Yup. Went from Sheffield to Edinburgh about 8 years ago. Left all my family & friends, moved up with the then-girlfriend/now-wife and had an absolute blast. Met great new friends, rediscovered biking, got good jobs, had a baby. That made us take stock. Cities are all well and good if you want the party lifestyle, but we're past that now. So we're a month away from moving to our dream house out in the sticks in Fife. 4 bed picture-postcard cottage for the price of a 2 bed flat in a reasonable part of Edinburgh, glorious views, great schools, beaches, hills, greenery, and 5 minutes from the mainline to Edinburgh/Aberdeen for our jobs. We've both experienced village life in the past, and realised that's where Wee Ox is going to have the best childhood. It was a no-brainer.
Moved when kids were 7 and 9 from Bucks to Herefordshire. I was sick of working in London and our village was about to become aylesbury overspill with 900 new houses planned (which never got built but...). We wanted to be in a rural location but with close-ish decent schools and - natch - great hills for MTBing 🙂
Considered Somerset/Bath/Bristol/Peaks/etc but ended up here as I could work in Brum. Kids were fine, no real issues there at all. Lifestyle is exactly what we want. Riding is awesome. Only thing we'd look at again is we moved to a tiny hamlet with no facilities so now kids are 12 and 14 we're basically running a taxi service most nights.
When I'm old and decrepit, I'm moving 6 miles to Ledbury as there are loads of really good pubs close together 😉
No regrets here. A lot of it for me is not having to work in London but overall it's been a fantastic experience.
