And you moved up North why 
Well I did it in stages ~ Step one was to London (werk related), (previously I had commuted but separation and then divorce took me into London via Milton Keynes ~ too long a story) thence into the Northern Home Counties (Hertfordshire) 'cos who the feck can afford North London prices when you start having kids and a two room flat gets a bit cramped. Final move was due to impending enforced "retirement" and arrival of third child making the terraced cottage just to small for practicality. The lack of future income and curtailment of anticipated pension fund made it imperative that we find a cheaper place to buy thus enabling maximisation of existing assets. I had some capital and we first decided to try to extend existing home and invest in a "holiday" let property which would provide an income. One place, among many, that I looked for such a property was North Wales. Unfortunately Mrs S#2 loved the house we now live in (it is big, halfway up a mountain and has views of Snowdonia and the Irish Sea). TBF I too liked the house and location so we forgot our doubts about the natives and bought it. Took a year to sell the cottage because just at the point of putting it on the market our neighbour started to knock out the front of his cottage and extend so it cost me a bit in bridging finance etc although we did manage to let the cottage for a part of the time which we thought might help the finances a bit (two mortgages is never a good plan) but the remedial work after the tenants left made letting it out an uneconomic decision to have made.
Well you did ask and that is the short version!
