Moving from Portsmouth

[Jigglypuff88]

Hello - hoping I can pick your collective brains.

We currently live in a lovely 4 bed Victorian house in Southsea. It’s been great living here as there’s lots to do but the city is very crowded, the parking is horrendous and just generally feel we need a change of scenery. We have looked at the towns and villages between Portsmouth and Chichester and down towards the Witterings. Ideally it would be perfect to move that way as best of both worlds with the two cities, the countryside and the beaches. However our issue is budget - our top end budget would be £400k. We’d love a detached house with a bit of land/backs on to countryside/views. Obviously it will be pricey in these areas.

I have family in London. I wouldn’t want to move further than two hours from them. My OH is entertaining the idea of Norwich area which I think idealistically would be amazing (400k gets you a decent property) but realistically...I’m not so sure. I have friends in Hampshire and I do like Southsea...just not to live there. Any ideas on areas that have the best of both worlds - coast and countryside (max 30 min drive to coast), an arty/vibrant village (aware that sounds so pretentious) and are within 2 hours of south east London? I don’t really know other areas apart from surrounding areas of Portsmouth up to Liss and up to the west side of Chichester!

[Cuttinginfine]

I have been on several posts saying this now - I must sound like I work for their tourist board 🙈 but we moved to Folkestone two years ago and we love it. It will tick off all of the things on your list...we have family and friends in East London - it is less than an hour door to door and 400k will buy you a detached in backing onto countryside if you don’t mind being a v short drive out of town. If not it will buy you a Victorian semi walking distance to seafront. Huge arty community here (check out folke.life which is a local art hub/community website). It is such a beautiful place to live. And I say that as someone who wasn’t that keen on moving here as it felt a bit too far from London for me (but it actually isn’t and DH still commutes)

[Dozer]

What do you do/would you do for work?

[Jigglypuff88]

@Cuttinginfine haha that made me laugh and so nice to here you are happy in Folkestone! I’ve never considered it although often went on day trips there for seafood (cockney family!)

@dozer I am a specialist nurse so jobs probs won’t be too much of an issue

[Cuttinginfine]

@jigglypuff88 you should revisit it as it has changed beyond all recognition so I am told 😁 (I didn’t know it before - though I did visit briefly back in 2012 to go to a restaurant we had had recommended to us and and as we drove out I remarked to DH “well the restaurant is nice, but the town is awful- who would want to live there?”. And lo here I am, and crazily evangelical about it too 🤣🤣)

[Cuttinginfine]

Just seen you are NHS. What about all of the lovely villages around Ashford and Canterbury (both of which have large hospitals)? You could get countryside views and detached reasonably easily for your budget in some of those and still be less than an hour to SE London...

[Jigglypuff88]

@Cuttinginfine not gonna lie, when you said Folkestone I was like um really. 🤣 But like Hastings, I’ve not been to either in over 20 years. My friend lives in Hastings and absolutely loves it. I think I will defo look into it more.

As for Canterbury and Ashford, I’ll look into them as well. I’ve visited Canterbury but never really been to Ashford apart from the outlet centre (again over 20 years ago 🙈) I don’t necessarily need a hospital base in what I do as most of my work is community based :)

[Dozer]

Oh that’s great that you have ‘portable’ jobs! Loads of options then. Once things are more normal you could have some nice exploratory trips. Would recommend renting first, rather than selling up/buying.

[ScarletZebra]

You could never describe Ashford as arty/vibrant

[Jigglypuff88]

@Dozer absolutely agree about renting first. I think if we do move to somewhere we are not familiar with then it’s worth renting before we buy.

Yes I’m lucky that I can move pretty much anywhere really and my OH works from home so job wise we wouldn’t be too hard pushed.

[Cuttinginfine]

@ScarletZebra

You could never describe Ashford as arty/vibrant

Ahhh yes 🙈🙈. Agreed. Totally forgot about that aspect of the brief 🤣. To clarify I would not recommend living in Ashford town itself - I was thinking more of the villages on its edges where OP might get her green fix...

[BekindStayhome]

I just wanted to add that we really missed Southsea when we left! The problem in this area is how expensive places are. Bognor and Littlehampton both have direct lines to London and are much cheaper but not sure about the artsy vibe. We went for Chi and like it but it's no cheaper than Southsea so couldn't get more space.

[Jigglypuff88]

@BekindStayhome yeah I think I’d miss it but we are ready to live somewhere with more space (in terms of from other people!). I would love to live Emsworth way but it is too pricey for us.

It has been interesting to hear about other villages/areas to think about!

[Jigglypuff88]

Petersfield would be the dream but again, too expensive. I got priced out of London my home town and now I am being priced out of the South East 🤣 we are gonna end up further and further away by the looks of it!

[onlywomennotmen]

What about a village nearish Lewes or Brighton? Both have the arty vibe...

[onlywomennotmen]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-75351455.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-78272293.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69197982.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64324477.html

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