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Original poster

What’s it like to live in Kent?

185 replies

almostautumn · 30/08/2021 11:42

Sorry, big generalization I know, but…

DH and I are planning to leave London to reduce our large mortgage. We’ve agreed on Kent as a compromise, as he wants to be within 1-1.5 hours of London and I want to live rurally and nearer the coast.

What worries me though is that Kent maybe isn’t rural enough and is overcrowded compared to somewhere like Wales or Yorkshire for example.

I want to live somewhere very peaceful and quiet with beautiful countryside, where I’m not surrounded by hoards of people everywhere I go. A place where I can go for walks and not see another soul (well, maybe a few other people would be okay!) A place where I can drive to places and park and the roads aren’t jam packed.

A small rural town would be fine, as long as it’s quiet and not too busy. DH is on board with all this as long as like I say, he can get to London fairly easily.

Does Kent sound like it would suit us or is it not that rural?

OP posts:
CrimeJunkie01 · 30/08/2021 19:31

@CarrotTops

Honestly anywhere in Kent that's easily commutable to London is going to get built up because its in high demand. Surprisingly lots of londonders want to move out of London to reduce their mortgage and still be within 1/1 and a half hours.

Lots of Kent is earmarked for development, I grew up in a smallish rural town that has pretty much doubled in size in the last 5 years, with no new roads or amenities. Kent is taking a massive amount of the new builds right now, and has some of the highest rates in the country. Lots of Kents roads are very very busy, the traffic is a bloody nightmare. Yes there are the odd lovely rural villages but I'm not sure the house prices are really going to be a great improvement on London because again surprisingly a lot of londoners want what you want

Weekends get very busy by the coast with people travelling in from London, PIL cannot drive out of their house because its so busy at weekends. Whilst you maybe able to find a rural village you will still need to drive to towns etc to get your shopping and for amenities and a lot of the villages have small roads that get very blocked up

I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect to move to a quiet rural location, an hour from London with much cheaper house prices.

Sounds very much like where I live in Kent!!!
thereisonlyoneofme · 30/08/2021 19:14

Im in Kent and the amount of house building going on without any infrastructure is horrifying. I moved from SE London to what was a small market town and the traffic and extra housing estates are making me want to move. Anywhere along the Southern train line from London to the coast is built up

TSSDNCOP · 30/08/2021 19:00

I'm not at all sure Medway is what the OP is looking for. Speaking as someone from that necked the woods.

OP, you need to look at the Weald villages.

maddiemookins16mum · 30/08/2021 18:59

Ashford here. So much building going on and a decaying town centre. I long to win the lottery and move to a nearby village like Charing.

TonkinLenkicks · 30/08/2021 18:54

We live in Shepherdswell and would fit your criteria. It’s a brilliant place with lots of little villages in this area which are the same

Phineyj · 30/08/2021 18:52

(I know it's not the seaside!)

Phineyj · 30/08/2021 18:51

I think Medway could come as a bit of a shock socially and culturally, but it does have a lot of lovely countryside and coast and there are fast(ish) trains if you pick your location carefully. Houses are relatively cheap there compared to the London bit of Kent where I live.

Just FYI, the commuter train service is on its uppers currently and I wouldn't be surprised if bits of it get drastically reorganised if not enough people go back to commuting. You can't be vague when planning station access. Just look at what happened to people on the Southern Rail route! Ideally you would be able to access two different lines.

Have you considered Tonbridge?

HostaFireAndIce · 30/08/2021 18:45

You can't go wrong with Kent.
You definitely can!
I think you can find what you want in Kent though. Have you thought about East Sussex too? Look down the trainlines. There's some nice places on or near the Hastings line.

DPotter · 30/08/2021 18:38

Deal is lovely, but a quiet seaside town in summer it is not.

Standrewsschool · 30/08/2021 18:31

Deal is lovely.

Timeforatincture · 30/08/2021 18:10

I'm moving to Deal in a couple of weeks so I hope it's nice!

