Where would you retire to from these choices?

[Shyandretiringtype]

Wise mumsnetters, I need your input!

my recently retired mother is a social housing tenant in South London and needs to downsize.

There is a scheme to relocate older people out of the city to seaside and countryside bungalows and in order to free up London properties for families who need them. She needs to be within reach of South East London and Tonbridge on public transport ideally, as her children live in these areas and don’t drive. So Kent is looking most likely.

Areas on offer are:

Ramsgate
Deal/Walmer
Faversham
Birchington-on-Sea

Being a social housing scheme, she will be relocated to a social housing property. Mostly retirement bungalows, so I’m hoping they’ll be full of similarly aged people she can hopefully make friends with. I’m worried about her being isolated tbh but she’s adamant she’s had enough of London.

Does anyone have any feedback on these areas? TIA!

Should be Birchington-next-to-Sea! 😀

There are a lot of coastal towns with placenames ending "on-sea"

I have no advice but just wanted to share my mirth at the incredibly helpful first reply you've had 😂

Faversham (pleasant market town) or Deal (pleasant seaside town)

Personally I’d avoid Thanet. Ramsgate feels like travelling to worlds end, though it is on the high speed train line (as a slight redeeming feature)

But she's going to move away from her family and her retirement period is the time she'll need you all most.

No idea about birchinton on sea. I think Deal is really quite nice and I’d go for that option. No to Ramsgate- too rough round the edges by far and faversham is a bit meh. But possibly the best for transport links. Take your mum down and have days out in each. Check out the facilities she might need and the journey.

Are any of those easily accessible to Tonbridge though?

@WaffleMum222 😂 what do you make of Thanington Without in that case?

You reckon it’s without hope? Without decent internet? Without a 24hr Maccies?

(and yes I do know it’s actually called that because it’s outside the Canterbury medieval city walls. Without = the opposite of within)

Deal out of all those, it’s a really nice little town with a reasonable train link to London (not sure about Tonbridge but can change at Ashford maybe??)

Would avoid Thanet personally. UKIP country

Ramsgate is a depressing place. Have not heard of the others. Does she have to move, or does she want to ? If I were retirement age I would want to be in London with the tube, free museums etc. UK seaside towns are the road to depression for the elderly in my opinion.

Sorry I initially skim read. I've now seen you've said she has had enough of London.

Birchington-on-Sea is the edge of Thanet and very nice. Nice little high street, station, nice beaches. I can't for the life of me think where there are social housing bungalows though. If they exist, they will be in the hinterland between Birchington and Westgate or close to.Quex. However, walking distance to the shops if not the station/sea/doctors.

After that I'd say Deal/Walmer.

Ramsgate is a combination of beautiful architecture near the sea but the town centre is run down and parts are, dare I say, a bit feral. Distance to station could be prohibitive.

Faversham - it depends where.

I think you would have to visit the properties and weigh up how close they are to amenities, who lives close by, etc. Parts of all those places are lovely but parts are not.

One thing I would say if yiur mother's elderly and may need good healthcare, in S London she presumably can access: St George's, Tommy's, Guys, Chelsea & Westminster, etc. Regrettably the East Kent Hospitals are utterly diabolical. Also there won't be an easy choice of accessible supermarkets.

Birchington is LOVELY. Lots of shops. Nice beach. Railway line. From memory you can change at Faversham. Wilf my son lives near Birchington and travels to Tonbridge sometimes. I've sent him the link to this thread...

I know all those places fairly well.

Faversham is worth a serious look for retirement. It's a lovely little town with a still thriving town centre of local shops and I've always sensed community - people who know each other, greeting each other in the streets, lots of clubs and societies to join, etc. Quite well to do but not overly "posh" if that makes sense. it also has the best rail links.

Birchington-on-Sea is effectively a suburb of Margate - it's pleasant, residential, but doesn't really have a town centre (she'd need to go into Margate which has very little or to the shops at Westwood Cross.

Ramsgate, as other posters have said, is quite run down in parts, although there are nicer parts and a reasonable town centre.

Deal is a pretty coastal town. It centres around the tourists more than the others, so it's packed out in summer and quite empty and bleak in the winter

So Faversham would be my priority.

(If anything ever comes up in Herne Bay, that's a lovely little seaside town where I hope to retire one day ... definitely worth a look!).

I am in Westgate On Sea which is next town to Birchington

Westgate is really good lovely place few of local shops but good place also has train station near by aswell Birchington lots of shops same birchington

i recommend Westgate and Birchington

@mousey23, in my youth we called it Hernia Bay 😀. Believe it or not 50 years ago it was much nicer than Whitstable!

Birchington-on-Sea is absolutely not a suburb of Margate. It is a very large village and parish in its own right. Fields used to separate the two places. They are like chalk and cheese.

And indeed Westgate. Thank you @RainbowWilf996. The fields used to separate Birchington and Westgate. Inland at least. Before the bungalows on the Canterbury Road were built!

I don't know much about these places but wherever she moves to please ask her to consider proximity to primary care centres and hospitals. This is a huge problem for older people in the UK as our public transport network outside of London is very poor.

Ah, I have some useful replies now! Thanks 😁

My sibling and I have spoken and would prefer her to stay in London and to downsize there. But she is certain she wants to leave. I’ve said she should look closely at NHS services - GPs, hospitals etc. I think we definitely need to do some day trips in these areas too.

Ramsgate is the only location with a direct train to Tonbridge. Deal is fine with only one change at Ramsgate. Birchington and Faversham are a little trickier but not impossible.

Birchington to Ramsgate is only 20 minutes on the train to pick up the Tonbridge train.

@RosesAndHellebores yes, the bungalows are near Quex. Is there not much around there?

Quex is at the top of the village. Quex Park House and museum are delightful. Originally owned by the Powell-Cottons.

Quex runs from Park Lane to the Canterbury Road and was originally mostly local authority housing. It was historically OK and sedate compared to LA areas in Margate, Ramsgate, Garlinge, etc. The demograph there was historically indigenous Thanet and it may be harder for an older Londoner to integrate there than in other parts of the village where people buy bungalows/pretty houses, downsizing from London.

It's a 10 minute walk to the village, blends into Westgate, probably 20/25 to the station and 30 minutes from the medical centre. There is a bus every 30 minutes. Also close to a lovely, traditional church, Rossetti is buried there.

There is about to be extensive building to the East of Birchington on the land between Minnis Bay and Reculver and there are concerns about the sustainability of the infrastructure.

Book yourselves into the Powell Arms for a couple of days and explore.

I might lean towards Deal/Walmer or Ramsgate.