Moving to *Canterbury*

[crossy]

My family and I are moving to Canterbury next summer and would like information on good schools, drop ins, nurseries. Also, can anyone tell me what it is like living in Canterbury, as I am rather nervous about moving. At present we live in North London, near Camden, which we love for it's vibrancy and mixture of cultures. We are really going to miss Hampstead Heath. What are the good places to go to in Canterbury with kids, and without (on the rare occasions of getting babysitters). My children are aged 6 and 18 months. Regards, crossy.

I live near Canterbury and it is a wonderful City. My daughter goes to school there it is fab! you will love it, dont stress

There's plenty of wonderful countryside : woods, downs, beaches etc all in easy reach so that should help with the Heath withdrawal symptoms.

Culturewise - hmmm, well not hugely vibrant or mixed. The Canterbury festival is about to start and is fantastic, but it's a bit thin the rest of the year. There's quite a lot of interesting stuff up at the University though - the Gulbenkian theatre is great, and has a fair bit for children too. Lots of restaurants, good shops and pubs.

My kids are older so I can't tell you about schools or nurseries, sorry. I love it here.

Crossy, Did you move to Canterbury ? I'm looking to move next year and am researching right now, if you settled let me know how it is my kids are 10 mons & 2.5 am nervous myself as come from north london too and wondering about the mix
Regards,
Ladynade

Canterbury is our nearest town of any worth- live near Ashford. It's improving, but don't expect the cultural mix (or cultural anything) of Camden. Don't mind me - I miss London more and more. tHE COUNTRYSIDE IS LOVELY AND THE BEACHES ARE GREAT TOO - i LOVE wHITSTABLE AND THE oYSTER BAY Restaurant.

I grew up in Canterbury -- it's really not very culturally diverse (but better now than it was) although the countryside is nice and there's more to do now than there used to be. My sister's still there and friends from school with small children. I do get conflicted sometimes with bringing up DS in London but try to think "cultural diversity ... museums ... etc."

I grew up in Whitstable: only 5 miles from Canterbury and it's lovely to take the kids to the beach there at weekends..Oyster festival is last week of June.

There is loads of lovely coast to explore with or without kids, e.g. broadstairs, faversham old harbour is lovely, plus lovely countryside near Canterbury, particularly Chilham/Chartham/Wye. It's much nicer than Hampstead Heath! though I did enjoy the swimming pond there. The villages have summer fetes and events with activities for kids, and there are farm type events all the time, which kids love, looking at animals etc. The train to those villages from Canterbury west station is so easy, only 10 mins to Chartham and 20 mins to Wye. Bike rides (with littly on carrier) are great round there as well.

Canterbury is surprisingly ethnically diverse, as there are a lot of foreign students and lecturers in the city (and a hell of a lot of tourists in the summer, which is not so good). There is gentle stuff going on, like art films at the university, exhibitions in Whitstable, etc, but it is not the London panoply of activities.

It is not Camden (I lived there too); it is the provinces, and that can get you down a bit, but the benefits of easy to get to nice places are at least equal to the funkiness of being in North London, and life is a bit more easy-paced, you don't have to be quite so cool, and your kids will have a fresh air and gentle type of childhood..

(can you guess I'm living abroad and homesick by any chance!) anyway, best of luck!