moving from nw to herts is this a good idea?

[Undecided1985]

we are based in the ne but have always had a desire to live closet to london we never managed it in our 20's) as professionals though i myself lived in oxfordshire for a while and have had otheer connections to london

we are bored of the nw nw though obviously we 100% acknowledge its a great part of the world with great cities etc the area we live in is posh but rural and children wld be v unlikely to stay here as adults and we just dont fancy any of the closer cities again just because we have both lived or worked in these cities over the years and have an inkling for a change

we have looked at various commuter belt towns and have decided its hertfordshire for us

we have 3 primary aged kids all well settled where we are

DH work is not nw based but he does WFH for 3 days per wk he could likely find more work in SE my job is not location dependant

we dont have v close family ties in nw though some family are here

i am torn between thinking just go for it and between thinking why are we even considering making the opposite move than everyone normally does (eg most seem to move north from se not the other way around)

we can afford to. buy upto £900k

are we mad to even consider it?

sorry it shkd say NW ( not NE)

I hope you like traffic jams...

we have traffic jams in the north as well! is herts v bad for traffic?

A £900k house in Hertfordshire is not as impressive as a £900k house in the north of England. But there are undoubtedly more opportunities for jobs in London and SE.

I live in Herts. It's nice enough with some lovely places and some a bit meh. It does have decent but busy links to London & M25.
I really like Hitchin, Hertford and Ware but they might be too quiet for what you want.

St Albans and Harpenden v expensive £900k will get you an extended semi. They both have excellent (and over subscribed) schools which drives up house prices.

Notonthestairs

yes we where thinking of Hitchin, Hertford or Ware

Dont really like SA or Harpenden or Berkhamstead

we have explored the area for a while and just feel they are more our cup of tea

Any other thought? TIA

Giving you a bump.

I think Hitchin probably has the best shopping! The theatre in Hertford supposed to be pretty good.

I dont know them sufficiently well to give much more of a steer.

I would say Hitchin out of those three. Hertford used to be a great town, pretty good shops and great in the evening, but it has become a bit 'meh' in recent years, and has probably been overtaken by Ware in that respect.

For 900k you would get something pretty good in Hitchin.

If you are interested in single sex schools Hitchin is a good bet.

I would still say St Albans was better than any of those three towns though!

There are very good single sex schools in Ware and Hertford (boys school in Hertford, girls school in Ware) and you would get in both living in either of those towns.

jammed solid if one thing goes wrong. Lovely part of the world though.

But won’t you miss the rain 😉

Ha no we wouldn't miss the rain no!

We found St Albans a bit overwhelming and busy tbh it obviously depends on where you are coming from i suppose and we felt hertford/hitchin/ware more of an easier step to take. it also seems quite posh😄 not a bad thing but we are not posh

i just see millions of threads on people moving north and never see any on going south and it makes you wonder .

We moved from Midlands to Hitchen and then Stevenage. We lasted a year and then moved to Bristol, as neither Stevenage or Hitchin really felt close enough to London to take advantage that often, and there wasn't much going on locally. Old town stevenage was nice enough, but not the newer part. Hitchin felt more like a retirement place. Most of the people we knew down there were through our work places and of those who were not raised there, nearly all have left and moved to different parts of the country. Having said that, where we live now in the middle of nowhere would probably not be to everyone's taste, so I may not be the best person to advise!

AliciaMayEmory

you have tred a similar path of thought😄 interesting what you say about Hitchin as weirdly from the several times we visited i got the feel there where lots of young hipster types moving in there from london and it made us think might it be a bit on the too trendy side for us! thanks and hope bristol is living up to expectations

@Undecided1985 have a look at Knebworth

DH and I are from the NW and we have lived in Bishops Stortford for 20 years. I don’t think the traffic is any worse than towns in the NW but the weather is definitely better.

DH has worked in London for all that time and I have worked locally and in London although we are both WFH at the moment. We have three DCs who have all left home now but we have been happy with the schools they went to.

I've lived in both. I don't understand why you wouldn't just live somewhere livelier in the NW: Hale, Wilmslow, Didsbury etc. I don't know N Manchester well, but plenty of places in S Manchester.

Places such as Tring and Redbourn may be worth considering.

You get a lot more more your money if you hop over into Bedfordshire - Flitwick, Leighton Buzzard etc.

I’m from Merseyside and now live in Letchworth - but I got here via going to London for uni and then finding a commuter town. I want to stay here now due to all my local connections but there are lots of good things about the NW - being near the coast, for one! It does sound like Hitchin might suit you

You sound like you have a good measure of what you want OP. If you find St Albans too busy and Hitchin a bit hip then you are just like us! We live in a small village near Ware and Hertford and it suits us great. How about looking at Buntingford or Royston as well?

Thanks All. Will look into the areas suggested all ideas welcome!

Yes we could live in Hale etc if we wanted posh and Mcr or Lpool if we wanted more of a city feel.
would say places like Hale wld be on parity price wise with Herts and involve the moving of schools etc for no real huge benefit.

but we really where keen on closer proximity to London if pos.and we kind of feel we have done the NW and want a change.

Baldock and surrounding villages are worth looking at. Definitely not as hip as Hitchin.