What part of North West England should I live in

[CanIHaveChocolatePlease]

I hope it’s okay to put this in here, I couldn’t see a dedicated section for relocating!

I’m Irish and live in Ireland, but have wanted to live in England for a few years now for various reasons (things like more choices of shops, types of schools, towns etc, not as casual attitudes to rules etc), but I’ve come across better job/training opportunities in England than I can get in Ireland, which makes me want to live there even more now

I’d be targeting moving there late this year/early next year (yes I know I’m mad with the uncertainty of Brexit coming up but I feel that personally it’s the best choice for me!)

My preference has always been the North West region (no offence to any other areas, I like the idea of there being so many areas/towns/regions near each other and feel that the climate, lifestyle etc would suit me best)

I am hoping to do the school-based primary teaching
degree at Edge Hill uni and then work as a teaching assistant during the week, and then maybe a Saturday job in a shop to boost my funds more.

So I would like to be accessible to Ormskirk (where Edge Hill is), but also accessible to more non-student towns and cities, especially Manchester and Liverpool .

I would like to live in a decent sized town rather than in the city or in the rural countryside.

From looking up houses in the area, I think somewhere like the town of Leigh would suit me well, but I would just like people’s advice and opinions so that I wouldn’t regret my choice

I’m single so wouldn’t have to be worrying about having to bring family members over with me

Thanks in advance, I’d really appreciate people’s insights☺️

Preston?

I'd live in Ormskirk. Or Southport. Both much nicer....
Also both have trains to Liverpool when need a larger city.
What appeals to you about leigh?

Oh and like the other poster says there is good Wigan options...

Ormskirk or Burscough - you’ve got direct trains to Liverpool and Manchester.

Thanks for all of your answers!☺️

Sorry for posting the thread more than once-I just wasn’t sure where the best place to put it was so chanced putting it in a few places while I was at it😅

I had just suggested Leigh as it is a decent size, seems to have nice houses for reasonable prices and is relatively central and accessible, but obviously I’m open to suggestions!

I thought that Ormskirk itself might be a bit ‘studenty’ and would mostly revolve around student life and therefore would be overcrowded during term-time and then deserted during the holidays, whereas I think I’d prefer more of a ‘normal’ town (no offence)

Obviously being easily accessible to airports and Holyhead and Liverpool for the ferry would be an added bonus as I’d like to go home to visit my family when I could and also have them over to visit me (as it is they don’t want me going as they’d worry about me being lonely and on my own over there but I feel like personally it is the best choice for me so I’d definitely want to be sure that we could be easily accessible to each other)

As it is a school-based teaching programme, I would only have to go to the uni itself a few times a year so I wouldn’t need to be really near to Ormskirk on a daily basis, which would give me more flexibility, so yes I’d rather be nearer to my placement school than Edge Hill (I don’t know yet what schools they partner with but obviously I’d find that out and it says you can be based anywhere in the North West to complete the course, which means they obviously have a lot of partner schools)

I haven’t passed my driving test yet but have been working towards it so would hope to get that before I move so that I could get a car and be legal to drive from my house to work/ training

I’m working about 20 hours a week in a local shop here at the minute and don’t have many day to day costs so have saved up a decent bit of money now that I would target putting towards a house (I’d prefer to buy than rent as I’d rather have my own place and also could claw some of my money back if I decided to sell it down the line, which I couldn’t do if I was renting).
I’d target it being a ‘forever’ home so ideally if it was a 3-4 bed new house at the edge of a town, but obviously I mightn’t be able to do that just yet

I’m not one for socialising much or nights out or pubs or beaches or that, so I’d be happy having a good choice of shops and places to travel around and explore in my spare time, and maybe even get involved with something like dancing, musicals, Red Cross etc

Just out of curiosity, would any of ye have any idea what it would the cost living be for a person on their own in England, but especially in these areas?
Just to have some idea of what it might cost to fund myself over there 🙂

Have you actually looked at if you will get a mortgage as a student on p/t presumably low paid work even with a deposit?
I'm not sure you would these days.

Liverpool and Manchester are far more student based in areas than Ormskirk.

The places people have suggested are much nicer than leigh. But it is cheap (for a reason).
It would be very slow to get to Manchester or Liverpool for school placement... The east lancs a580 is very congested. There is a guided bus route now to Manchester but its only really useful for Central Manchester.

