AIBU to want to move to a coastal area?

[Coffeeandtats]

We recently had a fantastic holiday on the Norfolk coast, stayed in an amazing house (bigger and more spacious than our own home) in a lovely village. Could walk to the beach and do coastal walks with the dog, few little shops in the village, pub and a Chinese - was amazing.

Husband is due to start a fully WFH job so in theory we could move anywhere in the UK we could possibly think of.

I would love to move from our home in the SE to the Norfolk coast, but DH won’t have any of it as he’s worried about coastal erosion and the rising sea levels with global warming etc etc. Flood risks and the possibility of our new home being worth bugger all.

My argument is surely if that happens, everyone in that area is in the same boat so the powers that be will have to do something? Insurance will have to do something? I don’t know but I feel he has a valid point but if you start looking at future flood risks and projections for sea levels in 50years time, surely half the UK will have this problem, so why not move somewhere we really want to be in the meantime?

AIBU to think we should plough our savings and then some into the coastal home of my dreams? Does DH have a point that long term we’d be storing up future problems?

Flood risks are a real thing and DH is right to be concerned, however you could do some research and choose a place that is less at risk.
And, from experience, when you are involved in a flood neither the powers that be nor your insurance will be helpful.

It's not just that, you could get somewhere a few miles inland. But winters in Norfolk are effing cold, as my gran found out, when she sold up and moved there. She'd only been during summers, previously.

Love the Norfolk coast but....erosion (especially on the eastern coast, better up around Cromer and north from there....
Aging population.....if you grow old there you will have little chance of care in your home and care home places are limited (if you are young now you may find that the lifestyle is ....slow)

However, it's where I live and i love it for all the reasons you mention. Winter is my favourite time and nothing beats the icy cold grip of the wind straight from Siberia when you have clothes that work and a warm home to come back to.

Do some research and see if it really suits who you are now and where you want to be...

Go to a coastal town and live further inland?

Are you prepared for the noise? Especially if wfh.. Seagulls nesting are horrific. Fog horn even worse. Tourists make life hell. Swimmers make you suicidal..
All ime..

Moving when we find a house..

I live in a SE coastal town but not near the seafront, because it was too costly anyway, and also because I wanted to cut down on the risk of flooding and avoid most of the tourist noise and avoid the wind a bit more.

But yes I do have seagulls nesting on my roofs but I actually really enjoy the noise they make :). I don't think you can live in a seaside town if the seagulls bother you! there is no avoiding them.

seagulls........I used to live in Hertfordshire...they were there too, not a coast in sight........😂

I mean - we moved to easy Sussex and we quite like it here.

I'd love to do this too but I think your husband has a very valid point regarding the erosion issue. Its quite bad all over the east coast of the UK.

We have just spent a few days in Cornwall and my dream would be to live in a house overlooking the sea where o can sit all year round watching the waves.

Maybe move somewhere closer to the coast so that you can be at the beach in a short drive but not have the issues with parking, tourists, seagulls, etc.

I lived in a costal town and loved it. No flooding or erosion problem. Noise of sea gulls wasn't a problem. The only problem was traffic and shite mobile phone signals on busy days.

Ploughing your savings and then some into a property in an area you enjoyed because you went on holiday once is bonkers to me!

You mentioned your DHs job, how about yours? Any kids to consider? Family locally?

Honestly anywhere can be idyllic for a short break in nice weather - not something I'd base the rest of my life on. Also "the powers that be" won't really be able to reverse tides etc.

Norfolk is stuffed with people who dreamed of WFH, being by the coast, having a bigger house, etc etc

My warning would be:

It is fine with little kids, deathly dull for teens
There may not be local jobs when they leave school
Don't expect the hospital service to be the same as in a city
When you are elderly it is hard being in your beautiful rural house when you can't drive anymore

When I worked in Norfolk a lot of time was spent explaining to people who hadn't grown up there that no, there weren't any carers going to their village, yes it would be a very long wait for an urgent district nurse visit and honestly the only specialist centre a very long way away.

I should have added in my previous post: make sure that you visit these seaside towns in the winter as well.

You have to be able to cope with the fact that they will be much quieter, maybe even bleak and that the wind near the seafront will be freezing!

I first rented for a year in the seaside town that I moved to before buying a house to make sure that I would be happy there. And I am someone who was born and raised in a seaside town, so already used to the difference the tourist season can make to a town.

Seagulls. Trippers (aka grommets or emmets in certain parts of the country) and their badly behaved rugrats that run into your legs and are never reprimanded. Even when they're fifteen. THE TRAFFIC. The parking. The drugs. The slight seediness. The overloaded health system. Think it's bad in the big cities? Try living somewhere rural/semi-rural/coastal.

