it can be that bad !! we read daily mail here, that's what we can find here, on there are lots of horror stories at schools and all that, but I am sure not all the areas are like that. Is he right or not ? I do not want to make a mistake and drag my family into moving but schooling is a big problem here too, there are coupe of private schools here, like we pay about 3800 GBP per year but our one is like mediocre.
Hopefully by the middle of this year, we can make a trip to the areas we are looking and decide.
This group is great! As I can understand members here get together, meet up and socialise, here we cannot do that. One reason, there are not many people around here I can make friends with - they have no child or they are retired. Most of the people around us are business contacts, so not comfortable being friends, school friends mums are 95% local, so it is so difficult to get into their circle.

Cirencester and Cheltenham are nice areas, as are their surrounding villages. They have some really good schools, both grammar and comprehensive.

They can be expensive though.

It may be worth posting on the local boards for the areas you're interested in.

I would definately definately consider the North Norfolk coast if you are considering buying a b & b.

my aunt has a b+b in wells- she only has 2 bedrooms and no ensuites and has full occupancy most of the year. It also pays enough for her to go traveing through the winter months around India or South America (she is my hero!)

I would advise deciding on your area, finding properties you like the look of and asking for advice about area etc- as most areas in the UK have good parts and bad parts.

wow that's great! I am looking at b&b's again, north norfolk looks nice and if crime rate is low, sounds like good.

Oh I missed the bit about a B&B! Yes the lovely bits of Norfolk would be perfect - ot if too far from London you could look at the lovely bits of Suffolk instead! Although the lovely seaside towns of Suffolk are very pricey now as they are prime weekend home territory and still commutable - just.

yes i looked at suffolk, bit pricey. still between norfolk and colchester though...school is the most important issue of all