Where to live in the UK - The Bear and Badger

JonB

I'm thinking of moving back to the UK, probably around 1.5-2 years from now, and seeing as my wife and I both work from home, we can pretty much pick our location.

Due to the rent costs and our modest budget, we're thinking of heading North. Maybe Yorkshire or as far up as Northumberland, where you get more for your money. Scotland is probably too far away from family, unfortunately. We'd like to be near a city - York, Leeds, Newcastle, perhaps - but it could be a small town, as long as it's a decent area. We're open to alternative ideas, too. Is there anywhere not North that would be worth considering and doesn't cost silly money?

Or, to make it a more general discussion, where would you live if you could pick your spot in the UK, regardless of budget?

GooberTheHat

There are areas of Devon & Dorset that dont cost a fortune and are incredibly beautiful. Not much in the way of big cities but you have Plymouth and Exeter in Devon, and Bournemouth and Dorchester in Dorset.

What's your rough monthly budget for rent?

Matt_82

I would choose somewhere on the coast. The east coast of Scotland has loads of lovely fishing villages. Not sure where the English equivalents are but that's where I'd be aiming for.

Gremill

The North East is pretty great, both for being near a decent city (Newcastle is wonderful) and having access to gorgeous countryside and the coast. House prices are, like your say, very affordable compared to most of the UK.

There's some lovely small towns within easy travelling distance of the Toon, but there's also a fair amount of parochial, backwards and deprived villages (think Royston Vasey without the charming surrealism) with their fair share of cunts.

North Shields, Gosforth, Consett, Lanchester, Corbridge, Wickham, Rowlands Gill - all decent places to live within easy distance of various sized cities.

Gremill

Matt_82 wrote:

I would choose somewhere on the coast. The east coast of Scotland has loads of lovely fishing villages. Not sure where the English equivalents are but that's where I'd be aiming for.

The Northumberland coast is stunning.

RamSteelwood

Cramlington is where the cool people in Northumberland live. Not as posh as Morpeth, not as radgie as Blyth, not full of mackems like most of the places grem mentioned

Blue Swirl

An old uni mate and his wife bought a nine bedroom house in Morecambe for £NotALotComparedToTheRestOfTheCountryForABogStandardFlat. Upsides - they have board games room and a Lego room, as well as an office each. Downsides - it's Morecambe, as well as being Morecambe.

Moot_Geeza

Sounds like a wise move.

acemuzzy

May I suggest the London Borough of Enfield? Truly Eden on Earth.

Wookienopants

I would stay far away from most UK cities.
Far too close to people means that rents are higher and people are everywhere.

acemuzzy

That's my bluff called :-(

LivDiv

I'm going to resist saying anywhere specific but I'd say the North in general over the South.
The South is absolutely insane for house prices, which is well known but prices for other stuff in general are also much higher.

I would avoid anywhere that's a tourist trap. You'll have 6 months of people everywhere followed by 6 months of miserable, bitter locals.
Unfortunately, because Tories, a lot of these places can be really grim once past the veneer of ice creams and sunny weather.

LivDiv

Wookienopants wrote:

I would stay far away from most UK cities.
Far too close to people means that rents are higher and people are everywhere.

I'll put you on the Isle of Skye and be done with it in a minute.

JonB

GooberTheHat wrote:

There are areas of Devon & Dorset that dont cost a fortune and are incredibly beautiful. Not much in the way of big cities but you have Plymouth and Exeter in Devon, and Bournemouth and Dorchester in Dorset. What's your rough monthly budget for rent?

I do like Devon - used to go on holiday there when I was a kid - but it's probably a bit remote. I thought Dorset might be a bit pricey, but I'll look into it. I did my first degree in Bournemouth, and it is a pretty big town at least.

I think we'd like to get a decent 3-bed for about £1200 a month, if possible, although we might be able to stretch a little higher. Obviously if we could get something for closer to £1000 that would be ideal.

JonB

RamSteelwood wrote:

Cramlington is where the cool people in Northumberland live. Not as posh as Morpeth, not as radgie as Blyth, not full of mackems like most of the places grem mentioned

My wife had her eye on Morpeth, of course. Posh, you say?

