South coast bolt hole

[whattheactualfuckery]

I have come into a bit of money, it's inheritance. I'd like to buy a bolt hole on the south coast, within walking distance to the beach. I'll be travelling by train from London and no more than one change, preferably none. Budget up to £400,00.
Anyone have a nice little seaside bolt hole area they can recommend? I've been looking at Brighton, Bournemouth, New Milton so far

Worthing and Goring is surprisingly nice, and close to Brighton if you want a more buzz feel. Worthing has a nice walk along the beach.

Christchurch is lovely, quieter than Bournemouth. Lyme Regis is nice, you have to change trains at Axminster and get a bus.

Weymouth
Christchurch

Deal? Easy to london, nice town. Broadstairs?

Isle of Wight. More for your money. Quite a holiday feel. Beautiful beaches. Direct train to Portsmouth Harbour from Waterloo and then fast cat to Ryde.
You can also go via Southampton and catch the fast jet to Cowes.Easy to rent out, if you want. Cowes is lovely with good restaurants, a real buzz during Cowes week and some of the other events.
The Solent crossing is brilliant for helping you switch off and relax.

Broadstairs or Deal? Both have direct trains.
Southsea? Lots of things going on. Independent restaurants. Direct fast train from Waterloo.

Whitstable
Broadstairs
Westgate on Sea

Taking notes of these suggestions.
Cherrypavlova IOW sounds easier than I thought it would be to get too, what can you tell me about Ventnor?

I’m in Ventnor as I type. We’ve a tiny cottage here.
We like it. Quirky and a bit 1950s but you can get two G&Ts and a large Sauvignon for £9.
Beautiful beach and you can hire beach huts by the day or week.
Good eating from Indians and well located pub to fine dining at the Royal.
We often park the car and don’t use it the whole time we are here.
It’s not nightclubs and parties. There are scruffy bits but crab bought off the boat from the haven is heavenly. Walking is excellent.
Not as accessible as other towns by public transport, as you need to get the fast and then island line train, then a bus. Frequent but we drive. The children have used public transport when students and survived. Good bus service into Newport if you want ‘proper shopping’ or cinema.

Easy to get to are Ryde and Cowes. We prefer Cowes but the dog prefers the wide beaches at Ryde.

Folkestone - arty lefty London vibe.

Cherry, sounds my kind of place. Was wondering why properties were a fair bit cheaper there

A couple of reasons why it’s cheaper- crossing Solent adds costs. We pay £45 for a book of ten journeys. It can be much more, if you don’t have an island address.
Ventnor has a subsidence problem with the south coast having had a few landslides over time. Ours is secure enough now as it’s been underpinned, but it was given to us as a gift because it was virtually unsaleable due to difficulties for people getting mortgages. Current surveys show all is well but you do need decent land survey.
I think the time to get from mainland means commuting isn’t a viable option. We’ve done it once or twice but it’s a long day to London and back.
We love it. We can walk down to Wheelers Bay and swim with the dog in tow. He’s not allowed on Ventnor beach in the summer.

Just below us is a very good seafront cafe, called the Seapot, that was crafted from the old public lavatories. Fantastic spot to sit and watch the world pass slowly by; it’s licensed too.

The east coast all along worthing, Brighton is awful.
Rye is much nicer.
I've lived all over and I'd choose Kent, somewhere like Broadstairs or Rye, or Devon/Dorset.
isle of Wight is nice but that ferry costs a lot of money and it's a bit too stuck in the 50's for my liking.

Another vote for Folkestone. Love it there. Great cafe culture, quirky artsy vibe, champagne lighthouse on the Harbour Arm with fab food and entertainment throughout town and always tonnes going on. 50 mins from London. Loads of lovely period properties really reasonably priced. Plus added bonus of having tunnel for hops over to Europe.

Emsworth and surrounds are nice. Very easy journey from London. More coastal than beachy but there are excellent beaches nearby (the Witterings)

Wittering can easily take an hour from Emsworth because the road there is a nightmare in summer. Parking at Witterings is £9.50 a day unless you have a season ticket or go after 3pm.
It is beautiful though.
Emsworth is nice and you can do a coastal walk around Norebarn woods but you can’t really swim there. It’s not cheap though but easy reach of Chichester and Portsmouth by bus or train.

What type of beach? Not many sandy ones, lots of pebble ones! Do you want cliffs or flatter terrain? A secluded bay, or a city?

Just any beach, not fussed. Definitely a coastal town, with good public transport links

Sandbanks / Lilliput / Canford Cliffs areas in Poole are lovely. You won't get a lot for your money property wise (2 bed apartment) but you will get a lovely part of the world and frequent direct trains from Waterloo to Poole in circa 2 hours.

It's a very long walk to the beach from new Milton Station!

TBH Bournemouth west cliff side is doable if you're planning on walking everywhere. I wouldn't recommend pokesdown/boscombe, it doesn't have the best reputation. You could look at Highcliffe which is where the nice sandy beaches start, but ideally you'd be best booking a taxi to meet you at the station. (Hinton Admiral).

FuckingMax where do you recommend in Folkestone? I'm thinking of a 2 bed flat but will need to be within walking distance of the station and not too far from the sea (views!)

@sunshinesupermum there are tonnes of gorgeous period flats and apartments in the West End of Folkestone which is easy walking distance to town, station and sea. If I could pinpoint my personal favourite it’s Grimston Gardens. I run around there a lot and it reminds me of something from a Dickensian novel (in a good way!). Huge individual period buildings (most sub divided into spacious apartments) set around a massive square that just seems so peaceful and tranquil. Less than five minutes walk to everything - in my eyes it is perfect.

@sunshinesupermum the square is for the sole use of the residents BTW and is always immaculately kept...

Sounds wonderful, thanks FuckingMax!