To ask is there a better version of Brighton

[Wondergirl100]

Sorry a bit cheeky to put on AIBU - but - it's an important question!!

Brighton - great vibes, creativity, open mindedness good schools - but overpriced and the countryside isn't amazing and there are no gardens.

So what is the alternative! Where else is open minded and fun and has sea air and countryside but is not ruined by hen dos and property prices. And needs to have good schools.

Sadly, I have to write off the whole of Kent as I don't approve of grammar system. Unless there is somewhere in Kent with good secondary moderns.

@BuyYourOwnBBQGlenda
Sshh don't tell people! People have the wrong image of Belfast and NI from what is portrayed in the media but it's such a fantastic place to live. Cost of living is brill! We also moved from London with my English dh and dc and we love it! Bought a bigger, better house (now mortgage free) , next to sea (5minutes walk), wine bars, cafes on my doorstep and only 10 minutes to the city centre. Drove up the north coast on Saturday and the scenery is just as nice as that in Devon, but you don't have to pay mad prices or fight traffic and crowds.

Schools so much better and my dc have made so much progress since we moved here.
Only downside is the weather but when the sun comes out you just have to make the most of it!

Northumberland.

StayingHere for junior schools yes to an extent - I think you're referring to the roads off Montefiore Road.

But completely not true with secondaries.
The two best are Blatchington Mill if you're in Hove and Dorothy Stringer for Brighton. Both cover huge catchment areas housing people on vastly differing incomes.

Sorry this drove you away as it's not so!

Norwich, no beach but lots of coastline close by.

@Helendee
Yeah, I live in Brighton. It's awful, don't come. Too many parks, and green spaces, the Downs within walking distance, 5 miles of beach, great primaries, inclusive good secondaries that don't just focus on academics but on the whole child because the people here are basically a bunch of hippies who are always banging on about tolerance, acceptance and 'the arts'.
Far too many yoga studios, and gyms, and independent shops, and a council that seems obsessed with the environment and making the roads safer for kids and cyclists. In fact the whole city is obsessed with kids, the month long arts festival literally starts with the children's parade. Every other street has an annual street party now, car free, and monthly 'playing outs' where the little blighters get to run around for the afternoon on traffic free streets.
And don't me started on the new craze for all year round sea swimming... thousands of women of a certain age chucking themselves in the sea together, watching each others kids so that everyone can have a dip, drinking their herbals teas afterwards and encouraging passers by to give it a go. Hippies...

HugeHoveFan ah I love Brighton, but I dont want an overpriced Victorian Terrace to get my kids in Stringer/Varndean. Hove is possible but just as much chance of Hove Park as Blatch and for Hove prices I dont want my kids to end up at Hove Park School 🤷‍♂️. We are moving a little bit out but have loved our time in Brighton.

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

The South Downs and not far to Birling Gap etc are not spectacular countryside?

Cockermouth?

Newcastle upon Tyne?

Colchester?

Colchester also has grammar schools and isn't really the seaside, although Mersea Island is about 20 minutes away depending where in Colchester you live, if you count that as the sea. As to what's wrong with the grammar system, as another poster asked - making children feel like a failure for not getting in, especially if their parents have made a big thing out of it, creating an arms race where middle class parents start tutoring earlier and earlier, to get their kids into the grammar, giving some of the kids that do get in a lifelong sense of inferiority because while bright they are surrounded by and compared to the even brighter....and I am someone who can see some positives to the system, but I think the negatives probably outweigh them.

@EmbarrassingMama

You have a bizarre view of Brighton. Having grown up there I don't think there any many places with more misplaced arrogance. It's really not very diverse (yet dripping with people who consider themselves 'woke' and 'inclusive') and so much of it is a real dump.

At one point I think Brighton won in a 'how fast can you score heroin' competition!

That said, it's also weird that you think there's not much countryside there. Having the sea and the Downs are the best things about it!

This ^^

Brighton is horrible now.

It's run by the Green party who have effetely wrecked it.

It's far from being 'open minded' unless you share the opinions of it's, largely, middle class 'woke' white folk, in which case you'll fit in.

It's absolutely over run with students and hen/stag dos. Has a massive homeless and drug problem. And crime has increased to awful proportions over recent years.

The women I know who live there now take taxis everywhere after dark, whereas, even five years ago it felt a safe place to walk.

And yes, the houses are massively over priced, if you can find somewhere that hasn't been turned into a HMO.

I'd never go back there.

I used to love living in Saltdean, which is just outside Brighton (with a great cycle path into town) but less expensive.

Bristol is brilliant but the coastline is shit and it never stops raining!

@motheroftwoboys Nooooo don’t tell everyone! 😂

'Brighton isn't open minded at all overall. Quite the opposite, unless you fall in with this group think.'

Depends what you consider 'open minded' I suppose. But there's a bloke that dresses like a big furry dog every day and goes about his business, no one blinks. Nude beach, no-one cares. Annual naked bike ride, no-one cares. A billion gays, many with kids = no-one cares. It's very live and let live.

Scotland. Beautiful Seaside towns within reach of Edinburgh, and with really reasonable property prices.

AndromedaGal is right.
Chichester is a pretty town/city. The cathedral is lovely, the coast is near, Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton are easy to get to on public transport, or in the car, the South Downs are close, the Witterings, Emsworth, Bosham, etc. Trains to London Bridge if you need it, outdoor market, range of schools, Gunwharf Quays.

How about Eastbourne? Cheaper - parks - gardens - lovely seafront, walks out into grasslands and South Downs without even having to drive.

'The women I know who live there now take taxis everywhere after dark, whereas, even five years ago it felt a safe place to walk.'

this isn't true. I, a woman, and my other female friends walk everywhere. It't one of the big pluses of living in such a compact city.

If you are looking for somewhere hippie-ish, arty and liberal I would have thought Margate (Kent) would be high on your list?

Should have said, about the only thing it has going for it now is the surrounding countryside, which is gorgeous.

Hastings is beautiful. Much much cheaper than Brighton. It has bad areas. Ore and Hollington were not great from what I remember when I lived there but it had a great feel, lovely parks and old town. You are still close enough to visit friends in Brighton too or have a day trip there.

Worthing is like Aylesbury on Sea.

Margate?! 😂

Some areas of Birmingham would fit this apart from the sea air which we cannot provide.

Moseley, Kings Heath, Bournville or Stirchley.

Some people have some strange perceptions of grammar school! Either that, or I went to a very different grammar school (in Kent!)

My friends moved from London to Hastings Old Town and love it there. Everyone is really friendly and it’s god a really good feeling to it.
Of course there are rough bits in Hastings, same as anywhere, but the good far outweighs them.

Born here, love it. YABU about the countryside, we have some absolutely beautiful spots!

Gardens you probably won’t get if you go really central but plenty on the outskirts. But yes, it’s £££.

@Erkrie

Brighton isn't open minded at all overall. Quite the opposite, unless you fall in with this group think.

Yes, imagine wearing a "Woman is an adult human female" t-shirt there - you'd see how open minded they were.

Funny reading the comments, people have very strong feelings about Brighton! We have spent the last 12 months saying how lucky we are to live here because of the parks and the seafront. It's made the whole lockdown so much more bareable.