I’m unsure of the title of this feature already. To some it may sound as if we’re emigrating, or at least perhaps moving to a different country within the UK. Actually we’re not doing either, but a few weeks ago we made the decision to move far enough away from where has been our home for the last decade, to make it feel like a significant change.
As some of you may know, we’ve been trying to move house for almost a year now. We initially sold our current property in May 2015, for over the asking price, within a week of it being on the market. We were quite naive in thinking we would find the family home of our dreams quickly and almost five months later and without even getting to the stage of putting in an offer on something half way suitable, our buyers unsurprisingly pulled out.
We have a list of “must-haves” and a list of nice to haves but also areas we’d be more than willing to compromise on – we would be more than prepared to take on a project (although mainly along the lines of extending/cosmetic work rather than complete re-wiring and replacing an entire roof) and we felt than up until recently, our search area was fairly expansive.
We live in a sought after area of the West Midlands, great schools, excellent access to motorways, every conceivable amenity and yet it is all rather pretty, green and “rural”. The village next to ours has frequent trains to both central London (an hour and 30 minutes) and Birmingham (25 minutes) – so it’s commuter friendly too. Apart from an 18 month stint in Derby, I have always lived in the same area, my parents live five minutes away, James’s Head Office is a fifteen minute drive (on a bad day!), Mabel’s nursery is literally at the end of the road and many of our friends are near enough for a night out to cost less than a tenner in a taxi.
I guess it’s easy to see why initially we were so keen to stay. And after making wise investments in property over the years and working extremely hard to save for the “forever” family abode, we just kind of assumed that by now we would be at least choosing bathroom tiles and enjoying the benefits of considerably more space. Instead we have very recently re-sold (hooray!) and are almost back to square one with the search.
Our first major hurdle has been how much we love our current home, it’s very light, we are both fans of period features (it’s an Edwardian semi, built in around 1905) and it’s very VERY quiet. Our master bedroom backs onto a school playing field, so the views are lovely too. Essentially we are looking for the same house only well, bigger. And detached if possible. Within a school catchment area. Not on a main road. Preferably with a shop and a pub within walking distance. And at least enough parking for two cars. And a decent sized garden….Hmmm. Can you imagine the look on Kirsty and Phil’s face if we were on Location Location right now? It would be frown central. Because actually, perhaps we’re not that willing to compromise at all.
The biggest hurdle has been the quest for the era/style of home we’re after. Anything from the 1930’s onwards then there is a wealth of choice, anything built before that then it’s open days where you’re jostling with 25 other families to look at the downstairs loo and bidding wars at dawn.
After many a frustrating viewing – the last one before our decision to ironically, compromise on the location, ended with me walking into the hallway, wanting to cry and walking straight back out the front door again, we decided at that point something somewhere had to give. And that was the where bit.
It started with a house in the Cotswolds. Under budget (more on this later) and ticking almost every box imaginable. It would be an hour commute for James, we would have to change Mabel’s nursery (not necessarily that simple), we would be moving even further away from James’s family (they live in Cheshire) and we would no longer be close to my family and our friends. Commuting anywhere would be no where near as easy and straight forward as it is for us now, in terms of either of our jobs and associated commitments.
But the villages are stunning. There are some excellent schools. And the houses are beautiful. Cotswold stone with original sash windows? That. Essentially we could live very comfortably in a house we love without mortgaging ourselves up to the hilt. In the area we live now we were struggling to even view places we thought were “ok” at our very maximum spend capacity. To give you an idea on the pricing difference, our current home has sold for £410 a square foot, we are looking to buy at around £200 a square foot. A lot more for your money as they say, at least we have been getting lots of money from the dream jackpot games.
I won’t go into too much more at this stage as I don’t want to jinx anything but will definitely be sharing any updates and news. I’d be really interested to hear any stories about those of you who have/are considering moving out of your “comfort” zone (I can’t even begin to imagine the reality of those of you looking to buy property in London and the surrounding areas) and how you found it.
If everything goes according to plan life is going to be different, it’s going to be a lot more about country walks and outdoor activities rather than a trip to Selfridges but I’m really excited and ready to embrace the change. Also, I’ve always wanted an excuse to buy a really posh pair of wellies…..
All of the above images are from my instagram, I’ll be sharing our home buying and decorating journey if you fancy a butchers.
Oh Charlotte. Sounds like quite a journey! While there’s not much for me to contribute to the discussion, Gavin and I have started looking into areas to buy in Scotland for the Great Return Home of 2017 (less than a year to go!) and it’s HARD to tick all the boxes. Probably because everyone’s so busy trying to tick the same ones.
I’m also slightly infuriated that 3 bedroom houses are being put on the market as 4 bedroom houses claiming there’s a downstairs bedroom (aka the dining room) *eyeroll*. Cannot wait to see your (eventual) beautiful new home and hear all the stories that follow. Sending you some love and Irish luck!
Ha ha Naomi, my house would fall in that category – we’ve got a bedroom downstairs (but we have a dining room too). It was slightly off putting on the particulars but our budget didn’t stretch to a having another one upstairs and in the end there had to be a compromise somewhere. Guests seem to quite like having their own downstairs space so it’s worked out okay x
I know what you mean – it’s where do you draw the line? as Lauren said below, she has a dining room as well so her bedroom downstairs is a guest suite (with bathroom) where as many I saw were definitely not – I said to one estate agent “But isn’t this just another reception room? couldn’t I say this was a five bedroom house then if you stuck a sofa bed in the lounge as well?!” Ridiculous.
Thanks for the Irish luck – we may need it! xx
A downstairs guest suite sounds ideal for us to be honest, we’ll have family staying from Ireland regularly, so having something on the ground level would certainly suit. We’ve definitely been keeping an eye out for the kind of configuration you have Lauren.
But we were recently looking at one advertised as a 4 bed and when we asked where the fourth bedroom was they showed us a dining area still connected to the living room by a large gaping arch in the wall! To me, that does not a bedroom make.
