LIVING IN NORFOLK

We are thinking of moving to Norfolk. Best friend lives near Mundesley. I will be retiring this year and husband is already retired.

We at present live on the Wirral, north west. Very suburbia, prior to that small friendly busy village just outside Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
We would prefer to be near my friends. I think I do prefer north Norfolk, love Holt. I am very much into pilates/yoga/walking. Pubs and eating. Love community villages, we are certainly not pipes and slippers.
A lot of houses I look at on-line, pretty cottages seem to be in hamlets, I don't think that would suit us. We also have the dreaded budget £300/325 so we have to be reasonable.
Has anybody on here done the move and how do we go about it. I am getting really panicky. House due to go on market Easter.
I think we need a kirsty and Phil. Thank you for any help/feeders

Well it seems to have been narrowed down to Gorleston.

Norfolk is not easy for someone who doesn't drive.

@thisbethename I've literally given the OP a list of four or five towns that meet her requirements. Yes some areas of coastal Norfolk are inaccessible but not all of them are, and not all of the larger towns are rough or touristy. At my daughters school you can literally see the beach from the windows on one side (5 min walk) and one of the three major Norfolk hospitals from the other (2 min walk).

We own a house in Norfolk to retire to. My DH choice. It’s in Freethorpe. Literally smack in the middle of Norwich and Great Yarmouth. It’s so quiet I think I might die of boredom.

i'm looking to be near the coast and has to be near some kind of shopping facilities and medical facilities etc....

Without a car, those three things do not coincide in Norfolk.

Norfolk is a big county, and the areas near the coast are rural. As PPs have said, to move to rural Norfolk without being able to drive is madness, imo. Especially if you regularly have to get to one of the hospitals.

If you can’t drive and have medical requirements to be close to a hospital I wouldn’t move there.

I agree, ShingleBeach, living somewhere is a whole different ball game.

Norfolk is lovely.

Many wonderful things about it.

But like anywhere you need to know the specifics suit you if you plan to move there. The OP needs access to a hospital and good public transport.

Two good locations have been identified by people who live there. Reasons who others areas will not suit the OP have also been identified by people who live or lived there.

Holidaying in Norfolk is no basis for knowing what it’s like to live there, except for loving the landscape, of course, and the lovely holiday stuff

My best holidays have been in Norfolk.

I love Norfolk.. my family enjoy the canal boating and spent many trips down this way.. so beautiful 🌸

Please ignore the negative comments about Norfolk. It's a gorgeous place to live and not driving is no problem as long as you pick carefully.

I'd suggest you look at Dersingham, Snettisham and Heacham. All on excellent bus routes to King's Lynn and Hunstanton so you'd easily get to beach at Hunstanton and hospital at King's Lynn.

Good luck OP. I hope you make the move to Norfolk - I'm sure you'll love it. It's a wonderful place to live.

Hospitals are a good point, the QE2 at Lynn is falling to bit, the N&N is fairly new and is becomes a center for all medical stuff in the area. Getting onto a Drs or Dentists list is pretty much impossible in many areas.

There is a great bus service along the coast road (in that once an hour at peak times sort of way) but not to inland villages.

NO NEED TO SHOUT

I live in Norfolk. All the naice costal places are vair vair posh and expensive and you can't move in summer. Think anything from Cromer upwards.

Personally I think areas around holt are lovely. Not slap bang on the coast but close enough to get to the beach in under 30 mins if you want.

The weather can be a bit odd around Cromer and Sherringham in that it can be a lovely sunny day in Norwich so you decide to go to the coast and as soon as you hit Cromer it's dull, misty and cold.

Be prepared. It is an unusual place as there is no passing through traffic, it is the end of the line. And very insular. That is okay later in life but if you are young at heart take some care before leaping in. There is a reason young people move away

My parents live in Gorleston and I think it probably meets all your needs. It is a medium sized town, neither rural nor touristy and if you watch the film Yesterday a lot of it was shot in Gorleston.

You can walk from one end to the other in 30 mins. The High Street has a fairly large library, cinema, a wilko, a Morrisons, Iceland and Farm foods, a mixture of different pubs, restaurants and cafes as well as some more boutique shops. There is a night club, pub, small theatre and amusement arcade on the beach front but it isn't hectic or touristy like Yarmouth. If you prefer countryside you can walk (or get the bus) to Burgh Castle and do the Riverside walk next to Breydon Water.

There are several gyms in Gorleston and then a 25 m pool in nearby Bradwell and a brand new sports centre with pools and flumes being built in GY at the moment.

The James Paget hospital has a bus station and my parents have always had quick and brilliant care there and waiting times at A & E are normally under 2 hours (not at the moment due to Covid).

Buses run every 10 minutes towards Gt Yarmouth or every 30 mins to Lowestoft and Norwich, where you can get another bus to Norwich Airport. You can get National Express coaches to London or other coach holidays from the High Street too. Or get the train from Gt Yarmouth and connect to national services in Norwich.

Housing goes from under £100k for a small terrace house to more than £1,000,000 so plenty of choice.

Broadband and phone signal are great, the same cannot be said for more rural areas of Norfolk, my parents have friends who only get signal in one area of their house etc. Also when we get heavy snowfall it's not unusual for some of the more remote villages and smaller coastal areas to get cut off due to the snow.

I think I've addressed every possible point but any questions just ask. My parents moved from London 30 years ago and don't regret it.

Same issues, though, for someone who doesn’t drive and needs regular access to a hospital.

Yabu for putting this in Aibu

Yes, a bit lol but the coast from Aldeburgh-bawdsey is beautiful and lovely places to live

I'd skip Norfolk entirely. Suffolk coast is so much nicer.

"transport links are important" : why? Where do you need to go other than hospital?
I don't understand this comment. Is the OP expected to stay at home for the rest of her life? She might need a cinema or a library or a dentist. She might want to join a bridge club in the neighbouring village or take an evening class at the nearest college. If you don't drive then local transport links are quite important.

Had to wait 3 years for orthopaedic surgery at N&N. Even then, patients were shipped down to Spire, Cambridge for the actual operation. DH, on the other hand, had amazing service when he had a suspected heart attack - N&N were efficiency personified.

Norfolk has positives and negatives.

Kings Lynn is dire, as are parts of Norwich, Downham Market.

Hospitals are pretty shocking as are secondary schools. The roads (most single roads) are dire as is traffic. Holiday home yes, live there again / not bloody likely. It’s hell for you to visit and train connections etc