I’d be hoping to work and therefore get some sort of pay as a Teaching Assistant during the week and then boost it with retail work at the evenings/weekends - I know things would be tight, especially for the first while, but I think it’s the most sensible, long-term way to spend my money 🙂

Depending on the value of the house, I should already have enough saved up for a 5-10% deposit on a house, and would obviously earn as much money as I could here before I’d leave to put towards it, and I’m not a heavy spender so would be willing to spend most of my money on somewhere nice and long term for me to live and on a car and other basics

I would also try to use something like the Help To Buy scheme if I could at all as they seem to contribute towards your savings for your first house deposit

Just seen your other thread. It's really not going to work...
TA jobs are hard to get. The pay isn't great.
The pay needs to be higher than a TA gets for decent mortgage.you won't get an offer unless really cheap house.
You will need to factor in the time your course will take outside the classroom. This will limit earning time.
There are some very deprived areas around Manchester that have been left to die by various governments. In these places houses are cheap... For a reason. Some are 'OK'... Others really aren't...you need to visit

Hi again everyone! Sorry for not coming back to this sooner, I’ve been working a lot so haven’t been free

Thanks again for all of yer suggestions, I really appreciate them

I did get to look up most of the places that ye helpfully suggested, and although I might struggle to get somewhere affordable in some of the nicer places, there’ s lots of nice places mentioned that I will definitely look into

Some of the places that I think I’d consider/target and that I think would suit me the most would be Ormskirk, Pemberton, Burscough, Orrell, Winstanley, Parbold, Mawdsley, Eccleston, Appleby Bridge, Upholland, Shevington, Tarleton, Newton-le-Willows, Chester, Hulton, Rufford, Maghull, Formby, and Aintree , so if anyone has any honest opinions or advice about those places or any other nice places in the area, please let me know as I’d really appreciate it

Oh and two places I’ve come across when looking up the area have been Kirkby (between Liverpool and Ormskirk) and Darwen (near Preston), and seem to be relatively okay and affordable for housing and accessible to nearby areas (especially Kirkby, which is near enough to Liverpool, Ormskirk and Manchester), so if anyone has any thoughts or opinions (good or bad) on those places I’d also really appreciate it!

Thanks again for all of yer opinions, thoughts and advice- I really appreciate them (even if some of them aren’t what I want to hear)

I don’t know a lot of the places listed very well (though some of the areas listed are expensive and probably out of budget) but can comment on Darwen and Kirkby. At the risk of offending those who live there Darwen is affordable because it’s, errr, horrible. It’s also not that close to Preston, about 25 minutes in the car and more like an hour by train.
Kirkby has been in the press a lot recently for the levels of violent crime there including knife and gun crime. I don’t know how typical it is for the area but I wouldn’t fancy it myself.

Just a thought but will you know where your placement is before you have to move? If they can send you anywhere in the North West it would be much easier to narrow down your search if you knew where you’d be working rather than hedging your bets on something broadly accessible, or will you be at a variety of different schools?

I think you’re mainly based in one school of your choosing but then have to occassionally go on placements in schools that edge hill is partnered with

I don’t understand how you could work as a TA while studying? Surely the course is full-time?

Previously lived in Formby and would highly recommend it - lovely friendly village feel, countryside and coast on your doorstep, red squirrel reserve which is great for children, close to Liverpool, Southport etc. Plus there's a Waitrose!
Affordable area but nice. Also Crosby is similar, house prices are slightly cheaper.

No, as I’ve pointed out, it’s a school-based teaching degree so the idea is that you work or volunteer as a TA or similar throughout the programme and learn on the job, and then go to occasional sessions in Edge Hill itself.
And the programme is over 4 years rather than the usual 3 (although teaching degrees are 4 years full-time here so I’d rather work on the job for 4 years over there than go to uni full time for 4 years here)

I've found the course and had a read so I'm clearer now. School-based training routes are usually full-time and Edge Hill course is very unusual in its structure. As it's entirely dependent on you working or volunteering in a school I would suggest finding a school which has a vacancy and is willing to support you before you commit to a specific area. I'm afraid that many TA roles have been cut in recent years and it may not be as easy as you think to find a role in a school which is supportive of your training.