I’ve also seen a few such advertised as 4 bed, but with no breakfast area in the kitchen, so if you use the dining room as a bedroom, where exactly are you supposed to eat? (says she whose toddler refused to eat dinner anywhere but in front of the tv tonight).
This is our life right now, we sold our home at the beginning of Feb and our buyers need to complete before the end of March, so we made the decision to go ahead and move in with my mother in law until we find the perfect family home. The last time we sold it was for considerably less and the sale fell through because we couldn’t find anywhere we liked in budget. So with major trepidation we’ve got a 12 month time frame (self-imposed for sanity!) To find somewhere. Our search area is small and that doesn’t help, so I think you are so brave to consider such a huge move. The worst part is that our two year old Effie now says “mmm home, my home” pretty much every day when I pick her up and take her home. Feeling guilty much! Good luck x
Oh Liz! Mabel said this as well! We have so many memories here, even though we need to move we will both be so sad to leave. Good luck with finding a new family abode x
How exciting! Me and my husband (then boyfriend) made the move from London to Brighton about 6 years ago now but it was a whole lot more straight forward for us then-no children, it’s commutable to London for work and we were renting at the time. Basically we got a little tipsy in the Brighton sunshine one weekend and decided to move! We found a flat we could rent month by month so if we sobered up and realised we made a huge mistake it was an easy get out. 6 years on we’re still by the sea- we got married, we’ve bought a house (that took a lot of viewings and a complete 360 on what we thought we wanted (over priced super cute/tiny Brighton terrace) to what we actually needed (spacious 1930s semi)) and are expecting our first child. Admittedly our initial move down was very very easy but even with my extended commute I feel I have more of a work/life balance than I ever did in London. I love living by the sea and having the rolling South Downs on my doorstep. Good luck with the move – can’t wait to hear the updates x
Sophie what a super decision, I would love to live near the sea, one day we hope to buy a little bolthole on the coast somewhere x
Ooh, Sophie, my boyfriend and I are contemplating doing just this! He’s finishing his PhD, which means his funding runs out in a few months, and with him patching together part time work our London rent just won’t be affrodable without us both having reliable full time incomes. Plus the stress of London life is getting to us.
So we are thinking of packing up and moving to Brighton! I’d still be commuting to London, so I’m glad to hear you think it’s worth it, even with the longer commute. Hoping we love it as much as you do!
I can highly recommend it! You get the buzz of a city plus the sea plus the beautiful Sussex countryside. If your working in London, the commute length (and price) is something to consider but on balance it has worked for us.
House hunting is tough! We made the decision last year to find our forever home and it’s been quite a journey.
We decided we wanted to move out of the city I’ve always lived in to the country where you can get more house for your money. We also decided to ask my Dad to come with us as he was living alone.
Two house sales later we moved from our 3 bed semi, via my Dad’s house, to our beautiful Victorian farmhouse in June last year. We still wander around it pinching ourselves that this is our home.
We only moved around 30 miles from our old home to get what we wanted but having never lived anywhere else it was definitely out of my comfort zone. It’s the strangest thing to go to the local shops and not know anyone! Definitely the best thing we’ve done though, I’m loving exploring our new area and finding things to do.
Sounds wonderful Joy, it’s little things for me like “Where will I go to the hairdressers?!” sounds silly but when you add all the familiar little bits together it will be quite a change. I think perhaps James and I are being a little idealistic but we really like the thought of Mabel being more in the countryside – she loves the outdoors x
I recently moved in SE London, initially in our search I would only look at Victorian terraced houses, fixated on the need for a feature fireplace! The search covered our favoured area and a couple of neighbouring less desirable areas. The reality of the search was that we could only afford the period property we wanted in our 2nd choice area, and after viewing about 40 properties, one of the agents encouraged us to view a 1970’s property, which I had previously ruled out even viewing due to it not being in my preferred style. The 1970’s property, was in the location we wanted next to transport links, friends, family etc. The space in the rooms, storage space and the bonus of its own mid century “features” including original parquet flooring, and an open staircase resulted in this being the house we purchased. I guess this is the opposite outcome of Charlotte’s decision, we compromised on period of property over location, but if you really really don’t want to change location, you could be surprised with what you find in properties out with your preferred period…..good luck with your search! Xx
Laura I love a parquet floor! And I absolutely agree on compromising on the actual property for location if you can , we have tried really hard to visualise properties that are not exactly what we want as how we would have them, it’s just the associated cost and the amount of work that have been our stumbling blocks so far. I think we have just been unlucky in our chosen area, perhaps if we’d have started looking a year earlier there would have been more choice x
Moving house is one of those awkward and slightly stressful experiences – hope you find the house of your dreams! It’s always the initial adjustment that is hard to face, but you’ll make a life you love no matter where you are. Instead of a cup of tea at your parents’, they’ll come and spend quality weekends with you. It’ll be different, but doesn’t necessarily have to be less amazing! We’re in London, but our next move will be out of town for sure. Who knows where..? 😉
Krishanthi you you are absolutely right, we will simply have to be more organised with our weekends, and because we can afford much more space we’ll be able to accommodate our friends and the kids too! Good luck with your move! x
Oh Charlotte sounds just like us, we live in a house we adore but we need more space. Where we live is expensive and moreover the sort of property we want to move to are few and far between! But our family and friends are close by, I need a crying in the hall moment I think to clarify matters, I think! The prospective house and location sound amazing and has really made me think what we need to prioritise as a family! Thank you 🙂
Pleasure Charlotte, it wasn’t an easy decision – it’s taken us almost a year (!). As I said to Krishanthi above, actually we may see some of our friends more – as now we can invite them and their children to stay for weekends as we have more space, it will be a new area for us all to explore and enjoy.
I played down the crying in the hallway above, I actually then had a full on dramarama melt-down in the car afterwards as well… 🙂 x
Well I grew up in the Cotswolds and whilst at 16 I was screaming get me to a city! it was a great place to grow up, with some excellent schools and I am very grateful that I could live there for so long. Since then we have lived in London,Hampshire Devon and now finally settled on the edge of the Cotswolds. Being further away from my family was tough but I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Good luck with it all!
