Canterbury

[MagicThanks]

Hello
We are thinking of relocating to Canterbury in 2 years. Not necessarily city centre but around that area, we’d like a nice big garden and to be within half hour of the coast.

Plan is to move in the summer between Y8 & Y9 for DD and Y6 and Y7 for DS. We live about an hour away from there currently, in Greater London.
Would love to hear from people who live there - what is it like? How are the schools? Links to London?
I am a teacher and DH works from home.
Thanks!

I can’t give a firsthand opinion on the realities of living there but I went a few weeks ago and really liked it. People very friendly although obviously lots of tourists and it was the day before Pride so very busy. One friendly older lady told me there are 40k students there and I thought that’s why it seems younger and trendier than I was expecting. A man on a boat told me he moved from London where he didn’t know his neighbours, now he chats to his neighbours every day which he loves. I live near both Lewes and Brighton which a PP mentioned so only have experience of living in that more southern area, but I liked Canterbury a bit more than Lewes, even though it’s busier

It is unrecognisable from the days of the Rotunda and La Priz and really has been gentrified, but that’s understandable. Sandgate and Hythe are right next door, so he may feel the same about them.

Wye, Chilham and Chartham are closer to Canterbury and lovely little villages, all on a bus route and within walking distance of a train station. You’ve also got Challock and Shottenden that are nearby. All in between Canterbury and Ashford, but some are very rural.

Canterbury is probably one of the most diverse area of Kent and is hugely helped by being the main university area.

The biggest issue for any family moving to any part of Kent has to be the grammar schools. East Kent is less competitive than West Kent so that is in Canterbury’s favour.

Your DC would have to sit in year admission tests for the local grammars. Look on their websites for information about this. If they do meet the qualifying scores, they then go on the waiting list. You will only get a space if there is one available.

Whatever you do, contact the admissions departments at Simon Langton and Barton Court and ask for advice.

OK and may have to name change. My grandparents farmed near Canterbury and had business interests in Folkestone. My mother lives on the coast, a nice bit and I was brought up there and despite leaving 40 years ago, visit a lot.

Canterbury is not the lovely Cathedral City it once was. The shops aren't great and Fenwicks is good but not a patch on the old Ricemans. It's far less "posh" than it was.

The schools are great if you can get into the grammars. Growing up lots of families sent their 11+ children to the grammars and the ones who didn't pass to private schools. I guess as everyone now does GCSEs the secondary mods have improved but there used to be a real pecking order of what was acceptable.

It can be quite narrow in outlook, certainly in my day there were people in the coastal villages who had never been to Canterbury! There are worrying pockets of bigotry - one only has to look at the rise of Reform. My mum calls locals in her area "Fannit Fickies".

Transport is awful apart from the fast trains and lots of the bus routes have been altered beyond recognition.

Some of the big proposed developments in East Kent have had large numbers of accommodation purchased by South London Councils - go figure!

Parts of it are lovely and I'd venture that Deal, Faversham might be worth a look.

I wasn't aware there were no longer A&E services at Kent & Canterbury. Reputationally local health services have always been poor. However, on a limb here. Mum is 89 and in recent years has had a seriois heart condition and was swiftly referred for a TAVI (so specialist it's done in London). Subsequently she's had therapy for anxiety, good GP care, excellent heart follow up and all the tests under the sun to deal with a collection of symptoms which have diagnosed a meningioma, silent strokes and Parkinsons. I am gobsmacked at the speed and quality of care she has had.

I'd happily retire back to that neck of the woods if I could persuade DH.

At your stage of life @MagicThanks I'm not persuaded there's much for teenagers. In my day it was Pony Club, Young Farmers, YCs and Rotaract. If you weren't in that circle Girls and Boys Brigade or Church or grotty clubs and glue sniffing. I doubt that's much different.

Also, the recent water shortages have happened maybe two or three times in 50 odd years and they’re pretty good at getting bottled water out to people. It wouldn’t be a reason not to move here.

The sea pollution is sadly more common. I think EU rules meant they couldn’t just dump stuff in the sea before. But there are plenty of local websites telling you when the water quality is good and when not to go in the sea, that it doesn’t really impact that much. Canterbury is pretty central for the whole of the Kent coast, so you just plan your beach visits accordingly.

Gosh-not sure where to start on that paragraph of snobbery and misinformation. So I won’t-except to suggest other posters ignore it!

