Help me find a Sussex town/village to move to?

[PichmondRark]

If you know Sussex well can you help me.

We want to move from London to Sussex. DH needs to commute into Victoria 4x a week so we need to be near a mainline train station. We need a really good state primary and secondary but we are religious. We want a big enough village that the primary age kids don’t have to drive to school.

We adore Lewes but it’s just a bit too far to commute 4x a week so maybe somewhere with an hour or under train journey.

Brighton is too big. We want to feel we live in the countryside. We do love Brighton though.

Budget is up to £2 million for a 5 bed house.

TIA.

Just to update that the Forest Row house was very nice but our explore of the area confirmed to me that a small village without a secondary school is probably not right for us.

Our 13 year old has lived in zone 2 London all their life. Walked to school every day. In the last year had the freedom of the Tube to get around London. I don’t want them stuck at home with no close friends in walking distance, no public transport etc.

Also we do really want to state educate even at secondary level. I want my children to know the real world and not be in a bubble of people who opt out of mixing with those less fortunate.

So I think we are back to thinking about Lewes. DH is going to research the commute some more. At the moment there is nothing that fits the bill house wise on the market in Lewes which is frustrating.

Sounds like a productive day OP. Narrowing down your options is a useful exercise! Being within walking distance of a secondary school puts a different slant on things.
If you are looking specifically at Lewes, East Sussex County Council have a pdf on their website with a useful map for catchment secondary schools.
Many older teenagers in that area travel down to Brighton for 6th form and go out in Brighton in the evening etc - that applies even if you go west closer to Haywards Heath.

I think you are wise to prioritise being able to walk to school and other amenities. The secondary school age kids here in Ditchling meet at the war memorial on a morning and walk together to Downlands School in Hassocks, which is outstanding. It’s about a 25 min amble. Their friends are all local and when they get a bit older, they go into Brighton on the train.

OP I'm in Lewes with a child in secondary school.

We are also buying a 5 bedroom house, although not a budget as big as yours.

Please feel free to PM me if you need any info.

And yeah the market is really slow in Lewes at the moment. We have felt that frustration for months.

Did you look at Ditchling, Keymer, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint? The primaries are all good and they are catchment for Downlands Secondary too. All at capacity though so I'd call to establish if there's space in the years you'd need.

London Mainline train from Hassocks or Burgess Hill - certain times are the Gatwick Express so it's 50 minutes to Victoria with wifi.

Buses tend to be 2 an hour for getting to the larger towns or trains to Brighton, older kids will cycle between the villages to meet up with friends.

Have you thought about Wivelsfield?

how easy to please is your 13 year old going to be?
I imagine they would appreciate being close to Brighton

Perhaps @NoDontLookAtMelmShy can confirm or not, but someone I know moved to Lewes 10 years ago and struggled for a long time. Her DH was from near there but they felt very like outsiders for years. They ended up being friends with the other London/Brighton newcomers despite their connections to the town. Maybe it has changed since then?

The train to London was much less reliable than they thought and they decided not to commute even 3 days in the end.

And the burning pope effigies..

Lewes bonfire is Fabulous

They also burnt Donald Trump, to be fair.

I am sure an effigy Boris is currently being built as we speak

Why don't you ask Phil & Kirsty? Seriously I saw Location x3 the other day and boy do they know their stuff

Stick with Lewes. There's really nowhere the same. By the time you've faffed driving to a station and trying to park etc, you'll be halfway to London as so much of Lewes is within walking distance of the station. I wouldn't hesitate to commute to London from Lewes. And with that budget you might even get a house with parking 😉

They've been burning Boris for years.

The trains were appalling with all the strikes and engineering for a while. But better now.

Join a Bonfire society!

OP I know you said Sussex but considering what you are looking for have you considered Tunbridge Wells area? Good train connections and your children would still be able to walk to school etc. Grammar school area but look at schools like Bennett memorial and Skinners Kent Accademy plus Hill View & Haysbrook in Tonbridge

@Enko one of the reasons we are focusing on Sussex is that DH works close to victoria station so he won’t have a London commute if we live on a train that comes into Victoria. I’m also a bit anti the grammar school system so I wanted to be in a truly comprehensive school area. Kent is beautiful though & there seem more houses available around TW than there are around Lewes.

I’m near Chichester and it’s a lovely area with the sea, South Downs etc. On the line to Victoria, but easy to get to Portsmouth, Southampton, Brighton, if you want more shops. The Witterings are lovely, but so busy in the summer that the roads are jammed.

Should have said that there’s Bishop Luffa secondary school and Chichester High School.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82656035.html
Five-bedroom house in East Grinstead within walking distance of Sackville secondary school. East Grinstead also has a nascent Bonfire Society!