Are there any decent, liveable seaside towns in UK which aren’t silly expensive or horribly rundown?

[Moidershewrote]

Basically that - DH and I would really like to relocate with our 2 primary aged kids to live by the sea (near a sandy beach) in either England or Wales - ideally we’d like a half decent primary / secondary schools, friendly community feel with clubs / kids activities etc and not run down/full of pound shops etc and access to train station within approx 5 miles and local buses would be great. We’d love to live somewhere that is walking distance of a beach.

It feels like we’ve looked into so many places and for one reason or another we end up discounting it - usually because either schools seem crap or no train station or no community feel.

Places we’ve immediately rejected are:

• Kent (grammar schools / Kent test)


• Brighton (too expensive / pebble beach)


• Portsmouth/S’ton/Plymouth (too big / towny feel)


• Essex/Somerset coastline (not the right vibe for us)


• E/W Sussex (not sandy😆)

Would love to hear any personal recommendations from people who have moved to another coastal town with kids / or live in one and think it’s brilliant (and why)🙏 We do love Devon, Dorset, Anglia.. Would consider Wales, or NW/NE England.

There is definitely a streak of truth to what you say😅

Sounds like Suffolk to me

I know you’ve ruled our Kent but Folkestone is fabulous

Aberytstwyth? University town, lovely place to live, great community, got a train station, nice beach. What about this house well within your budget

"Aberytstwyth?"
that would be AberYSTwyth obviously

Just coming on to suggest Ireland too.

loads of beautiful sandy beaches and absolutely no pressure with regards schools, it just doesn’t exist here.
you could be living on an actual beach and 30 minutes from the airport at the same time.

co Clare and co Kerry are absolutely beautiful and your budget would but you a mansion. You could have a lovely life here.

all the best with your search

Beautiful area!

@Richelieu Yeah, I know what you mean. I was born in Southport and lived around there for nearly 30 years. I've seen small improvements the last couple of times I've been home though so hopefully it will just get better from now :)

Hesketh Park is so pretty :)

As @Kendodd say, by whom?

Not necessarily. We'd considered moving for the same reasons as OP. OH was keen until he saw the area on a nice day- where half of Merseyside turns up on Merseyrail. Bless him, he was actually shocked.

As time went on and child grew, then nice seaside wasn't so much an issue and proximity to Liverpool became more important.

We are still not sure....we are fairly frequent visitors to the area but we are aware that there would be some disadvantages compared to where we live now.

This thread has made me ridiculously homesick for Swansea :(. I went on RightMove just to be nosey and found the house next door to the one I grew up in on there. I’d move back in a heartbeat if I could.

Like almost everywhere, there are rough areas of Swansea but also some lovely ones. And, as mentioned, Gower is easily accessible.

Gower this week.

More sand than Penarth.
Id still consider both areas.

Poor Swansea was bombed heavily. There are some buildings left that hint at the past like the Waterstones in an old Art Deco cinema. It was once a very important producer of copper and wealthy.

It does have tatty areas but also has a relaxed university city (small) atmosphere.

Penarth was always a wealthy, seaside, away from the Cardiff docks area but might have a bit of the vibe you are after.

Totally agree with the above suggestions!!!

We love Stokes Bay in Gosport! Great for water sports & swimming.
Lee on Solent and Hill Head are also good.
All the above beaches have lovely views of the Isle of Wight

My DSs love Southsea especially Clarence Pier - great for a day out.

Stop replying Whitley Bay the prices will go up....... *doh🙄

Suffolk - Dunwich
Norfolk - Wells next the Sea, Holkham, Sea Palling
Wales - Gower Peninsula, Lleyn Peninsula

Stokes Bay is pebbles though......? I used to live there, and previously at Lee on Solent although I was so young I can't remember if it was sand or pebbles.

Yes it’s pebbles. I’ve decided now at my ancient age that sandy beaches are overrated! My children used to be happy with pebbles, the TV enjoyed the sea, collecting shells etc - and I bought a sand pit for the back garden!
What I observed over the last few weeks of heat also is that a non touristy coastal area comes up trumps! It’s lengthy so plenty of room for everyone despite there being the whole of the town there, realistic car parking charges, no shops to be pestered about, just a few small cafes plus an ice cream van. We will never feature on the front page of a newspaper like Bournmouth, Brighton, West Witterings etc.
So I would advise researching no tourist coastal areas.

Someone does want the house prices to go up
Non of this is true in my experience. The weather is colder than down south but dry and sunny most of the time. The people are extremely friendly and community focused and with a short drive/train ride to town you can have as much rural or urban-ness as you want

Weather wise, Wales is wet. In fact Swansea is the wettest city in the UK. It is an off putting factor. the sunniest place is apparently Chichester.

@Knittingnanny2 Thats so true. For the past two Saturdays, we’ve been to the beach adjacent to a destination town. Pebbles on beach, although sandy further out to sea. Great for sitting on chairs, reading my kindle, going for a swim (or float) and letting the world go by. It does get busy, but not cramped.

@Moidershewrote also bear in mind that with your primary aged children you will want to be able to visit the beach in school holidays. I’ve just taken 2 of my grandchildren to our beach ( the non touristy one) for a run around and an icecream. No problem parking, busy but only a short icecream queue and plenty of room for all the locals! The 2 hour outing cost me less than a fiver

@Teenagehorrorbag Lee on Solent is pebbles

Hill Head can be sandy though when the tide it out - still some pebbles though

Though a good pair of beach shoes and pebbles are fine

There seems to be a few of us around this area! Waving to you all

Id love to do tge same, OP, but you need to check out climate maps to help decide where to move otherwise yiu could be buying a property that will ve valueless once the maps are out there in the public domain...coastal.climatecentral.org/