Wow Emma you have moved around! And so funny you have ended up in The Cotswolds where you started…but why not? as you said, such a lovely part of the world x
Good luck Charlotte! My parents live in the Cotswolds (…just) and I love escaping back there for country weekends. You can’t beat walks in your wellies that end in country pubs. On moving Mabel….if it helps, when I was 6, we moved to another part of the country and my brother and I were so angry we went round the house leaving notes to the new owners saying they were ‘mean for making us move’, but I always consider the house we moved to next my ‘home’ and I’m so glad my parents gave us an idyllic upbringing, just like you are creating for Mabel. xx
Oh Sian what a lovely comment. It’s Mabel that worries me the most out of everything, she seems so settled at nursery and is very fond of her Grandad (who essentially can pop round whenever he fancies, and erm…often does!). But she is still so small, I’m hoping the move won’t be too much of an upheaval x
Loved reading this Charlotte! Can really resonate with the whole “kirsty and phil would be frowning at us” hehe
Andy & I started looking for houses last year but we took a while figuring the place because we needed to be equi-distant from both parents. (Mainly for my parents benefit) so we quite literally dree a line and landed on the areas we would look at, funnily enough some of the most expensive in the UK. We sobbed, then actually went to view some… But we had a long lost of requirements, one being, a period property with beams. Yep. BEAMS. I wanted them.
We struggled to find soemthing we could barely afford in the town we initially looked at and started to get a little lost. So we stopped, had Christmas and sucked up the idea that maybe we wouldn’t find a “wedded bliss” house. Then last month, I expanded our search by a few miles and out of the blue I spotted something “totally unrealistic” in Old Amersham. It looked too small and even said driving in the M25 traffic, if we miss the viewing, no big deal, it probably wouldn’t work for us.
We got there, and oh my goodness. we fell in love it’s simple to say. All our long list of “do not compromise on” were blown out of the water. It really took us by surprise!! It’s a 16th century terraced house, with rubbish parking, gorgeous beams, a “3rd” *cough* box bedroom and a studio in the garden! We viewed again the next day with my sister and her husband, a couple we value and look upto… Just to make sure we were tricking ourselves. Then Monday, made an offer which got accepted!!
It’s a bit mental how fast thins are moving, but we’re hopeul that everything goes smoothly. Obviously with it being SO old there’ll be issues and the parking isn’t ideal but for what we want as our newly wed home, it ticks one happy smile box off the list.
Already planning the cosmetics changes and looking at furniture guides on here 😉
Hope your house hunting goes okay C! I’m excited to hear and see where you’ll end up!!!!
Wow Sundari your unexpected purchase sounds amazing! Particularly the studio at the end of the garden, perfect for you!. The house in the Cotswolds took us by surprise in that it’s Grade two listed, not something we considered before but we definitely would now. I think you hear all these horror stories around the age of homes and the work involved sometimes when actually when you do your research, it can be much more manageable x
This post could not ring more true for me. I’ve been keeping my eye on the market for nearly a year and it astounds me how expensive ugly houses are, George Clark has got his work cut out! We’ve been living in a great area of London for going on 8 years and bought our flat 4 years ago, which we love but is not suitable for raising a family, and I want to bring children up with more space and greenery. We’ve set our search on Hertfordshire as most of our friends and family live north (Yorkshire and the midlands) and we need to be able to commute to London, ideally in less than 50 mins door to door (my husband is in the city). However, Hertfordshire truly must be the most expensive place outside Mayfair. My search has extended to Essex and Berkshire, even looking at some areas of Surrey (lovely houses and more for your money) but so far away from family which will be difficult when we do start a family. And I love living in London and having Franco Manca at the end my street, but crave a bit of countryside, peace and fresh air…..and a lottery win!
Lindsay, we’re going to be in the same predicament as you this time next year – looking to leave London for some greenery but needing to be close to the city for commuting reasons. I love the idea of Hertfordshire but it’s so ridiculously expensive. I thought it was meant to be easier when you sell up and leave London?! We’re debating Essex now for links to Liverpool Street, but I think I would still prefer Hertfordshire for purely snobbish reasons! I will miss Franco Manca too….
Sian, I completely agree. I’m from Yorkshire and cannot see myself living in Essex at all but I really want a forever home of a decent sized square footage. I stated looking at Letchworth Garden City as the style of housing is lovely but I think it’s just that bit too far of a commute. I’m currently fixated on Bushey near Watford. Husband is holding out for something in Berkhamsted but we’re almost priced out of that area for the type of house we’re looking for…..And the scary thing is once you sell up in London you’re instantly pricing yourself out of the market….there’s no retuning!
Oh good, I was worried my Essex comment would come across badly! Have you looked at Old Moulsham in Chelmsford? It’s the old part of it and the houses are victorian (well, ‘old’, no actual idea about the time period) instead of the typical modern houses so I quite like the look of them. Bushey seems like a great shout – we need to be on the Moorgate or Liverpool St line I think. Makes everything tricky. Good luck with your search! x
Arhh…. Lindsay I grew up in Berkhamsted and at the time couldn’t wait to escape but I see it with completely different eyes now and we’d love to go back and put down roots. We’re almost priced out too which is such a shame as my parents would love it. Hang on in there….I really love Berkhamsted now! x
Lindsay…check out Rutland! Its only 50 minutes to London KGX which is easily commutable into the City if you get off at Moorgate and its Georgian country living! And the house prices are BEYOND reasonable. Plus the schools are some of the last “proper” state Grammar schools in the country.
You could easily buy a 4-5 bed house in grounds for the same price as a two bed flat in Zone 2.
I grew up in the Cotswolds and I can’t think of a better place for you three to make lots of new wonderful memories. I have everything crossed for you! x
I seem to remember you telling me Alice! how lovely – it is a beautiful place in the world x
Do you live in Knowle by any chance?!
Ha ha ha!!!! just next door in Hockley Heath 🙂 Knowle, Dorridge and Lapworth were our initial search then we extended to Henley-in-Arden/towards Stratford-upon-Avon….and now the Cotswolds!
