New here and soon to be new to the UK!

[Vinigirl]

Hi!

I'm Tracy, mom to 5 fabulous unschooled kids ages ranging from 16-7

We're Canadians from Ontario, currently living in Seattle ( we've been here for just under 3 years) and are moving to London at the beginning of November.

I'm looking to start making some UK connections before we arrive to help ease the transition for the kids ( and me!!)

My husband's new office is in Camden...anyone familiar with the area? We still need to find housing so I'd happily take any tips or suggestions!

I look forward to hanging about here and checking things out. The forums look great, very informative!

peace and sunshine
xo

[NW6Londonmum]

Hi there!
I live in North London. And Camden is really not far at all. I used to live in West Hampstead which is in the borough of Camden. Now I'm about 15 minutes further North.
The first thing to say is that 'Camden' is actually 2 things. It's a governmental borough which is actually pretty big and contains lots of neighbourhoods over a fairly wide area and it's also a much smaller 'neighbourhood' with Camden Lock and the famous markets.

I actually really liked West Hampstead as a place for kids. You've got the Heath (Hampstead Heath) not far away and good rail links. We moved because of competition for schools but that won't be your problem. Not super cheap though.
Some neighbourhoods in 'Camden' are beautiful (Primrose Hill, Hampstead Village, Belsize Park) but sadly there are among the most expensive neighbourhoods in London and therefore Europe. Your financial situation will make an enormous difference. The best thing is to find out how your husband will be commuting (i.e which underground station is nearest his work) and then follow the train lines out and look for names of neighbourhoods. The station names are often the neighbourhood name. Then search for estate agents that rent (or sell) in that area. You may find that a slightly longer commute gets you a massively different space. If you add 20 minute to a commute it could add you another bedroom and a garden for the same price for example.
I'm happy to help any way I can. PM me if you like. Give me an idea of what's important to you and I can brainstorm some more neighbourhoods.

Emma
I'm a mum to 2 - Sam aged 4 and Josie who is 9 months. Breastfeeding counsellor and babywearer!

[Vinigirl]

Hi,

thanks for the welcome and the info! I'm going to send you a PM

:)

[akaisha]

hi ladies!

we don't have kids yet but DP and i are new to the UK. we're living in england for about a year to get a feel for it/because it's an adventure then going back to canada for 18 months or so for me to do a course out in vancouver and him to work on making the canadian side of his business more self-sufficient. we're getting married in 2010 and we'll be moving here permanently after that. DP is a UK citizen so it will be very easy for us to move here after we get married.

we're planning to have our kids in the UK as well.

i was basically just wondering about health care here in england. we aren't going to vax, will that be an issue? in canada vaxes are voluntary and we hope they are here too. we're homeschooling so the school system wanting certain vaxes isn't an issue for us. can anyone tell me anything about not vaxing in the UK?

also, have people come across many non-vaxing or AP friendly family docs here? what about naturopaths? in canada we have naturopathic doctors, but i know they don't exist here in the same way they do there, does anyone know what naturopaths are able to do here?

thanks for any help!

[artparent]

wow, thanks for asking all the questions for me! i'm another canadian - a vancouverite - about to live in london, we've found a place not far from NW6! very exciting. we're also homelearners, i've got two, an almost 8 and almost 3 year old. we'd love to meet up when you've settled in! have you joined the home ed lists here? there are excellent ones and so much going on!

*

[akaisha]

no problem, i was worried about hijaking vinigirl's thread, but i figured she and others might want to know some of that stuff as well. :o

artparent - i adore vancouver. when i go back to canada in a year i'm planning to go to SFU to do some certifications and i can't wait.

i think your question was probably directed at vinigril since i don't have kids yet, but i would actually love to meet up sometime, i have a lot of homelearning questions, and questions about vancouver as well. if you don't mind chatting with a like-minded future mama i would love to meet you.

vinigirl - i'm from ontario as well, born and raised in mississauga (right next to toronto) and went to university at mcmaster in hamilton. where are you from? how do/did you like seattle? i love the pacific northwest, as you can probably tell from my love of vancouver. i can't imagine such a huge move from the US to the UK with five kids, it sounds so exciting!

anyway, i'll try to stop hijaking the thread now.

[Britishmum]

I'm not in the UK now but I lived in Camden for years. It's the coolest, crunchiest place! I love it! You'll have a blast!

[Britishmum]

Oh, and vacc is easier than the US. No school/homeschool requirement. Your dr may try to put on pressure, because of his/her targets to achieve, but just smile and refuse. They can't do anything. It's far easier to refuse in teh UK than the USA. :)

[akaisha]

woot, i'm glad it's not hard here to go no-vax. i hear the US system can be a PITA, and i was always worried that canada would follow suit, but i'm glad we won't have to worry about that in the UK. one less thing to stress about.