Genevie82 · 30/08/2021 17:59

Hi OP,
Yes you can find lovely villages in Kent with outstanding walks and rural lifestyle too.. Canterbury and Faversham are good areas to look at and visit the areas with an Airbnb.. train to high speed London from each x

lockdownmadnessdotcom · 30/08/2021 17:02

@almostautumn

The other thing is, I don’t want to live in an area that is earmarked for lots of new building. I’d hate to move to a quiet rural town only for 500 houses to be thrown up without the infrastructure to support it. Is this something that’s likely to happen in Kent?
Impossible - building is happening everywhere. You could move somewhere and next year a developer, or even a local council, decides it would be a great idea to develop a rural area as a "new village". Or a farmer sells some land and you get 200 new houses on it.

But Kent has some really pretty villages and feels less built up than some areas of Surrey, for example.

FuzzyPuffling · 30/08/2021 16:57

We used to call "Operation Stack", "Operation Stuck" as that was the effect it had on the whole area. Huge lorries trying to sneak round it by using small roads and country lanes. Nightmare.

CoronaPeroni · 30/08/2021 16:26

We often stay with relatives in Upchurch/Lower Halstow. It's on the Saxon Shore Way, lots of coastal walking with Rochester a few minutes away.

Standrewsschool · 30/08/2021 16:10

Don’t discount Maidstone. Maidstone itself has three railway stations so good for London (an hour max), or Paddock wood is nearby if you want a different London station. The villages around Maidstone are lovely. Like any town, Maidstone has its better and worst areas.

Yes, there has been a lot of building in certain areas, but that’s the same for a lot of towns and cities nowadays. There’s plenty of countryside left, and it’s good for the coast. The schools aren’t bAd either.

Have you considered schools? Kent is a grammar school stronghold. The non-grammars can be hit or miss (like in any town).

DroopyClematis · 30/08/2021 15:36

Just to add, Maidstone is on a branch line to London so it takes over an hour for a relatively short distance.

CampervanQueen · 30/08/2021 15:26

@CarrotTops

East Anglia I would say has more of that but you are further from London.
I agree with this. I grew in Kent (Folkestone) and left nearly 10 years ago. I wouldn't go back. Far too much development. Far too many people, cars, lorries (Op Stack or whatever it is called now causes utter carnage). Anywhere that is remotely commutable to central London is hugely overpriced and overcrowded. And if you have primary school aged children, then you'd need to consider your position regarding grammar schools.

Some of the quieter areas of East Anglia might suit you, but the commute once you get to Liverpool Street would need to be factored in, and I suspect you'd still have issues for future developments.

DroopyClematis · 30/08/2021 15:11

I'd avoid anywhere north of M2

Maidstone is central and close to M25 but it's not a nice town. Tons of new builds on fields surrounding the town.

If you e got children, be aware of the 11+

Theworldisfullofgs · 30/08/2021 14:42

N cambs/Northamptonshire border. 1 hour to King's Cross. Lots of pretty villages. Not crowded.

CecilyP · 30/08/2021 14:38

Parts of Kent are very rural indeed and not that far from London as the crow flies. However with scant public transport getting into London for work would take ages and congested roads probably wouldn’t make driving any better. But no harm in looking.

Floralnomad · 30/08/2021 14:33

@MazyontheDipper , some bits of Rochester are ok , the rest of Medway would not be to my taste .

MazyontheDipper · 30/08/2021 14:33

@FuzzyPuffling

Medway. Ghastly. Avoid avoid avoid
why is that? We have been considering Kent as its nearer the coast and Rochester seems to have good links to London. Does it have a lot of crime?
FuzzyPuffling · 30/08/2021 14:29

Medway. Ghastly. Avoid avoid avoid

Callmecordelia · 30/08/2021 14:20

OP I echo what previous posters have said, and I'm sorry but you sound a bit naive. I think you will have to compromise, and exactly what you want doesn't exist. Not just in Kent, but anywhere with good London links. Kent is a good bet and you can get a lot of what you want, but not all.

There are quiet bits of Kent, and quiet roads in it, but it's a home county. The reason that Kent is being built on is because lots of Londoners want to move here and go back once or twice a week to the office. Incidentally, this is distorting the property market, pushing prices way above local wage buying power, and people aren't happy about this. I can't live where I grew up because it is a) inconvenient for teens b) now too expensive for our income c) demographically changed as it's a nice place to retire to from London, and it is slowly dying. If families can't afford to live there, it's not good for anyone.

You only need to look in the Guardian for where I live OP. I love it, and moved here before everyone else did, but it doesn't really fit your criteria. We want tourists, the town will wither without them.