Ha! I lived in Dorridge for 9 years and as soon as I read the ‘sought after area in the West Midlands/village with regular trains to London/Birmingham I knew you couldn’t be too far from my old stomping ground! Best of luck finding a home!! Make the most of all the good gastro pubs in the area before you leave (although I’m sure you’ll be spoilt for choice in the Cotswolds!)
It does make me do an eye roll when some folks in certain areas assume their house prices are bound to be far more expensive than anywhere in the West Midlands – someone actually said to me “Humph well, you should try looking to afford a house in the SOUTH EAST” ….Ahem, try finding a detached house in Dorridge that’s less than a million! x
Wow congrats on the house sale Charlotte! Fingers crossed all goes smoothly. We made a similar move “away” about 5 years ago – living in Glasgow in a gorgeous old Victorian conversion, all of our friends and great nightlife on the doorstep, shops (oh the shops!!) and an amazing hairdresser (still mourning this loss) a stones throw away… It was a tough decision to make but once we made it, it then felt like the easiest decision we ever made! For us, without knowing it, we moved into our comfort zone: a cottage on the outskirts of a pretty town, so much community spirit and countryside walks and views outside our front door. For us, we had to stretch the budget to get a project cottage and get suirisingly less for our money in this location, but on the point of making the move away – it’s a scary jump (our friends actually thought we were mad!), but as long as you’re doing it for reasons that mean something to you then you won’t look back! Looking forward to hearing all about it X
Maddy I have just come back from a weekend in Glasgow!!! I LOVE that city. It might even be my most favourite city in the world. We went with my best friend and her husband (he’s originally from Dundee and went to Uni in Glasgow) and every time they go they are like….”We need to move to Glasgow!!” (They currently live in Derby.) They don’t know anyone there but both feel it’s somewhere they would just love to live. And I can’t blame them either. Your cottage sounds amazing! Did you buy posh wellies? 🙂 x
So happy to hear you love Glasgow! I was more of an Edinburgh girl initially after studying and living there for 5 years but after falling in love with a boy who lived in Glasgow I ventured west and am now a total convert! And yes… My wellies may or may not have a decorative bow!!
Maddy this is my biggest fear! We currently live just off Byres Road – I’m so used to having everything on our doorstep; coffee shops, delis, bars, restaurants, parks, museums, shops, the subway… I could go on and on.
When we found out I was pregnant, my husband immediately started looking at properties in suburbia. He’s very practical and can’t get away from the fact that we could seriously increase our square footage if we moved out of the West End. I on the other hand am all about the location. The idea of living in a commuter town or the countryside brings me out in a cold sweat. I’m a city girl through and through. We did end up buying another property but it’s literally 6 streets away from our old one. Having been here for over a year now I’m slowly coming round to the idea of moving a bit further afield. Whether i’ll ever actually make the move remains to be seen!
If it makes you feel any better Lynsey, there was a recent Guardian article about how the southside of Glasgow is fantastic! http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/19/lets-move-to-glasgow-southside-tom-dyckhoff I am a little biased as we’re now living in suburban Giffnock. I grew up here, and love it, but my husband (and I) went to uni in the west end so he always wanted to move there. But you do get more bang for your buck away from the west end and there is loads to do in the southside (and a Whole Foods!) xx
I was just going to suggest the south side! That’s where we were and whilst the west end (ahhhhh Byres Road how I love thee!) has so much to offer, the south side gets you that gorgeous semi-detached Victorian house or big conversion for the price of a west end flat. Still totally doable in a taxi from west end after a night out too!
I don’t blame you Lynsey, west end is just so dreamy… But as Marianne mentioned below I think south side is definitely worth a look. Commuter towns around Glasgow would be too much of a culture shock for you after being in the west end!! No offence to anyone in the greater Glasgow area/m8 corridor but we purposefully ignored anything in a 30 mile radius when house hunting and headed up towards Stirling. An extra 15 mins commute time but worth it if suburbia isn’t your thing! But if Glasgow really is home to you… head south! X
Have really enjoyed reading your post Charlotte and all the comments.
We are in a similar position. We bought our house a 1930s end terrace in Bristol, 10 years ago and gutted it. We were child free and lived with my parents who lived around the corner for 18 months whilst we did all the work ourselves (apart from the big jobs, rewiring, heating and plastering). It was really, really hard on our relationship, we had no money and no life for a year and a half. However 10 years on it is now our beautiful family home. My children 5 and 3 spent their first days on earth in our lovely house. We love it.
However I am desperate to move!
I was raised around the corner and despite moving out when I was at uni I stayed in the same city so I have NEVER lived anywhere but Bristol. However, we live close to work. My husband is home for bedtime every night, I am able to pick my daughter and my son up from school everyday and still do 6 hours at work 4 days a week. We lost my Mum 2 years ago and the thought of leaving my Dad makes my heart hurt (but he drives me potty so do I want to live with him, next to him?!). Plus my children ADORE him.
House prices are also insane, our house has gone up £200,000 since we bought it. It would mean moving and easily doubling our mortgage repayments for a bit more space. I check rightmove daily hoping to see something that will inspire me but my husband is NOT keen to have a huge mortgage and there we are right back at square one 🙁
A lottery win would be lovely……………….
Stacy I feel your pain….My husband initially wouldn’t even consider a commute of any kind and it is lovely that he is home for bath and bedtime (it’s him that usually does this routine actually.) but we had to look at the overall picture, plus like you, I feel I’ve lived here my whole life (James is originally from Cheshire) so I am more in the mindset of “We.Need.To.Move”. Sometimes change is good, scary – but exciting.
Good luck with finding something Stacy, I’ll also be doing the lottery along with you! x
Awww Charlotte, it’s such a difficult decision, especially when you start to consider family and emotions too! For us, the decision to move to Cornwall was made when we asked ourselves the question ‘will this move have a significantly positive impact on the happiness of our daily lives?’ and the answer was yes, waking up somewhere that makes us feel happy every morning and knowing that we’re living in an amazing place for Elle to grow up is worth it. Although I really, really, really miss my family (and the free babysitting) and sometimes find it frustrating that getting anywhere is such a mission – I’m really glad we took the plunge. And as some of the others have said above, everything happens for a reason and if the Cotswolds house is meant to be – it will happen (and I really hope it does because it’s spectacular!!!) x
Fern you were the first person I thought of when I was considering a move – if Fern can move all the way from Sheffield to Cornwall not knowing a soul then what am I so scared of?!