East coast is bloody freezing, west coast is terminally soggy with biting winds.

Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, even Somerset these days mean people who grew up there are priced out and so many locations are nothing but Airbnbs.

And oh, my God, the WINTERS.

Having said all that, I have bitterly regretted our moving away from the coast a couple of years ago and it's looking very unlikely we'll ever be able to move back now.

If you are hell bent on it, the north east of England is better than a lot of places, especially if you're on a Metro line. Definitely go and visit a few places IN THE WINTER though, not on a bright thriving sunny bank holiday Monday... Good luck!

NoPowerInTheVerse · Yesterday 14:13

If you are hell bent on it, the north east of England is better than a lot of places, especially if you're on a Metro line.

Are you spying on me?!

😃

You went once and had a nice week. What's the plan to actually confirm how realistic it is to live there? What research have/ do you plan on doing? You're a tad niave thinking someone will do something regarding coastal erosion- houses have been falling into the sea for years and nothing has been done. Hard winters, summers full of tourists- whilst it's beautiful, it's not idyllic. Where is your family and friends currently? WFH is bloody isolating- or it is for many, maybe he doesn't want to have to make new friends and learn a whole new area.

Move in haste repent at leisure.

You've only spent a week there. You know nothing about it.

I grew up on the coast and I don't live there any more. It's ok for day trips. When Morrissey released Every Day Is Like Sunday, me and my friends were convinced he was talking about us. I'm pretty sure every teenager living anywhere on the UK coast thought the same. "This is the seaside town that they forgot to close down ... "

Minimum wage jobs, drugs, county lines, prostitution (if near a port) and fuck all healthcare and amenities. Your kids will hate you and your friends won't visit.

You need to go there for more than a week in the summer.

We’re on the Norfolk coast right now. It’s windy and has been raining every day for the past week.

DH and I plan to move to Pembrokeshire once DS leaves home. But I grew up there and still have relatives of various ages there.

Living near the sea is lovely but don’t make any life changing decisions based on a week on holiday!

I have mentally moved to the Lake District, Whitby, Isle of Wight, St Ives, all based on lovely holidays but reality bites and I
come to my senses.

We do live within a mile of the sea, moved to the area when I was 19 and it was the best thing I ever did but I was young and had no financial commitments or ties and it was easy.

It is so much more complicated and expensive with mortgages, jobs, children….and if it goes wrong, moving back might be very difficult and costly.

I’m not a risk taker! 🤣

Visit the area in winter it's totally different

Coasts are freezing in winter, weather changes in seconds, everything is shut up. It can be really desolate and slow. Then the height of summer (which you've not done) causes traffic, basics sold out in local shops and people everywhere in your favourite spots.

The Norfolk Cosst is amazing in Summer, but the reality of living in Norfolk needs to be considered.

in Winter those coastal towns/ villages are mostly dead . It is completely different to the Summer.

in the Summer you will have traffic and tourists to contend with, which is great for local businesses and the economy, but can make it difficult for locals to get from A-B.

Do you have children? Norfolk is great for pre- schooler's and primary age children, not so much for teens, unless you are in or v close to Norwich. If you do have teens are you prepared to be a taxi day and night?

Do you drive? Again, unless you live in Norwich itself, then public transport (buses) is not good and realistically you need to drive everywhere. Where I live we have 4 busses on a weekday very spaced out to and from The City 25 miles away.

What about your job? Do you need to commute ? If you need to be back in London for work, visits, family then you will need to drive to Norwich to get a train - it is just over two hours to Liverpool Street on the train.

The Winter up here is cold and harsh - you will need proper warm/ waterproof clothing.
Also depending on where you live ( if a village location) you may have oil fired heating, we do and currently it costs ££££.

I love Norfolk and Norwich, but for anyone thinking of moving up it is rural and you need to be prepared for that.

I wouldn’t move to the Norfolk coast or anywhere very rural, but cities near the coast are best of all worlds for me. Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool etc.

I don't blame you. You only live once. But if i was going to live by the coast it would only be South.

I grew up half in London half in Dorset (parents had 2 properties) and i love the Dorset coast in all weathers. (I swam in the sea while it was snowing (a rare thing) at Durdle Door when i was 10/11).

So i'd go South because a) i know it well, but more importantly b) now i'm getting older I hate the cold and the winter more and more with every year and would want to be where i had the best chance of a bit of heat!

Portugal has good visa terms for digital nomads! Seeing as most comments are talking you out of it because of the weather then maybe you could try Lisbon area as it's good all year round. I'd be off in a heartbeat if my husband WFH full time. I'd also just look at climate risk assessments before buying anywhere. If you husband is really concerned about this, buy in a "safe" place and rent in the better for now place.

Why on earth would swimmers make you feel suicidal @Beautifulbythebay ?