moving to brighton/hove - which areas would you recommend?!

[rachelstephens]

hi everyone

we are moving down to your stomping ground with our 17 month old in october. we are going to rent for at least a year until we find our feet, as we are moving from the midlands so it is a big change for us all.

i know the area a bit as i grew up in chichester but i'm not sure which areas we should concentrate on when looking for somewhere to rent.

i know that i definitely don't want to live in hanover or kemp town (no offence meant to anyone who lives there and loves it!) but apart from that i don't know where to look. we would rather stay south of the A23 if possible. we would like a nice family area where you can get a garden without having to sell your soul to finance it!

we had thought about moving to southwick but i now feel that might be too far away from everything going on and it will be important to throw ourselves into stuff when we move down so we can meet people and get into it all.

if anyone has any thoughts i would really appreciate it as we are pretty nervous about this! it would be great to try and meet up with people once we are down as well.

thanks so much everyone

rachelx

[Tortington]

we have a great buch of regular brighton mumsnetters who meet up and you would be very welcome.

i live in Worthing,work in Hove so not a whole lot of use to you really.

did you mean A27?

[Tortington]

wht budget are you loking at - how many rooms? have you tried rightmove - renting?

[Tortington]

here check the mapto the right

[Tortington]

\link{http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-22082255.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rentzparking - bonus!}

[Tortington]

parking - bonus!

[Tortington]

here

[rachelstephens]

hi everyone

thanks for your quick replies and the links!

i meant old shoreham road which i think is the A23?

our budget is about £1300 and for that we would need at least 3 bedrooms. which i know is a problem!

i just wondered what areas other mums liked and thought were nice for families.

cheers, rachel

[rachelstephens]

cheers for your links custardo - really helpful. are you really kirstie allsop in disguise?! x

[Thefearlessfreak]

Hi rachel! There is loads going on in Brighton for parents & babies, so you'd be unlikely to choose a "dud" area. I've lived all over...I guess it depends quite a bit on you! I would massively generalise & say that Hove is more for your smart "yummy mummy" (bleugh phrase I know) maybe a bit more image conscious types (with more money??!) and bigger cars!! ; whilst Brighton is more "down to earth" mix of parents. This is a generalisation like I said, but might give you an idea!

[PestoMonster]

You could consider Woodingdean, up on the Downs just past the racecourse. It is very family friendly, great bus links into town and lots of suitable houses with gardens. You are only a short distance from the sea and the views are amazing.

[furrycat]

We're in Fiveways/ Preston Park area, which is very family-orientated and no worry about parking permits. The only drawback is that most houses tend to have very small gardens. I have no idea of rental prices round here though!

[pollyanna]

I was going to suggest Preston Park - downside is price and also you aren't walking distance to the sea. If you want to be able to walk to the sea then Hove may be better for you. If you want bigger gardens, I assume (although I don't know) that Hove Park, or Hangleton have bigger gardens.

You have a while to think about schools, but it may be worthwhile getting the school booklet from the Family Information Service as the most popular schools have small catchment areas - you may want your dd to go to a school nursery and you will need to apply for nursery in the year she is 3 and for school in the year she is 4.

[noddyholder]

I live at preston park and its great but expensive.We are renting a 2 bed garden flat atm very close to good schools and it is £1000 a month and is shabby if I'm honest but lovely park very close.You could prob get a house for 1300 Have a look on rightmove.Hollingdean is a bit cheaper

[sunnydelight]

If you want to be South of the Old Shoreham Road that's not really compatible with having much of a garden. Brighton and Hove does parks really well though, so with a little one it is often enough to have a little bit of outdoor space and rely on the parks for space to run around (parks are also a great way to meet like minded mums). St. Anne's Wells Gardens in Hove is lovely, has a great cafe and if you live close enough you might find yourself in the catchment area of Davigdor Primary (one of the most popular schools around). Fiveways has plenty of houses (lots of Brighton areas are mainly flats) though DH always refused to live there as he felt it was too far out of town (noddy will disagree ). Hollingdean is cheaper, but it varies street by street. My best friend bought there last year as it was much more affordable than "proper Fiveways" but only a stone's throw away, there are some less than desirable streets though.