I am a firm believer that if this house is supposed to happen it will (but I have EVERYTHING crossed it will…..) x
What a great post. My boyfriend and I got on to the property ladder two and a half years ago in south west London – with a tiny budget we had to make lots of compromises. I fell in love with Victorian terraces and we both wanted a garden – but the only flat we could afford that ticked these boxes was in a bad state and all the original period features had been ripped out! But thanks to freecycle, ebay lots of love and some elbow grease we put fireplaces back in, did the place up and made it into a lovely little home. Sadly it’s only got one bedroom and now we’re married and would like to have a family, so it’s time to move. Moving within London to a bigger place would cost us so much more money and really push our limits so we’ve decided it’s time to leave – and we’re going to Liverpool! We do have friends and family up that way but all my best friends are in London – we’ve been here 12 years and it does feel like home. I will be so very sad when we finally leave. But now we’re facing the ‘next chapter’ in out lives so going into the unknown feels daunting but also exciting. We are very lucky having a flat to sell in London, it should easily buy us a house up north – but again, the right house is hard to come by and making such a big move we want it to be perfect. We have so many criteria and I have a feeling it will be a very long process finding the right house in a very specific area of liverpool. Good luck to all of you, I really do think we will all find the perfect homes in the end!
I don’t know Liverpool at all Rachel but sounds very exciting, and great that you can sell in such a sought after area and buy somewhere more reasonable. Lots of love and luck for the move! x
Oh Rachel – the Liverpool market is so compartmentalised isn’t it? So specific in some areas down to a street by street basis. It’s good that you’ve got friends here – hopefully they’ve been a help!
It’s an amazing city though – you’ll be very happy here 🙂 xx
Hi Karen, where in Liverpool are you? We only know one person there, everyone else is in Southport and Manchester. We’re looking at Aigburth but we don’t really know any other areas and the right properties in Aigburth are quite rare! I love how friendly the Liverpool people are and how fun the city is. xx
I’m a Childwall girl, but we ended up moving out to Roby which is just on the outskirts (the next suburb along). Our compromise was needing to be close to parents but wanting more space for less money. It’s a small city though and we’re never away from Lark Lane (you need to start calling it ‘The Lane’ when you’re local!)
Aigburth is really sought after – I’d suggest not going too far into Dingle with your search. Basically start at The Lane and work upwards towards Cressington & Grassendale! I’d recommend some other areas too in the South of the city – maybe draw a line just on the edge of Garston and go upwards towards Mossley Hill, Allerton, Calderstones, Woolton & Childwall.
If you need a local opinion at all my love, I’m more than happy for you to get in touch 🙂 I’m sure the RMS girls would pass my email on or you can find me on Instagram (Swaley78) xx
I second what Karen said!
I moved from SW London to Liverpool for work 5 years ago and honestly haven’t looked back. I’m 270+ miles from my family but as Charlotte said above you end up seeing people for weekends at a time rather than just a cup of tea. (And it’s only 2 hrs back to London on the train, I may have commuted to get my haircut for the first 2 years…!)
When I met my husband he lived in a lovely flat overlooking Sefton Park but the road next to his was somewhere you probably wouldn’t want to live, so completely understand where you’re coming from, it is so tricky.
I lived just off Lark Lane (such a vibrant and friendly area) but ended up buying where Wavertree/Mossley Hill/Aigburth meet and I LOVE IT. There’s a great mix of young professionals, families and a smattering of students, green space and nice bars/restaurants and it’s only 10 mins into town.
I hope you find somewhere you like quickly, and I’m sure you’ll settle in just fine… Scousers definitely deserve their super-friendly reputation.
Ooh that’s good – I’ve been looking around Mossley Hill too. We’re still in London while we sell up but I can’t wait to get up there and properly look! Also need to find jobs – eek! Changes of career for us both from estate agency and TV to who knows what. So that plus a big move is a teeny bit stressful at the moment but I’m pretty sure we’re doing the right thing. Liverpool insider blog is fab and so many great places to discover when we move!
This is a great post Charlotte and lots of difficult decisions have been made/to be made but the Cotswolds is gorgeous and I promise, you will love it!
My fiancé and I just moved in to our first home (3 weeks ago!) and spent 9 months looking for the right house. We had both moved from London 2 1/2 yrs ago and have been living in a rented flat in Burford (heart of the Cotswolds) and due to work location and horses (mine) we had a quite specific 5-6 mile radius we were looking in so I didn’t have more than a 15 min drive (each way) to the horses in the morning to do them before work, get back home and squeeze in a shower and then get to work (an hour away) for 9am. Really, we wanted to stay in the same place but budget wouldn’t allow. So we looked at so many places, fell head over heels for a beautiful Grade II listed cottage, got outbid, didn’t love anything else, then ended up with a beautiful large family home…in Burford! The original budget was disregarded but we won’t have to move for a very long time. It is all very exciting.
Two notes of reassurance for you – firstly, my parents have moved 10 times during my lifetime and up until 18, that meant a nursery/school move each time for my brother and I. Apart from the inevitable transition of making new friends and getting a new routine etc, it always went smoothly and I now am the proud owner of lots of different groups of friends from different parts of my life and I love it. secondly, keep your hairdressers!! When I moved from London (where I had the most fab cut and colourist ever for my very thick long hair) I tried a new one locally. Ended up going back 3 times to get them to correct the colour, it was awful. So I went back to my London hairdresser and have done so ever since and have no desire to change! I am sure you will be in the area enough to have an excuse to pop back to see your hairdresser! (I know a hairdresser is probably very low on the list of priorities but you know, when you find one you like…)
xx
Ha ha ha Milly I had the same happen to me when I moved to Derby, I randomly went to a (well known and expensive) chain hairdresser on a trip to Bristol, paid for a “top colourist” and ended up with weird yellow/ginger hair. It was NOT what I had in mind.
