Do you live near the sea and a city?

[ShutUpAlex]

If you do, where do you live? We want to uproot and start new somewhere as we’ve had enough of Cornwall. I love big cities and my partner loves the beach so trying to find somewhere that has both!

Sorry not really an aibu but wanted a big range of answers so we can explore properties.

Just a word of warning to all those saying that the Gower and its glorious beaches are just 45 minutes to an hour away from Cardiff. This is really not accurate, particularly not on a beautiful sunny weekend when the traffic along the Oystermouth Road is at a standstill as people attempt to drive through central Swansea to Mumbles and then on to Langland or Caswell or wherever. It could take 45 minutes from Cardiff to the M4 turn-off for Swansea, but after that it may take as long as an hour to get to your chosen beach. We have friends who live in Southgate, not far from Three Cliffs Bay and they are moving. The place was quiet and unspoiled when they moved there in 1999 but now it's incredibly busy much of the year. Christmas was rammed.

They're going north to the Beacons, where the tourism isn't nearly so bad but the views are amazing in their own rugged way.

The Beacons got pretty crowded in lockdown too until they closed them!

Aberdeen - at one end of the beach mothers are shoving their kids into the sea, at the other end fully grown men in survival suits are being fished out

@ShutUpAlex

We’re thinking Mumbles?

Mumbles is nice but can get very busy on a nice day because it attracts everyone. The traffic can be a pain getting in and out. There are lots of places just outside Swansea which can be reached within 20 from from the city centre. The beaches for surfing are more Gower than Swansea itself.

fully grown men in survival suits are being fished out

Oil industry off shore training?

@LoveFall Vancouver is a wonderful place- and somewhere I’d be very happy to live if I weren’t quite so attached to my little corner of England. I think property is expensive there now though, no?

My husband’s cousin lives on Marine Drive near Lighthouse Park. It’s easy to see the excellent quality of life people enjoy there. They bought their place about 15 or so years ago and it was quite a bargain at the time, I think. IIRC, they sold a three bed terrace house near the M25 and bought a large detached house with 5 bedrooms in West Van. Wouldn’t be cheap to buy there now!

My parents spent 3 years there. They were in an apartment at Bayshore; just a short walk from Stanley Park.

Oh, Vancouver! 🍁💚 I’ve been three times and now I want to go again 😆

We moved to Vancouver 8 years ago. And came back after 6 months and cost us £20k. The place is nice but I found it not multi cultural at all, it’s just full of rich white people, apart from the area of town they push all the homeless people into.

It’s monstrously expensive (I say that as a Londoner). Everyone looks the same. All the women wear the same Lulu Lemon style black clothes (I was often stopped and asked if I was French or European because my clothes were so chic - they weren’t, they were just clothes from high street shops like Whistles, Hobbs, Reiss and Jigsaw). I felt really over dressed and out of place with the casualness. The people are friendly on the surface but there wasn’t any deeper interest in friendship which I found the opposite of Londoners, who seem more reserved and spiky on the surface but once you get to know them are genuinely friendly.

We lived in Kitsilano, right near the beach and the sushi was amazing. But it wasn’t for us. The place is lovely for a holiday but I missed the edginess of the U.K.

Yes I live in Liverpool, close to the city centre and a 20 minute drive to Crosby or Formby if i fancy the beach. Which is not often if I’m honest.

Mumbles is lovely, it has a lovely seaside feel. I absolutely love mumbles. The downside of the traffic. The reads can be really busy and it can take ages to go a short distance leaving or going to mumbles. Parking for the town is a nightmare on a nice day.

If you can cope with that, go for it. It's such a lovely small town and you must try Joe's Ice-cream if you want to be considered a proper Swansea resident 😂

I remember your posts when you were in Vancouver @MrsKoala, and how unhappy you were. I’ve only ever silent a week there in holiday (after a week in Whistler), which was brilliant, but a holiday is a holiday.

Brighton. Less than an hour to London on the train, sea and stunning countryside.

Port Glasgow?

