Where to move for the lifestyle we desperate want

[MomRose12]

Hi all,
I am looking for some suggestions re best place to move to.

Background: DH and I work in Banking-IT. We live in a leafy London suburb. I've been struggling with managing work and home ever since we had our twins. My main problem seems to be the commute. 1.5 hours each way. Also, our 3 bed house has become tight for us now. We don't want to take on a large mortgage for a bigger house though.

Where in the UK can offer us a decent 4 bed detached home (under £500k), safe area, good schools and within 30 min drive of a town/city with banking/IT jobs? Is Leeds a good option?

Manchester suburbs? Stockport? Derbyshire? Forget driving though, commuting by public transport would be preferable. The key is your DH finding another job - is he employed or a contractor? Barclays has offices near Knutsford and employs a lot of IT contractors - at least they did.

Edinburgh!!

Sorry - I misread your OP and didn't realise you are in the same field and also working. Are you employed or a contractor?

Thanks Wowfudge and Jemima.

We are contractors at the moment, but open to employment. We are totally fed up of city life. Just want to go somewhere quieter and less stressful. Happy to travel by public transport, as long as the commute is under 30 mins.

Manchester or Edinburgh are the next big financial cities but most cities have a growing financial industry. I'm from Leeds and I can vouch from it being a great place to live. Are you able to get job transfers?

How about something like this? It's 9 miles (21 minutes driving) from Chesterfield and right next to the Peak District national park.

I don't know what job opportunities there are in Chesterfield though.

You sound like you need to be in central Scotland. Loads of lovely towns with an easy commute to Glasgow or Edinburgh, and half a million quid would get you something really nice.

There is lots of banking in Birmingham, including the UK headquarters of HSBC. There are plenty of suburbs or satellite towns that would fit your criteria. Look at the train links into town esp the crosscity line and the lines to Stourbridge and Solihull.

Leeds or Manchester. Although house prices in the nice areas of both are higher than you think!!!

I don't know what job opportunities there are in Chesterfield though.

LOL
None.

As others have said Barclays have their big IT site in knutsford, Cheshire. Commutable from manchester, Warrington, Macclesfield and the west side of the Peak District. Lloyd's also have some IT specific stuff in Manchester. So at least a couple of options to go at based round south manchester / Cheshire.

Edinburgh! Financial city, lots of opportunities in that sector, very compact city rather than sprawling Glasgow so even if you are out of the centre there's no huge commute. Fantastic culture, the Festivals
of course, but also lovely architecture and interesting history, plenty to do with kids. Easy to get out into stunning countryside.

I have friends who live in East Lothian next to an absolutely beautiful beach and take the train in to city. 30-40 mins.

I have friends who work at Capital One and Experian in Nottingham. The tram system is excellent and house prices are very affordable. There are some lovely villages / towns between Derby and Nottingham too.

Edinburgh. You might be more than 30 mins commute by train for some areas.

Closer to the city you won’t get the house you want for your budget .

Safe, good schools.

We are in Herts and DH can get to work (central london) door to door in an hour. So perhaps London isn't a write off!

In Cheshire you will be pushing your budget for what you want. It's not as cheap as people think.

Stupid question but you talk about you struggling with work and home. Do you have a DH problem? Moving won't fix that....

You will struggle to get a well paid job out of London. Why not move further out but maintain your commuting time? There are lots of places that are an hour on the train where you can get a decent house for that much.

Bromsgrove to work in Birmingham. You can get a nice 4 bed less than a mile from the station, which is then 30 min into the centre of Brum

Unfortunately, London is a write-off based on commute times and house prices. We’d like to be under 30min commute door to door.

You know your field - tell us where your best employment prospects would be and MNers can advise on lifestyle options in the area.

Otherwise everyone will suggest Chesterfield

Any other factors? Any parts of the country to be on the way to family?

Not all of Cheshire is super expensive. Holmes Chapel, Nantwich, Sandbach all commutable to Knutsford or Manchester and you can get a nice 4 bedder for under 500k

Huge financial sector in Leeds (dh and I both work in finance), live south-west of the city. My commute to the city is around 30 minutes via walking and train.

Edinburgh is definitely your best bet with lots of financial institutions and being just generally fabulous.

This is in a great area!
espc.com/property/66-parkgrove-drive-barnton-edinburgh-eh4-7qg/35705396?sid=105113

Leeds is great. I lived close to the city centre for 8 years then moved slightly further out towards the moors a couple of years ago. Currently in Saltaire which is a beautiful world heritage site and is a 15 minute train ride to Leeds. You would get a stunning house here!

I love Saltaire, regularly spend an afternoon there in the summer.

DH is an IT Contractor.
We live in Huddersfield(HD3) and he has worked in Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield. All easily accessible by train or car
I can’t say the Town Centre is very nice but there are some lovely villages and great restaurants. We live in a large 4 bed house in a nice area that would be worth around £400000 now and there’s a Private school with fees that would make the average Londoner jump for joy 5 minutes walk away
Obviously Manchester or Leeds are better than Huddersfield in many ways but for cheaper housing and access to a huge area for work potential it’s really good for us. Plus we can go to the big cities whenever we want for shopping, theatres or whatever.