Recommendations needed -- most ideal place in Cumbria / Lake District area

[reisende]

Hi,

Husband and I have made up our mines to move from Asia and back to the UK (for him). We are a family of five, husband is British and is tired of corporate life here as an expatriate. Kids age 9, 6 and 4 (this year). We wish to live a simpler life, with beautiful countryside, slower pace of life, etc.

Always my dream to live in the Lake District, never been to this part of the UK, but been reading forum posts on this area -- Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Bolton le Sands, Carnforth, etc.

Our requirements: Good state primary schools for the children, just not too uncomfortably small. Prefer a detached house, budget about 200k-250k, but could be stretched a lot to up to 700k if pooled together with mother in law (bigger budget is great but would need e.g. an annex /separate living accommodation for her). Obviously we would prefer a small house of our own, but I am aware 250k can't get us any charming cottages.

Area has to be safe, also preferably welcoming! :)

No need to be near any cities for work/commute, will be mostly working from home.

I read that Kirky Lonsdale is fantastic -- I am looking into it. Any other recommendations?

Seems like there are many good schools too in Lancaster, but not sure if it's best location if we want some countryside.

Extremely apprehensive making this huge decision! So please help me make an informed one!

But also very excited at the prospect of living in this area - I love running, and fell running sounds about the best thing in the world but I will probably need introductory course on even basic things like what to wear we are now living in the humid tropics -- 27C all year round :|

I also think you need to further consider the weather if you found Cardiff grey and cold. The Lake District has heavy rainfall a lot of the year so can be very grey. Consider how your children will get about when they're older.

Renting first seems like the sensible option as others have said. Personally, with kids I'd go for Lancaster or one of the larger places inside the National Park.

All those places you list are in Lancashire with the exception of Kirkby Lonsdale which is in Yorkshire !
Having said that they are on the border of Cumbria so perhaps that is what you are looking for ?
If you are wanting to be more South Cumbria so you are near those places , then take a look at Ulverston, which is a great place to live . It has lots of independent shops , great cafes , easy access into the actual hills, and mountains / lakes for walks yet 30 minutes away from the motorway.
Another nice town is Penrith which sits nicely between the Lakes district national park and the Pennines , again good access for the M6. Kendal is good as well. If you are looking for a good grammar school , take a look at Sedburgh . Lovely village and right in the border of Cumbria / Yorkshire so you have the best of both worlds.

Ulverston, small town, can live in town which makes it easier for kids being independent but 5 mins to beach,15 to Coniston, outside National park which is cheaper/less restrictive.

Kirby Lonsdale is similar.

Penrith is nice.

I live in the area just south of Kendal and would really recommend it. We are outside the National Park, so prices are reasonable, but it's near enough to get into the Lakes easily. Near the M6, so easy connection ls to other parts of the country. Also near the Arnside and Silverdale AONB, which is beautiful, and not too far from Lancaster either. Kendal is a nice little town too.

Sedbergh isn’t a grammar school, it’s a private boarding school.

OP I think the suggestion of renting AirBandB’s in the areas is the best. Things can change in quite a short distance in these towns and villages. I’d agree that some of Lancaster is great but there are also some real areas of deprivation too and the grammar system can screw you over if your kids don’t pass and you aren’t in one of the better catchment areas. You really need to do your research well!

But don’t be afraid to branch out to other areas too. There are lots of great areas across Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire. I’d have loved to raise a family in the Skipton area for example and we also considered Clitheroe at one point.

MyPIL and SIL both live in the South lakes. My SIL lives in ULverston right beside the ferry landing at the bottom of Lake Windermere and PIL about 20 mins away in Lindale. My neice ( 10 years old) is in an excellent state school nearby. Lindale is a lovely village, very pretty and very reasonably priced, my PIL live in a lovely 3 bed cottage with a beautiful garden that they bought for 180 thousand about 5 years ago. 5 min drive to Grange over Sands. Again very pretty, lots of shops, bars, cafes etc. Big park, estuary and lovely long promenade. Big doctors surgery there too.Better public transport links here than a lot of places in the Lakes as theres a train station there too.

