Okay~ Help me choose where to move to.

Right. So after the general mess that was my parents divorce and moving back from living in Spain for a few years, I've crashlanded with my mother and her fiancee in Chorley in Lancashire up north, and am not really enjoying it. It's nice and all, but it's completely the wrong place and house and everything for me, can't even get a decent job up here because they're all in the city and I don't drive yet (thanks to Spain's driving laws, can't drive until you're 18 and passed the theory test which would have been in the provinces dialect anyway) and I want out. Except, being out of England for a few years, I've grown slightly unfamiliar with it.

So I want to move back down somewhere south instead. Except I do not have a clue where. I haven't really got "roots" anywhere, due to my father formerly being in the RAF we never really settled anywhere.

My plans at the moment are to study an intensive Chemistry and Biology A Level during next year and enter uni come September 2008, and work as well. I'm 19 now and approaching 20 so its time for me to take initiative and get my ass out there. Also I'm not richrichrich so that counts places like Zone 1 London out of the count.

Basically what I'm looking for is an area with decent links to london, fairly short journey time there, basically. I don't want to live in London JUST yet, (might aim for uni there). Sorta citylike, but not too huge and "dangerous". Lotsa shops and stuff. Fair balance between city and non-cityness, like forests or seaside or whatever. I'd probably end up living in or nearer the city but I'd like to have "walks in the forest" at hand.

Preferably in the south of England (since I'm a southern fairy and all, haha), maybe southeast or southwest, I'm not sure yet. Decently priced, no £120 p/w stuff as I still am a poor student (to be). I like the look of Southampton (used to live on Isle of Wight) and Pourtsmouth. I also like the look of places like Kingston and Epsom but they're expensiiiiive~. Bath looks really beautiful and I've had Brighton reccomended to me.

Can anyone reccommend some decent cheap low-crime popular places to live? (or am I asking the impossible here, haha)

Reply 1

Gem

14

Ummmm...somewhere in Hampshire, or Berkshire. Reading, Newbury, Slough...I don't know. I'm just thinking easiness if you were to get a job in London and relied on trains.

My Dad was in the RAF, and I made 'home' wherever I was living. Surely there are good jobs in Manchester?

Plus, 'dangerousness' - that's impossible to guarantee! Just go where a job takes you.

Reply 2

eugenius 8

19

Buckinghamshire ;yes;

dont go to Slough, it's a dump :s-smilie:

Reply 3

gracie88

14

Reading? Basingstoke... i dunno.

Reply 4

Niaya

13

gracie88

Reading? Basingstoke... i dunno.

basingstoke would be good its not far from london.
portsmouth and southampton are ok but futher from london.

Reply 5

gracie88

14

Niaya

basingstoke would be good its not far from london.
portsmouth and southampton are ok but futher from london.

Yeah Basingstoke is only 45 minutes away from London Waterloo by train and it's a fairly big town.

Reply 6

Paeony

11

Kingston is cheaper than Epsom - you probably could find a room for less than £120 a week if you're willing to flat/houseshare, although you would have bills on top of that. A studio flat in Kingston is about £500 a month, but again you've got bills. Surbiton isn't bad - it's literally five minutes to Kingston on the bus, and although it's not much cheaper than Kingston in real terms it has a much better train connection to Waterloo - if you get the fast train you can be there in 20 minutes. It also has it's own 'high street' area, which is quite nice. Kingston and Surbiton are in Zone 6, but you're not far from Richmond Park and Hampton Court, for the walks in the countryside, and it gets much less 'urban' just a few miles away, if you head out towards Esher and that kind of area. Also, Kingston has a good college, and there's a big college at Ewell (NESCOT) as well as good links into London. I know this area quite well so if you've any questions then just ask :smile:

Reply 7

EskimoJo

18

Brighton? Southampton.

Reply 8

randomgirl

14

Hmm I'd say Reading, Berkshire or someplace in Buckinghamshire. They are not too far from London, and also are surrounded by lots of countryside!

Are you wanting a flat/houseshare?
If so, try spareroom.co.uk, flatmateclick.co.uk

Good luck!

