I'm not sure if this fits into the 'relationship' category of this site, but anyway! I live in London with my husband and 1-year-old. We live in a lovely flat but it's up a flight of stairs and the garden isn't attached so we're thinking of moving out to the suburbs to get a house (where we live in London is too expensive to buy a house).
Where we live now is closer to my friends (and mum - more of which later), so we could move further out of London to be closer to them. I have a great circle of friends, NCT friends, old uni friends (as does my husband) in this area. But my mum is very unsupportive and I don't have many other family members.
On the other side of London is my husband's family. His parents and siblings are absolutely amazing. They're supportive, can't do enough to help us, are always having bbqs and family get togethers etc. I'd love to live closer to them (I enjoy their company, it will be lovely for my daughter to be part of such a loving extended family), but it would mean moving away from my network of friends.
If I live nearer my friends, however, I won't get the family support. My mum is a nightmare and we regularly fall out. She's on her own, very bitter, doesn't help with my daughter etc. Recently I hurt my back and my daughter had a vomiting bug. I asked her to come and sit with her while I went to the osteo (she wasn't working that day) and she said no because a friend was coming round for coffee. This is very typical of her. My friends and NCT friends are great, but have children/jobs/lives of their own and can't help as much as my in-laws would be willing to.
So what I'm asking is...is it better to be near your support group of friends, or your family? I suppose I could make new friends in a new area (I'm very sociable and make friends easily...especially baby friends at NCT/groups etc). What do you all think? Would I be lonely without my friends (but living near my great in-laws). When I (hopefully) have a second baby I definitely need more family support.