I don’t know Burford but am going to take a look now! x
I have itchy feet in our little Victorian terrace and am ready for a ‘grown up’ house with a whole long list of must haves so I completely get what you are saying – whilst Rob is happy to just plod along with what we have (what do boys know?!). I’ve recently looked at our mortgage options and in few months we can afford to knock two and a half years off the repayments and pay the house off in full within 5 years. There are only two areas I would live in IF we stay in Derby and the prices have shot up in the last couple of years so I’m already worrying about what we can afford and should we move away completely, look for new jobs etc etc. I’ve turned into such a homebody and getting the forever home is so important to me that I feel there is a huge pressure to get it right. Does anyone else worry unnecessarily early about this??
Claire B I can totally relate to you! My husband is the same, he is happy to plod along. To be honest part of me agrees, why move when we have a 3 bedroom house with a small (ish) mortgage compared to what we would be faced with if I get the house I want. We could, if we were sensible pay off out mortgage in 5 years too. Just because the banks will lend up X amount should we really burden ourselves with it?! Plus we are also looking for the ONE when actually it may be better to have one more step and release some pressure!
I suppose I want the financial and personal security by moving earlier and having time to make a house a home. A friend of mine has the perfect in between house that would work well for us for maybe 10 years if we moved soon, but I kind of feel I would rather invest more in a house now instead of knowing it wasn’t the one.
I think I might have this joy to come in the not too distant future. It wasn’t actually that long ago that I bought my current house (18 months), but it was the result of a relationship split so I bought on my own. Although my new man has lived in it with me for all but 6 months, and it is very much ours, I am really looking forward to us being able to choose a house together. I have started a list of must haves and nice to haves, and am constantly scouring RightMove for the ideal home in our area – I think we could have a tall ask on our hands and compromises will need to be made. It’s really helpful reading about your journey to prepare me! Good luck with it and I hope all turns out perfectly and you get your dream house, I am sure you will!! xx
Hey Charlotte, Well we have just done exactly that and I’m still out of my comfort zone, about 10 weeks in! We re-located from Surrey (40 mins drive to our Cutture HQ in London) to a North Bedfordshire village (Cotswolds without the price tag, stone built houses galore, UK’s best secret for now, but always in the papers) We up-routed our 3 girls on 21st Dec last year and the 2 older ones have started new schools and an entirely different system mid year, little one is just starting pre-school, Dom has a 1.5 hour commute but works on a direct train for an hour, and I’m trying to figure out how the hell to get into the studio! Now everyone else is sorted it’s my turn, we now have in laws nearby for the first time, so they have Isla once a week so that’s when I’m in London, then I’ve set up a home office until we open another workshop up here in Bedfordshire. It’s been a massive change but everyone is so friendly, schools are great and I just need to find my groove. Yesterday I had a melt down wanting Surrey shops and to be closer to work, but that was gonna happen, the fact is, hopefully in a year we can buy a 5 bedroom house and it’s got half a chance of being stone built and in beautiful countryside with a half hour train journey to St Pancras….plus the toddler will be at a far easier age enabling me to get more hours in again. I do however need to get a cleaner for the first time ever, these 4 bedroom houses create extra work 😉 My advice, do it, we have always lived away from ‘home’, Surrey was 10 years for us and we made great friends who I miss, but now they come and visit and I have places to go, you will always meet like minded people and once you have done that all is alright in the world. I’m hoping anyway! Good luck xx
OMG I just ranted about myself! Sorry! I think go with what Fern says, if it’s going to have a positive impact on your daily life do it. We needed extra support to help make our business grow (we are about to receive proper investment so the fun really begins) but I didn’t want my kids not to have me around, so you have to decide what is right for you and your situation, which will change over the years too. Apart from that it also comes down to finances, we just couldn’t afford to buy what we now need in Surrey, and couldn’t keep up with the Jones’ which makes you feel crap, so that was that!
Go with your gut and what will make you happy x
Helen bless you, and I only have a 3 bed house and I have a cleaner….”Super Sue” 🙂
I’m glad your move is going so well and everyone is so friendly – exciting news for the business as well it seems!
The funny thing is, what we can afford in the Cotswolds very well could be our “forever” house (4 bed, 3 bath – I can’t imagine us needing anything bigger) where as we assumed our next jump would be say anywhere around 5 years then we would move again.
I’d be happy to move just this once more…and stay there for a LONG time providing we love the area we end up in, I find moving so stressful, planning a wedding in 4 months was a doddle in comparison! x
If you can do Cotswolds then go for it, it’s so lovely there, it would’ve been my choice if we were in a different place with the business. It sounds perfect, go for it I can totally see you there with Kate Moss 😉 X
Errrr…sorry this is no help whatsoever but can I ask where your dining room chairs are from please Charlotte?!
I wish you all the luck in the world with your move and look forward to hearing all about in future posts! xx
Hi Lois! They are from Cult Furniture xx
Oh Charlotte I’m itching to see more of the new house! From what I have seen, it’s stunning, and of course it’s slap bang in Jilly Cooper territory.
It sounds like a huge change but if its right for you then embrace it. I love what Fern said too about asking yourself that question – go for it! It might be further away from family, but it’s still close enough for visits and it gives the perfect excuse to have people over for parties.
And yes, start shopping for a pair of Dubarry boots pronto.
Best of luck, I hope everything goes smoothly for you all xxx
I would love to call it “our” house Karen but until we’ve exchanged I don’t count on anything, we are hearing of so many sales falling through at the moment for one reason and another….I’m crap at the waiting game as well.
