Living on the south coast of England

biko

I may be moving over to England next year and bringing a family that craves the sun, sea and sand.
We've been discussing the various southern seaside towns and are going over later this summer to have a look for ourselves.

Will be checking out
Bournemouth & Poole
Brighton
Eastbourne
Pompey
Southampton
Weymouth

but as you can tell that's a lot of places so we need help to narrow the search down a bit and also; although we'll go over a few times to really get the feel of the places we might overlook some hidden gem along the coast.

Just from checking on the net Bournemouth and Brighton seems to be good spots?

mike65

Brighton is weird mix of genteel old school seaside town and Ibiza UK with extra gays. Colourful in summer. Its not cheap in the good bits.

You should PM Fratton Fred about Portsmouth as he's a native. Southampton is the merchant navy version of Pompey (ask Fred about that!).

Bournmouth is a regular south coast city with its touristy middle class neighbour Poole which features the UKs own Monaco/Bel Air type enclave not that you'll get in there! Its not cheap. Weymouth is a smaller version of Bournmouth with an older demographic

If you want a hidden gem and if you dont mind being a couple of miles from the sea then places like Boldre (lived just outside here as child) or Beaulieu spring to mind.

You are thinking about living in some of the most expensive bit of Britain it should be noted.

kraggy

Hey Magnus.

Lived in Bournemouth for a year.

Was on an intensive course at the time so didn't get to take a whole lot in or see much of the surrounding areas but having said that, I was there for a year and got a good taste of what life was like there. And to be honest, wouldn't recommend it.

According to the folk I was working with, Bournemouth's the most popular seaside resort in the UK, but I was somewhat underwhelmed. Just didn't see the attraction. The weather is good, and it rarely rains but the city itself is just, and I usually hate this term but it comes in useful in this instance, "meh".

It's just got no character. Usual high street stores, usual suburbs, usual everything.

And considering its seaside resort status, the beach is not great at all. Not the typical west of Ireland beach that has sand. The beach has a lot of pebbles, stones, and it's flat, all the way. No slope down to the water. This may sound trivial, but when you're there, you will be disappointed, most likely.

The character, or lack of, was the major issue for me. And coming from Galway, like yourself, this issue turned out to be huge.

I really wouldn't live there again.

mike65

Its hard to blame a location for having the wrong type of coastal formations If you want drama, then you have to go further west into Devon/Cornwall.

biko

What's Fareham like?
Seems nice and close to cities and beaches.

Fratton Fred

Magnus wrote: »

What's Fareham like?
Seems nice and close to cities and beaches.

Fareham is quite nice, it has a fairly decent shopping centre, cinema etc and is quite handy for Southampton airport. it also has Soothills bakery, home of the best lardy cake you will ever find if you go further towards Southampton, around hedge End, I believe there are some very nice places out there. a lot of the Portsmouth and Southampton footballers with families live out that way. Check out Hayling Island as well, although that can be a bit pricey and difficult to fond properties.

To pick up on what mike mentioned earlier in the thread, Southampton is a disease ridden hell hole where the locals have six toes, two heads and eat their first born actually, it is a fairly decent place to live, if you pick the right area, as is portsmouth. Neither has a particularly good beach, the best beaches being down in Dorset. I will say one thing about portsmouth though, I know a lot of people who have moved away and although they still follow the football team etc, they would not move back. it is generally speaking a fairly tough working class city. that said, the surrounding areas are lovely.

To be honest, each of the places you mention are OK places to live, my favourite of those would be Weymouth because i love the whole poole to Weymouth coast (Check out Sandbanks for some seriously expensive real estate) but it kind of depends what you are looking for and where you want to get to. The further west you go, the longer it takes to get to london and Devon and cornwall, whilst lovely, are actually quite remote. Employment can also be a problem, again, the further west from London you go, the harder it can be to find a job.

mike65

Sandbanks, thats the place I couldn't remember the name of.

biko

Thanks for your help guys, we're going over in 3 weeks and will check these places out first hand.