[NW6Londonmum]

Yes - people decline vaccinations all over the place here. No requirements. You may find a doctor or health worker who tries VERY hard to make you feel badly about your choice but nothing is compulsory and you just need to make your position clear.
I'm not sure about naturopaths. I would suggest you join a UK forum like mumsnet which has a fairly mainstream membership but is big enough there will be crunchies there.

[Vinigirl]

no problem, i was worried about hijaking vinigirl's thread, but i figured she and others might want to know some of that stuff as well. :o

Happy for the Hijack!!


artparent - i adore vancouver. when i go back to canada in a year i'm planning to go to SFU to do some certifications and i can't wait.

i think your question was probably directed at vinigril since i don't have kids yet, but i would actually love to meet up sometime, i have a lot of homelearning questions, and questions about vancouver as well. if you don't mind chatting with a like-minded future mama i would love to meet you.



vinigirl - i'm from ontario as well, born and raised in mississauga (right next to toronto) and went to university at mcmaster in hamilton. where are you from? how do/did you like seattle? i love the pacific northwest, as you can probably tell from my love of vancouver. i can't imagine such a huge move from the US to the UK with five kids, it sounds so exciting!


My husband and I were born and raised in the Ottawa area but moved to London On, and then from there to Burlington. I have tons of friends in Hamilton still.

We moved to Seattle not quite 3 years ago for my husband's job. We LOVE the west coast! He's been transferred again ( Expedia) and so now we're off to London. We leave here Nov 1 and hope will arrive in London Nov 7 or 8 after a brief stop in Ontario to visit family. It is a big adventure with all these kids but so, So much fun!


anyway, i'll try to stop hijaking the thread now.



Hijack away!

[Vinigirl]

wow, thanks for asking all the questions for me! i'm another canadian - a vancouverite - about to live in london, we've found a place not far from NW6! very exciting. we're also homelearners, i've got two, an almost 8 and almost 3 year old. we'd love to meet up when you've settled in! have you joined the home ed lists here? there are excellent ones and so much going on!

*

I haven't joined any HS support yet but will as soon as we figure out where we'll be.

Dave's company has arranged 6 weeks of temporary housing for us in Westminster so at least we have a place to be when we land so we can focus on finding a home. Of course, since there are so many of us, they had to rent us 2, two bedroom apartments!! My 16, 15 and 12 year olds get their own lovely flat in Westminster. Not bad! LOL

It would be so cool to meet up! It always makes me feel better to know some folks when I arrive...home edders especially! :-)

Peace

[NW6Londonmum]

I worked in Westminster for 9 years. In 2 different locations - Kilburn (NW6) and Westbourne Park (W2). If that is anywhere near you I'd be happy to give you some neighbourhood tips.

[artparent]

amber, i'd love to meet up! we'll be settled in by novemberish.

*

[Patrick's mummy]

[QUOTE=akaisha;12302158]hi ladies!

i was basically just wondering about health care here in england. we aren't going to vax, will that be an issue? in canada vaxes are voluntary and we hope they are here too. we're homeschooling so the school system wanting certain vaxes isn't an issue for us. can anyone tell me anything about not vaxing in the UK?

also, have people come across many non-vaxing or AP friendly family docs here? what about naturopaths? in canada we have naturopathic doctors, but i know they don't exist here in the same way they do there, does anyone know what naturopaths are able to do here?

QUOTE]

Yeah, to second what NW6Londonmum said, it doesn't matter about vaxing here, for school or anything else. I selectively vaxed my first two and have not vaxed my third. My health visitor (a pediatric nurse who visits you at home when your kids are under 5) asked me about it a few times to try to convince me but when she realised I knew more about it than her (wouldn't be hard to be honest!!) she gave up asking! If you don't want the health visitor to visit you, you just don't tick the box for what they call "child health surveillance" when you register your baby with a family doctor.

As for AP family doctors (we call them GP's - general practitioners), it's really a suck it and see situation. You can ask around at playgroups and such and see who people in your area are liking etc. I've had one fairly crunchy GP and several who look at me like I just grew horns when I talk about extended Bfing etc but I don't live in a city anymore and I think that makes a difference...

