re-locating

[Karen2005]

Hello

Has anyone here relocated to another part of the country? I am considering a move from the London suburbs to a Somerset market town within the next couple of years and wondered what sort of things I should be aware of - any hints, tips, things you wish you'd been told before you moved etc.

Thank you
Karen

[VillageVicar]

Hey Karen: I've (literally) lived in all four corners of our great planet. Moving and adapting to new places is an art. From the personal perspective I'd say the most important thing to do is to remember that you're not losing friends, but gaining even more friends.

If you have children, it is essential to let them be part of the transition. When my children were small we had them decorate their own tea-chests and we allowed them to pack one chest just the way they wanted and treated it as the �special� chest for each of them.

Other than when we moved from London to the coast, I�ve not really had any �domestic� transitions. But I�d say, whether domestic or long-haul they�re not that different.

One great thing is that your move allows you to have a clear out of your old domicile � tossing away or donating all those bits and bobs you thought you might use, but find twenty years on that you never needed!

Best of luck

Fr Bill

[Karen2005]

Thanks Bill

No children to consider just yet, but leaving our friends is a concern. Then again, very few of them live close enough to just drop by (that's one of the downsides of living in London), so we won't be missing out on much of the day-to-day friendship and I guess our really good close friends will visit where-ever we are.

[spudqueen]

Well I've moved around the North West, down to London, back to the North West, down to Devon and then back to the North West (I sound like a yo-yo!). Make sure you thoroughly research where you are going to live. Visit as often as possible, make sure you buy a copy of the local paper as often as possible (but don't let all the burglaries get you down - they happen everywhere!). When you go down to visit don't necessarily stay in a hotel, see if there are any pubs which do bed and breakfast (a surprising number do). It will be more personal and you will have the chance to meet local people. Go with your gut feeling, when moving to Devon I identified three possible places to live just by looking on the internet (it had to be within a certain distance of work etc etc), but on going down for a few days there was one I didn't like the feel of and so crossed it off my list.