You will be the FIRST to know if it does come off though – I’ll be asking your advice on hues of boots so I can fit with Jilly Cooper ideal 🙂 x
We went through such a simar thing. We moved from harborne where we both had a 15 minute commute to work, friends and family close by and a whole heap of bars and pubs on our doorstep, then moved to Bristol and finally made the move to a country cottage in a little village on the outskirts of the Cotswolds called twyning. Best decision ever. Socisl life now revolves around our fab local pub (that we can walk to), dinner at friends houses in the village and the kids having lots if friends in walking distance. It feels like such a lovely place to be living this part of our life oh and within weeks of moving here I owned hunter wellies, a Barbour jacket and a chocolate Labrador! You’re going to love it. xx
Katrina how idyllic! very jealous indeed x
Hi Charlotte – such a shame you can’t extend your current home (I think you talked about this and why it wasn’t do-able in a previous post) as it sounds like it’s a dream home in a dream location apart from needing that extra space.
We stretched ourselves to buy in St Albans about 5 years ago now (just before prices went absolutely beserk) having rented in North London before that. We love our house and the location but now need more space – whilst it’s a 3 bed, one of the beds is in the basement which makes for a perfect guest room (used often) but not so practical as a child’s bedroom and with plans for baby no2 on the way, we could do with an extra bedroom plus some more living space. After unsuccessfully hunting for a 4 bed locally, we decided to stay put and extend so works start soon to go in to the loft and a small ground floor extension on the kitchen, making that room a kitchen diner, freeing up the current dining room as a second lounge/playroom. It will still cost us less than stamp duty would have done had we moved! Not looking forward to living through the building works with a toddler who is in to EVERYTHING but i’m hoping it’ll all be worth it come the summer.
Good luck with the Cotswold property – my absolute favourite part of the country hands down. Can’t wait to hear all about it in due course xx
Hi Anna!
The extension thing was a possibility but we would only ever of had a 3 bed 2 bath with an extra reception room – we couldn’t extend the (very small) hall and due to building/council requirements we would have had to take some of the garden to make the driveway bigger…or something or other (we had an architect draw up some plans/give advice). It just didn’t seem worth it for us unfortunately.
Yours however sounds fab, make sure you come back and tell us all about it! x
Great post and it has clearly hit a nerve! So many good comments to read through. We moved to East Devon 3 years ago, after a totally not thought through process. We knew 1 person- my cousin- in the local area and it was a wrench to leave our friends in Southampton. But we adore our bonkers farmhouse and have amazing neighbours plus a great village primary. It’s certainly a far cry from suburban Herts where I grew up. The original plan was my parents would move into the farmhouse one we had converted the barn… 3 years and one baby later we have only just got started with the barn… Luckily they are patient!
I am really looking forward to seeing the transition to Cotswold living- I would love a bit more rural lifestyles on the blog too, fancy wellies for the win! ?? Good luck.
Lucy I do recall someone saying they would like to see “more country pursuits” (!) in our survey. None of us do any of these…..unless I do move of course!. I think I may need some tweed.
“Bonkers farmhouse” sounds ace, here’s to a more rural lifestyle! x
Oh Lord, that was probably me…. I didn’t expect you to take the survey results this seriously!!
Of course we do, I am moving JUST so I can fulfil your request 🙂
Congratulations on the sale of your house, I hope it all goes through nicely! I am also currently in the process of selling my house up in Manchester, so fingers crossed that goes through without too much of a hitch now we’ve accepted an offer!
We made the big move from Manchester suburbia to life in the country in Kent 2.5 years ago and it’s still taking some adjusting! Matt got a new job down here so we up’d sticks and found ourselves a rental property near the main town we wanted to be our main base.
We didn’t know the area at all so we thought it best to rent for a while before deciding to buy (if we wanted to buy at all, after all Matt might have hated his job!!) but now after paying someone else’s mortgage for all this time, we really want to find our own place. Plus the house is no longer big enough for us, now that we are a family of 4, with J arriving one year ago yesterday! I have no idea where to even begin putting all his birthday toys!!! I am seriously craving space and am fed up of not being able to put my own stamp on this place. So we are on the hunt for something too! I know we will have to compromise on something to get the house we want and it’ll probably be location.
When we lived in Manchester we literally had everything on our doorstop without ever having to get in a car, pubs, shops, parks, public transport, restaurants and now we are in a lovely little village which doesn’t even have a shop and I have to get in a car to do anything! I have to say I wondered what the hell I was doing down here as I am a city girl and do love the convenience of things being close by but slowly over time I am appreciating what we have. We have beautiful fields at the bottom of our garden, we have a cricket pitch and park across from us (which Isabella calls ‘my park’), a lovely village community where they raise funds for the children in the village to have a Christmas party and a present from Santa each without us having to pay a penny! So there is a lot to be said for country living! Ideally I want the country living but with amenities close by but I think we’ll have to move slightly further out to be able to get the house that we want and the countryside too!!
I wish you all the luck in your search and can’t wait to see it once you’ve found it! xx
Inga good luck with your search, the property market is crazy bananas at the moment but it does sound as though you made the right decision moving to Kent.
And I know what you mean about all the toys…we’ve had to move some into the loft as there simply isn’t space, Mabel hasn’t noticed yet thank goodness! x
This post rings true! We have lived in the Hampshire area due to work for the last 9 years. Our families live in Shropshire and Kent and the alternate weekends spent on motorways are becoming such a drain. So we sold our house to move nearer to one of our families but….we can’t agree on where and have ended up renting by our sold home in much poorer quality accommodation. I’m desperate to show my OH the enjoyment of rural Shropshire but he is scared to move so far from London, so we live in limbo wasting money on rent! I say just go for it, nothing is ever permanent and most times things works out better then you would of thought. It’s human nature to always dwell on the negatives!
Lucy I meant to put that in my post actually – what’d the worst that can happen? you dislike living there so…move back!
