Why do you live where you live?

Born in Melbourne, grew up here and did degree (Science) here. Spent a year in Canada (lake louise and Waterton national park) as a ski bum, moved back to finish degree, off to Canberra for a Ph.D., Wageningen (holland) for a research job, left when contract finished and relationship broke down. Moved to london for another research contract before retraining as a teacher (longer holiday, much more fun and explosions). After 8 years in London moved back about 30 minutes from where I grew up, dragging my english wife and kids back here. Teaching at a school where mates went when I was young. Living by the river with lots of good riding nearby.

Shropshire born.
Moved to Preston (uni)
Then Birmingham (also uni and later work)
Then London
Then a brief sojourn in France
Then London again
Then Taiwan
Now Leipzig, Germany (for the foreseeable future 8O)

Sadly I left behind a large and very close knit small town community that I had built myself a well loved position in over the last 20 years..

Wow! you built an entire town and community.

0-6 dundee
6-24 village near dundee
24-28 dundee
28-? different village near dundee

Wow! you built an entire town and community.

with my bare hands and the stuff that the everyday folk leave behind..

Because my wife is an only child who wants to live near her parents. It’s been a disaster!

0-3 Lewisham, south east London
3-18 Bexleyheath, south East London
18-20 Southampton (Uni)
20-26 Bexleyheath
26-31 bit of a nomad, split between southend and Bexleyheath
31-34 Southampton/gravesend – split between second stint at uni and Girlfriends
34-37 Gravesend
37-present day (39) Farnborough Village – near Biggin hill airport

We moved here as its near my other half’s job, and we wanted our kids to go to the village School, we’ve given up a lot to make it happen, as 4 of of us are currently ‘existing’ in a tiny 2 bed bungalow – if we moved 3 miles down the road we could have a 4 bed detached house, but I like Farnborough….

Born in Banbury, moved to Gloucester ’cause of dads job, when I was teeny been here ever since.

S’ok really, Bristol not far away, Welsh hills, can think of worse places.

Born in Plymouth in the front room of where we lived & I lived in that house until I was 28.

My job moved me to Launceston so moved to a small town in Cornwall just over the Devon/Cornwall border & I’m still living there 22 years later even tho job is now back in Plymouth & ironically less than half a mile from where I was born 🙂

I love living in Cornwall in the countryside, I’ve got some great riding from my doorstep, Dartmoor is only 15 miles away & Bodmin Moor only 8 miles. I get to commute across the Tamar bridge in the Summer & I don’t want to move anywhere else.

essex lad born and raised. buggered off to Oz for a year when i was 19. met the German GF there. whilst i was there my folks moved from Thurrock (think Lakeside shopping centre, but not the new build area, but the shitty area behind that towards Tilbury) to Chelmsford as it is where my mum was born and lots of her family still live.

getting a place of my own didn’t seem to make financial sense so i built a mini-house/large shed in the folks garden.

moved to Germany back in early 2008. spent one year living in Lindau – a very picturesque town situated in/on Lake Constance with alpine riding on the door step.
got bored of work so went upto live with the GF in some ADW (arsch der welt) town on the border to old East Germany whilst she was completing her studies. bit of a backwater really.

now in Munich, the GF’s hometown, and really like it. i was here often over the last ten years and always liked the feel of the place. it is just pleasent. the alps are only a short train ride away. the river Isar in summer is jam packed full of lurrvly lady students being all german and half naked. there is some fun riding to be found along the river. there isn’t loads of dog poo lying around like in other german cities (Berlin!). i don’t feel bad if the GF is walking home late at night on her own, whereas i couldn’t say the same if she was walking home at night in Chelmsford ( :?). the GF found a proper job here relatively quickly and i’ve found a niche for myself as a scenic technician (chippy/screwer of things wooden) in the colder months and i work as a guide in summer when the other work dries up.

life’s alright.

Early years – Watford
Study years – Coventry
Only post uni job I could find – Cambridge
I think this April will be my 9th year in the area, riding obviously vastly lacking but then I’ve never lived anywhere I can mtb out the front door so I’m used to travelling for real riding and have to make do with commuting/roadie rides. And I really like the house I live in the neighbours I have and the area plus Cambridge is a great city.

