@Paul David, I know
exactly what you mean because I'm in a pretty similar position (except for the family part). Excuse me for writing such a ridiculously long post, but I've been thinking about it (and looking for a solution) for a few years already, so perhaps you'll find my thoughts interesting.
In my country, winters are a bitch. Over the past few years they've been getting better (less snow, fewer days with super low temperature like -15 degrees Celsius), but I still find about a half of the year (from October until April) a
very bad period for me well-being-wise.
I absolutely
hate snow and cold temperatures, and during winter it's usually so cold that you can't spend more than perhaps an hour outside, and even that isn't that particularly pleasant. Sometimes a week goes by without
any sunshine at all. And don't get me started about the snow, especially when that shit keeps piling up and you know it will take two weeks to melt and it still won't change shit because you won't be able to do much outside due to the low temperatures...
Needless to say, as a person who
loves sun, high temperatures and outdoor activities I consider wintertime (and by that I mean the six-month period) a period of
survival, a bad dream that ends each April or so when I can resume
living again. During winter, I shift to indoor activities and try to spend as much time as possible
not thinking about the weather outside, but obviously it still bothers me. I can more or less manage it, but it's a sub-optimal way of living - I totally get your feeling.
Now, when it comes to summer (a period from about April to September), it's usually okay to great (especially during the summer proper - June, July, August). My lifestyle is at its peak then. However, I still find myself each morning stressed out about the weather. Even if I'm super tired or just not really in the mood to go outside, I still do it just because I'm worried I'll lose a day of sunshine and later on regret it. I'm not alone in this. My friends also exhibit the same behavior knowing that sunny, warm days are limited in our climate so you should take the most out of them even if you're so exhausted you can barely walk. And even if you
do spend as much time outside as possible during summer, during winter you'll still regret you didn't spend more time outside. It's madness.
To sum up, even if summers here are better, I still know what you feel. I always have this thought in the back of my mind that sooner or later it will be cold again and I'll be back to my "survival" mode. Something is not right in my life if each year for six months I can't enjoy what I love the most, and if for the remaining six months I'm still worried about what's going to come soon. Don't get me wrong, though - I'm happy almost all the time because I've created an enjoyable daily routine, but I'm MUCH, MUCH happier and healthier during summer.
"If you hate the wintertime so much, why are you still here?", an intelligent person can ask. I'm still here because I've experienced on my own that permanently moving to a foreign country won't necessarily solve this problem. Such a solution involves a trade-off you've already mentioned in your post - namely, leaving your friends and family - and this one is a MUCH bigger challenge than most people think.
So many people dream about living the life of travel, but few of them would be actually able to withstand it due to your social life pretty much dying (and no, I don't consider people you meet on the road for a few days true friends). It IS possible to build a new life in a new country, but you'll most likely still miss your family and old friends.
A few years ago I moved for a few months to Mexico. While it was -20 degrees Celsius in my country, the weather was pretty much the same almost every single day of my stay in Mexico - 30 degrees Celsius, full sunshine with no clouds at all. I won't deny it - it feels
incredible to wake up each day not being stressed out about the weather. You could spend an entire day indoors and you still wouldn't feel bad about it because you'd know the next morning the weather would be perfect again.
Why did I return, then? Because as much as I enjoyed the weather there, I felt like the "real" life was passing me by. All of my friends and family were still in my country, living their lives there while I sat alone on the beach in Mexico and wished they were with me to share the joy.
True, I made some new friends, but - let me be blunt here - they were nothing when compared to my old childhood buddies with whom I shared so much. I also missed some of the spots in my city, activities with my friends, things in the supermarket not available there as well as the neighborhood in which I lived and so on - little things that you can usually only appreciate when you miss them.
When I came back, I realized that for the time being I wasn't ready to move to a foreign country. I told myself that I would spend time working on my business so I can have enough money, time, and obviously location independence to be able to travel to escape winter whenever I want.
Last year I had a breakthrough in my business. Consequently, this year I started acting on this resolution. A few days ago I came back from a short trip to Spain. I could immediately feel a difference in my well-being while being there.
Even just a few days of sunshine and relatively warm temperatures (plus MUCH happier people around - and who wouldn't be happier without freezing winters?) made me feel so much better. You can actually tell from the pictures from this trip that I looked like a reborn, healthy guy. Here during winter? Not so much. I have less energy and low quality sleep no matter what I do - and I have a very healthy lifestyle.
And then I came back from sunny Spain to my frigid country and realized there are at least two months left before the weather becomes bearable...
Which leads me to my current best solution. Since I don't want to lose my friendships and be far away from my family for the entire year, I decided to start traveling more during the winter. If I can go on a week-long or so trip each winter month (or at least once every eight weeks or so), I'll be - more or less - able to bear the winter here. That's my short-term plan that isn't that optimal for people with families since you can't just take your kids with you on each trip. However, technically you could take advantage of any school breaks they have and organize such a trip every other month or so.
My ultimate
goal to be completed in the next two years or so - that might be helpful to you - is to buy a second house in a warm, easy to access place (possibly Spain, too) so I can go there whenever I want and only pay for the flights and nothing else. Then I'll be able to get the best of both worlds - live close to my friends and family, but at the same time be able to leave at the moment's notice and bask in the sun and heat for a week or two (or longer) in my second home - ideally with a girlfriend or some friends with me. And as an additional benefit, I could rent out this house on Airbnb while I'm not there and make some money
@GlobalWealth style.
Questions for you:
How deep are your relationships with your friends and family? Can you
really picture your life without them? Skype will NOT fill this hole. Usually you won't be able to answer this question honestly until you actually move for at least a few weeks. Your idea to spend 10 weeks each year in Spain makes sense since it should be enough as a trial run whether you can do it permanently or not.
And let's not forget about your kids. If they already have some good friends or are close with your family members, how will moving to a foreign country affect them? Won't it ruin their social lives and make them unhappy?
Last but not least, are you able to adapt to a new culture and master a new language? Moving from the UK to Spain is NOT like moving from, say, Chicago, IL to Phoenix, AZ. It's an entirely different country with an entirely different culture, language, architecture, landscape, etc. Even things in the supermarket are different - and trust me, it can get annoying if you have to pay 5-10x more for the things you're used to eat just because they were common back in the UK and are not in Spain.
Can you hang out with expats and ignore becoming a part of the local community? You can. Does it make sense if you want to live there permanently? Not really.
Perhaps your idea to live 10 weeks in a warmer country will be sufficient to make you feel better - you should definitely try it. Perhaps it won't be sufficient - but then you have to consider if you're ready to uproot yourself and your family. Alternatively, consider buying a second house in a warm place so you can go there whenever you want - even for a weekend - to recharge.
Whatever you do, start small - trial runs will help you make a better decision.
As a side note, analyze your life in Liverpool. Do you have any hobbies you can practice indoors to forget about the weather outside for a few hours? Perhaps it would be a good idea to, say, learn how to play tennis, try indoor climbing, maybe get better at swimming or call up a few buddies and play basketball. If your daily routine is boring, moving to a foreign country won't necessarily fix it - the problems might be inside you, and not in the world around you. Weather
does affect one's mood, but if you have a fun daily routine, bearing it gets easier.