If you are looking for a good grammar school , take a look at Sedburgh .

Isn't Sedburgh school private, not a GS?

@ErrolTheDragon

If you are looking for a good grammar school , take a look at Sedburgh .

Isn't Sedburgh school private, not a GS?

and spelt Sedbergh

Another vote for just south of Kendal. Good schools and loads to do and lovely countryside. Is not cheap though.

Definitely rent first.

@JesusAteMyHamster
Thank you. I’ve put Lancaster back on my list!
Air bnb for few weeks wouldn’t work as we’ve got three young kids and probably will be entering schools for them mid terms. Eeps.

@ErrolTheDragon this is amazing. Thank you so much for the link and help. 🙏🏻

@RainingBatsAndFrogs yeah 😅 I’m really not sure how I’ll do with the weather in the north , or anywhere in the UK, actually. It’s sunny all year round here and incredibly hot where we are now, which is precisely why I’d love a change!!

Thank you @BoKatan and @TheCumbrian. I so want to move there now, your recommendations are so sincere! Sounds amazing. Will look into these areas.

@Lightsabre

I also think you need to further consider the weather if you found Cardiff grey and cold. The Lake District has heavy rainfall a lot of the year so can be very grey. Consider how your children will get about when they're older.

Renting first seems like the sensible option as others have said. Personally, with kids I'd go for Lancaster or one of the larger places inside the National Park.

Yes you are right. I do worry if the climate will be an issue. But, even with the seagulls and grey skies in Cardiff, I still loved it! But London then seemed better, perhaps I lucked out on weather in Spring and London was all blue skies and sun when I visited.

In any case, does it then get summery in summer? Does it rain for days on end?

Thank you ALL soooooo much for the recommendations and help and tips!

Just to add:
I’m not all that into the beach/sea, so proximity to the sea isn’t that important to me. I much prefer hills and mountains and rivers.

We actually do have £700k- perhaps £800k in total for our own property and holiday let cottages and rental, so those listing on Rightmove are terrific. Will look into them.

I am totally open to other parts of the UK, just not familiar with the counties, so yes very much open to Yorkshire, Lancashire, etc! In fact it is one of my dream to visit Yorkshire dales; to live nearby would make very happy indeed.

I don’t mean I want to live IN the national parks — just very close to them is good enough.

Thank you!! I am soooo grateful for all these recommendations. It’s precisely what I needed. I’ll look into all of them.

In any case, does it then get summery in summer? Does it rain for days on end?

It really does rain a lot. All year round. The annual rainfall in the Lakes is literally double what it was where I lived before in the SE of England!

Sedbergh is a lovely place - near to the Lakes but also on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. It would be a fantastic place to live! But, as previous posters have pointed out, Sedbergh School is a private boarding school, not a grammar school.

London and the SE is much drier than the northwest of England, there's no getting away from that. Well, there's a saying, no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing ... lots of goretex.

The coast near Lancaster and a bit further up isn't really great beaches anyway - more estuarine and Morecambe bay, great for bird life though and there are some nice coastal walks in the silverdale/Arnside area, with fantastic views over the bay and the hills - the Lakeland hills to the north, the Yorkshire Dales and the unmistakable profile of Ingleborough to the east and the Howgill fells between.

I'm afraid that you will see a lot of rain in any of the places you've mentioned. Borrowdale in the Lake District is said to have the highest annual rainfall in England. The North West of England in general is pretty wet and yes, I'm afraid it can rain for days on end even in the summer. Not every day of course (we have beautiful blue skies today in fact) but it is undeniably a wet part of the world.
As a general rule, the East of the country is drier than the West and it's a bit warmer in the South, but there isn't really anywhere in Britain that has reliably good weather I'm afraid.
It doesn't bother me, and I think it's beautiful even in bad weather but then I've never lived anywhere hot so I'm used to it. I would imagine it would take a while to get used to it if you are used to a very different climate, but there are benefits too. The high rainfall is why it's so green here, and the water in all those lakes has to come from somewhere!

The high rainfall is why it's so green here, and the water in all those lakes has to come from somewhere!

