Brighton Mums

[tubbycustard]

Yet another escaping Londoner moving to brighton next month.

Love to hear any reccomendations from Brighton mums on nurseries, GP's, meet ups, mother toddler groups etc... in the Preston Park area. We're just west of Blakers park.....have 20 month old dd and one on the way in October.

Thanks loads

welcome to Brighton - almost! You'll love it! Fraid I'm not too sure about the preston park area though (live on the other side of the city) - but there are loads of groups round there; I know there is a tumbletots on Knoyle Road and a friend's lo goes to Growing Up Green(??) (organc nursery) which she loves- if you look on netmums.co.uk and register for brighton, they list all the groups and nurseries there. good luck with the move!

My dd is at the surestart nursery (Cherry Trees) at Hollingbury, v close to Preston Park. We're in Hove, but it's by far the best nursery I've ever been to (on child 3). 'Outstanding' ofsted; and I'm not surprised. Staff are respectful, thoughtful and clever.

Blakers is a lovely park! This is a good place to live with dcs, loads to do etc. And you'll be down for summer!

Thanks ladies, anyone heard anything good/bad about Strawberry Hill?

Also, did you give birth at Royal Sussex? Would love to have second one at home but am a high risk after rotten birth last time and need to be in hospital.

Any thoughts/advice/options on birth in Brighton hopitals really appreciated!

Hi, the sussex is very, very busy, the midwives are completely overworked and disillusioned and the unit is often shut, I had my third there, my 4th at haywards Heath and 5th and 6th at home.
If you feel you can I would advise having a homebirth. They are very supportive of it here and you stand a much better chance of geting decent care if you do.

oops, sorry didn't read your post properly ( 6 kids has rendered me brainfree!), The midwives are caring but they are very short staffed. I guess it's the same in a lot of places though.

Would recommend Haywards Heath (Princess Royal) for birthing purposes. I was supposed to have DS1 at the Royal Sussex and was turned away in labour because they were full - ended up in Haywards Heath and it was great. Post-natal ward is much roomier (it's a bit of a factory-farm vibe at the Royal Sussex). Worthing is also supposed to be good. Don't think there's anything wrong with the birth facilities per se at the Royal Sussex, it's just that there aren't enough midwives to deal with all the women who are supposed to give birth there. There's also a midwife-led unit at Crowborough, but this may not be suitable for you if you're high risk.

Blakers is lovely. The cafe there does a particularly good florentine biscuit

and just up the hill from you is a lovely pregnancy-yoga teacher called Karel Ironside

meet us here

without going it to detail if you can avoid RSCH for the birth do

I don't want to give you the whole low down either, but had two pretty appalling experiences at RSCH - and have to say I don't know many mums who haven't....I'm having this next one in Worthing which lots of people have recommended and I have to say they have been brilliant so far; I know other pepole who had great exps at Haywards Heath too - have to say the community midwives in Brighton are fantastic so if you can get a home birth, I'd definitely go for one.

Oh, I'm intrigued now. Didn't realise RSCH was supposed to be actively bad. Had all my ante-natal care there for DS1, and that was all fine. It was a bit of a shocker being turned away when I was 4cms, though.

Definitely go to the Princess Royal hospital in Haywards heath if you can, thats where i had ds, its totally lovely there...although my mum now informs me they dont do births/deliveries there any more???

Brighton is a gorgeous place to live, you lucky thing, would move back there if i could afford the damn place!!

I've noticed that the sussex has gone down hill an awful lot since I had ds1 8 years ago. I suppose this is proof of the governments fiancial input and commitment to the nhs.