RedDave2

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Sounds like a wise move.

This post deserved better. Brought me a little sunshine.

JonB

Gremill wrote:

There's some lovely small towns within easy travelling distance of the Toon, but there's also a fair amount of parochial, backwards and deprived villages (think Royston Vasey without the charming surrealism) with their fair share of cunts.

Yeah, another consideration is avoiding cunts, especially racist cunts. Don't want to end up in some frothing flag shagging enclave.

monkey

That's England out then.

monkey

And Scotland and Wales.

LivDiv

Yeah I wouldn't put too much weight on how an area votes or who their MP is.
I've lived in Tory areas, Labour areas, Tory areas that moved to Labour, and now Labour that went Tory and will likely go back to Labour.
It's a mixed bag of how people are day to day which is what matters.

Naturally some places have a gammony odour and are to be avoided but most places voting doesn't define how it is to live there.

poprock

LivDiv wrote:

Wookienopants wrote:

I would stay far away from most UK cities. Far too close to people means that rents are higher and people are everywhere.

I'll put you on the Isle of Skye and be done with it in a minute.

Skye is massively overrun with tourists and has been since the mid-2010s. Locals hate it. So many visitors that their roads are in constant gridlock during the summer.

Blue Swirl

Genuinely not a trolling answer, but what about Ireland? Not Northern, the bit still in the EU. Slightly higher standard of living, and a low population density.

Facewon

Same here. We're an hour out of Melbourne in a tourist area. The racism and general insularism is a noticeable change from inner city. And yes, January holidays turns me insular and complaining about outsiders. And I've been here a whole 20 months.

Still, not being in suburbs/city/crowds and having nature and stuff close is amazing.

jdanielp

If I had to move back to England, I would have Berwick-upon-Tweed near or at the top of my shortlist, although that is only based on a handful of short visits. I don't think I would ever move back to Preston, where I grew up (long-term, at least, but I may end up moving back temporarily to help my aging parents), but I would definitely consider Lancaster. Other than that, I could move to Hastings since my brother's family live there. I'm currently thinking about moving out of Edinburgh to East Lothian (Dunbar?) or The Borders (Peebles?), or maybe even Perthshire (Pitlochry?), but it is really difficult to imagine leaving the city behind...

poprock

This might sound like a dumb question Jon, but what’s the reason for moving back? Knowing why might help us recommend suitable spots.

LivDiv

poprock wrote:

LivDiv wrote:

Wookienopants wrote:

I would stay far away from most UK cities. Far too close to people means that rents are higher and people are everywhere.

I'll put you on the Isle of Skye and be done with it in a minute.

Skye is massively overrun with tourists and has been since the mid-2010s. Locals hate it. So many visitors that their roads are in constant gridlock during the summer.

We'll cryo-freeze him during the summer months, he'll like that.

Wookienopants

I would

nick_md

GooberTheHat wrote:

There are areas of Devon & Dorset that dont cost a fortune and are incredibly beautiful. Not much in the way of big cities but you have Plymouth and Exeter in Devon, and Bournemouth and Dorchester in Dorset.

What's your rough monthly budget for rent?

We moved to Dorchester (well, Poundbury) last summer as we wanted to get out of the big city with young kids, and the wife's parents are just about to move here. We really like it, Dorchester is small but very nice, enough of your essential shops and if you want bigger city things you have Poole, Bournemouth and Southampton not far. Even London is an easy albeit longer trip, direct train into Waterloo in 2.5hrs. Not quick for sure but the train isn't busy and I'm happy to sit and browse my phone on the odd times I need to go into the office.

We're close to the coast too and access to lots of great countryside. We rent a smallish 2 bed + box room and whilst ultimately will end up moving back a bit closer to the SE and something bigger, we're happy here for 5 years or so.

EvilRedEye

nick_md wrote:

We moved to Dorchester (well, Poundbury)

is everything a pound??

nick_md

There are no pound shops in Poundbury.

acemuzzy

There are, they're just all underground

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