Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Live by the sea?

126 replies

IsadoraMoon · 27/08/2021 19:28

I've just come back from our annual weekly trip to the seaside and felt really sad to leave ..the kids and I love it SO much, I'm desperate to sell up and move (currently living in a city 2hours drive from the nearest beach) finding a job in the area was always the sticking point, but now with the possibility of working remotely it seems like it really could be possible! Tell me, does the novelty wear off to visit the beach if you live really close? I know it wouldn't for me but I wonder about the kids (they're 4 and 6) the sea would be the main attraction as there's not so much else to do around there! The other option would be to move to another city (nearer to the beach, say 35 minutes drive, but more to do) but it won't be the small coastal visit I'm so in love with!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Tulips15 · 28/08/2021 08:25

I live in West Wales on the coast.
I grew up here, Me and my family lived 1mile from the nearest beach and wiyhin a 5mile radius, we had 6 beaches.
We were on tye beach all the time- Very lucky.
As an adult, I moved 3hrs away, nearest beach was an hr away.
Visiting "Home' was a lovely treat as my family still lived in same place.
We moved back to West Wales, with our 4DC 8years ago.
We are at the beach whenever we can, I feel so lucky and we never tire of the beach, My car is like a sand pit moat days though!!!!

BakewellGin1 · 28/08/2021 08:27

Like a few PP I live NE Coast..
I literally could walk 5 minutes from my door and be on the beach banks.. With a small stony beach. Toddler DS loves throwing stones and exploring the caves.
A little further along we have a long sandy stretch of beach which gets busier in good weather but plenty space.
We are also lucky to have several other beaches within 20 min drives either direction.
I love it and it's nice for DC.

user1471538283 · 28/08/2021 08:27

I loved being near the coastline and went most weekends. We are now landlocked and it took years to get used to not having it a half hours drive away.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Holidays
no1iscoming · 28/08/2021 08:27

We moved near to the beach 11 years ago and can honestly say we've been about 4 times for just a walk... never a day at the beach that I used to love as a child.

My kids will moan hell and high water if I suggest going to the beach. They hate it. I'm sure if we lived a couple hours away they would want to go... but ten minutes means there's no novelty at all!

The only downside for me is that we rarely get snow here.

1952VincentBlackLightning · 28/08/2021 08:33

Hasn't worn off for me. Moved back 10 years ago from London (due to family connections) to a city by the sea, and surrounded by spectacular countryside. Am out in it all the time. Is very touristy but that's ok as most of us are tourists somewhere. In winter it is such a delight. I love to visit London but I wouldn't ever move back.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 28/08/2021 08:37

@RiderGirl

Grumpy post and I'm prepared to get slated - but if you move to the coast please consider the fact that you may well be taking a home that a person who has lived there all their life needs. I live in a popular coastal area and it is utterly heartbreaking at the moment, we have a dreadful housing crisis because of people relocating from cities and driving up the house prices locally. People on the average wage locally just cannot compete. I absolutely hope that rules are changed so that people who already live and work locally get priority when houses are advertised, it is killing our communities.
I don’t entirely agree. Why shouldn’t people who yearn to live by the sea but weren’t lucky enough to be born there be denied the right as opposed to people who through pure luck and not their choice were born there?
Thornrose · 28/08/2021 08:37

The beach is at the end of my road and I go most days, year round. However, it's a pebble beach so we're not inundated by tourists.

Yesterday morning I was the only person on my particular stretch of beach for a few hours. Lovely to have a swim whenever I want one too.

I grew up near the sea but as a teenager I rarely went to the beach. After 20 odd years living in London I craved it again and moved to the coast.

I am only 40 minutes drive to the nearest small city so I have the best of both worlds in my opinion.

I'd go for it Grin

GoodnightGrandma · 28/08/2021 08:39

I grew up in a seaside town, but never went to the beach.

firstimemamma · 28/08/2021 08:48

We live a half hour walk from the beach and absolutely love it! The novelty doesn't wear off. We are 4 years in now and go a lot. We are going today. Do it!

RufustheBadgeringReindeer · 28/08/2021 08:53

We have lived near a pebble beach (as others have said not very touristy) for 30 plus years

Firstly in a small village and now in a small town three miles away from our old house 😀

Quite often went for a walk and when the children were small we’d go for a few hours or paddling in wellies but as they got a wee bit older they didn’t want to, dd at 19 visits the beach slightly more but usually late at night with groups of friends

Effybriest · 28/08/2021 08:55

@ThroughThickAndThin01 I think the poster means that locals are being priced out. They work there and probably have family connections but can't afford to buy because of inflated house prices and low wages. Wealthy incomers who 'yearn' to live there, descend on the same small places, some only use the properties as holiday homes, I get how the poster feels. It's happening all over tbh, particularly now people have the option to WFH. Nice places to live are just out of the range of many people.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 28/08/2021 09:04

Effy yes I get what she means but don’t agree with it. I think everyone should have the right to work and live where they want to, if a kid born and raised in a city but hates it and wants to move to the coast I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to.

