Gransnet forums

Travel

Where did you want to move to when you were growing up?

(46 Posts)
CrazyUSA Wed 15-Jul-26 17:02:59

Manchester

foxie48 Thu 16-Jul-26 20:38:45

Boarding school anywhere in the country.

NotAGran55 Thu 16-Jul-26 17:49:36

I wanted to live in London with the women in the TV show
“ Take 3 Girls ”

Jaxjacky Thu 16-Jul-26 17:32:55

I was born in Pakistan, Dad was working there, so I could take nationality which I threatened during a teenage argument with the parents, they laughed!

Georgesgran Thu 16-Jul-26 17:14:52

My parents were from Durham, but Dad’s job had taken them to Harrogate. A family illness brought my Mum back to Durham and I was born in my Great Grandmother’s house. Mum and I spent 3 months here before going back to Harrogate, where we lived for the next 4 years until Dad’s job brought us back to Durham, where I started primary school and have lived here for 71 years. I still love Harrogate and drive down several times a year. For some reason I feel at ease and comfortable there and I know my Mum loved living in Harrogate, just a few years before she was diagnosed in Durham with life changing RA.

keepcalmandcavachon Thu 16-Jul-26 16:35:57

Chocolatelovinggran

As a child, I visited the East Kent Coast often. On the way home, I would think that I would like to live there
Now, I do.

I'm glad you got your childhood wish Chocolatelovinggran, my heart lifts on the few occasions I go to Kent, its so varied and beautiful.

NotSpaghetti Thu 16-Jul-26 15:01:47

I think what we wanted when we were growing up is not necessarily the same as once we became adults.

Chocolatelovinggran Thu 16-Jul-26 14:50:54

As a child, I visited the East Kent Coast often. On the way home, I would think that I would like to live there
Now, I do.

Charleygirl5 Thu 16-Jul-26 13:40:25

I lived in the middle of nowhere in Scotland. Although I loved the countryside and being able to ride my bike everywhere without fear of much traffic, I would have loved to have lived in a town near shops, any town. I now live in London and haven't been in a store on Oxford Street for x number of years!

Mollygo Thu 16-Jul-26 13:23:30

The Isle of Wight because I thought it would be exciting to get a ferry every day.
The short time we spent in Birkenhead, needing a daily ferry across the Mersey🎶 made me glad my childhood wish never happened.

merlotgran Thu 16-Jul-26 13:15:36

Anywhere where I could stay put, not live in a married quarter and not have to move every two years.

It turned out to be the Isle of Wight and I was very happy with that - until I got married and we moved back to the mainland.

eddiecat78 Thu 16-Jul-26 13:13:56

Guernsey. We usually holidayed there when I was growing up and all loved it. I knew that it was impossible to settle there unless born there or a millionaire so I fantasised about marrying a local lad.

watermeadow Thu 16-Jul-26 13:08:55

We moved frequently and I was always excited to go somewhere new and explore. My pleasure evaporated with each new school. Being the new girl, who didn’t speak the same or know the same games, was always horrible.

NotSpaghetti Thu 16-Jul-26 13:05:45

Anglesey

Norah Thu 16-Jul-26 13:03:14

Next door to the home where I was raised. East Anglia.

We purchased my grandparents home when we married.

madeleine45 Thu 16-Jul-26 11:12:56

Loved my home in Yorkshire . I was a keen bookworm and early reader, and when asked by a lady visiting my mother, (in a rather patronising way), where I would like to go when I grew up and would I like to go to London replied "No, I am going to go to Macchu Piccu in Peru, and Ulan Bator - which is the capitol of Outer Mongolia , you know"

I was about 5 at the time and this was a family tale I was reminded of on various occasions. Well I never actually managed to go to either of those places, but have travelled and lived in many other places , so obviously had itchy feet from the start. However , despite having loved visiting many different places , whether living or holidaying, I still love Yorkshire and am happy to be living in North Yorkshire with the luxury of both the Dales and the coast and many lovely places to be able to visit.

MarieElla Thu 16-Jul-26 10:37:33

I used holiday in a rural part of Ireland every summer with my family.
We would see my dad's siblings and their families.
I loved it as a child and planned to live there as an adult.
As I grew into a teen and young adult I realised how conformist and bigoted some of them were becoming and now, as a middle-aged woman I will only go there for funerals and avoid all those relatives at other times.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 16-Jul-26 09:09:15

I lived in London till mid-teens, Oxford St, Regent St, etc., were close, Selfridges was just a shop

Both sets of grandparents were in the suburbs;and close to the countryside.

I had the best of both worlds, never wanted to live anywhere else.

keepcalmandcavachon Thu 16-Jul-26 08:52:32

London.
I was intrigued by the Tower of London, London Bridge and the Thames with all of the beautiful lamp posts. The changing of the guard! All madly exciting to my little self.

M0nica Thu 16-Jul-26 08:29:25

I lived in so many places, in England, Europe and Asia, it would have been greedy to have wanted still yet another place.

Humbertbear Thu 16-Jul-26 08:08:44

As a family we all wanted to get out of the East End and we did. I love living in the suburbs but I never, ever go back.

Jane43 Thu 16-Jul-26 08:06:20

I just didn’t want to move again when I was a child, my father was a police officer and at that time we lived in police houses. I lived in seven houses in total and had three primary schools and two senior schools which was difficult for me as ai was a shy child.

JaneJudge Thu 16-Jul-26 08:00:30

I can’t remember I wanted to live anywhere in particular. I used to live looking at the stylish house magazine that featured London townhouses but I suppose I also wanted to live by the sea, which I did but found it really quite isolating. I certainly wouldn’t have chosen where I live now but I’m happy enough smile

Marzipan22 Thu 16-Jul-26 07:48:22

Wherever Sandra of the Secret Ballet lived because I adored her story in my Judy comic. Now I look back at it I see how weird and a bit sinister the storyline was but as a young girl I'd loved to have been at a secret ballet school!

SpinDriftCoastal Thu 16-Jul-26 07:30:34

Salisbury.

Bassoues Thu 16-Jul-26 07:19:07

Africa. I was born in Holland, got an au pair job in Wimbledon to see a bit of the world and get away from an overbearing, manipulating mother and a husband who I'd married far too young! Had a glorious time in London. Went travelling but decided to get back to England, got a job as a receptionist in one of the posh london hotels and I'm still here. Now in north yorkshire and staying put...for now!