you are choosing specific parts of Scotland against SE15 - it could just as easily be an estate on the outskirts of Fort William compared to, say, Hampstead There are pros and minuses to everywhere (how trite I know) but I wouldn't be inherently against bringing up kids in London - so many stimuli (positive ones I mean) compared to small-town living. Plus, I fear that the sort of childhood MrBen and I shared in Hibernian towns is no longer the case there - I get an email every other week from my family who still live there reporting the latest young suicide All that said I can't imagine growing up without the miles of beach I had just 5 minutes from my door....