You Never Forget Your First Love

Graduates are increasingly drawn back to their university cities to live, work and raise a family, says Holly Kirkwood

- Holly Kirkwood

THEY say the university years are the best of your life and many graduates look back on their student days with great fondness. Of course, our university cities also have a lot to offer young families and, as London’s appeal wanes, it seems that many former students are returning to their alma mater to live, work and start a family.

‘The happy memories people make at university can certainly exert a very strong pull,’ says Andrew Perratt, head of country at Savills. ‘We’re seeing both young families and older couples returning to these locations, which offer a brilliant quality of life, as well as an attractive price differential with London.’

Edward Douglas-Home from Knight Frank in Edinburgh would recommend the move. He and his wife, Tiffany, both Edinburgh alumni, decided they’d had enough of London and moved north of the border to the city’s New Town as they were starting their family. ‘We’d loved it here, from the sense of space to the quality of life—it’s such a beautiful city.’