Well given you are no where near 'up north'! Would suggest you read the RHS advice...

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/figs

Geordies call us southerners
.

North Midlands I think. deffo not southerners.

Well given where we live you lot are all 'southerners' Stera!

True Moongrower, but Cheshire is most definitely North with a capital N - I'm considering moving up there between Manchester and Liverpool, and its indisputably North, which is why I'm hesitating, being a soft Southerner!

Never not nohow Moongrower. If you heard my accent you'd recant those challenging words...

Go for it Bamboo, but you could find better countryside a bit further north or north east. And remember to take a sweater...

Yea, and a raincoat and wellies! It's that area or nowt up there, that's where I've got relatives...

To someone who lives in the north of Scotland you are all southerners - so there!

Good idea to move nearer to relatives when you're retired. My sister lives in Ayreshire and my son in Lancashire so I'm certainly not near mine. Scotland's too chilly for me though I love its music and dances. And the night sky is fantastic too.

Aim for Cheshire. Technically we are Greater Manchester but even the Stockport MBC put Cheshire as their address.
Best of all worlds ...Town near & countryside on our doorstep. When I say town I mean Manchester of course.

Eugh, Manchester, rains all the time. My sister lives between there and Liverpool, equidistant, and her postcode is actually a Cheshire one, though a street away, round the corner, its a Manchester postcode. She gets more rain than we do down South, but nowhere near as much precipitation as Manchester - or Bristol, come to that. Warrington's her nearest large town, Wigan's a bit further.

I've only been to Manchester a few times but it didn't rain.
You're not far from the Peak District then - gardening would be a bit different from what you're used to!

Precisely, Stera - its proximity to the Peak district is what's giving me pause, for lots of different reasons. I don't like the cold much for one thing, never mind any plants I might want to grow...

But its beautiful Bamboo, and lots of things will grow, even if not the range you get in London. Bloomer and Pansypotter are around the same latitude and their gardens are lovely.

Well I've been up and had a look around - much the same as anywhere really, just more spaced out with country inbetween. And to my relief, the many people I spoke to whilst there were very friendly and did not seem to mind the fact that I'm obviously a Londoner, I thought they might be a bit, you know, disparaging or distant I guess, like they can be in Cornwall. The trouble is, its a long way from Hammersmith, where my son lives - I see them frequently at the moment. It's irritating really, would be much easier if family members (and there are quite a few) all had the decency to collect together in an area instead of being almost at all four corners of the UK...

Tell me about it... I'm sure you will find them friendly, and they tend to say just what they think too as you and I do. Its a difficult decision to pull up your roots - we've had to do it several times - but its surprising how quickly you settle in and begin to feel at home.

Hmm, I'm not good at that, settling in quick - every time I move I just feel 'I want to go home' for about a year, and that's even if I move in the same area! And I do get homesick quite readily - I'm going to wait and see what else occurs in the meantime, no need to make any rushed decision anyway.

Bamboo go well with your move if you decide to make it... We've decided we are going to remain here regardless of the house and garden!

I don 't know where "home" is any more, having had to uproot every five or years or so - never in one place long enough to see my planting mature. Also very saddening to see trees I planted in successive gardens cut down again. A golden plum, a Bramley and a John Downey all went the same way. What a waste.

Its good you have time to stop and reflect what you really want to do - try a summer holiday up there for starters!

Well, I'll let you know if I do migrate! Probably be asking for advice about what withstands the weather there...

That would turn the tables properly!

;-)

Speaking about leaving plants behind. In Manchester we only had a back yard but I had 2 slightly raised beds. I tried to take a 3 ft high acer & bust my garden fork......In 17 years it probably snowed less than 5 times. Once in JUNE.
We have lived in our current property since 1991. The garden is constantly evolving. Over the years neighbours have extended or built fences cutting out the light. I have removed massive trees.....sycamore & portugese laurel , giant escallonia at the back & conifer at the front. Lilacs & camelia donation, hydrangea petiolaris flower profusely are constantly cut back. Acers & Magnolias , Rhododendrons are simply stunning.

Well, that at least tells me the likelihood is that the soil is neutral to acidic in that region, Bramhallbill, thanks for that.

There are sand pockets too & this thing called clay but we don't have it.....

Snow up there very much depends on altitude. We set off from Glossop to Sheffield once in heavy rain (been to a dance in Southport...)and got snowed up on the Snake pass and had to spend the night sleeping on the floor in the bar of the Snake Inn - beds all taken and the mountain Rescue were in the barn...
Our minibus wasn't dug out for several days as the hydraulics froze solid. It surprising what you think is fun when in your twenties... No snow at all in Manchester and Sheffield.

Yea, I know it differs - I have a stepsister in Wigan so I know they often get snow or rain yet where my other sister lives a few miles away, they don't get it there.

Yes, its all loads of fun...

My wife worked in Sale & weather was often pants all day & I'd have sunshine here. Snake pass is blocked at the drop of a hat

We were lucky it was just the hat and not us that dropped - we stopped because the windscreen was frozen over and discovered we were on the wrong side of the road on the very edge of a precipice - and have you seen the wrecks of unlucky cars at the bottom??? And by the time the windscreen was cleaned - with hot coffee which was all we had- the hydraulics had frozen.

OK I just thought I'd let you know.......Remember how hard in rained in London when Scotland played Australia? We had no rain. We still have not had any rain. Yesterday we could have eaten out in the garden at lunch time as it was WARM

I KNOW! My sister and I had a chat yesterday, and she'd had two lovely days out in the garden - yesterday was good here in London, but the day before was grey, overcast, sullen and miserable, when she was sitting outside eating lunch in the sun.... it's also colder here than there at the moment...

After all there are no rules for British weather...