Strongly considering stepping off the relentless merry-go-round that is living in the south east, for a move back up north.
Not had a formal job offer yet so this is fairly hypothetical at this stage. but its something my partner and I have been thinking about for a long time.

I used to live near Bury for a few years and thoroughly enjoyed the “grim north” so a move back up wouldn’t be that terrifying!

We’re looking at the area north of Bowland, between Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale, but north of Lancaster.
Anyone from round these parts? Any advice on where to avoid!? Info on schools (not needed yet, but worth knowing) social life, MTB/road cycling groups, etc etc?

I’ve read the “relocating from Lancaster for MTB” thread, so assume its a bit of a desolate wasteland for MTB unless your a bit further north than there?

We’d be looking to rent initially while we sell the house down in Sussex, but this should give us a lump of money to use as a deposit.

Thanks all,

Dicky

I used to live in Lancaster and you’re right, it’s a bit crap for MTB from the door but you are only a 30 min drive from the south Lakes. It’s very good for travel links (M6, West Coast mainline) and the new Heysham link road at J34 has taken out a lot of the previous city centre traffic.

Can’t really help with the rest of your post though!

I spend a fair bit of time north lancaster/south lakes. Depends on your work really, if you re a doctor or dentist and the move does not work, then you can easily afford to go back. However, for the rest of us the move north is pretty much one way. I d be tempted to try it for a year as a year out of the southern housing market can be v expensive.

Looking at historic house price performance in the lakes, compare it to london….you have to be pretty confident the move suits you or you are stuffed.

Bog Trotters are the local MTB club.
Pretty active all over the NW

APF

What pool man says.
We have no end of customers whose parents moved have away from Surrey and now can’t afford to move back.
My parents sold a 3 bed semi in Surrey and bought a 3 bed in Devon plus a holiday bungalow to let out.
Coming back 20 years later the 2 Devon properties bought a small 2 bed bungalow in eastbourne.

It’s a nice area – the possible future need for schools would (for me at least) place you pretty close to either Kirkby Lonsdale or Kendal, and I’d plump for Kendal for the thriving outdoor scene, Lakes riding pretty much from the door and shopping facilities.

Depends where your job is, and how ‘rural’ you want to go, really.

I love Sussex. What’s not doing it for you?

—Thread resurrection—

slimjim, I love Sussex but my other half is from Lancs, we’re looking at getting married and want to be able to buy a place where we can give our (to be arranged) children a similar upbringing to the ones we had. I’m from farming stock so grew up in some pretty nice surroundings, and Nat’s family used to own a smallholding near Ramsbottom.
It’s just too bloody expensive down here, and while we’ve got a good group of friends we’re not able to make the most of them as I’m just too busy at work. When we do find spare time we tend to drive 4-hours up the M6 to the lakes/dales to walk anyway, so it would save a drive if we could move!
I appreciate that moving would likely be a one-way trip, and a potentially huge lifetime earnings pay-cut, but there’s more to life than being rich, especially if you don’t have the chance to enjoy your hard-earned!

zippykona and poolman, I’m a vet, so if it all goes belly up we could move again and come back down towards the south. I haven’t been offered the position up north yet, but it looks a cracking job, similar salary, more holiday, better quality of life and a slightly less insane out-of-hours rota (I’m current on a 1 in 2ish summer weekend rota (March-September) which is wearing a little thin.
I need to be sure I’m moving for the job, and not the location, but there not a lot I don’t like about the idea at the moment.

My other half is works in the NHS so again, is pretty flexible with location, and can locum for as long as she needs to find the right job. Apparently Preston is a good hospital, but to be honest if needs be Manchester is not that far away on the train if she want to work at the Children’s Hospital there.

What we’re looking for is a detached house (well, maybe no immediately, but thats the intention!) with decent access to walking, MTB and road riding. Would also need to be able to walk a dog straight from the door as we can do that at the moment and it would be a pain to lose that luxury!

I’d be going up first, and into rental for the time being, so there’s no rush to find somewhere to buy!

As APF said, Bogtrotters would be the recommendation for the MTB group covering that area.
Members all over NW. A lot in Lancaster area specifically.

Riding from the door ain’t great in Lancaster area but you can be in South lakes within 30 mins.
I’m Preston-ish area. Riding from door is again not that great but close enough to Lakes & Calderdale to be riding either within the hour.

I’m a firm believer that one should have no fear when it comes to moving around/relocating. In your situation, with similar wages on offer and strong existing ties to the north then its a no-brainer. Give it a go!

You’ll likely have a higher LTV ratio on your next purchase so the only financial ‘concern’, as such, would be seeing houses in Sussex potentially rising in price at a faster rate than the equivalent up north. I fear that Brexit is already eroding some of that difference. And besides, what would make you think you’d be desperate to come back to Sussex/down south at any point?

Quality of life wins every time. I hope it works out for you, good luck.

This thread interests me because Mrs Gti and I dream of doing the same except from Lancashire to Scotland. If you’re a vet and the job interests you, go for it. North of the mill towns and the Ribble Valley there is some stunning countryside although to the west of the Bowland Fells you are often in earshot of the M6 because it started life as a series of unconnected bypasses. Around Carnforth you hit limestone country and the villages look lighter and prettier, so around Silverdale and the Yealands is lovely. The land is mostly agricultural with not many opportunities for mountain biking but the road cycling is unsurpassed. Carnforth is on the main West Coast railway and has services to the South Lakes; we have taken the train out then ridden back on the Sustrans route with assistance from the westerly wind. There are some fascinating places for road cyclists along the flat coast, the whole Wyre area, Glasson Dock, Sunderland Point, etc. If you fancy diving there’s an excellent quarry centre at Over Kellet.

Nothing much to say other than I think Kendal is a really nice town

if towns flick your switches