Just move to the foot of the Quantocks and live a happy life. 8)

I had to for family reasons.

Luckily it meant the Highlands of Scotland. Mountainbike nirvana and nice people.

come to wales bach its tidy 🙂

Purbeck/Dorset. Some top riding down here.
Mind you houses aren't cheap!

Welcome to Bristol where its ace. 😛

Thanks for the suggestions and help.
It does have to be the SE, we have family in W Sussex.
If I wanted to live near loads of biking I would stay here 😆

Anything between Salisbury and Horsham seems to be the main thinking point at the moment, though we only intend to rent at first. Maybe a little biking holiday to check the area out:)

I went for a ride in the Surrey Hills in the "overpopulated" SE on Sunday. Apart from the group of 6 I was riding with, I must have seen no more than a dozen other riders all day…

I was in the Yorkshire Dales on Saturday gone, up above Gouthwaite Reservoir. On my own & I never saw another person all day!

roper,

You may recall our conversation via Email regarding a career choice. Hants Constabulary are recruiting throughout 2010 as I understand.

All the best.

Welcome to Bristol where its ace.

And bike theft rates are horrendous…

When are you thinking of coming? Happy to show you around Salisbury area if if you want.

Sunny East Dorset. 1 1/2 hrs hours drive or train to London if you must, enough work, Purbecks, big riding scene, seaside, new forest for family camping, cream teas etc.

There's a reason loads of people come here as soon as the sun comes out :-).

In the south I've always thought Dorking must be about right, Leith Hill about starts about 200 metres away, town is quite small, pretty and fairly safe from development (Green Belt, Surrey HIlls AONB etc), lots of decent pubs, yet close to M25, trains to London, Heathrow and Gatwick, the coast. Its just very expensive but great off road and on road rides right on your door step – no need to load the car up nonsense.

Surf-Mat – Member

Welcome to Bristol where its ace.

And bike theft rates are horrendous…

Yes they are, mainly because there is such a big riding scene here (great trails minutes from the city centre, plus great road riding), so plenty of top end bikes around to nick. It's not a reason not to move / live here.

For 'city living' + riding on your doorstep + access to lush countryside + great cultural buzz = I'd say Bristol. I miss it greatly.

(Provided you ignore the bicycle theft, mentalist traffic, ludicrous property developments and cheap heroin…).

Edit: "It's not a reason not to move / live here" – absolutely.

Purbecks or Chi me thinks….

Everywhere else is way too far from the sea. And you will just get bored of the London overspill Surrey snobs anyhow…

The UK is extremely crowded per square mile compared to most other countries. If you are looking for miles of rolling space then you will find less and less of it here – huge numbers of green spaces/large gardens were getting in-filled in villages and small towns due to the last governments 'build build build' policy. Also its a bit like being on holiday abroad if you walk round the shops, as so many people no longer speak English as their first language even in smaller towns. The impact of such rapid immigration has put a lot of strain on some public services including education. Its nice to have a variety of people, but I dont think it has been planned very well. If you have kids, education policy here is not great either as priority is given to results for the school and its image, rather than the children themselves being put first, so a lot of pressure can be put on small children. I saw the other day that even children in infant schools are expected to do homework every night. A friend says there is more pressue on children here than he was aware of when living in Japan – and Japan used to be considered quite harsh educationally. There seems overall a lack of awareness of longer term consequences in our governments and policies – everything seems 'quick fix now' with no consideration about what the effect will be on people in 20+ years time. I don't know if I would choose to move here, which is a sad thing to be able to say.

wow I did not knew we had griffin on here…

New Alresford (near Winchester) is a nice area. Loads of riding from the door. The downside is the traffic due to tourists and of course it is ever so snooty. 🙄

I only spent a short time living there but do actually miss it.

Would avoid the pubs in the vicinity, they cater for a certain type and mountain bikers don't fit their criteria!

Bridgwater in Somerset. It's a dump so houses are cheap [apologies to the resident bikers]. But it's adjacent to the Quantocks, Exmoor and the M5. Perfect for dirtbag MTBers.

Is this knarly enough for you (Mendip):

move to the uk and you'll spend the remainder of your life wondering what the hell you were thinking when you made that choice.

however difficult life gets abroad – and it can get iffy – it's still x10 better than broken britain. because it really is broken, and they don't have anyone there in a position / smart enough / sufficiently motivated to fix it.

however difficult life gets abroad – and it can get iffy – it's still x10 better than broken britain. because it really is broken

Really? We still have a very decent standard of living in this country by world standards. Put down the Daily Mail.

Move to the lakes. Hope to get a job and live there in the next 10 years.

Where on earth are you negative people living?

What path have you chosen in your careers?

If your not happy please get the **** out….because I am tired of whingers like you putting this fantastic island down.

Head off to NZ where they are fed up to the back teeth of having another negative pom arrive in their work place.

Bridgwater in Somerset. It's a dump

Slight understatement.

however difficult life gets abroad – and it can get iffy – it's still x10 better than broken britain. because it really is broken, and they don't have anyone there in a position / smart enough / sufficiently motivated to fix it.

Utter horsesh!t. This is a great country to live in, it's got a lot of problems for sure, but I'm in no hurry to get out.

