Hello All,

Im seeking some advice, please.
I lived in Chester for many years, quite happy, and then moved to Aberdeen for the last 3 years.
Not happy.

I am going to move South again, and am considering Carlisle.
Im single with no kids. Employment is not an issue as I will still work off-shore.
Near the Lakes, spent many a happy time there.

So, Carlisle

Your thoughts??
Pros ?
Cons ?
Good areas to buy a house ?
Areas to avoid ..

To be honest, I may just move there and rent for 6 months.
Any serious advice, comments would be greatly appreciated.

Sam

I would definitely rent. I can't imagine it's really the place for a young man about town. I can't see it's going to be any better than Aberdeen really. Any reason why you don't want to move to a proper city such as Glasgow, Edinburgh or Newcastle, where I'd imagine there's alot more going on.

I don't have any massive experience of the place - relatives live in Brampton, about 20 mins away. We've had a few nights out in Carlisle and it appears to be Chav central on a weekend - a pretty typical small city really.

I'm from Manchester and spend a reasonable amount of time in Glasgow too and couldn't imagine moving somewhere like Carlisle, it has all the disadvantages of being a city, but not being big enough to have the facilities of a large city - theatre, good restaurants, gigs, sports clubs, shopping, public trasport, nightlife and then some of the weirder things that come with big cities - in Manchester for example there's an indoor ski slope, indoor sky-diving centre, MEN Arena (4th busiest music arena in the world), massive shopping centres, dog track, speedway, Oulton Park (for trackdays) and lots of other things to keep you entertained.

If you want to be close to the Lakes why not move to Keswick or Kendal and have it on your doorstep, Carlisle is still quite a distance from the Heart of the Lakes and probably not much closer than Manchester. Or what about Glasgow, there's some stunning scenery within 30mins of the city centre.

It's quite nice. A few shops, pubs, good indian takeaway, and a good butchers. Again we've never really socialised there much as they live 20 mins from Brampton, but it's the nearest civilisation. Although, they've just sold up and actually bought a place in the village, so we'll be spending a bit more time there over the coming years.

Thanks for the advise.
I've had a look at Brampton . via the web, so I might give that a go.
Not too sure about it though , as I am a city blike at heart.

Thanks all for your comments.

Brampton is a bit rough. good Indian though.
We live in Wetheral, lovely little village a couple of miles out of Carlisle.
Great pub, restaurant, gym, train station, shop, post office and friendly locals

Carlisle is quite nice, shopping is limited but only an hour or so from Newcastle.

If we're travelling from Glasgow down to Bewcastle we always stop off at the Spar in Longtown, there's always a few interesting characters in there.

Thread hiJack !

I've just accepted a permanent position in Carlisle and will be renting close to the city centre initially, mostly because me+wife+7MonthOldBaby need to find our feet.

Going to look to buy a nice place, commutable from Carlisle, perhaps 10-15 miles. Budget £600k ish.

Brampton I've seen recommended, are there any places NOT to pick for the permanent purchase?

Of course I could just do http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/map.h...

but you guys have the inside info...

Yeah, cheers, I'm expecting some value for money for my investment. Thanks for the village names, we'll spend some time choosing and get it right.

I rented in both Wetheral and Hayton for about 18 months each, both lovely villages as others have said, Wetheral larger and with more facilities. A budget of 600k should give plenty of options, for those on a lower budget like me, and if you don't mind living away from shops & pubs, just north of the border is cheaper. I ended up buying a place between Langholm & Lockerbie & love it.

Places to avoid are Raffles, Botcherby, Old Harraby and parts of Currock and Upperby. For that size of Budget, you might want to consider buying one house to live in, and one to rent out as a future investment. House prices in Carlile will increase in certain areas, perticulary the one I've mentioned to avoid.