How do I decide between Bristol & London (Hither Green)?

[BipBippadotta]

DH and I are at something of a life crossroads and need a big change. We are moving from our London neighbourhood which has bad / sad associations for us, and want to find somewhere we can have a nice quality of life, which for us means:

• more space (ideally 4 bedrooms)
• nice walks / parks / woodland nearby
• not an eye-watering commute
• minimal depressing urban scumminess (fly-tipping, drunk men fighting in the street, etc)
• access to friends / like-minded people
• a couple of nice pubs / restaurants nearby

*NB - no children (can't have them) so schools are not a consideration.

We have our eye on a huge, lovely house in Hither Green / Lewisham. It would be the house of my dreams, if it weren't near the scumminess of Lewisham High Street, hostage to a station where trains are few & far between, and impossible to get to from N / NE London, where most of our friends are. This place suits our budget if we sell up.

A more radical option we've been considering is moving to Bristol. DH can work remotely, and my job is portable. We could just about afford to buy a good sized period house in Montpelier, and hang on to our London house and rent it out. We've got our eye on a nice house on a little wonky street with a lovely view. Needs a bit of work (which we wouldn't immediately have cash for).

We can't for the life of us decide what to do & are trying to balance what would be a sound financial decision with what will bring us pleasure.

Pros of the Bristol plan:

• near lovely countryside
• can live somewhere nice & away from hideous London squalor
• can have a rental property in London which is a good long-term investment

Cons:

• only a couple of friends there
• further from airports (my family lives abroad)
• lower earning potential if we change our current contracts
• will be quite skint for a while

So I suppose what I'm asking is:

• is Bristol as nice to live in as I imagine it will be?
• is being a landlord a massive faff / worth the payoff?

If you live in Bristol, do you like it? Is it easy to make friends there (if you have no children & work at home)?

If you live in Hither Green / Lewisham, are there lovely aspects to it I'm missing?

Help me decide!

Yes, I get that feeling a bit about Bath. Always strikes me as a cosy place, which is nice but not what I want just at the moment.

Well, I went to see the Charlton house (very kindly pointed out to me by treadsoftly I think) - and Charlton is amazing! So many gorgeous parks! & nice little villagey nooks. And not teeming with pushchairs. Only thing is it feels so remote. Anyone have any experience of living in Charlton?

Hither green and blackheath are mummy-zones. But many nice places, affordable, parks etc are attractive to families, so I wouldn't discount it for that reason.

Which stations are you looking at? Unless you're used to the tube, I find the trains from lewisham and hither green are very very frequent.

Hm, revisited Hither Green yesterday and couldn't move for pushchairs.

I don't think we can get what we want in London. Affordable neighbourhoods with a pub or a restaurant in walking distance are all organised around the needs of young famIlies. Anywhere less familyish with nice things to do is too expensive. Anywhere affordable & not familyish is grim and/or very faraway. And then of course there are the bits that are both grim and bristling with pushchairs, e.g. Forest Gate.

Back to Bristol today!

I live in Hither Green, lived in Bristol as a child. Although there are lots of families in HG, they need to live soooo close to the primary schools in order to get in, that there are some amazing houses on Davenport Rd, George Lane etc. that won't be considered by anyone with/hoping to have children. There are good pubs, pop up cafés/restaurants, the model market in Lewisham, gorgeous parks and green spaces (including Ladywell Fields behind Lewisham hospital), easy access to Central London and Canary Wharf plus lots of community ventures. The public transport is great and there are lots of places worth visiting that can be reached on foot/bike.

Lots of young families move out of HG once their children reach school age or they have three children so it may not be such a bad place to be.

What about New Cross? I was walking around there and the telegraph hill area yesterday and it really has a Bristol feel - probably because it's hilly!

You're making me homesick and I've not felt that since I moved here.

I live in Ladywell
def a nice area and close to some lovely parks

prices are going crazy
our rental property going up on the market and we now need to leave im heading out towards Bromley (anyone got any tips on nice areas there much appreciated)

best of luck OP I would say go for Bristol if I was you

How did you find Bristol, OP?

What about Blackheath? It's slightly less push chairy than HG, loads of bars/shops/restaurants. Masses of green space. Much more couples going out.

There's a few places in your budget including a Span flat on the cator estate in your budget - literally the poshest place in the world and the greenest. I was there last weekend and offered on a house. (Didn't get the house, have bought in HG)

Have not rtft, so sorry if I am repeating things, but we moved from London to Bristol and loved it, people, culture, lifestyle, restaurants etc are brilliant! We then moved abroad for work reasons and then came back to London, I still want to move back to Bristol eventually! if you are a foodie, like outdoor activities, grow your own, yoga, the arts, swimming at the lido, tennis in cotham etc then there is tonnes for you to do. It's quite bbc I would say. I lived just next to Montpelier and it was a great area to be. I also liked cotham as it is easy to walk to whiteladies and the downs as well as Gloucester Road, but I don't think you'd get a house for your budget there.

