Really depends on your children I would have thought.
Ours were 8 and 4 when we left, and leaving friends was difficult for the older ones. Got over it quite quickly, though.
Better here (yes, there are those things even I acknowledge
): my children walk and cycle to school by themselves, that wasn't allowed at our UK primary school (we are the exception, though). The playground at school is bigger and they are moving more in the breaks (I won't go into what I think they learn or don't learn between those breaks...)
I find activities quite limited if you are looking for something slighlty outside the norm, and then especially if it doesn't conform to the gender stereotyping that I have found to be quite prevalent here especially for boys (as mentioned above). No problem playing rugby or cricket, or netball for girls, but that is about it.
I can also see that once you turn into a teenager and are not into sports, you're stuffed. I would never move here with a teenager not into popular sports, and find the impending teenagedom of my older children a good reason to put more effort into my move away from here. The whole ‘free beach sandcastle’ life style doesn’t hold the same appeal for children at different ages (and types).
In general, I don’t think that the outdoor active healthy lifestyle here is a given. You still have to make it happen, just like anywhere else. I find the children walk/cycle less to get around and are driven everywhere, I don’t see the children here in our area out hiking, tramping and doing other outdoorsy stuff on the weekends… In fact, I am often surprised at how little of that they do. We had more friends in London who were into that kind of thing than here (this is my personal family experience).
Daniela