This is honestly so useful. Really starting to think that Canterbury and surrounds would be perfect but not for another few years, post secondary school.

Also our parents are late 70s /early 80s so that’s something to consider - they all live near us right now.

In answer to Q about Folkestone, he found it violent, a lot of people he grew up with who stayed got involved with drugs and crime. Appreciate he moved away many many years ago though!

Are you thinking about after your children finish secondary school?

Yes as I say, post secondary school

Thanks for confirming. Your original post suggests the children were younger 😊

They are - we were planning on moving in 2 years, between Year 6 and 7 for my youngest. Now I’m thinking 8-10 years

We go on holiday in Kent and have done for the last 20 years. We have never had any issues with Canterbury or Folkestone. I realise being on holiday is different than living there. We were staying in Birchington when the big storms were happening as we could not arrange things until November due to hospital appointments. It was amazing seeing such high waves. Other times we have stayed in Folkestone in September and the colour of the channel was just like the Mediterranean. We are Northerners and it often makes me smile as travelling by bus is amazing. Drivers are very considerate ,people on the bus wanted to involve us in conversations. We even got the comment that a woman was impressed with us as she thought people from the North would be causing trouble. I laughed loudly as that is so stupid. Papa's fish and chips are so tasty. Hythe also has a few excellent fish cafes. When we stayed in Canterbury at a self catering place the owner lived very nearby and would call in for a coffee and to find out if we needed anything. Sadly he sold up. There was a day of rain and in the charity shops etc the staff were amazed we had ventured out. It even made the local paper due to the little tunnel at the train station It is flooded out was the headline and we went there to find a few puddles easily avoided. We are used to rain so no problem there .We love all the towns around the coast. When we said hello to the students they would either have a quick chat or just say Hi. We must be very lucky according to some comments on here about crime etc. Folkestone is actually a lovely town and is due to have the little train to the beach up and running again, Amazing art during the art festival and the cafe with a book shop is fantastic, friendly staff indeed.

I live in Canterbury. Its awesome.

It was amazing when dc were little, now they are both at secondary its still amazing for them. There's plenty of sports clubs, drama clubs, etc for after school activities. I never really worry about their safety when they go into town with friends. Dd has just finished all her exams and went to the beach today with a group of friends. Its an hour to London but trains are expensive - we quite often drive to the 02, park there and get the tube in.

We live walking distance to town (traffic can be a nightmare if there are roadworks anywhere along the ringroad).

The local fb residents group love to moan about how awful canterbury is, how much its changed, how feral the yoof are - but honestly I've found it an incredible place to bring up my dc.

Lots of people have commented that there's no A&E, but tye local Minor Injuries/Urgent Treatment Centre can deal with most things and we've never had to wait more than 15 minutes to be seen there.

I have lived in East Kent for 25 years now - in Whitstable’s unfashionable cousin. It’s worked very well for my family. But (and it’s a big but) my DC all passed the Kent Test, so we had access to a good choice of secondary schools.

If your child can’t get into a grammar school, some of the high schools are good - but they inevitably suffer from losing the top 25%.

If I was moving to East Kent now, btw, I would definitely want to be on the coast not in Canterbury. That said, Canterbury probably has more cultural stuff going on than any of the coastal towns.

Edited for an embarrassing rogue apostrophe.

We retired her 10 years ago and it's honestly the best place we've ever lived (for comparison lived previously in the North, in London and Herts).

So much history and architecture, so much culture and so many things to do, both in Canterbury and the surrounding and coastal villages. The RSC come to The Marlowe and there are many cultural events at the universities.

So easy to get around as mainly pedestrianised. So easy to get out of from two railway stations including less than an hour to St. Pancras and an excellent bus service. So easy to visit the coastal resorts which all have different identities or to take a day trip or longer to France.

So many places to eat and drink. So many castles because of the strategic position near the coast and its historical and cultural importance. And so much beautiful countryside around the city. Local produce is excellent (The Goods Shed next to Canterbury West also has an excellent restaurant). Various local vineyards (although English wine is comparatively expensive).

Going into the summer there are many festivals, music, food and drink, folk and ale, Morris dancers, medieval festivals, and the Literary Festival at Faversham earlier in the year, attracts some big names.

I honestly love it here and I am so pleased we moved when we did.