I think half the problem with living in the SE is the psychological barrier caused by the amounts of money you can actually earn. I take home a lot of cash at the end of each month, and seeing that cut by 40% or so will be a major culture-shock when we move.

However, it becomes an issue of quality of life. When we take into account the air & water quality, the lack of traffic, the increased countryside, and so on, Scotland looks hugely more attractive than anywhere in the South East.

Add into that the fact that thanks to the daft house prices down here we'll have enough equity to take with us to certainly halve (and possibly clear) our mortgage, despite getting a bigger/nicer house up there, and it's hard to see any reasons to stay.

Of course the roads are far better up there too (and in Ireland) as has been mentioned.

Okay, so the weather might be a bit cooler, but that's what open fireplaces are for. :D

[Edited by MarkO - 8/6/2002 12:15:28 PM]

Quality of life thing, but slogging guts out with 2.5 hr commute each day + 9.5 hrs work, just to pay for a large mortgage on a house in Cambs. Wifey has 1/2 the commute but more or less the same hours :rolleyes:

We can give it all up, flog the house & move to Ireland, where we can build a house with the view from the 1st pic (& more) & enjoy the beauty surrounding, ending up with less stress, no mortgage & a lovely house.

I regularly wonder about this when driving up & down the poxy M11 :rolleyes:

http://www.excel.co.uk/pics/g1.JPG

http://www.excel.co.uk/pics/g2.JPG

http://www.excel.co.uk/pics/g3.JPG

http://www.excel.co.uk/pics/g4.JPG

Am I being a muppet? Should I move?

Doh!

Just remember the grass is always greener!

Sorry - pics don't do it justice :rolleyes: Autolevels on Adobe seem to have fkd up...

Can you export PTMW ?

Would you get to spend so much time playing with Sat tracking of courier vans ? - Which you know you enjoy really ;)

More importantly can you get ADSL on the top of that hill ? :D

Deano

Heh heh. Exactly the reason I'm ditching the South East and heading for Scotland. :D :D :D

errr.... where's the rain in those pix?

Do it! :D

Watching all those programmes where a couple jack it all in and buy a farm in France or somewhere equally as nice, with 100 acres of land, lakeside view etc for the same price as a 2 bed flat really drives it home :(

I'm with you Puff !

Looks pretty deserted...

you only live once... do what makes you happy...

David

Looks nice, but now add in gray clouds, rain and the nearest shop being about 100 miles away when you run out of bread/milk.

Then add snow, and cold winters.

Having said that, also add in Jeeps, 4X4 motorbikes, rallying and it could be nice :)

DW

'Cos of course you don't get any cold winters in the SE, do you. :eek:

Given the choice between average-cold with rain and slush, and proper-cold with snow (fun fun fun!), I know which I'd prefer. :D

At least you could have a dog.....

its a very convincing argument. Sarah and I are in the process of doing something like this, She has decided to freelance so it has held us back but as I can work as easily from home as the office I am just counting the days.

We where looking at linconshire and we at one point where going to sell our 3 bed semi and buy for not a lot more a 12 bedroom house with a 2 bedroom cottage which came with the title lord of the manor or where ever it was.

so so tempted to just go then and there!

do they have gatso's out there? if not go for it...much better roads than the M11 !!

Moving out of London was the best thing I did.

Got some equity out of selling our flat, and although I earn just over half of what I could have done in London, I'm much better off! - I work fewer hours and can still afford a Scoob and a sensible sized house (with only a small mortgage)

Still live in the South though ;)

But then you won't live near me M8:(

(Good reason to move then LOL;) )

Dave - ask him nicely and he might take the moles :D

Deano

Fruit-Of-The-Loom had a fibre line installed to their factory. I will personally lay the cable (mini-JCB) the 2 miles to get to my hill-top retreat :D

probably a bit more expensive to get to an SIDC track day though Puff ;^)

should move up to yorkshire!!!

greg

Greg

The roads are lovely round there & empty :D Also don't happen to have access to 30 acres of hill for free ;)

The grass is always greener though. I live 10 minutes from the beautiful country side heading into the Yorkshire Dales, yet I would love to move down to London - :eek:

I love the atmosphere down there, the pubs, the nightlife, the hectic way of life, as opposed to my "down the local" lifestyle. However the better half wont move. :(

DW

Our house is for sale. :D

Luckily, my wife and I both prefer the rural 'scene' and hate all the London sh*te. :D

I love my scoobie and my moterbike but apart from track days where can I really enjoy them? - The South is too congested and frankly I have had enough of so called 'quality of life' living in Surrey. Yes the South is great but believe me, you pay heavily for living here. Five more years max, then strife and I are off to France - the sad thing is, I know a lot of ordinary people with a bit of money who all considering a move abroad - and the process is accelerating - France, Spain and America seem faves.

Look out Tone - half your peasants are getting on their bikes and leaving the country...

Marko :If you think moving to Scotland will get you real snow, your in for a serious shock. I can remember when the snow lay for weeks, now it snows, turns to slush and disappears within four hours:(

Well, when we went to Peebles for Hogmanay this year, it snowed the morning after we arrived, and the snow hadn't melted by the time we left a week later. We went tobogganning, too. :D

Fact is, even if it does melt, it'll be a damned sight better than Kent where we were promised there would be 'huge drifts' of snow (seen on the BBC news) and since we've been here there's not been so much as a single flake. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] ;)

moving anywhere outside of Britain and away from barmy MP's that continue to wind us all up by demanding money and taking the pi55 is much more appealing that worrying how to pay all those bills. Move somewhere hot too. at least you wont have to pay for management mistakes i.e. Millenium Dome in other countries

Stevecotton/DW

The grass is always greener in Ireland - it rains more :eek: ;)

I live in rural Cambs but its still not good enough. I love it to be able to get out of London @ eves/week-ends but its still too busy, hectic & dog eat dog :( Where I live is 10x better for traffic and people than anywhere else in the home counties too...

The other benefit is the potential of running a business based on the land and not having to work for some other bugger...

I'm with you Puff, our friends have just moved back after 11 years, get this he has just bought 2and half acres of land for £32,000 and will build his own house on it, He will buy the land build the house and still have change out of the money he got for his house next door, when we were there 6 weeks ago I opened the curtains and was looking at the cows acoss the road in the field instead of looking at someone eles'e house, and the noise?what noise, beautiful.
cheers
Colin