However I do agree about second homes - I don’t like the idea of them in principle, taking up prime spots and being left vacant half the year just because people can afford to buy them.

Vinorosso74 · 28/08/2021 09:08

I grew up in the north east 2 miles up the road from a beach. I think I took living by the sea for granted and enjoy going back to visit but I can't imagine living there now. I hate the sea fret and mist which often hangs over the coast but others like/don'tmind it. I would say spend a few days there at different times of year to get more of a feel of the place (not just because of the weather).

Livebythecoast · 28/08/2021 09:09

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Yes, it gets busy in Summer but we know a very secluded beach that barely anyone knows about, except the locals, that's away from the main beach. My DD17 grew up rock pooling, swimming and just generally having fun and still goes with friends in the warm weather.
I don't visit every day but just knowing it's there is lovely and there is nothing like a breezy Autumn day, walking along the beach to blow the cobwebs away!
Also, we have a harbour where they sell fresh sea food and feel very lucky to pop down there and get fresh mackerel, prawns, crab etc with some crusty bread 😋.

KingdomScrolls · 28/08/2021 09:13

@Effybriest I grew up and worked in London, priced out so I moved to the seaside, where should I live?

Rollercoaster1920 · 28/08/2021 09:25

Only you can say whether you would use the beach and sea enough to make the move worthwhile.

I'm about to go out for a run along the sea wall. There will be lots of dog walkers, paddle boarders and kayaker. The harbour has lots of pleasure boats as well as working vessels. No surf here but in surf areas that is the main thing.

I think beaches suit those with active lifestyles best.

daisyjgrey · 28/08/2021 09:29

@ThroughThickAndThin01

Because the majority of people who buy property here who aren't local don't move here because they 'yearn to live by the sea', the buy houses because they 'yearn to be able to live by the sea for three weeks a year while living within a 10 minute drive of a Waitrose and a grammar school' for the other 49 weeks a year.

They buy houses that stand empty for the majority of the year, killing off towns and villages from September - June and then wondering why the locals are fed up.

Bouledeneige · 28/08/2021 09:46

My DSis moved to live near the sea 10 years ago. She and her DH love it but her late teens are quite bored if it and envy their city cousins who can go clubbing, cinema and other city life. They find the winter very boring and my DSis did spend quite a lot of time in the car doing errands etc when I can walk to most shops I need.

If you do it OP make sure you've been there in the winter months and understand what its like then and also check out what there's to do outside if walking on the beach .

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 28/08/2021 09:47

daisy. Read again what the poster I quoted was saying. Nothing to do with second homes which I disagree with. She is against people ‘moving to the coast’

TheFutureIs · 28/08/2021 09:49

I tried living away from the sea when I went to uni, missed it so much I moved to a different uni closer to the coast. I love living near the coast, in the summer it's like being on holiday without leaving home

Original poster
IsadoraMoon · 28/08/2021 09:50

[quote daisyjgrey]@ThroughThickAndThin01

Because the majority of people who buy property here who aren't local don't move here because they 'yearn to live by the sea', the buy houses because they 'yearn to be able to live by the sea for three weeks a year while living within a 10 minute drive of a Waitrose and a grammar school' for the other 49 weeks a year.

They buy houses that stand empty for the majority of the year, killing off towns and villages from September - June and then wondering why the locals are fed up. [/quote]
Totally get this viewpoint, if we moved it would definitely be for the whole year (can't afford a holiday let!) so I think visiting out of season is a good shout, for me walking along a deserted cold beach in winter would be utter bliss, but maybe for the kids not so much! It's super pricey where we live at the moment and we can't afford more than a house the size of a postage stamp -one of the other reasons we'd like to move! The kids are happy at school though so hard to make the decision to pull them out but ultimately we are going to run out of space...

OP posts:
1952VincentBlackLightning · 28/08/2021 10:08

Yup would second what @BouleDeNeige said - we have both sea and city. Much as I adore the coastline, and am there all the time, it would be less appealing (certainly to my teens) without proximity to the city. We also have reasonably good public transport, meaning they aren't reliant on lifts.

Chewbecca · 28/08/2021 10:17

I’m very near the sea, well, estuary actually. I rarely go to the beach or in the water but still appreciate it a lot, I see it every day I leave the house and very much enjoy the sight. Always feels odd when we go away and the towns just go on forever, rather than having a coastal edge!

AlphabetAerobics · 28/08/2021 10:30

Your windowsills will end up
Covered in binoculars. 😁 my breath is taken away daily. When I actually shift my fat arse this morning we’re going fishing and swimming.

Car full of sand and people never seem to take the sea glass out of their pockets before filling the washing machine are two downsides…

Alcemeg · 28/08/2021 10:44

I used to live just outside Brighton and I really loved it.

You never get bored of the sea.

Brighton itself is impossible now during the summer, you can barely move on the seafront. But it's easy to avoid the centre and there are plenty of other places to go along that coastline.

I'm completely landlocked now, in another country, and still have dreams about the chalk downs and the seafront.