Brighton locals - info on areas - best places to live?

[alondonmum]

We are yet another London couple contemplating life out of London. Brighton seems like a real possibility - but I don't really know the residential areas. We'd like somewhere with big garden, period property, 3 or 4 beds, near good schools, convenient for a train station (so that'll just be me and everyone else then?). If you live in Brighton, what areas are fab?

What are you looking to spend? I live in Brighton and moved here from London last year. How old are your children?

Really really hard to find big gardens anywhere central. If you want train station you prob need to be west(hove) rather than east where you'd need to travel across the centre of town to get to Brighton mainline.

Brighton's hilairiously loally snobby; 3 streets away can be perplexingly 'undesireable' and therefore cheaper.

What you got to spend: do you want to be near the sea?

But Brighton is fab, it really is. Lovely place to be with children, esp littlies.

locally

oh dear too many spelling mistakes to correct...

Five ways area might be good for you - catchment schools are good and lots of period houseing etc. Or have you thought of Hove? - there are several stations in Brighton and Hove area - so it might be worth looking around a bit.

moneywise - up to 640k top whack, but we'd really prefer to spend less and reduce the mortgage a bit. Kids - one preschool, one reception. Pollyanna, how have you found the move from London? Does it feel very different? I don't mind not being slap bang in centre if it means having a bigger garden...

We are in the centre - near 7 Dials - we needed to be close to the station as dh was commuting. I chose an area based on the parks I liked . But there are very few big gardens in Brighton or Hove really unless you forgo the period property and go a bit further out. I personally wanted to be able to walk to the sea.

I really like living in Brighton - I lived in a particularly wealthy/competitive area of London and it was a shock to me how different the parents are here- there is none (or not as much of that alpha parenting business here. It is very laid back, the children love it and we are very happy here. 1 downside: we didn't get a school place for our 2 school-age children and went private, so move in good time to apply for reception (or go private. also people say it is like London by the sea - it isn't imo. The shops are much smaller. I like it though - when I am shopping I often bump into people I know (and I don't know many ).

You could probably get a house for £640k in 7 Dials/near Stanford School (gardens are tiny there though) . Also in Preston Park which is a very popular area but is not walking distance to the sea. Also near Hove station seems nice and you get more for your money in Hove. If you can be a bit further from a station, your money goes further.

I got a book "the Juicy Guide to Brighton" which has alot of info on the different areas etc, but it will be quite out of date now.

Around Queens Park is nice; it's at the top of an area called Hanover (or 'muesli mountain' ), which is a lovely community, but like Pollyanna we wanted to walk to the sea, and also the gardens are not big there, so we moved from there to Hove 10 yrs ago. The seafront is better at Hove too.

Prices suddenly going a bit nuts again. Withdean/westdean can be a bit of a bargain imo,if you're close to the windmill, a friend has just moved there from london and is loving it; it's a bit undiscovered!. Not walkable to sea, but good gardens and fab views and right by the downs. Look for windmill way on the map. Nice infant school too, apparently.

But for stations you'll do better in hove direction.

Lots of lovely areas and great for families.
Area around Queen's Park has some three/four bedroomed period properties.
Great state nurseries; Tarnerland and Royal Spa.
Three popular infants/juniors/primaries,Elm Grove,St Luke's and Queens Park.
No local secondary school but in the catchment for two popular secondaries (although this may change again as the secondary schools organisation is a bit of a shambles.)

A bit further from sea but very popular with families is Fiveways/Preston Park.
Lots of Victorian and Edwardian properties.
Balfour Infants &Juniors and Downs Infants &Juniors are popular schools.
Also Dorothy Stringer and Varndean schools, two of the more popular secondaries are in the area.
Blaker's and Preston Parks are lovely and great for kids.
Nice local shops, butchers,bakers,greengrocers, deli, cafes etc. You can walk to Preston Park station which is on mainline route to London.

Hove and Seven Dials are lovely areas and near to sea.
Prices are still going mad here.