Eastbourne Eastbourne Eastbourne.....

[Sunnybunniesbees]

Just found out today that DH has been offered a promotion which means a move for us. We will be settling along the SE coast and have always liked Eastbourne. We have 4 children- 6 months- 8 years and therefore need a decent sized home and a big garden as we have dogs too and the kids are very outdoorsy. We love Brighton but a rightmove browse shows that anything in budget is just too small or the garden is too small. Can I ask if we are mad to consider Eastbourne? Criteria is -

Large house
Large garden
Safe / nice area
Good schools
Lots to do for little ones
Ideally access to countryside
A nice liberal/ artsy atmosphere I.e. tolerant and happy place (We are moving from Totnes)
Budget of 725 - 750k

I know this is asking too much but wondered if anyone lives in Eastbourne and could tell me whether it fits the bill. Rightmove shows some gorgeous period homes in price range. Or any other suggestions?! Thanks

[Lordprotector]

As now almost 80 I have lived north London ,Huntingdonshire,isle of Man now Northumberland
As I am still working up here ,if you can consider Newcastle and surrounds,more for your money ,great restaurants etc. Weather not as good but empty countryside near..
Wherever you go, check the likelihood of flooding!! It will get worse.
Langley eastbourne keep life jackets handy. Sovereign Harbour disaster waiting to happen!

[Stuartj001]

I am new to eastbourne, having moved from lewes.
Any other mums on here from eastbourne? Keen to meet people in the area and when bojo allows us, to have a walking bubby and pub buddy! Been hard to meet people, with lockdown and think by making friends in the area, it will help to make this place home:0)
I have a 5 year old son, hubby and dog.
X

[TheTempest]

I live in Eastbourne and I love it. I have a young family and find it very family orientated. Town Centre can be a little rough, but same as most town centres. We live in hampden park and haven’t had any issues at all. I recommend Eastbourne it’s a great place to live, and a nice place to bring up kids. 😊 good luck with the house search!

[Northernsoulgirl45]

Don't live there but have been a few times. Seems like a lovely place to raise a family.

[Sunnybunniesbees]

Thank you! Yes, so much more house for your money than Brighton, that's for sure! I loved the house we saw and area was as expected. DH needs a bit more convincing and felt it was rough round the edges, to be polite. He is very middle class and set in his ways but has ASD so finds it hard to see things in any thing other than black and white - we saw a few street drinkers so now the whole place has a street drinking culture, you get the picture....!

[Fudgefeet]

I have friends who moved to Eastbourne from Brighton and love it there. You get a lot more for your money and the seafront has a great nostalgic feel to it. Close to Lewes which is beautiful, I could spend hours rummaging in the antique shops and flea markets.

[Bluebell878275]

AragornsManlyStubble Ha ha... my SD is 17 now, I wonder if I can persuade her to go swimming again...

[AragornsManlyStubble]

Bluebell I’m 31 and still love the wave machine!

[Parmavioletmum]

Young family here and I've always lived in Eastbourne. As a teen I remember feeling like it was a bit boring (but then was good for trains to places like Brighton and london) but now with kids myself I love living here. Lots of nice parks, seafront on your doorstep, decent selection of shops. Yes there are areas that aren't as nice, yes there is crime, yes there is homelessness. But then I truly believe wherever you go you'll find that. It can be expensive depending on area for houses too but then comparatively to places like Brighton or lewes it is cheaper.

[Bluebell878275]

Some parts are rough and, as a teenager visiting my grandparents, it did feel quite depressing. I'm older now and live about 25 mins away and do enjoy going down there now and again. Good shops, good restaurants, and a fun, nice feeling walking along the seafront. There are some lovely looking properties and a short drive takes you into the countryside. Always lots to do around here; village fetes etc. My Step-Daughter used to LOVE the wave machine at the leisure centre. Good times

[AragornsManlyStubble]

Sussex

I’m over on the rough side of the river!

[Sunnybunniesbees]

Thanks so much! Really useful info. We left at silly o clock and viewed a property on Kings Road today. Really lovely but seems v overpriced compared to others in area. Perfect home but not sure of the area. We had a wander round and some areas seemed really lovely and others really rough. Not as middle class as Totnes . On the looooong drive home now.

