Teeny house in Brighton vs big house on Kent coast

[ataloss8]

Myself, DH and our 3 year old son are looking to move to the coast and are torn between buying a very small property in our favourite location (Brighton) or going for a bigger place with more space somewhere like Folkestone or Margate.

Our budget is £400k, which having looked at Rightmove, would just about get us a teeny tiny house with a courtyard garden in our preferred part of Brighton (Hanover/Kemptown), or a much bigger place (three bed with a larger garden) in Kent. We definitely want a house, not a flat and aren't prepared to compromise on that.

I'm a bit concerned about Folkestone as having looked on FB, it seems there's quite a divide between the locals and newbies. I also worry about the lack of diversity and the right wing element, which obviously isn't an issue in Brighton. We really want to be somewhere with a close-knit and accepting community.

Does anyone have any experience of living in these places and what they're like for kids?

What would you do?

I also worry about the lack of diversity and the right wing element

I agree with getting more house for your money in Worthing. But it isn’t particularly diverse so it depends on how much of an issue this is for you. However there does seem to be a lot of people who move out of Brighton and Hove (and London) and into Worthing.

Brighton isn't particularly diverse either in terms of ethnic mix. Worthing is becoming more diverse (slowly) and is attracting lots of buyers from London and Brighton.

I've lived in Brighton and it wouldn't be my first choice for raising a family. Our experience was that it's fun in your twenties, but becomes less attractive as you get older.
It's expensive for what you get, and swings between being rammed with tourists in summer to chillingly empty (and a bit tatty) in winter. It is also very, very eclectic these days (which may, or may not be your thing). My friend in Hove has moved her daughter into an independent school because she feels the local schools are simply too far down the rabbit hole with the Stonewall/ LGBT thing. The local healthcare trust is the one that's really pushing the removal of the words 'woman'/'maternity' and 'breastfeeding' out of their maternity services.

Look along the coast from Brighton, you can get more for your money, be in easy reach of Brighton and still be by the sea! Southwick, Shoreham, lancing, Worthing all near the downs too.

Brighton is great but good schools are generally very oversubscribed and many cheaper areas to live are filled with students which does change the community vibe of a place. If my children were younger and not settled in school I would have chosen to live somewhere like Worthing. Most friends moved there when our children were small and are really happy with good sized homes and gardens. Lockdown definitely made us wonder why we chose to stay in such a small place especially in winter when the beach doesn’t have its appeal. And on the subject of the beach, it is rammed in the summer. The tide in Worthing goes out so much further so lots of lovely summer evenings strolling around in wet sand with beautiful sunsets.

Also I agree about the stonewall thing in schools.

If you're looking at Margate, I have friends that live in Broadstairs and love it there. It's got lots of restaurants, nice beaches (not just the main one) and a high speed rail link to London.

I'd go for Hastings old town or Margate over Brighton. I live in the Brighton area and I wouldn't encourage it unless you're loaded, which it sounds like you aren't. I don't think it's a place for families with kids to have a good quality of life unless you're wealthy.

Onlyteaforme your friend actually pays for private school because of trans issues? Sounds like they'd have been better off moving to a different sort of place to Brighton really.

Move to Margate (or Broadstairs nifnyou can stretch). It's plenty close enough for day trips / weekend breaks to Brighton.
Thanet schools are, on the whole, very good.

But but Nigel Farage!

StanfordPines
I was on my way home from work that day too! I just went down and joined them, what a brilliant night that was!

Rye (and the villages nearby) is stupendous, beautiful, friendly and close to the fast HS1 line at Ashford to get to London.

There are grammar schools in Kent - a big plus if you think your DC is likely to be academic

@terribletea

Onlyteaforme your friend actually pays for private school because of trans issues? Sounds like they'd have been better off moving to a different sort of place to Brighton really.

Presumably they had other concerns too, but it was definitely the deal-breaker, yes. 9 out of 15 girls in her daughter's class were identifying as trans and she didn't feel there was a healthy environment around the issue.

Don't think they can move at the moment due to family care issues - elderly parents etc.

Doesn’t Brighton have a weird school lottery thing? Or have they stopped that?

Check out the secondary schools around Margate first. Some are great, some are dire! I live in a village fairly close to Margate but wouldn't want to live there myself. Nice to pop to every now and again though and lots going on in the Summer.

@Covidcorvid

Doesn’t Brighton have a weird school lottery thing? Or have they stopped that?

They have preferences like anywhere but it's very common not to get first choice and to be sent to a school the other side of the city

I love Margate, always hoped I could retire there but the big issue is the HMOs - houses of multiple occupation; mostly where landlords pack in low income families and vulnerable adults, effectively ghettoising large areas bang on top of the gentrified squares.

We used to rent a lovely art deco holiday flat down at the old Town end and my teenage DDs used to walk to the local supermarket being eyed up by groups of men smoking outside their bedsits - it just felt you had to be determined to live there! If you go further inland away from the beach you get the White British Farage fans. There are groups of roads or smaller residential areas in Thanet that are nice, and I agree with suggestions like Whitstable - but basically because Whitstable is like Brighton!

I always feel safer in Brighton.

"9 out of 15 girls in her daughter's class were identifying as trans".

What?

That's got to be an extreme example - my DCs are 14 and 17 and in secondary and sixth form in Brighton and hardly know of anyone identifying as trans.

There is no way on earth I'd bring teenagers up in Brighton. It's great to visit (apart from the seafront which is a hole) but there's a very superior attitude from many people who live there. It's extremely insular hiding behind a vibe of broadminded. My daughter was at sixth form there and was astounded at the number of Brighton born and bred teenagers who'd never in their lives been to Hastings/Lewes/ Worthing or even London. Very much a, 'but we live in BRIGHTON!! Why would we want to go anywhere else??'
I've lived in London and never felt that there.
Somebody earlier in the thread posted some Rightmove pics in Eastbourne. It's a lovely town to live in but DO NOT BUY THE ONE IN CEYLON PLACE!! That's the worst road in the whole town. We are having lots of London families move here -two in my terrace of 10 since lockdown.

Yeah, with your budget, I'd look towards Worthing instead. Good primary schools and a few good secondaries within easy travel distance. And you'll get a house with a garden. Brighton is crowded, dirty and touristy. You can always visit at the weekends to get your fix. I used to work there and even without children (at the time), I couldn't wait to get home.

January I think that's because it's not true.

Coddled what a ridiculous generalisation. Not my experience at all.

@terribletea

January I think that's because it's not true.

Coddled what a ridiculous generalisation. Not my experience at all.

Dorothy stringer school was in the papers for having 40 trans kids. Out of a pupil population of 1600 that's not a huge proportion but it's a lot.

Coddled, I find many people from Worthing very insular too. I'm not from the south but it was one of the first things that struck me when I moved here...people stay here their whole lives. As nice as it is, don't people want to broaden their lives from what they've always known? My ex husband said exactly that...it's nice here, why would I move?