Living in a city the size of Nottingham has had a range of drawbacks and advantages over the years....conveniance, work, services and accessability to numerous things.....crime, local council services, education and more.
Overall it's never been somewhere I'd find idillic to live, but it has served a purpose for many years.
With children (now aged 10,16 and 17)growing up, especially with one of them needing supported education ,the dreams of the slower paced country life have been on hold for years.
John too has taken time to realise that switching off from a 24/7 lifestyle has definate advantages.
We creapt out from harder estates to try and improve the environment that the children were growing up in, a wise move but still not enough.
Our eldest had come towards the end of education and still had the same career ideas he had from being a few years old and with nothing on offer on civvy street without heaps more education he had begun to realise these ambitions and has now been accepted into the army to learn how to be a chef!
Our middle child had come to the end of his special eduction and the Nottingham colleges were offering a pittifull choice in furthering his education, and with virtually no support on offer it was time to drastically re-think our options (about 2 years ahead of plan).
Our youngest had one more year before "big school" and was failing miserably in her school,despite it being one of the best junior schools in a 15 mile raius.
The cost of living and house prices/ rental prices being so high, our need for larger accomodation gone, it was time to re-asses where and what to do next.