[noddyholder]

Sunny I am about to move closer to town!

[MABS]

give us any specific areas you see houses in and i'm sure one of us will have an opinion on it.

[Yvonnejane]

We're trying to move to east Worthing at the moment as it'd close to Brighton but seems like a really good family area. Houses are much cheaper, loads of stunning period properties next to the sea with gardens and only 10 miles to Brighton. So I'd reccommend it. I have a 3yr old and another on the way and roads off Church Walk are lovely and supposedly, lots of families from Brighton are moving there. I'd be interested in what those who already live in the area think of Worthing. I plan to spend a lot of time going to shops/ cafes etc in Brighton but am I being unrealistic? Does it feel further when you're actually living there? Do Brighton and Worthing feel like two very different places? Might be good for rachelstephens to know too.

[rachelstephens]

hi all. we are down your way at the moment looking at areas and houses.

yvonnejane - we thought about worthing but where we live at the moment is a small market town which is 15 miles from leicester. we thought we would be going into leicester loads but we seem to have a mental block about it and don't actually bother as it just seems to much hassle to have to drive in or get the train which costs £7.00 each for a 15 minute journey. we would consider worthing in the long term but feel we should live more centrally so we can make friends before moving out. just be realistic about how much you are going to come into brighton with two little children and all the stuff you end up carrying and moaning kids. i think if you are realistic about it then you will be happier if you don't come in as much as you initially thought you might.

we also looked at southwick which we liked and you get a lot more for your money there.

anyway, we are looking at either fiveways or hove (maybe down as far as boundary road). my concern with fiveways (apart from the cost!) is that there is not much going on apart from things for mums and babies, whereas in hove you are near to lots of shops and cafes etc.

if anyone has any thoughts i would love to hear them. we are really excited about moving down - i keep stopping random women with children and asking them about where they like living! cheers, rachelx

[benbon]

hi there i live in southwick and it is a great place to live, i would definately go for north southwick though. lovely nice house's with decent gardens...

rental prices your probable be looking at about £900-£1000pcm

maybe even a little bit less i drive past a nice 3 bed up to let for £850pcm

theres a really nice school close by aswell
hope this helps

[Lulabellx1]

Hi, Im a mum to a lively 11 month old at the moment and we live in Newhaven. Bit far away from Brighton for you guys i think, but i grew up in Southwick and spent my whole chldhood there!

We lived on manor hall road and i definitly dont think it is too far from brighton. The buses serve the area really well and you can even jump on a train to brighton which takes less then ten minutes.

The houses have very big gardens and it is cheaper too.

Growing up as a child there, i absolutly LOVED my schools (Manor Hall first and Second School)and the whole area is very geared up for families with parks, a state of the art community centre and a brand new library and doctors surgery which was completed last year.

Hope this helps. I Champion Sputhwick all the way!!

Lu xx

[RnB]

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[thejessa]

HI, I am in Preston Park, we renting a 3 bed house for 1145 a month and it seems to be the going rent round here as i have rung up about others. I have a 13 yr old and expecting a baby also have neighbours who have 2 yr old and we all love it. it is not that big a walk to the beach nor is there so little to do. bonuses are that we are in good catchement area for schools, have a lovely park and live in a very non scary area.
as I moved down here from york/ leeds area a year ago it took a while to settle but my son and husband fell inlove straight away. we haven't found any where we would rather be yet either.

[thejessa]

p.s we also have a fair sized, fully enclosed garden as do many of the properties around preston park

[noddyholder]

thejessa I have a teenage boy too at a school locally.If you fancy meeting for a coffee let me know xx

[Aishy]

Rachel, have you also looked at the Seven Dials area? Not sure about the garden issue, but we currently rent a 2 bed for 1150, its dead central, easy to walk everywhere and nice and residential. also close to dyke road park and st anne's wells gardens. We are just about to move to Port Hall, just up the road.