What we're thinking is living outside a big-ish city and so get the convenience of the shops etcetera but not so much of the traffic hassle and other city problems. Fareham seem perfect in that's it's between Southampton and Portsmouth. We'll be renting at first until we find the ideal spot.

Will have see about that Lardy Cake though

Fratton Fred

Magnus wrote: »

Thanks for your help guys, we're going over in 3 weeks and will check these places out first hand.

What we're thinking is living outside a big-ish city and so get the convenience of the shops etcetera but not so much of the traffic hassle and other city problems. Fareham seem perfect in that's it's between Southampton and Portsmouth. We'll be renting at first until we find the ideal spot.

Will have see about that Lardy Cake though

Fareham does have the other advantage of having it's very own Pompey store as well.

you might want to check out the Ofsted reports on local schools as well as that can play a large part in where you end up.

I should add, I am actually from Portchester, which is part of Fareham. it is a vary historic village and has the best preserved Roman Fort outside of italy.

unfortunately, the atmosphere of the place left with the Romans.

Fratton Fred

mike65 wrote: »

Sandbanks, thats the place I couldn't remember the name of.

home to a certain Mr Redknapp.

There's a nice little pad on the market at the moment, a snip at £13.5m :eek:

partyguinness

Its a bit further away but what about St Ives in Cornwall has lots of character?

Spent a good bit of time around the South Coast...you havent mentioned Portsmouth?

OP You havent mentioned your stage of life..kids, age etc?

I found a lot of coastal towns in England are just 'Gods Waiting Room'..average age of most people there will into the 60s.

mike65

Pompey is much mentioned. St Ives is a world away.

biko

partyguinness wrote: »

OP You havent mentioned your stage of life..kids, age etc?

I found a lot of coastal towns in England are just 'Gods Waiting Room'..average age of most people there will into the 60s.

We're a young-ish couple with a kid so will have to consider schools and similar as well.
What we want to stability for the little one and somewhere it doesn't fecking rain all the time. Herself is thinking of further education in one of the surrounding universities and I have a good job I can do from wherever there is an internet connection

Fratton Fred

i enquired on the pompey forum as to how Fareham was these days. the answers i got ranged from "yes, it is still a decent enough place to live" to "too near Scum for my liking":D (Scum being the local name for Southampton).

However, I also got a "Great place, Soothills is still there and the Lardy cakes are still as good as ever":D

biko

Great, so it's a nice place still

I was looking at www.chavtowns.co.uk for the various places and of course they were all swarming with scumbags/chavs according to the reports. Sure, all towns have their bad areas and "disgruntled" inhabitants hating where they grew up.

It's just a matter of finding a nice neighbourhood close to a good public school, I'm not too fussed of it's a bit boring - can always have fun at the weekends in the more "happening" places close by.

Fratton Fred

Magnus wrote: »

Great, so it's a nice place still

I was looking at www.chavtowns.co.uk for the various places and of course they were all swarming with scumbags/chavs according to the reports. Sure, all towns have their bad areas and "disgruntled" inhabitants hating where they grew up.

It's just a matter of finding a nice neighbourhood close to a good public school, I'm not too fussed of it's a bit boring - can always have fun at the weekends in the more "happening" places close by.

but being on the coast is important?

biko

Yes it doesn't have to be on the beach itself but somewhere close by (30 mins drive or so) as we love the beach. Galway's beaches are nice and all but we're hoping for a sunnier/drier place, which would be the south coast of England.

My company has offices in London and Reading so if I have meeting I don't want to drive too far.

Fareham came up on one of them "Where to live in UK" sites

Fratton Fred

Magnus wrote: »

Yes it doesn't have to be on the beach itself but somewhere close by (30 mins drive or so) as we love the beach. Galway's beaches are nice and all but we're hoping for a sunnier/drier place, which would be the south coast of England.

My company has offices in London and Reading so if I have meeting I don't want to drive too far.