I have my fingers crossed you get to live the rural Shropshire life soon x
Loved reading this article – and all the comments! It sounds like there are some gorgeous homes amongst RMS readers, how lovely 🙂 A bolthole by the sea is the dream one day. I grew up in south-east London, hubby in Bucks. At the moment we’re starting to consider moving away from our home of four years (in a sought-after road in Surrey – seriously, we get letters and even people knocking on the door offering to buy the house! Basically it’s a little private gravel road with teeny tiny 1900s houses so is one of the only nice ‘affordable’ roads in the area). It’s the first house we’ve owned – lovely period features, no houses facing us, parking for four cars (frustratingly the parking space is the same footprint as the house, just on the other side of the gravel road!), commutable for hubby to get the train into central London (if it weren’t for this we’d be in Cornwall like Fern) and me to drive further into Surrey. But we’re hoping to start a family next year and it is just so small. And the walls are disappointingly ‘thin’ (not what you’re thinking – the elderly neighbours’ TVs can be heard at all hours, it drives me crazy). We’ve had to do a fair bit of work to it and just have the bathroom left to go. I think hubby is finding the thought of leaving difficult after all the sweat and tears he’s put into it, but with it being a two bed and both parents now in the Midlands, with the thought of a little one we really do need a third (/fourth) bedroom and there’s no way to extend here without losing the back courtyard garden. Like you, the issue is where we can afford the space – how I wish property sites had better filters so that you could search for ‘light, detached period 3 beds in Surrey within a mile of a station into London on a quiet road with a green view’! Have you seen the programme ‘Ugly house to lovely house’ I think it’s called?! I was interested to watch and the one I saw really transformed an ‘average’ house but the spend seemed… a lot. Apologies for the long post – fingers crossed for you Charlotte! On a separate note – don’t worry about not living close to friends. Some of my closest friends are from university up in Liverpool and it’s so lovely to have whole weekends dedicated to catching up x
This post feels so relevant to me too! We have sold our London flat and are moving up to Harrogate North Yorkshire to be nearer my family. We’ve been married nearly a year now and want to start thinking about a family. So scary making the move though…anyone else done the London-Yorkshire move?? Xx
Hi Charlotte, I have recently moved from where I have been for the last seven years(Lincoln), to a small town where my husband is from (Grimsby) ; yeah some of it is really shitty and run down, but every town has that right?! after having our daughter who is nine months old, I suddenly had a feeling that we needed to move to a bigger house and start putting those proper roots down. We quite simply couldn’t afford the ‘dream house’ in the area we had been living, and so looked further afield. We luckily found this quite frankly amazing house that ticked all the boxes and was literally half the price of what we would have been paying in Lincoln. Queue putting our house on the market and moving here within 4 weeks(how did that happen). I can’t help but feel it’s been the right move. Although I’ve felt hugely uncomfortable, been sad and homesick, had dramas over walls nearly falling down, electrocuted by the poor wiring in the house; I know it’s for a good reason. I wish you luck in finding your dream home and hope you end up being as lucky as I feel. Xx
Ps.would post photos of the old and new house. But I’ve no idea if I can do that! Haha xx
As you may know, we moved to Sydney (having neither of us ever been there before) and then to New York on a bit of a whim and when I got pregnant decided that the UK was the right place for us to be for a while, but wanted to invest our hard earned cash in buying a property – we’d had a gut’s full paying over $4.5k a month on rent for 6 years (Sydney and NYC – bloody expenny!) – it seemed bonkers to do that at home with baby… So we looked on google maps and Google Earth – plotted an area and in one day I viewed 12 houses within good commutable distance to London, for that country-esque feel/do-able for work. These were towns/cities/villages that neither of us had never been before either! Do you spot a pattern… I fell in love with our current home and our current location (Esher) – we bought the house and moved in only 3 weeks before Baby was born – my husband never saw the house until we moved in….!!! This is a long ramble with two key learnings (I say that ironically – learnings isn’t even a word and it’s just such a d**kish thing to say) – 1. Trust your gut – you won’t be wrong. 2. Although buying somewhere is expensive – it actually doesn’t need to be “forever” – think we can put loads of pressure on us when we try and think about the forever (kinda like choosing our GCSEs at 16 years old for our career) – I’m sure that goes against every financial advisor’s advice but within reason obviously allow yourself the wiggle room to change plans. We still plan on moving countries in 5 years time and will think about what to do with bricks and mortar at that time. It’s amazing to have roots now, but doesn’t need to be forever!! Your relocation sounds amazing and will be awesome – new pubs to find, new walks to discover, new favourites to make. Good luck on the house move xx
I really enjoyed reading this post Charlotte!
We moved from London 10months ago for very similar reasons. With a growing baby boy we just needed more space. It was such a difficult decision as we absolutely loved our London life but it was something we had to do for our family. We now live in a little village outside stratford upon avon & absolute love it. Don’t get me wrong it’s been tough, I cried for the first two weeks everytime Ted talked about home & his friends from nursery. There’s also been times when I’ve felt lonely & have really missed London. However it was definitely the best decision. Teds now really settled in a new nursery & we have a lovely home with so much more space (still couldn’t afford the dream home but we’ll get there)!! We love stomping around in our wellies & the gorgeous country pubs. As long as I have my boys I can be anywhere! Wishing you lots of luck in your search Xx
Good luck Charlotte, a new house is always so exciting!
I have moved so many times in the last 10 years! We have lived in Derbyshire for the last 4 years due to my OH getting a new job in the area. I quit my job and we moved over this way. We live an hour and half drive away from all of our friends and family, and it has been really tough to be honest. But we finally feel ‘settled’ and have made some new local friends.
We are now married and planning our next move.. As we have both got new jobs elsewhere. We currently both have to do an hour drive to work (and 1hr back) every day & for the first six months it was all grand but it is really dragging us down now unfortunately. We see less and less of each other and we are so tired and grumpy when we do! So we are looking to sell up and move again to be closer to our new jobs. We both thought we could hack the commute, as so many other people seem to manage it, but we just can’t! Our working days have turned into 12hour days, 5 days a week and life is just too short to be so exhausted all of the time. So we hope that the next move will give us a much shorter commute enabling us to spend more time together. We live in a beautiful Victorian semi now & will most certainly not be able to afford anything as nice in the new area, but we have hopes that we can turn an ugly house pretty (on the inside at least) and it’s worth a little extra work if it means we will be happier and see more of each other.
I really hope you guys find that pleasant work/life balance X
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