[Sussexbonfireviking]

@AragornsManlyStubble

Seaford is lovely and my kids do have a lot of activities and opportunities there. Just don’t be tempted by anything in Newhaven!

hey!!! We're in Denton (this is my outing name) and its lovely here!!

There are lovely areas all up and down the coast, i would suggest you spend some time visiting the places
I think you'd like Lewes

[CruCru]

This is an interesting thread. I grew up in Brighton but haven't lived there for a while. I don't know Eastbourne very well - a friend's sister lives there and is very happy but that's about it.

A few people I know who grew up in Brighton now live in Worthing. It would probably hit quite a few of your wants.

Lewes is somewhere that looks lovely but I understand that it is hard to get family houses - they are often sold before they come onto the market (or they used to be). Driving round there is awful and there's hardly anywhere to park. It's the sort of place that people who want to buy a house write letters to the seller to tell them why they should be allowed to buy it (I mentioned this happening somewhere else to a friend who lives in Lewes and she said that was completely normal in Lewes). Having said that, the schools are pretty good.

Someone upthread mentioned Peacehaven. A friend grew up there and said it was dire (and the school was rough). However, we are now in our forties so it may have changed. I think it's now been made into an academy.

[pandarific]

If you're open to looking the other side of brighton, people seem to like Worthing, though it's not my bag personally. Or if you can afford it, Shoreham is lovely.

[AJPTaylor]

Sorry, have 're read what I wrote. I do not mean that schools in Battle are much better! They are good,particularly compared to others in the area. The issue we faced, and you will too is overrun good schools and finding in year state places for at least your 8 year old. By choosing where we did, our dd was placed under the fair access protocol mainly because the council would have had to pay for transport. She was child no 33 in her class in year 5. Something to consider.

[AJPTaylor]

We moved to East Sussex a couple of years ago.
Eastbourne may tick most of your boxes. Artsy and liberal more tricky I suspect.
We chose Battle as a good compromise. Much better schools with well defined catchment area, only 15 minutes or so to the sea, nice community.
I would suggest if you want state schools and don't want to move again you look very hard at the info about primaries/junior And infant schools. When we were looking (Our dd was coming up to the end of year 4), there was a real problem with junior school places despite there being a massive junior school with a 4 class intake. May be a different picture now hopefully.

[Aretheystillasleepbob]

I second Lewes as being a really odd place ! Nice to visit but the people are so insular, would never live there plus it’s very expensive now

[Aretheystillasleepbob]

It’s very rundown and shabby, not much going on.
Have you looked at Saltdean or Peacehaven? - close to Brighton but lots more space for your money. Portslade or Shoreham or even Worhing? Worhing starting to get lots more young families there now.
Or in Brighton up around Hollingbury or Patcham on the edge of the Downs Nat part there are bigger houses with gardens .

[blahblahblahetcetc]

Thank you. We live in Australia now and have never been made anything but welcome 😂

[LakieLady]

@blahblahblahetcetc : A few years ago there was a lot animosity about "Down From Londons" among indigenous Lewesians. They blamed the "DFLs" for rising house prices that made it impossible for young families to buy.

That seems to have stopped happening now.

It was a shit thing to happen to you though, but then all towns have the occasional nutter.

[clareth]

Oh my god @blahblahblahetcetc that is terrible - I hope that you’re all ok now.

[blahblahblahetcetc]

God, don't move to Lewes. Batshit crazy place. A few months after we moved there we got a full on anonymous letter, the kind where people cut letters out of newspapers and stick them down telling us to "go back to where you came from", we had moved from Brighton! My son was also physically assaulted by a teacher at one of the local high schools, the police wouldn't take it seriously until he broke another child's nose in front of witnesses. Couldn't wait to get out of the place after that.

[XDownwiththissortofthingX]

Always find it bizarre people feel the need to specify 'safe/nice' area in these threads. I would have thought that goes without saying.

I suppose you need to stand out from the "Hey mumsnet, I love crime-ridden shitholes, please recommend some of the UK's roughest and ugliest concrete jungles for me to bring my DC up in!" crowd.