@BikeRunSki

I remember your posts when you were in Vancouver *@MrsKoala*, and how unhappy you were. I’ve only ever silent a week there in holiday (after a week in Whistler), which was brilliant, but a holiday is a holiday.

Yes, It is the best holiday destination, Whistler is brilliant. We spent ds1 1st birthday cycling and swimming etc and it’s still my favourite place to ski. But day to day if you are trying to make ends meet it’s hard. I remember crying in Safeway’s because a chicken was 20 dollars.

Newcastle is perfect for a great city near amazing beaches. You also get great countryside as well.

Blackpool has the best of both worlds

Essex has seaside, countryside and less than a hour from London.

Southend? Bournemouth? Weymouth?

@UndertheCedartree

Essex has seaside, countryside and less than a hour from London.

💯 Such an underrated county

There is literally a major tv show called The Only Way is Essex. It’s hardly underrated.

Chichester.

Another vote for the Vale of Glamorgan (hello fellow Penarthians). Penarth is a lovely Victorian seaside town with a stony beach, super handy for Cardiff. Porthcawl (west a bit) is great for surfing and the schools are good in both.

@Newnamefor2021

Mumbles is lovely, it has a lovely seaside feel. I absolutely love mumbles. The downside of the traffic. The reads can be really busy and it can take ages to go a short distance leaving or going to mumbles. Parking for the town is a nightmare on a nice day.

If you can cope with that, go for it. It's such a lovely small town and you must try Joe's Ice-cream if you want to be considered a proper Swansea resident 😂

I looooove Joes Ice cream

Thank you!! I'm now looking again, thinking 18mth/36 ..when the GCSEs are over...next one is a lot younger!!

The Kitsilano neighbourhood in Vancouver is kind of white yuppie central in Vancouver.

I can assure you the city is multicultural. We have in many areas more Asian Canadians than caucasians. I am Caucasian and quite tall. I tower over my fellow asian Canadians. My husband says he can pick me out of any crowd.

It can be difficult to buy clothes as they are selling smaller sizes. I have been rudely waved out of clothing stores. Maybe that is why we wear yoga pants ha ha.

I love the food and restaurant scene. We are blessed by immigration with a wealth of foods from all over the world.

Yes, it is expensive. When Hong Kong began to change in the 80s literally thousands came here and many were wealthy enough to buy and build homes. We still have that market. The modest home my grandparents built in now what is a very up market area is probably worth well over 2 million. My gramps was a bookkeeper in a feed mill.

I would not usually say anything about this as I do think people are allowed their opinion, but I was offended by the comment about forcing the homeless into the downtown eastside. It made me think the writer thought we were heartless and greedy.

We have an awful homeless problem driven by drug and poor mental health care. There are many services provided where they are, and we are constantly looking for ways to mitigate the problem. There is no easy solution but we are trying, hard.

Today I read that anyone homeless, living in shelters etc are being offered Covid vaccine today.

This is before the high risk in the community, like the elderly. We have also given priority to our indigenous people, again, ahead of elderly and vulnerable in the community (outside care homes).

If we were so heartless that would seem unlikely.

My husband who is close to 80 will not get the vaccine for at least a couple of months.

Vale of Glamorgan would get my vote - other than budget. There are some areas that are a lot nicer than others, catchment areas can be fairly restrictive. I live here but am originally from Swansea and have also lived in Cornwall.
Fowey is horrendous in the summer with traffic - Mumbles is the same. One road in and one road out. Same for the whole of South Gower. Cardiff beats Swansea hands down as a city but Gower wins on surfing beaches. There are lovely beaches in the vale of glamorgan but not up to Gower standards. The beaches in the vale are far easier and quicker to get to though unless you are going to buy a house in Mumbles or Gower.
In any of those areas, the further you are prepared to travel to the beach or city then the more house you are going to get for your money. What do you want from the house -new build/character/ detached/rural? Which is more important to you, the house or the area? How far do you realistically want to be from the sea and the city? 45 minute drive will cover massive areas to consider and there us a huge disparity.