Where should my mum move to?

[sarahb083]

My mum is moving back to the UK from the US and isn't sure where to settle. We live in zone 6 south London, near Purley, and she'd like to be reasonably close to us (driving or by train) but she'd also like to be near the sea. She'd like somewhere with a bit going on - probably not a village. She's looking for a small house with a small garden for £150-£200K. She's not too fussed about 'naice' areas but would like somewhere safe. So far the places that seem to have what she's looking for are:

• Folkestone
• Hastings
• Eastbourne
• Bognor Regis

Do you think these places would work for her? Any other suggestions?

My MIL is in Hythe near Folkestone and likes it very much (and it is really lovely there). From memory, her 2-bed bungalow was considerably more than 200k, though and I’m not sure if it gets much cheaper in the half-decent areas.

One thing I would say is that with all the OAPs around, GP surgeries are overstretched and accessing help isn’t as quick as you might expect. I doubt it’s much better in other seaside locations, though.

PS In Folkestone itself, the west side is nice. The east side isn’t great and not sure if she’d like it even if she isn’t snobby.

We are in Folkestone and love it. Agree with @JoJoSM2 that the West End side is the side to live on if you can, unless she likes her locale to be a bit more edgy! There are some okay roads on the East Cliff I have heard, but even though we live here, I couldn’t tell you what they are! Unfortunately though I don’t think her budget will stretch to much in the West End. Maybe try Cheriton or Capel, or the Radnor Park area which are a bit cheaper and still pretty decent..

I'm going down to look at Broadstairs in Kent, there are a lot of places in your Mum's price range.

Deal, Kent, seems to be quite pleasant.