Where to move?

My [English] husband and I are probably going to move to England in about a year, but I really have no idea where to start with research. So does anyone have any recommendations about areas to move to? Here's some background info

-We have a 6-month-old
-I'm a SAHM and want to keep it that way until our son is in school
-My husband works in customer service
-We'd prefer not to have to have a car
-We want somewhere with a good job and housing market (duh, haha)
-We'd be renting a flat or house for a couple years, then looking to buy once our son is in school and I start working

My husband lived in West Yorkshire and Manchester, but didn't care much for either, though from what I've seen, Manchester looks to be a good option. I think we want to avoid the south because of the higher cost of living. So-- any ideas? From Googling random large cities, I narrowed it down to Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, and Nottingham. Am I overlooking any cities that would offer what we're looking for? Are any of those being deceptive and not actually something we should look into?

Hi and welcome to UKY.

Your question is not uncommon but is one you and your husband will ultimately have to answer yourselves. Everyone has individual needs and ideas of what is best for them.

You can check this site for information on things like crime rates, education, employment, etc. : http://www.upmystreet.co.uk/ 

Are you planning to move over in one go or are you planning a scouting trip first? Does your husband have family/friends he'd like to be close to?

Oh and be sure to introduce yourself in the Welcome Wagon if you've not already done so.

Good advice--choosing where to live is such an individual decision, it's really hard to say where any individual will be happy. 

Personally I'm very happy with my life in Cardiff.  I've found some English have preconceived notions about the Welsh people that keep them from considering places like Cardiff, but I'm very happy here.  DH came here years ago from England to attend Cardiff University for a masters degree, went back to England briefly, then decided he was much happier in Cardiff and returned.  He's been here ever since.  We consider it to be our home.

Cardiff has undergone a regeneration in the last 10-20 years.  It had been a coal based city that struggled when the mines closed, but redevelopment has really brought it to life again.  The people are very friendly.  Housing prices and crime rates are low (compared to other areas in the UK).  There are good schools.  The arts are well funded, so there is a very nice cultural life.  It isn't as big and impersonal as some of the very large cities can be, but you have access to anything you need still as it's a capitol city.  The shopping is great.  I have started driving b/c of my job, but DH has never owned a car here and has been fine.  It's a good life. 

If you want even lower housing prices there are good homes available further out from the city that are much less expensive still.  You can still rely on public transportation there, but will lose some of your convenience.  My brother in-law followed DH out here and is very happy in the valleys.  It's a life that doesn't really suit my husband and I though--so it's a personal decision.

Good luck making your decision.  It's not an easy one for sure.  I'm sure you will find somewhere that works well for both of you.

You are going to have to listen to me wax lyrical about how great living in South Manchester is for a few minutes.

I have lived here in S.Man for about 8 years now, we bought on the border (3 houses away from ) of a trendy neighbourhood and got great value for money in 1999...now, you have to spend £250 for anything with more than 2 bedrooms. I have a 2 year old and I find S.Man to be the most amazing place to have a young family, there are playgroups every day of the week, tons of other mothers and young families in the same position as us, close to the town centre, close to the hills, close the country....and really there is a heck of a lot for S. Man to offer young families.

Hope that helps!

Cardiff has undergone a regeneration in the last 10-20 years.  It had been a coal based city that struggled when the mines closed, but redevelopment has really brought it to life again.

It's the fastest growing city in Europe! 

To the OP, Courtney's right. Nobody but you and your husand can decide where to live. Personally, I wouldn't want to live anywhere but rural Wales. And other UKYers feel just as strongly about other places. But listening to us wax lyrical about our home towns/villages is only going to confuse matters, in my opinion. You need hard research and a lot of traveling around to see what you like.

Courtney:
We're not sure if we're going to be able to take a scouting trip, although it would definitely be ideal-- if he gets the vacation time we're hoping for, I'm going to try to talk him into it.  Although it doesn't seem like a week or so would suffice, and I'm not sure how pleasant being in a hotel for 2 weeks with a 1-year-old would be 

He's got family scattered about, but isn't bothered about being near them because they aren't close.  Thanks for that web site recommendation, that looks it will be really helpful!

Cadenza:
Financially, living further out from the city seems ideal, but would it make it difficult for my son and I to get around during the day without a car?  I've resigned myself to walking/biking most everywhere, but don't want it to be more than a mile or two!

Racheeeee:
South Manchester sounds great from what you've written!  I was hoping to get some input about where had a lot of young families-- I'll definitely keep that area in mind 

I wasn't planning on just going off of what recommendations people give, but I just needed a jumping-off point because I haven't got any clue about where to begin and my husband's proving useless in the matter

Leeds or Manchester get my vote. My SIL lives in Stockport (near manchester) and has a 1.5yr old, she is always busy with playgroups and loves it there, she can walk to the shops etc... I lived in Leeds and think it's another great place to live, however, I would seriously rethink not having a car. You will want at least one car, but that's just my opinion.

Cadenza:
Financially, living further out from the city seems ideal, but would it make it difficult for my son and I to get around during the day without a car?  I've resigned myself to walking/biking most everywhere, but don't want it to be more than a mile or two!

That's a hard one to answer.  It depends entirely on where you live.  There are some villages with good resources still and you can easily be in short walking distances from shops and sometimes larger stores.  There are also sometimes smaller outlying cities that will have needed resources but less of the bigness and price of a larger city, and then of course you will find villages where you have to go miles to just get a newspaper.

I think it's vital if you are looking for somewhere without a car to make sure you have easy access to rail and bus stops.  Like I said, DH has never owned a car in the UK and doesn't miss it at all.  It was kind of hard for me at first to adjust to not having one, but I did absolutely fine after a while.  Now that I have one, I'll admit I use it more than I should, but I don't have to.  I can still get to stores easily and if I need something from one of the really large stores, I can shop online.

If you want to get out in the country more, I would highly recommend a scouting trip or at least giving yourself a little time before making final decisions once you get here.  Then you will have a clearer picture of what you are in for that a property price and statistics wouldn't tell you.

Thanks everyone so far!  My husband will have 2 weeks of vacation come next November, so I think we'll take that time to travel to England and scout as much as we can.  For now we're leaning pretty heavily toward the Leeds area (Kirklees, perhaps?).

As my husband doesn't hold US citizenship, how feasible do you think it would be if we moved to wherever we chose in England for 5/6-month trial period?  That way if we didn't like it, we could undertake the huge hassle of come back to the States and he wouldn't lose his permanent residency.  Do you think that amount of time would give us (me) a good representation of what life would be like?

I've been to England (well, London) once when I was 13 but was completely indifferent, so this would pretty much, for all intents and purposes, be my first proper trip there.

If you can you should get his citizenship.  That way if you need to move back you can. 

If you can you should get his citizenship.  That way if you need to move back you can. 

agreed with this.  If the flexibility to move back is important to you, I would definitely stay to get his citizenship.  Giving it up isn't the end of the world, but if you can avoid going through it all again, it's worth it to stay the extra year or two.