Hunstanton in North Norfolk > Coventry (uni) > Milton Keynes (for work) > Nottingham (for work) > Bristol (for work)
I’m now on my third job in Bristol having been here for 9 years, the current one involves a lot of travel and working from home which is a good thing as I wouldn’t commute to the office in Luton every day. Bristol is a great city with great riding on our doorstep. Only 2 thing 2 bad things 1) None of my close friend or family live here 2) It rains a lot.
The soon to be Mrs CD is Danish, we’ve talked about moving there but the better standard of life is far out weighed by the dullness of the place, besides it’s so flat it make the North Norfolk look mountainous! However the friends and family point increasingly becoming important so we’re now thinking of moving to the Midlands. I’ll miss Bristol but priorities change.

Born in Nottingham
Uni in Sheffield
Work in London

Born in Kenya
Grew up in Lincolnshire
Worked in Surrey
Relocated to Derbyshire after redundancy as we couldn’t afford to have a family on one income down there!

Moved to Spain 5 years ago and flit between the Cadiz coast and the inland Ronda region. I’d always wanted to properly explore Malaga and Cadiz on my MTB and now I’ve managed to turn that into a business. With the great climate and quality of life, untold biking possibilities and having now had 2 kids here – Cant see myself ever leaving.

york until i was 19 (cos the parents lived there…)

st andrews for 4 years (uni)

stirling for a wee bit (staying with mates, volunteering)

morzine (work – er, obv why we decided to base ourselves here – its ace)

hoping to be in a position to split my time between morzine and bristol soon – work from both, and see a lovely young lady who lives near bristol.

no idea where else i’ll live in the future – work is internet based, so no geographical ties anywhere…

Grew up in Cheshire
London for Uni – always had an interest in the place.
Worked and lived in London since graduation pretty much except for a short stint in Reading and an abortive attempt at living in Manchester last year.
Weather’s better down South, most of my friends are here, love the buzz, culture and internationalness of London. Suspect I’ll be in the SE for ever now, unless I emigrate

Childhood in Ledytonstone
University Manchester
Lived and worked in Wigan, Mitcham, Wandsworth, Highbury, Melbourne (Aus), Northampton
Finally, I am just buying a place in Rutland simply because I want to live there.

Teesside
Manchester
Nottingham
Birmingham
Southamptonish/NF

Came here due to my wife’s job initially, but it’s a nice place to live & bring up kids

Born here, FoD,then Bangor for Uni, Stoke to work, back here for mates etc . Sometime want to move as its depressing seeing the FoD wrecked by tourism. Sometimes want to quit UK coz its depressing seeing it wrecked by insipid laws such as 2 years for killing cyclist and life meaning 10 years inside.
Doubt I’ll do either without a lottery win. Better than living in a town though.

Cos it costs an extra 60 k to to live on the other side of the road and my garden is bigger and I get the evening sun on my patio . What it is to be in a rubbish post code right next to a prestigious one .

Never left the parish.

Born in Huddersfield
Moved to Kelso aged 7 (step dads job)
Moved back to Huddersfield aged 7 (obviously a great job…)
Went to uni in Derby for 3 years
Back to Huddersfield after uni
Moved to Harrogate after 2 years of living back at home
Still there…

I live here because I work here.
I work here because it’s where I want to be.

Because I have an amazing view of the Brecon Beacons, which are approx 2 mins ride from home, on the other side of the river. Which is very nice indeed 🙂

Grew up in Glasgow, moved to Dundee then Perth for college, back to glasgow. Edinburgh for uni, went tits up, moved back to Glasgow. Stopped the philandering, settled down, married with a wee one. Live in a nice house on the outskirts of Glasgow. Family and friends mostly nearby, great riding within a half hour or more within an hour or two.
Have a job I love here, love that I’m on the edge of the countryside but 10 min on the motorway to the city centre.

Born in Grimsby, raised in Hessle (edge of Hull), uni in Southampton, first job in Basingstoke (*shudder*), moved to north London, back to Southampton for a few months, back to north London, down to Kingston (got married mrs wanted to move from Hendon and it was the same commute), over to Surbiton, bought house in Walton on Thames then last year moved to Luxembourg for work.

