Where to live in East Sussex?

[LovePrawnCoctailCrisps]

Looking to move away from London and very keen on East Sussex. I suppose would still need to be within commutable distance to London (hybrid working makes it easier) and just be peaceful place. Ideally detached house and bit more private but appreciate budget might enough

any recommendations / ideas would be extremely welcome!

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/houses/buxted/

3 here in a village that has a station.

Another vote for Maggie’s fish & chips in Hastings if it’s open! Delicious. Love George St (Old town) and the De La Warr Pavillion in Bexhill. I think there’s also an independent cinema in Bexhill? Some great recommendations on here. Enjoy scouting around at the weekend OP!

I live in East Sussex, moved here 30 years ago. If you have to live in the south-east but you want to feel as if you live in the south-west, then the High Weald might fit the bill. There's a huge difference in feel of the country between the Low Weald and the High Weald. Question is, do you want to be in a larger town, smaller town or in a village / country? What's more important to you?

If you need to be near a station, the best connection are Haywards Heath or Wadhurst. The Uckfield line is sweet (travel back in time 60 years) but not always super reliable, it has a reasonable service and lots of people do commute to London.

I think East Sussex gets increasingly more rural as you go east. (Low Weald) Haywards Heath - Newick, Newick - Uckfield , Uckfield - Heathfield (High Weald starts at Buxted) Heathfield - Dallington, Dallington - Battle. The country in between Heathfield to Battle is a lot less crowded than Haywards - Heath to Uckfield. North High Weald Mayfield, Wadhurst is more expensive than southern High Weald, Dallington, Netherfield, Battle.

My children went to school at the local village school then onto the local Community College. They did very well. Crime is low.

Ashdown Forest is wonderful. Beware the weather in Crowborough, being so high it can spend days in the winter in the clouds... quite literally. It does rain more in the High Weald than in the Low Weald due to its height. East Sussex is the most wooded county in the country, 17% of the land is wooded. Small irregular fields, high hedgerows footpaths literally everywhere.

That is right next to a massively busy stretch of single carriageway trunk road where the traffic tends to slow due to the petrol station and crossroads which is why it's so cheap. Plus it's hideous at rush hour

I saw a couple of people mentioned Horsham. Just to get my two pennys worth in (or whatever the saying is), Horsham really lacks diversity! I’m asian and feel very uncomfortable when I visit.

Robertsbridge in East Sussex is gorgeous and where I would look to move to if I ever leave London!

Fair enough I don't know that part of the county well, I know it's lovely down that direction but I didn't know it had a petrol station practically in the garden!
When we moved down we put our budget and requirements into Zoopla/Rightmove put together a long list of about 30 and then drove past them all to suss out which ones were on awful roads/junctions or had other hidden nasties and made a short list of about 8 that we then had viewings of.

Oh plus it's potentially got subsidence abd is cash buyers only. Abd next to a pub. i knew it was so cheap fir a reason 😂

@Runningupthecurtains thats why sites like this are worth their weight in gold :)

I did wonder why is was so cheap - now we know.

yeah I reckon any other house if that size in selmeston/firle/alfriston would be easily double that.

i did enjoy looking at the photos though cos I pass it quite regularly as the petrol station does great yellow sticker bargains !

I will look out for it next time we head to Alfriston for a spot of book shopping and cream tea!

Bexhill is a safe place to bring up young children but its town centre is hardly bustling let alone full of independent shops.

There are some nice independent shops but there are more charity shops anything else, with a decent sprinkling of cafes and chain stores.

There used to be a brilliant independent cinema in Bexhill. Unfortunately, it closed down years ago and is now a Wetherspoons.

Oh sorry to hear that @cariadlet, makes me realise how long it must be since I visited.

@cariadlet haven't heard of Bexhill before, looks like a nice place.

Not all trains stop at Stonegate, but they all stop at Etchingham, so that has to be taken into account.

So went to Bexhill, Hastings and Battle on Sunday. We arrived to Bexhill ~10:30 in the morning so maybe representation is not 100% accurate but we liked it. The seaside is lovely and peaceful. Felt safe and laid back. I even liked the high street as well! Some of the buildings are tired but I suppose it's a bit like that everywhere. Hastings is definitely not for us. But Battle was lovely too and it's close to Bexhill as well!

Going to stay near Lewes next week. So planning to check out Lewes, Uckfield.. any other areas down that end?

I doubt we'll be able to afford anything we would like in Lewes but can have a look.

Uckfield, Robertsbridge... Any other places that would be similar to Battle?

I'm very pleasantly surprised with Bexhill! Would happily come back for a day at the seaside..

That sounds good OP, glad you liked Bexhill. I think it has a lot to recommend it. You must check out Wickham Bistro- I had a delicious goats cheese salad there! I’ve actually never been to Battle but must check it out. I like Hastings for a day trip but wouldn’t want to live there either.
My sister was looking at Lewes but like you said she found it expensive & there wasn’t much on the market when she was looking. She also looked at Uckfield & Crowborough. Neither appealed to her as she found them ‘in between’ sorts of places- handy for getting to other areas but not so much going on locally. It all depends on what you’re after though.

@Wheredidyougetthat where did you sister end up living?

We still need to be able to commute into London but at the same time want useful high street not far off.

Looking at houses Bexhill is not eye watering expensive and a lot to choose from. I just wonder how it's like on Friday night. Well, if we seriously decide to look at properties might have to stay there overnight x

She ended up near to Tunbridge Wells in the end but that’s because it’s nearer to our family. It’s on a good train line to London Bridge, Waterloo East & Charing X too. It’s not at all bohemian like Lewes but she compromised because of other factors. It wasn’t as expensive as she thought & there was quite a lot on the market when she was looking.

I can comment well having lived all over London and Brighton too. Can confirm Worthing is a great place if you want:
-A lovely quiet beach-
Beautiful countryside and walking nearby-
Friendly community, quite diverse and queer friendly
-Very good cafes restaurants pubs and bars (both traditional and also natural wines bars and small plates etc, craft breweries for a bit of pizazz)
-Two great cinemas and theatres
-Good schools
-Leafy parks
-Decent town centre with walkable shops
-Three train stations(!) and an easy enough commute straight to Victoria/East Croydon/Clapham
-Decent parking (especially compared to Brighton)
-And affordable homes! I bought my three bedroom house in a good area for only 30k more than my one bedroom flat in Brighton-For us it's been a no brainer and we love it, we're in our 30s and lots of our friends are following suit.
-Best areas: Check it out in person. Personally we're near the station on a leafy nice street, Tarring (West) is also desirable. But the best way to ascertain is to go and walk around

Hurst Green had lost all shops by the tine I moved away, 16 years ago, and there’s no station there.

Robertsbridge or Etchingham are better bets.

There is a station at Hurst Green. Maybe Lingfield or near East Grinstead or over the border into Kent?

Hurst Green, just south of Oxted Surrey and Hurst Green, on the A21 in East Sussex are being conflated here. They are two different places.

Did you find somewhere that suited you, @LovePrawnCoctailCrisps?

You are thinking of the Hurst Green between Lamberhurst and Robertsbridge. There are two (but I think the one near Oxted is in Surrey).