Moving to a different town when children become young adults

[pisspants]

Indulge me! I have for a long time wanted to live by the sea. I am settled somewhere very far from the coast and the kids have now reached an age where a move is not viable until they are adults as I would not want to move them from their friends unnecessarily.

It wouldn't be downsizing as such as house prices are similar in the place I am looking to move to but would probably end up in something a bit bigger than we currently have.
I am a single parent and would love to do this for me as I have made a lot of sacrifices for the children. The move would be to somewhere about 2 hours away from where we currently live and to a place people do like to visit with a lot more going on than where we currently live and London would be just about viable.
I am just trying to work out when would be a good time to move. Kids are currently 13 and 10.
Would part way through university if the younger goes be acceptable? Or is it worth them settling in to adult life first? Knowing myself, I wasn;t really settled until my late 20's and I would not want them basing themselves near where we currently are if I am looking to move? So would moving whilst they are say 20 and 23 be best? That'd be 10 years from now and I would be 51.
I know this is very pie in the sky and all sorts could change in that time, but I like to have a long term aim and that gives me something to work towards.
Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated!

As someone who lives near the sea, I'd fully expect my two to move a distance away from here at some point to get some life experience. Don't expect that yours will follow if you move when they're adults - coastal areas can be tricky employment-wise and I wanted to be near a city at that age.

Move when it works for you. Providing they've finished exam years, I'd just go.

Thanks @carlywurly - I am looking at moving to Bournemouth from a market town commuter town so not to the total sticks and is a much bigger place with more going on, but probably slightly fewer employment options. I appreciate they may not want to live there but I think it would still be an attractive prospect for them

I would go now rather than later. At 10 and 13 I think it's a good time

Yeah I think you could go now. I'm the youngest and my mum moved when I was 18 and about to start uni and I was fine with that.

Bournemouth has loads of employment opportunities - there are some big financial institutions there. It's also on the mainline railway to Southampton and up to Waterloo.

I’d go now. Before the eldest starts GCSE course and the youngest starts secondary. Otherwise you will have to wait years until exams are done.

We're thinking of the same. DCs are the same age as yours. One thing that made me think was a friend talking about what happened when his mum moved whilst he was at uni. He said he would have to stay on fiends sofas to visit the town he grew up in as there was no 'home' to return to in the holidays. It made me think as we had vaguely planned to leave London when the youngest goes to uni, which is about 7 years from now. But I think we'll leave it until he's finished. I have to say my 13 year old wouldn't be too happy if we moved now.

We are here till exams are done - as DD1 is just starting - or has already in yr 9 started that's another 7 years till youngest has finished a-levels.

After that I'd be amazed if there wasn't another move for DH work - there have been many already.

It's tricky though as I did have friends who complained about their parents moving while they were at University mainly as seeing school friends was then harder and it could be harder to find summer work but then many of my other uni friends ended up nowhere near where they grew up after graduation – but it adds another few years on and more if they do post doc degrees.

From family I see that if you don't move in your 50s very few end up moving in their 60s seem to be too much change after that – sure that’s not true for everyone though - it does reduce the time window in my mind though for moving.

Yeah, much as I would love to do it now, my 13 year old DD would definitely not be happy and I could not do that to her as she has real stability here and some lovely friends and is in several teams she has been involved in for years. My parents are nearby also (at the moment - they are also looking to move to Dorset in a few years time) and they are a real support to me and the kids with help in the school hols.
I had a friend who had similar in uni holidays (nowhere to go in the home town) which makes me think towards the end of my son's time at uni may be the best time (if he goes).