I live in Pembrokeshire..
Milder climate, pretty good surf (3 miles to the beach), 40 mins to brechfa, 1hr to doethe valley, milder winter, low crime rate and awesome place for kids to grow up. Downside.. my pay at work is pretty shite but cant complain too much as i work 4 days a week 10-5.
This…

Born Leeds, brought in Noth Bradford, Uni in Hull, back to north Bradford, met Mrs FD and moved to Sheffield, Mrs FD got relocated with work to West Yorkshire so moved back to north Bradford as central is to her patch, and near Grandparents for childcare + great mtb riding (although didn’t admit that to Mrs FD)

Born in Dumfries and now “stranded” in Dumfries at my folk’s due to not being able to be in Brazil until May with my fiancee as visa rules mean you are only allowed to be in Brazil for 6 months out of every 12.

However, if you are going to be stuck somewhere, Dumfries is pretty awesome. I’ve been working very hard writing a new book, and been keeping fit on my bike with some most excellent fellow mountain bikers and tracks we have up here. I don’t have a car so been mainly doing road rides with some fire roads type riding
🙂

Born in Edinburgh, currently in Hyderabad, south central India.

Came here as I was offered an overseas position setting up a design office. Been here 2 years so far, may be here another year depending on pending contract re-negotiations!

Not ideal as wife is in London, but as she has decided that she no longer wants to be my wife, this point is rather moot 🙁

Cheers, Rich

Cheaper house prices than my home town but without being too much further away from family/friends and beautiful countryside.

South Essex 0-18
Manchester 18-22
Briefly back to South Essex
Reading 24-34
Teesdale 34-37
North Yorkshire 37-

Moved out of the south because I didn’t want to bring up my children there. The few places there which are nice are generally so expensive you wouldn’t be able to step out of the front door.

01-11 London
11-13 Lagos, Nigeria
13-19 London
19-23 Bristol (Uni)
23-28 London
28-present Bristol

I live in Bristol because it’s got the best combination of quality of life, good cycling, good jobs, cost of living for my tastes. Can’t see anywhere else I’d like to live at the moment.

Born in Harrow.
Moved to Eastbourne aged 2
Various locations 16-21 in a series of failed attempts to leave home includign Brighton and Brixton.
Moved to Vulverhampton at 21 to go to Uni and only managed to leave when I had my first daughter. Main reason for moving was to be nearer in-laws 😯 but the other reason was a pair of shootings – one at each end of my road combined with the popularity of drug dealers doing major drops/deals in cars full of heavies outside my house.
Moved to Lancaster at the tender age of 34 and I really love the cobination of small micro city life and Lakeland mountain biking. It is also very safe for the family and distinctly free from gangsters. Really can’t see myself being able to move anywhere without mountains now. And when I visit my folks in Eastbourne I can’t get over how crowded it is. I miss downland landscapes but after a weekend’s worth of scarpe and vale / chalk and clay rolling hills I miss the proper mountain biking in the Lakes. Being able to nip out for a night ride in Elterwater, Coniston, Kentmere, Borrowdale etc is fantastic.
Only downside is keeping a job and if both us lose out then I’ll have to move as there ain’t a lot up here.

Born in Ipswich and lived there pretty much my whole life until I left for Uni. Four years of west London later and I moved back home for a few years, then back down to the big smoke (well, Watford) for a few years, then back home again for a few years.

I finally moved to just west of Cambridge about seven years ago to cut down on my commute to work, and I have been round here since then. There was a threat of moving to Canada, but that’s passed since we moved into a new house.

Born between Ross and Gloucester. Left for Uni in Bangor. Never went back. Job prospects and lack of facilities are terrible, but the area more than makes up for it.

Born in High Wycombe
Moved to Wakefield cos of Dad’s work. Schooled there.
Uni in Newcastle
5 years in Cambridge due to my graduate job, and the one that followed.
Brief 18 month living in a tent around Australia/NZ
Moved back to North East for a better job over 5 years ago.
Now live and work in Hexham.

My house is 5 minutes lazy ride from my office.
The hospital where my son was born, and where #2 will be born in August, is 2 minutes from my house.
My son’s school is next door to my office.
There’re hills and woods and trails less than 100 yards from my door. Bigger hills not much further.
I love it.

Only downside is my missus’ family are all down south, so its a trek to see them.

Born in Glasgow
Arbroath when I was 2 due to dads work
Glenrothes when I was 17 for college
Rosyth when I was 20 for work
Dunfermline when I was 22 and bought my first house. Still there, but not in the same house.

Not sure If I want to move anytime soon or if so, where to.

0-18 Reigate
18-21 Durham Uni
21-22 Back to parents
22-24 Chippenham
25- Guildford (hopefully!)