[puddleduck]

with regards to naturopaths - you have to pay for them but there are loads about especially in london.
The hale clinic in regents park is very well known.
Otherwise you can contact the college of naturopathic medicine- they run a training course in regents college and you can go along to a student training day for a consulatation, which is much cheaper but students will be watching. If you email them they will give you a list of naturopaths in your area. their website is http://www.naturopathy-uk.com

Vikki

[Luke2:51b]

can i jump in here as well? i'm an ontarian (?) living in ND but we are moving to the oxford area in January!!! not exactly close to pop over for tea, but it's nice to know that you ladies are out there!!!
we can't wait!!!!!

[Vinigirl]

HI!

What part of Ontario are you from? We are from eastern Ontario ( near Ottawa) originally, then were in London, ON for 5 years and then most recently Burlington ON before we moved to Seattle WA for the past 3 years.

We've been in London just over a week and are really enjoying it so far. I have no idea where Oxford is yet ( still familiarising myself with London and will figure out where things further afield are as I go LOL) but it's fun to sort of know someone from your part of the world is here, isn't it?

Best of luck with your adventure...what is bringing you to England?

Warmly,
Tracy

[Luke2:51b]

well...let's see. i kinda grew up in brampton, went to undergrad in london, my mum is now in Brockville, so it sounds like we kinda run the same roads!!!
my DH is american and in the U.S. military. how 'bout you?
i feel like i should be asking you a dozen questions but i can't think of any right now!!!
we are so secluded here that i am just so excited to be "back in civilisation" again....good restaruants, shopping other like minded mums.....i haven't been this giddy since i found out i was pregnant with DS!!!!!!!
we're looking at houses online. don't know if we'll attempt to rent for a while first. have you had to drive yet? THAT scares me!!! i love roundabouts but just don't trust myself! hey, here's a question: did you just bring your regular carseats over or are there different regulations about that?

okay, gotta go do some more packing!

[chick]

can i jump in here as well? i'm an ontarian (?) living in ND but we are moving to the oxford area in January!!! not exactly close to pop over for tea, but it's nice to know that you ladies are out there!!!
we can't wait!!!!!

Do you know whereabouts you're moving to? There are some lovely areas around Oxford - I was at Uni there (but not THE Oxford Uni! LOL!)

And I'm not far away - about 45 mins from the centre of Oxford.

[orangefoot]

We're about 15 mins from Oxford here in Abingdon. Where are you Chick?

[Luke2:51b]

literally, only God knows where we are moving right now!!!! the answer is wherever we find a house (we're thinking of either buying right away or renting for a time til we find a place). Dh has orders to RAF Croughton (outside Brackley) so we are looking anywhere between there and Oxford (unless something wonderful pops up somewhere else!) i know commuting isn't as big in the UK as it is in N.America, but DH is willing to do it maybe 15-20 miles and DS and I will jump on public transit into oxford (or london for a treat!) it seems like oxford will have a lot of opportunities for us (homeschooling and otherwise). DS will be 8 when we leave.
where are you (not that your answer will mean a lot to me right now!!!) everyone says this is a beautiful part of the country.

[chick]

We're about 15 mins from Oxford here in Abingdon. Where are you Chick?

I'm in South Bucks - in a village called Burnham.

Abingdon's about 50 minutes for me...

[Vinigirl]

We keep getting moved around because DH works for Expedia. He started at their Canadian office in Toronto, then got hired at their US headquarters in Seattle and now he's working for the .co.uk office.

He used to work for Sears and they moved us once too. I've always said that I'd be up for adventure and travel on the company dime so when this opportunity came up we jumped at it!

When do you arrive??

[Luke2:51b]

well, we're aiming for Jan 5th but it can be as late as the 31st. we'd like it to be earlier rather than later. DS has decided he wants to spend his 4th B-day on Feb 3rd in a castle!!!! wow! aim high!!!!

so what's the "feel" in this area of the country? is it pretty easy to get natural/organic food? if i were to buy conventional, how bad would it be? (i.e. sprays, GMO's etc)? DH has got me terrified that "we won't be able to afford to eat healthy"!! I seem to recall that england is very anti-GMO.
is it pretty BFing friendly? is it easy to find people practising AP? homeschooling groups?

we are soooo blessed to have these orders and are sooo excited!!!:joy:

[NW6Londonmum]

It depends very much on geographical area - also where you are coming from to compare it with!
Generally I would say that it is pretty easy to eat healthily and organically especially in the area of England you are talking about BUT not necessarily cheapily. Best bet might be a organic box scheme or local farmers.
'Conventional' is probably the same as anywhere else in the world but GM is not popular.
Homeschooling is not a problem. There will be groups for sure. APing is fairly well-accepted. BFing in public is not as around as it should be but getting there. Bfing rates are not fantastic but I'd still call it bfing 'friendly'.

It's very hard to generalize about the UK as a whole.