Also all the hills meant I lost about a stone, my bottom has never been so toned before or since as when I lived in brizzle! Worth moving there for that alone.

Loving Bristol the 2nd sunny weekend in a row! Kind of wish it were freezing and wet so I could get a sense of what it would normally be like!

We've got our eye on a Montpelier house in our budget, so fairly sure we'd be able to manage it here. Seeing a couple more houses tomorrow, including that one in Southville someone kindly linked to up thread!

Blackheath way out of our London budget as we want a house with a garden for our cats.

^^ this made me laugh. The lengths we animal people go for our pets . Crazy really, buying a house based on cats!

I moved to Bristol from London and absolutely love it here. Bristol over London any day.

Bristol has such a good vibe - friendly, arty, independent, lively, a bit gritty in parts but not actually dodgy, plenty of nature... I think living by the water is so good for the soul. I still feel so happy and lucky that I live here when I go out by the river on a sunny Sunday like today, or when I commute to work by boat or randomly see hot air balloons flying overhead in a bright blue sky. Magic place

We also have probably the best breweries in the country, which makes our pubs really good. New stuff opening all the time, always plenty of festivals and events so you're never short of something to do.

And in terms of area I'm another vote for southville! Montpellier is very nice too, lived there briefly before I moved south of the river. I love the lush red house in Montpellier with all the birds, makes me smile whenever I go past.

I have no idea about areas of London but we are Bristol based and work from home so may be able to help.
I don't think you need 4 bedrooms. I work from home and have people visiting the house and use one of the downstairs reception rooms as an office. There are some houses that have 3 reception rooms downstairs (if you can find a house where they haven't knocked one through) and 3 bedrooms. This saves any potential difficulties that a visitor may have with stairs for example.
Also watch out for RPZ areas where residents have to pay to park and which could also affect visitors. (These are under review by the new mayor and the Southville scheme may not be currently operational yet). Off street parking is a definite bonus, if you can find it close to the city centre.

Sloppy I can tell you are not a cat owner (yet)! We will always have cats so a good sized garden will always be a consideration. Much like good schools might always be a consideration if you have children.

Yes, a proper 3 bed could do the trick. As long as it is relatively spacious. There are lots of sweet but tiny cottagey style places around where poor DH smacks his head on the ceilings & we couldn't fit a king sized bed in any of the bedrooms. Old houses are not made for tall people!

Op, have you seen the Southville house yet? Am wfh today and it just occurred to me that the location of that house is great for just popping out and seeing people (iykwim) with a quick nip to North St because I find wfh can be isolating at times so closeness to shops/cafes is a real benefit.

Argh, got confused & it's not the Southville one we're seeing but one in Windmill Hill - trying to see Southville this afternoon & waiting on estate agents to get back to us!

Ahhh ... Personally I prefer Southville to Windmill Hill, saying that, both areas have their benefits and I think you get a bit more for your money in WH. Good luck either way, hope you find something you love!

Bip no, no - I was agreeing with you - we have to make decisions around our dogs (and children!) - I was just observing that people who don't have animals must think we are mad!

Good luck with your viewings this afternoon.

I have just come across this (really just do some work and stop finding distractions!). I know it's slightly out of budget but, location, gorgeous ...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41715228.html

I love that onewestcountry - really good price too.

We saw the Hotwells Rd one last week! Nice but garden has to be all decking.

Ha! Sorry to have misunderstood re: pets!Think I've been so worried about impact of a move on our furries I've got a bit oversensitive!

Last response honest (really really do need to focus on work now), have you considered other areas like Fishponds or St George even? Fishponds definitely up and coming, lovely big park, lots of shops on Fishponds road and close to town. I drove through St George last week and, having not been there for years, was v surprised at the changes, some really nice looking parts - still some dodgy too but easily avoided I would imagine. Also, there's St Werburghs, especially close to the city farm, which is popular.

I guess what I'm saying is that Bristol is changing all over the shop, a lot of the urban areas closer to town are gentrifying yet prices in places like Fishponds and St George haven't reached the levels of Montpelier, Bishopston, Redland, Southville etc.

Admittedly, you can easily walk into the centre from the latter above whilst the former are a little further but all are on my bus routes and all are walkable by able bodied people, some just take longer than others ;)

No worries!