Fareham came up on one of them "Where to live in UK" sites

Fareham to london isn't the easiest drive in the world tbh, although it is not too bad getting to Reading. Trains are even worse as Fareham is a relatively small station. I think to get from Fareham to London would involve a change at either Havant or Southampton.

Have you thought maybe Guildford, Ascot or Wokingham? they are comfortably less than an hour from the coast, nice places to live and have very easy access into both Reading and London.

Beanstalk

Swanage is a nice place to live, or Wimborne, or Dorchester! Anywhere in the Purbecks is beautiful. Poole and Bournemouth are new towns (i live here at the mo) there isn't much culture and not much to see either....

greendom

Bournemouth is a brilliant town, it has all the shopping and eating places you could hope for; decent nightlife; fabulous beach; my parents lived there when they retired for a while and I always had a great time when I went to visit them. I'd recommend it without hesitation

biko

Back from England and must say it was brilliant!
Brighton and Bournemouth were the highlights of the journey. We'd rather live in a large town than a proper city (Pompey, Southampton)

I'm using a few sites to check house prices etc
www.findaproperty.com
www.homesandproperty.co.uk
www.primelocation.com
www.latesthomes.co.uk
www.upmystreet.com
gumtree.com
www.rightmove.co.uk

mike65

How were the prices as compared to the same type of property here?

biko

I didn't look very hard yet for property as we're still unsure what town we'll actually settle in. All I can say is, yes, it's expensive in southern England
We'll rent at least for a year first anyway to get the feel for the place we live in.

Fratton Fred

The sites you listed wold cover pretty much everything on the market but you shold be aware that house prices in the UK are starting to creep up a bit, although people would still expect an offer below the asking price.

More importantly though, did youget to fareham and did you try a Lardi cake

biko

Sorry Fred we never made it to Fareham but if I get there I look into getting a slice of that cake for afternoon tea, sounds delish.

psydaisy

Hi! I know you started this conversation a few months back, but I live in Fareham AND work at Soothills so thought I could offer a biased opinion!

Trains from Fareham straight to both London Waterloo and London Victoria do run.

Last year, I think, Fareham was polled as being the 6th best place in England for a family to live.

The schools are great there's plenty of choice: Orchard lea, Oak Meadow, Harrison and Wykeham House for smaller ones (Wykeham house is private school for children up to the age of 16)
And then there's Henry Cort, Cams and Neville Lovett for senior schools. There are more in the borough of Fareham which are not directly in Fareham central.

There are many parks around in Fareham for children, and Henry Cort offer many sports activities too.

Fareham is less busy than Southampton and Portsmouth but competitively offer all conveniences you need (bowling, cinema, restaurants, etc), and Southampton and Portsmouth aren't far away in any case, both offer good universities (I am at Portsmouth)

Soothills is an enchanting little place, so many people come from so far away!! The lardy cakes are famous, yes! And I won't eat any other bread if I can avoid it! Lovely fresh produce

Hope I've 'bigged' Fareham up enough for you!! My final point is that I've lived here my entire life and I hope to live here my whole life through!!

biko

Bit of a bump here but which is the best paper in the Brighton Area for holiday house swap? Argus?
I just put an ad on gumtree but maybe a paper ad would be good too.

We're thinking of doing a temp house swap for a week in August, Galway for Brighton/Hove.

InTheTrees

I lived in Littlehampton for awhile. Nice town on the beach with a fun fair. Very low key. Its about halfway between portsmouth and brighton.

I've always really liked Brighton though. Outside of london its one of the few places I'd live in blighty.

Undertow

Heya folks!

Im thinking strongly of a move to the South Coast myself in the next 6 months! Im a Civil Engineer by trade and was wondering what the work situation is like over there, generally speaking? Obviously I'd love to get work in my field but I'd be willing to work at anything for a while, at least till I get settled.

Also, does anyone know of the best way of exporting my belongings over there?