Reply 9

Xexxhoshi

OP

Wow, thanks everyone. o.o Wasn't expecting this topic to get this much attention. ^_^

Humm...I've been looking at house prices and areas like Buckinghamshire and such look great, but alas they're somewhat expensive for me ;_; Sry to all the peoples who suggested it, although it's greately appreaciated. :smile:

I prolly shoulda said it in my first post, but by access to London also I'm kinda allowing for "weekend visit" times. I just want it so I don't have to catch a 2.5/3 hour train to visit there. Currently living in Wigan, I have to get a bus to Wigan, then a 2 and a half hour (at the least) train there. Since practically you can get a train to anywhere in the UK from London, I wanna just try and shave down the time getting to london a bit.

Living in Kingston though, total pipe dream for me as it's got exactly what I want but it's a little expensive for me right now. (heck, if things don't go to plan I might end up there) But that'd be awesome. :biggrin:

Gonna aim for there in my second year of Uni if I end up in London perhaps. ^_^

But yeah, I'm guessing I'm gonna have to be looking a bit further out. Hampshire is probably my best bet for now. I do quite like the look of Southampton, are Portswood and Swaythling in it any good?

Anyone got any idea about south-west and south-east of England?

butyeah, thanks to everyone who posted. Any more input is greatly appreciated. ^_^

Reply 10

Niaya

13

have a look at eastleigh - its on the line to london and its close to southampton

Reply 11

hotgoose

What about Reading? I've only been once but I really liked it and it's only about half an hour away from London on the train.

Reply 12

bunthulhu

14

Southampton's good, I'd go for Portswood rather than Swaythling.

Reply 13

AisAis

13

Anyone got any idea about south-west and south-east of England?

Burgess Hill? Haywards Heath? Readhill? Crawley? East Grinstead?

Reply 14

Paeony

11

Crawley is really horrible ... it's like Milton Keynes but with less character, and is full of people who think they're 'Londoners' and therefore are 'well 'ard'. East Grinstead, as well as being as expensive as some parts of Kingston, is horrible too ... it's the last stop on the train line out from London and it's where people who've moved out of London go to die. Avoid both of these places like the plague.

My partner grew up in this area and he knows how awful it is.

Reply 15

AisAis

13

Crawley is really horrible ... it's like Milton Keynes but with less character, and is full of people who think they're 'Londoners' and therefore are 'well 'ard'. East Grinstead, as well as being as expensive as some parts of Kingston, is horrible too ... it's the last stop on the train line out from London and it's where people who've moved out of London go to die. Avoid both of these places like the plague.

I know, I have had the pleasure of living there my entire life. :p:

However it is really near London and you can get there really easily on the train. That's the only reason I sugested it!

Reply 16

Xexxhoshi

OP

Ok, sorry for not getting back to this topic sooner, but yah.

So I'm quite interested in Reading (along with Southampton.)

Reading because its especially close to London and whatnot, and is quite a major city. But Reading's supposed high crime rate which puts me off it slightly. >_> Is it as bad as it's made out to be?

Sorta extending my search to roundabout the midlands as far as northness goes, (after a visit to a totally awesome guy in Loughborough <3) but still looking for somewhere fairly....well.....decently priced (max £100 a week for 1 bedroom, although if need be I could flatshare)

Butyes, decently timed (at absolute max about an hourish) train to london, nice decent city with good areas but not too huge, balbalbalbablalbabl still stands.

Reply 17

Chiron

Buckinghamshire, as mentioned, has quite high house prices. Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield are particularly high. Slough, on the other hand, is quite near Buckinghamshire (I, for instance, live in Buckinghamshire but went to school in Slough) but has lower house prices and a train line into London as well as a short train line to Windsor (which is a much nicer town). The only problem is that it's a bit of a dump in places. Some parts are better than others but a lot of it simply isn't very nice.

I don't know a vast amount about Reading, because I only really go there shopping once in a blue moon whereas I've been going to Slough about 5 days a week for the last 12 years! I wouldn't worry too much about crime rates though, perhaps go and have a wander round Reading and see if you feel like it's the sort of place that you'd be happy living in.

Reply 18

.ACS.

19

Well, it seems you’re pretty keen on Southampton, so I would go there. It’s a nice area, is large, there’s work and all, so it should be fine. There’s also Bournemouth or Poole, but they are further from London than Southampton (and whenever you catch a train, you always go through Southampton or change at Southampton).