Calling all York-folk!

[Dottoressa]

I've posted before that we're moving to York; however, we are now getting to the looking-at-houses stage. We are seeing this house tomorrow - but would love opinions, good or bad, on the general area/road/anything at all! On the face of it, there is nothing not to like - but we don't know York well, so there may be all kinds of things wrong with it that we know nothing about (like the nearest children are ten miles away, or there are students in the back garden...)

Any advice would be very gratefully received!

Thank you, HBM!

I'm already looking forward to picnics in the Museum Gardens...

Oh WOW!!!! So pleased for you - hope all goes smoothly. Welcome to York

(Ooopps sorry - it's Northernlurker in disguise )

hi neighbour!
yes, i'm over the Knavesmire on Albemarle Road.

we have the races on today for the next 3 days. it can get very busy with drunken race goers! won't be bad where you're going to be though!

hopefully you are going to come to the york meet up?

Hello NL-in-disguise and Joosey,

Thanks for the welcome. I certainly am coming to the meet-up!!

How are things going?

Hello NL (and all York folks!)

Well, it appears that we may have to go back to Right Move. Our house sale has almost certainly fallen through, so we will equally almost certainly lose the Tadcaster Road house. It's a great shame, especially as I've even put DS on the list for the local Beavers!!

I shall keep you posted...

Oh no!

Lets hope it isn't as bad as you fear

Thank you!

I have not given up all hope, but am not very optimistic either...

oh poo.
hope it all works out for you.

Have you had any other viewings?

Humph. We had sold it privately, but it went on sale with an agent today, so we are hoping for numerous viewings and at least five offers by tomorrow...

Thanks for the good wishes!

Hello D...i just saw your house on rightmove and thought id search for this thread for an update.

Sorry to hear you having selling issues...hopefully you've been inundated with offers over the weekend!

Keep us posted.

Hello HBM and all York-ers,

No offers yet (boo), but three more viewings to come this week, so fingers crossed. I have been v gloomy about losing the Tadcaster Road house - I had mentally moved in, and now have to mentally move out again.

I shall keep you all posted!

Hey,
Any news on the house move - just been reading your posts. I have a son at the Mount and daughter at St Peters. Hope it's all going ok - may see you in the playground! If you need any info just ask.

Hello Jui (and all Yorkers),

Thanks for your post. It's all going very pear-shaped at the moment, in that we haven't sold our house yet - which means that I will probably have to rent a teeny-weeny place to live in with the children during the week while DH stays here and slowly goes mad looks after the house. But we do think that the children need to start at their new schools in September, come what may.

How old is your son, Jui? I'm afraid I may end up asking you a trillion things. The first one is: is the Mount as nice as it seems? My daughter is going to be in Y1 and has had a lovely postcard from her teacher-to-be, saying how much she's looking forward to meeting her. As a result, my daughter has been sleeping with her Mount uniform!!

Hey Dottoressa, my DS is only in nursery, but my daughter went through Tregelles before she moved to St Olaves.

It is a really lovely school and the teachers are great, it's not a pushy school in the sense that the children are not overworked and is very much how a primary school should be. Not too big, lots of outdoor space and polite friendly children. Who is going to be your DS teacher?

Where are you planning to rent. Scarcroft Area or South Bank is pretty close to the Mount and you'd be able to walk to Tregelles and to the Minster School if you don't mind walking. It is much better to walk or cycle around York if you live in town because traffic is generally always busy. We live close to town and it is great.

Feel free to ask any Qs...happy to help. York is a great place to bring up children and looks lovely both in the summer and winter.

Hello Jui,

Thanks for your reply! Presumably your DS will be going into Reception in September? If so, we may well encounter one another as it's not a huge school and DD and I will be quite obviously new!

We did think that the most important thing was for DD to go to a school where she would be nicely looked after, given that she's having to leave a lovely school where she has been very happy. Her teacher is going to be the wonderfully named Mrs Rainbow.

DS is going to the Minster School (he's going to be a chorister, hence our move). We have in fact got DD down to go there too in September 2010, when they will have space - but I'm not convinced about moving her again in a year's time. If she has settled and we are happy with Tregelles (and everything suggests that we will be at the moment), then we may well keep her there instead.

I'm quite keen to rent somewhere around the Scarcroft Road area (easy-ish access to both schools and, crucially, the Pig and Pastry). When the DCs went for their taster days at their new schools, DS and I dropped DD off then walked to the Minster, which took 13 minutes (though we walk very fast). I am very happy to walk - where we live at the moment, we only use the car for long journeys.

It's very encouraging that you give York a good write-up. It will be good fun once we are actually there!

Dottoressa
DD had Mrs Rainbow (what a perfect name for a primary teacher!) and she loved her. She is really nice, approachable, fun and friendly and so your DD should settle in quickly. DS will still be in nursery in Sept as he only started earlier this year when he turned 3.

Scarcroft Area is fab, I used to live there and still live pretty close to the area now as I'm just off the Mount. It is v popular with families, is close to the park and town. Pig and Pastry is v popular and great for breakfast on Sat mornings, the Butchers is also great on Bishopthorpe Road too. It would be a great place to rent to get yourself used to the area and surroundings and I guess that if you rent there you will end up buying somewhere close by.

It is def doable to walk to the Mount and the Minster School. I collect DS from the Mount and walk over to St Olaves and it is quite a pleasant walk which takes about 20 mins or so which is ironically prob quicker than the car at that time of day. You will get used to not using the car much if you live close to town which is much nicer. My family and I walk or cycle everywhere around York!

House wise York is full of compromises unfort. Unless you have a budget of 800k or more, you will not get a period house close to town with a garden. You either go for a lovely period property and sacrifice the garden (tough call) or choose a more conventional house with a garden. It really depends on what you desire more. We have a large period property with a v small back garden/yard, but we use the parks a lot, museum gardens and generally get out more because of it.

Hope everything goes well and if you need any guidance please just ask.

Jui,

Thank you - it is lovely to hear that Mrs Rainbow is as nice as she sounds!

We have discovered that the York housing market is full of compromises. Our own house - period house, five bedrooms, good garden, parking and so on - is out of our price range in York (even if such a house exists anywhere near the centre, which I fear it doesn't. The nearest we've found was a big one on Bish. Road for 1.2 million!!! Our budget is around £600,000 max, and preferably less). Given that I can't compromise on the garden and DH can't live without a workshop and parking, I think we'll have to compromise on style...