How to get the best from your new neighbourhood..

There are many reasons why people move to a new home – upsizing, downsizing, a new job, financial or health challenges, but sometimes when we move home, it’s not just the stresses of the moving day itself that cause anxiety – it’s the demands of a move to a new neighbourhood, or even a whole new town. Here are our top tips for getting the best of moving to a new neighbourhood.

1. Get your bearings

Start by exploring maps for your new area. Google maps are great for showing local

shops, restaurants, parks and leisure facilities, gyms, the library, and public transport links.. Next, take the car out and have a drive around.What’s the route to the nearest public transport? Where is the nearest corner shop? Where are the restaurants and pubs? Next, take a walk. In fact, take several walks.On foot you will get a great feel for your new neighbourhood. Say hi to your neighbours, get familiar with faces and paces, and show yourself willing to become part of the immediate community.

2. Find out what’s on

Check Google, have a look at local notice boards in the library or shops, and join local Facebook groups. These are all ways to access information of what’s happening in your locale. Find clubs to join that reflect your interests, or be brave and try something completely new. It;s here you are likely to meet other local people with the ame interests, and maybe make a friend or two.

3. The school run

If you have children at primary school age, the school run is the perfect place to meet other parents from your neighbourhood. The old say “Birds of a feather stick together” rings especially true when it comes to the after school pick up! Make sure you talk to different people over the weeks – you’ll soon find some like-minded souls. If you work full-time and a daily pick-up isn’t feasible, perhaps look at working from home on certain days, just for the first term or so. And while PTAs have a bit of a rep, there’s no quicker way to get under the skin of a school than by doing some volunteering – and it doesn’t have to be forever!

4. Start a neighbourhood project

In most streets and communities people genuinely want to engage with their neighbours – it’s just that sometimes it’s hard making that first step. There are many great ways to pull neighbours together – maybe organise a united Christmas lights switch on, or festive drinks. Suggest a mass bulb-planting session, to ensure daffodils or tulips unite all your front gardens come spring? Offer your services as a keyholder for neighbours going on holiday, or if you work from home, you could take in packages for those out of the house. Drop round and introduce yourself to your nearest neighbours – you will soon get a feel for their personalities, and let them see you’re not going to be ‘one of those’, that you’re ready to engage, not disrupt, the neighbourhood. 

The best way to get the most out of your new neighbourhood is to proactively engage with the people already in it. Whether this is directly with neighbours, or by shopping and eating local, or by joining the local running club, netball club or networking group, what you put in, you will get out. 

(Picture used is from Whalley Grove, Whalley Range).

Eddie – Friday 7th October 2022.