I live just by blakers park Lovely area lots of young families

with the RSCH lets just say in my "world" most of the dc's I know were born there.........nuff said

just moved away from brighton to warwickshire and really pleased I did

no way chocolate BRIGHTON ROCKS!

brighton does rock..when you have two incomes, no kids and loads of money and free time to take advantage of all the nightlife and entertainment, as a town to bring up children in .... its a rip off to live in, there is garbage and drugs everywhere, you can't park and at weekends you cant sit on the beach for piss heads, condoms and vomit, novelty soons wears off

blimey never experienced that in 10 yrs although parking is terrible.No more condoms vomit or pissheads that I've seen than anywhere else Wouldn't be put off tubbycustard

if you are moving from london chances are you'll have the money to buy in a decent bit-and there are some!
But you can buy a £500,000 beautiful georgian or victorian house in Brighton and next door could be 7 flats full of whoever wants to rent them, schools are bursting at the seams because there so many bloody people there and those with any choice end up living in poverty to send their kids to private because they cant get them ito a decent state school.
in the last 'crap towns' book Brighton was in it, take a look.
the good thng is there are alot of nice people down there and its very multicultural but no good for a quality family lifestyle, try nice surrounding towns such as Henfield, Seaford, Hurstpierpoint, you might get a nice school and actually get a garden or parking space!

Wow, chocolatemummy really hates Brighton

Agree that it is expensive to buy, and decent state secondaries are hard to come by. Lewes is just up the road, and is lovely, and has v good state schools, I've heard.

I thought Brighton was a fantastic place to bring up little kids - can't beat the seaside (if you avoid the area directly around the Palace Pier, you don't need to worry about condoms, in my experience), loads of great parks, many many playgroups, the Downs... We moved away last year, and I wish we hadn't!

We live down here (just slightly out of town now) and I have to say it is brilliant place to be. We've got the Downss, nice beaches and a very good primary school. tbh I am a bit worried about secondary but will prob opt for the local state option as that's where all dd1's friends will automatically go, and I'd rather she didn't get split up from her friends. Not only that, but Gatwick is only half an hour away, London & Portsmouth only an hour and of course Brighton itself is always buzzing. Plenty to do around here and as someone said before, nice assortment of mainly open-minded people.

I wouldn't take much notice of those crap towns books which are drivel produced as a funny stocking filler and have no basis in actual facts and figures.We are by no means wealthy and live in a nice area with a real mix of people

Don't hate Brighton, had a lot of fantastic times there over the years just got more and more fed up with the down sides as time went on-as i said, the novelty wears off.
Yes Lewes is lovely,and so are alot of the surrouding towns/villages and you can pop into Brighton, enjoy the good bits and then go home.
Brighton is lovely for certain things just don't feel its very good area to bring up a family and if you were there 8-10 years ago plus you will have been lucky enough to get on the ladder before it went crazy but now its a different story.

I guess through my line of work you get to see and hear things that other people don't and under the hype its actually very seedy.
I have alot of friends who still live there and love it-but none of them have kids

We live near to Lewes and I must say it's much nicer than Brighton. I'm glad my children are going to schools here. It has all the advantages of a more rural, a gentler way of life but with quick and easy access to Brighton for any entertainments.

chocolatemoney - I am right with you on this. Have lived in Brighton for nearly 20 yrs, and loved it pre-children. Now, as you say, the novelty has worn off.

My personal theory is that long term residents are the ones disgruntled and leaving as it is no longer the place it was. Newer residents - since 2000, say, love it and don't have the comparison with earlier times.

I don't want to offend anyone, but it feels now that Brighton suits Londoners wanting to escape, who want London by the sea but with cheaper housing. For me, Brighton has lost its sense of who cares?, anything goes and feels the need to be fashionable now...

Hwr, I am still here . Have been deliberating moving for 2 years but cannot decide what to do for the best - obviously Brighton still has many charms for me (not least my friends).

I agree with you about the seedy underbelly - I worked (in Soc Serv) and saw and heard more than most, and recognise the huge income and lifestyle disparities that go on in Brighton...what did you do here before you left cm?

Oh, and btw, I go to Blakers quite a bit - i wonder who you all are