Advice for South Coast move with young children.

[AmyC87]

Hello! We stayed in Pagham for the week and have fallen in love with the area/surrounds. We only touched the surface but we liked Pagham, Bosham and Emsworth. We live in Dorking, Surrey which is gorgeous but we can get a bigger house down there and the excitement of the raising two boys by the sea feels amazing! Can anyone please advise nice villages anywhere from Littehampton to Emsworth that you think are great for family life? Our boys are 2 and 5 so we need a good primary and secondary school and I don’t know where to start! We’d like a sense of community as we would know no one which is daunting!

Itchenor, Bracklesham Bay, the Witterings, Birdham, Fishbourne are in that direction, as in Bognor Regis. Bognor and Littlehampton are cheaper. Bosham is lovely, but expensive, as is Emsworth.

If you want to go in the other direction, the six villages- Barnham, Arundel, Yapton, Eastergate, Westergate and one more I’ve forgotten are generally pretty, with a mix of properties and primary and secondary schools. Fontwell, Walberton, Ford are also in the area.

It depends what property you want and how much your budget is.

I forgot Middleton on Sea and Elmer, but less in the way of schools there. Felpham too, where there are primary and secondary schools.

Not the point, I know, but we once visited Bosham when there was a flower festival at the ancient church.

One of the attendants told us that crusaders used to sail from Bosham harbour, and pointed out to us on the stone door surrounds, that when they left, they had made the upright part of the cross, and if they came back safely, they’d add the cross bit.
She pointed out at least one who hadn’t come back.

We’d never have noticed any of it on our own.

The road in and out of the Witterings is a nightmare in the summer! Personally I like Emsworth, a bit more expensive but has good transport links, the town is still thriving and it still has a buzz whilst being close to the sea. (Bognor is a dump and the A27 after Chichester is often slow or closed thanks to an 'incident'!)

On the other hand, all the Six Villages are decent and have reasonable public transport, Arundel is great and you can get to Chichester with minimal time on the A27. From Chichester towards Portsmouth and Southampton is difficult on that road and the same the other way round.

Hmm I think you need to be there on a wet winter's day and then decide. There's nowt so depressing as an English seaside place on a wet cold day.

Thank you @Bluevelvetsofa thsts so helpful! Any idea what Aldwick is like and Nurbourne?

We aren’t sure on budget as we won’t know for about 14 months but it’ll be over £650,000 and we want a 3/4 bed detached with large garden. We want to start looking now because schools are the most importnst to us but need a starting point. Closest to the sea as possible! I did hear Bognor itself is a dump but the surrounding villages seem nice like Pagham which is still under Bognor. Bosham is extremely pricey but for good reason. Emsworth is so beautiful with the town being at the water it’s a dream! The Wittering’s are probably too pricey for what we want and I think how busy it’d be during the summer would become annoying.

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

We aren’t worried about transport links re trains but we do need to be about to get up to Surrey easily as my husband covers a large area across the south east as a Heat Pump Engineer.

I do agree on going throughout the winter! Quite the contrast to a sunny day!!

What is Chichester like?