When we came up here house-hunting, we got chatting to a pub landlord who spotted us looking at house details. I said to him jokingly "I don't know what people are on about, saying it always rains here. Look at that sunshine!" And he replied with a slightly gloomy expression "Those lakes don't fill up with sunshine, you know ".

Kirkby Lonsdale isn’t Yorkshire... it’s post town is Carnforth and it’s council is South lakeland (Cumbria) it’s close to the border of Lancashire/Cumbria and Yorkshire but it’s not in Yorkshire, it was formerly the county of Westmorland

OP, what I love about summer in the lakes is the long, long evenings (compared to where I live). In midsummer, sitting out at 10pm and there still being light in the sky.

(Dark before 4pm in December, though)

We have holidayed in the Lakes for years and years - I would always look for a cottage inside the National Park. They fetch a premium and get very booked up, so do consider holiday rental values.

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

OP, what I love about summer in the lakes is the long, long evenings (compared to where I live). In midsummer, sitting out at 10pm and there still being light in the sky.

(Dark before 4pm in December, though)

We have holidayed in the Lakes for years and years - I would always look for a cottage inside the National Park. They fetch a premium and get very booked up, so do consider holiday rental values.

Super helpful. Will look into cottages to purchase for holiday let’s then!

And you’re all selling it to me! I so want to move there now.

One question about rain: ok, so it can rain for days on end, and totally agree the lakes have to be filled up somehow! But what is the rain intensity like? Heavy, such that one can’t really go for walks without umbrellas? Or just persistent but soft enough to head out with a waterproof jacket?

I live in S Lakes. If you want to PM me, OP, I'm happy to have a chat. I know the local schools very well and I've lived in a few different places along the Lancs/Cumbria border area for many years. Also an incomer, so perhaps perspective is different to natives.
Yes it's rainy, but it's not absurd and you'll be fine for the most part with a decent waterproof coat. It's not as cold here as other parts of the UK either. I think a lot of people complain about the rain in the Lakes because they've come for a holiday/day out but if you're living here and most of your time is spent in work or at home day-to-day, you won't notice as much. For the last 4 days here it's been bright sunshine...

One question about rain: ok, so it can rain for days on end, and totally agree the lakes have to be filled up somehow! But what is the rain intensity like? Heavy, such that one can’t really go for walks without umbrellas? Or just persistent but soft enough to head out with a waterproof jacket?

I'm living just a little south of the area you're looking at (close enough DD went to LGGS). I've been out walking nearly every day since the start of January last year - it's a tiny minority of days I've not walked because of rain, I've hardly been rained on at all and only caught by hard rain once or twice. We do check the weather forecast - it's not that often it rains all day, and in normal times there's often variation by area whether it's raining or not.

I find the weather forecast here very unreliable. It often rains when it says it's not going to! We go out walking every day too, but we have a big dog who needs walking whether it's raining or not! It's true that it doesn't often rain all day, but a remarkably hugh high proportion of days have at least some rain. It does vary a lot across the area though. The mountains and the proximity to the sea make a big difference.

Heavy, such that one can’t really go for walks without umbrellas?

I think I've probably only used an umbrella once in the 7 years I've lived here. You only really see people using them in town centres, shopping streets etc. In the villages and out in the countryside people wear waterproofs. People on walks don't use umbrellas!

Umbrellas just don’t work in open areas or in quite a few of the towns!

Umbrellas are useless in wind and an encumbrance in woodland. A goretex jacket with a decent wired hood is much more practical.

Near Workington here, easy access to national park but also right on the coast £220k for good size 4 bed detached house with decent garden. Lovely local primary school. Glorious sunshine right now, I really wouldn't let fear of bad weather put you off - it rains everywhere. And there's no shortage of outdoor shops here to buy decent waterproofs. I love living here and it's great being able to access the national park outside of peak tourist season and not have to pay the premium prices for living in it. 40 mins drive to Ennerdale/Crummock/Bassenthwaite. 60 mins to Wasdale or Ambleside. Cost of housing dramatically cheaper on the coast. Cumbria is wonderful for raising adventurous outdoorsy children