Devon or Kent?

[Salome61]

Hello everyone, I'm retired and looking to move down south. I'm originally from Twickenham in Middlesex, and moved to Northumberland when my late husband was promoted. It is really rural and beautiful, but now I'm older and don't want to drive everywhere I want more amenities on my doorstep, as well as a beach.

I want to live near the sea, and am looking at Broadstairs in Kent, and Exmouth in Devon. I have a budget of £250K and am hoping to get a 2 bed house or ground floor flat. I'm visiting Kent end of this month, Devon end of September.

Anyone live in either of these places? If you do, what do you like about them?

Exmouth to London is 3+ hours away :-(

Trains from Exeter to London Paddington take just over 2 hours or you can go to London from Honiton, if you want to travel by train directly from Exmouth that will add to your journey , the estuary route from Exmouth is really lovely. It’s also a good place for dog walking , parts of the beach can be used all year and the whole beach from beginning of October till the end of April. The seafront is really nice and not over commercialised and you have bowls, cricket and tennis clubs just off the seafront with a new water sports centre being built at the moment.

Like Kindkylie you wouldn’t drag me away now either

Thanks Rodders92. We moved up to Northumberland when I was 42, and I feel as though I've missed twenty years of 'life' and Kent attracted me because it does seem so lively. But I'm not sure I'm up to it now, that time has passed, and I'm more attracted to Devon. I am especially excited to see an avocet, we have an abundance of wildlife here including beautiful puffins, but avocets don't come up here as it's too cold!

Have you thought about Ryde Isle of Wight? Plenty of good price houses .. Also animal sanctuaries nearby to volunteer at. Ryde is 20mins on fast cat to Portsmouth harbour station.. or 10 mins on hovercraft with free bus link to Portsmouth central both have direct trains less than 2hrs from London ..

I’m biased but I’d vote for Broadstairs. Like op have said transport links into London are good and Canterbury for a beautiful historic city is not far away.
For diversity you are between Margate and Ramsgate.
There’s so much to do, so many clubs and societies to join if you want to get out and make new friends and as a dog walker you will meet others on the beaches and parks.
My parents live there and are enjoying an extremely fulfilling retirement! In fact they are often too busy to fit me in!!

And Beaches and wildlife galore!

I love Exmouth. I had a holiday home there for 14 years but had to sell it last year.

If you drive it really isn’t far to Sidmouth.

The river otter is great for birds , plus we have the wild beavers

Hello Salome61....here’s another idea for you!

Last Summer we were considering retiring to a coastal town on the South coast as we had returned to the UK after living overseas for 24 years and had always wanted to live near the sea. Our priorities were like yours...a seaside location but with good shopping and transport links.

We looked at Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton but it didn’t quite tick all the boxes; it was a bit too far in the south west for us as we wanted to be a bit closer to the London area.

We then decided to look at west Dorset - it is much cheaper than east Dorset (eg. Poole, Bournemouth, Swanage) because it is further from the motorway network and too far for commuters going into Southampton and London.

We spent some time looking around Weymouth and Dorchester and purchased a house in Weymouth. We love it here....lots of shops including Debenhams, TK Maxx, M&S food hall but Dorchester is just a bus ride away - or you could go by train and it has a very good range of shops too and very popular Wednesday morning market. Dorchester also has a thriving arts and cultural community.

Aside from shopping, Weymouth has a Harbour, sandy beach and shingle/pebble beaches...and although currently closed due to the lockdown restrictions a good theatre (the Pavilion) which is about to do an open air show and cinema. Also lots of cultural events take place throughout the year, as does nearby Dorchester, especially at the Corn Exchange. There are lots of walking and cycle paths and nature reserves and we are still discovering new places to explore all the time, there is so much to see and do here! See www.weareweymouth.co.uk and also Facebook sites for Weymouth.

One important thing for us was to be near a train line (for family visits) and Weymouth is the furthest outpost of ‘Southwestern Railway’ www.southwesternrailway.com - this train line terminates at London Waterloo - this includes stops at places like Dorchester, Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch, the New Forest, Southampton, Winchester and then is a fast train to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo.

Great Western Railway trains also go to/from Weymouth if one wants to go to places like Yeovil, Bradford-upon-Avon, Bath and Bristol. See www.gwr.com

There are also buses (some routes are on pretty coastal routes) which you can take from Weymouth to other towns such as Bridport and Axminster (Somerset) and to Blandford Forum, Poole and Bournemouth. Local buses go to suburban parts of Weymouth and the no. 10 goes from the Esplanade/town centre to Dorchester including the County hospital and to Poundbury (the suburb designed by Prince Charles). See the First Bus website on www.firstgroup.com

In normal times the National Express coaches also come to Weymouth but I’ve seen far fewer in the past few weeks due to the Coronavirus, I do hope it will pick up again soon.

Well I hope this gives you some food for thought! You might to look at Rightmove/Onthemarket/Zoopla for flats and houses priced within your budget. Nice parts of Weymouth near the sea are Preston and Greenhill Gardens/Weymouth hospital walk in clinic vicinity, plus the Bellevue Road/Bincleaves Road/Castle Cove vicinity. I would avoid the town centre vicinity....lots of noise, good for younger people but not those looking for peace and quiet lol! Btw I think I may recognise you from posts on the ‘sister’ site to this, but I tend not to post there.

Good Luck!

I live in Devon - moved here from London and I'd never go back. Exeter is a wonderful, cultured city which is only 2 hours to London on the train. We're spoilt for choice with beaches and Dartmoor is on our doorstep too. As well as Exmouth, I'd also recommend looking at Teignmouth. It has a fabulous community and you could have a real beachy lifestyle if you wanted. I prefer it to Exmouth and I think houses are slightly cheaper there.
That said, I love Kent too and we holiday there frequently!

I am originally from London but love Exmouth. It can be busy in the summer but youve.got great beaches, lovely walks, Sandy Bay has a wildlife centre which may look for volunteers. Its an easy trip into Exeter by train or bus.

www.hawkridgebirdsofprey.com/volunteers/

If I was to move to Exmouth now I would probably be looking at flats or housesnearer the beach, in the town centre or the harbour. A lot of the bungalows we looked at are out of the main area.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64547016.html

Lympstone is a pretty little village but slightly more expensive, its on the estuary and has a train station.

@ClamDango

Lympstone is a pretty little village but slightly more expensive, its on the estuary and has a train station.

I agree, Lympstone is beautiful. As is Topsham which is also on the river but is bigger than Lympstone and has great restaurants, pubs and shops. Both are very pricey though so it depends on your budget.

Thank you all for all your input. I've just returned from Kent and it isn't for me.

I will be visiting Devon at the end of September, and looking carefully at flood risk, my friend in Torquay has just posted photos of the unprecedented flooding in the High Street.