Where to live debate

[gabj1985]

Hello everyone! Apologies in advance for the long post.

This is something I would like a bit of a debate about just because it is playing on my mind.

So in 2020 the lockdown came and all of a sudden lots of people I know decided to move out of London. In that time, I started to hear names of places I had never heard prior as people started exploring how to get more for their money, especially with wfh.

As a parent myself who was stuck in London with a young child and who has always wanted to get a better house and more space, I started thinking about doing the same and interestingly, I ended up doing some research about where to move to. However, I quickly realised that what I thought would be an easy thing, in terms of finding money and taking myself out of London, became more of a hassle due to the difference in opinions.

For example, as someone who has never lived outside of London and who did not have any particular experience of an area but wanted what could be the best, I started visiting places and learning about them as well as relying on the knowledge of you guys, I rapidly started knocking out the areas I thought, were nice.

I visited Leicestershire (Fleckney, Loughborough- east leake) derby ( Littleover) and Grantham. However, when I asked opinions on this platform, I was surprised with how many people did not recommend these areas.

Now I am at a fixed because I desperately want to move and I just do not know which of these areas is best as the views of people have made me even more confused.

I have seen properties in all these areas which I like but I am sooo scared about making a mistake of taking my child away from what he likes and putting him in an area which may not be good.

As earlier mentioned, neither of these areas are of particular interest because I do not need to be around family as non lives in these areas. I would just like a nice, safe area where we can settle and where we would not stand out soo much as a black family. Also, secondary school is important as my child will be starting secondary this academic year.

Work wise, I drive but access to a train station with regular service to London would be a plus. I work from home at least 2s per week.

Thank you sooo much.

So …

how much do you have to spend
how many bedrooms?
garden?
Rural, village, town, city?
what’s important to you? are you alternative, sporty, conservative, a history lover, a rambler, shopping mad?
what are your hobbies or desired hobbies?
what do you dislike about London? What are you hoping to change?

Derby and Leicester are both areas I would not move to.

Hello,

My son is very sporty- he is in into football apart from that, good school and a bit of diversity is all I am looking for.
Nice area with low crime rates.

I have no idea where else to consider. My family are in Barnsley but it's not somewhere I would particularly like to live in hence I was looking at other areas. I did consider Kiveton, Normanton etc in Yorkshire but I didn't take keen interest in those areas compared to derby, per say.

All the properties I have interest in are 2-3 bedrooms between 220-245k.

Thank you

I think you need to post this in the property/DIY forum and I think you need to put diversity, low crime rate and your budget closer to the top of your post.

I have lived in both Grantham and not far from Derby and, as an adult (with no kids), found both those areas to be really quite dull.

low crime rate and diversity? ...........

Littleover is nice! Derby in general is a multi-cultural city. Littleover community school is very good. You can get to the Peak District easily and into Birmingham if you want a larger city. I don’t know what’s not to like really.

Thanks a lot for your comment. A friend has also suggested Hilton? It's definitely going to be Derbyshire now but my friend thinks Hilton should be considered? I have not been to Hilton so not sure what to compare it to.

Thanks

Littleover is definitely nicer than Hilton. Allestree is also nice, but I’m not sure if the house prices might be a bit higher. Mickleover which is next to Littleover might be worth a look too - I think it’s also in the catchment for the good secondary.

I actually would happily move to quite a few parts of Leicester, research required of course but you can tell from the variety of house prices which areas are the most in demand and therefore 'nicer. Diversity, amenity, good transport links, and decent schools (again, research required but there is a good option for many parts of the city).

Alternatively, have you looked at Newark? Good value housing and excellent transport links as well. I really don't like Grantham but I'd struggle to explain why, I just don't like the feel of the place.

If I had to pick a part of Leicester btw it would be Evington! Close to greenery, also close enough to town, good schools, handy village centre but Evington Road going back into town direction was always buzzing when I used to frequent the area (uni!).