robinbrown

After 5 years of living by the seaside in Southern Connecticut, putting down roots, getting a mortgage and taking my kid to his first day at school, my third attempt at getting my Green Card was declined. My company have pulled the plug and said "OK, enough is enough, no more lawyer fees to be spent on you, you're coming back to the UK".

I'm due to start work in Twickenham January 1st 2011 and have to relocate with my wife and 6 year old son (both British) and my 5 month old daughter (Yankee). Fortunately my employer will pay relocation fees and rent for 6 months....but relocation to where?

I'm looking for any advice on places to live in Surrey/Berkshire...anywhere within about 1 hours commute from Twickenham. We dont have a big fat budget and want what everyone wants: a small town with lots of interesting people with good schools and great boozers. I have no idea where to start looking having never lived in that part of the world. We lived in Walthamstow/Stoke Newington for 12 years before moving to the USA in 2005 but have no idea about locations West.

Any suggestions or advice would be gratefully received...

Cheers....

Robin.

N1cky

Can't offer any help Robin, just sympathies we are in a similar situation of possibly being uprooted from what we now consider home. Hope it works out for you

robinbrown

Thanks Nicky...its the last thing we wanted to do. We could see ourselves growing old here (its someway off yet but seemed like a nice idea) but I guess it wasn't to be. My main concerns are how my 6 year old is going to handle it...and the thought of all the effort of starting again...um...again. Good luck with your stuff too.

N1cky

Yep, know what you mean ours is 8

LisaP

I am in a different position to both of you, because I can't wait to get on the plane in November, back to the UK, hopefully for good.

My daughter is nearly 8, and her outlook on moving to UK is very heavily influenced by what we, her mummy and baba, tell her about it. Because we're both really positive and happy, she's happy. We are lucky that kids this age are quite easily led.

geeandtee

Ack! Sorry to hear about your situation. Still, at least you have a job to return to.

I lived in Wokingham for a few years. It's about an hour from Twickenham by train and by road (depending on the traffic). I was just back there and it's a nice little town. Plenty of good pubs, some nice shops, restaurants and the schools are good. I don't know what you're looking at in terms of property prices, but I want to say you can get a 3 bed detached (1960s) for 300k. There also seems to be a lot of properties to rent. The countryside is pretty and the public transport links are good, you can get a bus into Reading on a fairly regular basis.

alipally

I really love Dorking, Tadworth and Walton-on-the-Hill, all around that area. Nice town centres (Waitrose!) Great Pubs, and lovely countryside with great mountain bike tracks and walks in the surrounds and yet not so far that you couldn't manage a day's shopping in Oxford Street!
The traffic (as I recall) is not too bad either because you avoid going into the city/ or indeed on the M25 altogether!


HTH

robinbrown

Thats the attitude we're trying to adopt with our son...we seem to have convinced him that its going to be great fun...an adventure even for him...and he knows they have better chocolate in England.

robinbrown

You're quite right that I should be grateful even to have a job to back to...I just dont want to go back full stop...

Thanks for the advice on Wokingham...its not an area that was on our list on investigate...but is now!

robinbrown

Mmmm...Waitrose...now thats one good thing about going back to the UK. My Boss lives in Tadworth, it seems like a nice spot...I'm not sure about the commute to Twickenham...I may have to look further West. But many thanks for the advice....

brits1

Children are very adaptable espeically if you try and think positive (hard I know when the move is not what you planned)....try not to look to far forward when thinking of things that are not urgent......or things that might not happen....things might change and this time next year who knows....good luck with everything, life has a way of working out when you really want something.....sometimes for some it's a longer journey to get from A to B if your goal is to return to the USA one day....stay with the dream...for now though you have to concentrate on your move to the UK....it's not such a bad old place and might only be a stepping stone for you.....all the best..

LisaP

My daughter is looking forward to specific things - joining brownies, a new school with a swimming pool, going to see Lion King in London, London museums, grandparents, going to see a panto... Brownies was a real brainwave, so she can start to make friends from the outset. Wherever you go, your son could join Cubs, but make sure you get him on the waiting list.

Just don't promise horseriding, it's 25 quid an hour! (Now trying to backtrack.)

You could visit Cadbury World in Birmingham, http://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/Cadbur...buryWorld.aspx. Also show him websites of great places to visit for things he's interested in - The Natural History for Dinosaurs, The Science is a great day out, Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland...

dunroving

My friend went to Cadbury World this summer and said it's gone downhill (but he is a bit of a perfectionist). He said there was very little about how the choocolate is made, the history of the place, etc., said it was just a dumbed-down, manic theme park atmosphere with #1 priority being to sell you chocolate at the end of it.

I was a bit disappointed to hear it as I have a close connection with that part of the world.

Stormer999

Spot on after the way the workforce were treated in the last big buy out by US Kraft the pride was totally knocked out of the long serving workforce. What is left now is just a name.

cathy22w

Yeah - not only that, but Cadbury World charge something like 13 quid to get in, too.

I moved back to England just over a year ago (against my wishes!; screw up with the employer and immigration), and still feel really unsettled. I agree it's all to do with attitude, but gosh, it's hard.

Good luck with everything.