Shut the door behind you ro, there's a good chap.

remember this comes from ro – who's stuck out in some sweaty corner of SE Asia

His opinion on anything really is close to worthless

i wouldn't go back to blighty unless it was to retire (i'm nearly there) i work in IT and in london you can get a salary (permanent) of about 65k per year. that sounds like a lot but…
-houses are expensive, but ridiculous
-london is very violent (i was mugged 3 times)
-your children will have to go to knife & glue sniffers college with at least half who either dont speak english or speak a kind of english that you cant understand
-food is crap (a whole aisle of crisps in the supermarket…)
-…and expensive, if you pay less that 25 squids per head in a restaurant it is going to be from the microwave
-the weather is… miserable
-cultural poverty, gippos, teenage pregnancies, teenagers on the street getting wasted

obviously there are really nice places in england and i really miss dorset, but the salaries are in london.

i am staying here in barcelona!

i am staying here in barcelona!

Thank f*** for that

i wouldn't go back to blighty unless it was to retire (i'm nearly there) i work in IT and in london you can get a salary (permanent) of about 65k per year. that sounds like a lot but…
-houses are expensive, but ridiculous
-london is very violent (i was mugged 3 times)
-your children will have to go to knife & glue sniffers college with at least half who either dont speak english or speak a kind of english that you cant understand
-food is crap (a whole aisle of crisps in the supermarket…)
-…and expensive, if you pay less that 25 squids per head in a restaurant it is going to be from the microwave
-the weather is… miserable
-cultural poverty, gippos, teenage pregnancies, teenagers on the street getting wasted

Yeah, London's expensive. And it rains. But the rest of what you write is utter crap.

I spent 13 years in or very near West London and loved the place. Moved to Ireland for family reasons, got home-sick, flew back and… don't want to be there anymore really. Too noisy, too violent, too overcrowded. I'm staying put in here, it's only an hour from London and planes fly every half hour or so.
SE wouldn't get my vote, Dorset would. Have a chat with Rusty, he'll surely tell you what's good about there. And you can still drive towards London in no time.
Good luck!

Yeah, London's expensive. And it rains. But the rest of what you write is utter crap.

+1

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Everywhere is good and bad.
There are some lovely things about living in this part of Spain and we are certainly not thinking about moving because the life here is not a good one. We will miss it and will have to make regular trips back to see friends and just to be here again. It would not be an easy thing to do but moving back to the UK is quite exciting. Whenever we have had holidays in the UK we have loved it, well maybe not the cold, and it too could be a good place to live.

To those who are unhappy where they live, why not do something to help make it a nicer place?

Deluded- Thanks for the heads up. I will watch the web site for the next up date.

RichPenny- We are not sure when we will be over, we are trying to sort a few things out and waiting for a few dates to be confirmed. If it’s OK with you, I will drop you a line when we have a date and see if you are free?

Get yourself up to Ingleton, Yorkshire Dales. It's grand up ere !

Hills hills and more hills. Good off and road riding. Lakes 35mins away. Scotland 2 hrs, Wales 2 hrs. Finished work the other day and rode up the Ingleton – Hawes road, off at Ribblehead and back over the tops to Ingleton, fab. What was the question ?
Wouldn't move down south, southern softies 😯

Andy.

Whenever we have had holidays in the UK we have loved it, well maybe not the cold, and it too could be a good place to live.

Careful basing your opinions on holidays – they're not "real life": you usually have more money, friends and family are looking forward to seeing you much more, you don't have to go to work…

Andy Mac: if he wanted somewhere thirdey worldey, big hills and full of people that talk weird I guess he'd stay in Spain 🙂

+1 What midnighthour said about the move in general, although I would move back, you can always move again.

Wouldnt live up north though its grim, cold and generally bleak, south any day.

The best offroad biking in the SE of England here in the Surrey Hills. Great gastro pubs & restaurants. Beautiful countryside. Cultural life of a great city on tap nearby 24/7. Rail links to anywhere else that's good to go to – Wales just a short trek away for the best offroading (arguably) in the U.K. For what more could you possibly ask?

And if summers are now going to be like this? Wow.

^^^^
THIS

EDIT: but property ain't cheap!

Defo move up north… (southern area are too flat (for mtb ) anyway…
north is best ( you've got the fantastic Yorkshire Dales- very scenic, The Lake District (abundance of hills there) and not forgetting my home town(and the home of Singletrack magazine…its tiny but its full of rolling hills (im very lucky to be surrounded by rolling hills in all directions.and nearby 'Lee Quarry'…perfect…

Wouldnt live up north though its grim, cold and generally bleak, south any day.

Yes, everyday in "The North" is like a combination of Angela's Ashes and Wuthering Heights.

…But we struggle on with our access to fine rural areas for evening rides and strolls.

As an expat Northerner now living darn sarf…

Im sorry but apart from the riding ( which lets be honest isn't our entire focus in life)….why on earth would I ever want to live back up North??

Im sorry but apart from the riding ( which lets be honest isn't our entire focus in life)….why on earth would I ever want to live back up North??

People are friendlier, less pretentious, less money-obsessed, and less Tory 😉 – it's cheaper, less crowded, more beautiful. Those will do for now.

Why live up North ehh ? Sat at home looking over the moors with the only annoying sound being that of a chain saw in the distance ( chopping wood before you ask ) Off to work this aft, steady drive, no waiting at junctions, no problem parking, no hassle.
The only time I venture anywhere further South than Preston is for the annual summer trip to the South of France. M6 nightmare, M42 nightmare, M25 nightmare, you then get charged to go over a scratty bridge with the pleasure of smog city below, run to Dover so-so.
Down through France, no problemo. Return journey ? yeap you guessed it !

Andy