Immigrationboards.com

My wife and I want to have an extended stay in the UK for about 2 years max. We are from South Africa but have Finnish passports.
We want to rent an apartment in a rural area.
Prob is that we have only GBP2500.00 pm income.
Do you think we can do with this?
We don't smoke or do pubs. Only exploring via trains.

Bump.

Depending on what part of the UK you want to live, you should be able to live fairly comfortably on your income.

Yes, but trains can be incredibly expensive unless you book in advance, often the cheap tickets get snapped up within minutes. They get released up to three months in advance.

Plus you should really consider doing pubs in rural areas is you want to meet people. It is often just the pub, or the church. You don't have to drink anything alchoholic. Rural pubs are quite sedate and gossipy. Small town pubs can be drink (and drug) fuelled bear pits though unless you go to an old-man's-pub.

A tip for you, some people buy the country's cheapest annual season ticket, and it comes with a 'gold card'. This enables the holder and one other to have reduced price travel if they are travelling together.

Plus rural places can be very rural and isolated without a car. Choose wisely. I went for a job interview somewhere on the only bus of the week to the employer. The bus did not turn up for the return journey! Luckily I wasn't the only person waiting so we shared a taxi. You get the idea.......

£2,500 is enough. One or both of you could get a job if money gets tight. It is also a good way to meet people.

Rents can be expensive. Expect to pay fees, up to two months rent in advance and a month's rent as deposit.

My wife and I want to have an extended stay in the UK for about 2 years max. We are from South Africa but have Finnish passports.
We want to rent an apartment in a rural area.
Prob is that we have only GBP2500.00 pm income.
Do you think we can do with this?
We don't smoke or do pubs. Only exploring via trains.

If its in a rural area, consider renting an apartment (including bills) for less than 1000. So think you should be fine.

If you are travelling Uk by trains, consider getting yourself a national rail card, it gives you 33% off on train tickets Link - http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_far ... ional.html

There are other cheaper options of travelling by Bus across UK - http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

Some of the bus tickets are really cheap if booked in advance!
Enjoy!

Thanks so much for all the info. Now we can start making plans.

Which area is the cheapest to live in. Not high crime areas. Thanks.