Moving from London to seaside (East Sussex vs Kent)

[nitz84]

Hi Everyone.

We are a family of 3 (6 yo) + expecting a newborn in April 2022. So will be 4 of us soon enough.

We are planning to buy our 1st house - first time buyer (at least 3+ beds), so we are looking which area the best for us to start new chapter of our life that near by water. I'm fully WFH now, might need to go once a while (1x montly/quarterly) to London, so direct train to London is one of the tick box but not the top priority. For my husband he will look for a new job in the area which should not be a problem (he's in Logictic/Warehouse job)

We would like to have life that near the sandy beach but also have a good school, slow and quiet but not too quiet or dead town (hope you know what I mean :)). Basically ideal for family who love to be near the water.

We are now looking between
Kent (Ramsgate, Margate, Broadstairs, Deal, Herne Bay,Folkstone)
OR
East Sussex (Hastings, Eastbourne, Seaford, Bexhill, Newhaven, Peacehaven). Brighton might be the popular answer but for us is too busy and we prefer it's neigbour rather to be in the Central Brighton, but hey it's a choice but not in our top choice.

Would like to get opinion and experience for the local that live in those area I've mentioned above the pros and const or any other suggestion are welcome.

Thank you for reading this far :)

What is your budget ? £££?

Herne Bay is nice, very good community there

Yes budget and what are you looking for? We moved from Surrey, London originally,to East Sussex, village outside Eastbourne, 10 years ago,much more bang for your buck. Brighton is ridiculously expensive now,and the centre is run down,dirty,lot of little. Eastbourne does in fact have a sandy beach,they import shingle from the isle of wight. They were doing it this week. Stuff about God's Waiting Room is a load of BS my youngest DD is desperate to move here.

If you only need to be in London once a month / once a quarter then would you consider moving much further away where you could get loads more for your money?

Many mainline train lines from the north are much faster into London than those from the places you have mentioned many of which are on slow routes.

Would you consider Whitstsble/Tankerton
There's lots going on, schools are good but a pebble beach

Moved to Folkestone four years ago with a young family and it has been a dream move. Absolutely love it and would not want to live anywhere else in the world (and we’ve hopped about a bit). Happy to answer any questions if you want to pm me.

We are in the Hastings/Bexhill area, having moved down from a very chocolate boxy village in the Home Counties 8 years ago. It’s a bit rough round the edges, and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea (I daresay the “I Hate Hastings” contingent will be along shortly ) but we love it here and are more settled here than we’ve ever been anywhere else. There are some very good independent schools but the state provision isn’t brilliant tbh. The beaches are pebbles, albeit there’s lots of sand when at very very very low tide!

I'd go for Broadstairs- but I don't know what the schools are like...

Kent all the way. Herne Bay is gorgeous, as are everywhere else you've listed. I'd also second Whitstable and Tankerton

I grew up in Broadstairs and still have friends and family in the area. If you want sandy beaches, Broadstairs is your place to go!

Good infants and junior schools, but things become much more complicated at secondary because of the stupid Kent selective system. If your children pass the Kent Test, there's an excellent grammar school in Broadstairs. Things are not so good if they don't though. I have friends currently going through this with their children and it is very stressful. I have many times thanked my lucky stars I now live in an area with comprehensives.

Thanet (Ramsgate, Margate and Broadatairs) is a funny old area. Some nice parts, but also lots of deprivation. It is also a surprisingly long way from anywhere else - its a bit of a corner stuck out on a limb. Its also the place Farage chose to try to get himself elected as a MP...

I've lived in Eastbourne most of my life. The beaches are pebbly, sandy at low tide. There are nice parts of the town with good schools and areas with more challenges. It really depends on £££. In the Old Town area (v popular with families/good schools) a three bed semi is between £400-£450K.
I would recommend for bringing up a family. There's not much industry in the area so warehouse work for your husband may be limited to retail.

Friends moved to Folkstone last year....market is fierce....they offered on over 40 places before buying....constantly outbid etc....not too keen on hastings....stats show it has highest number of paedos and heroin users of all of uk...Eastbourne has changed a lot....quite nice.

@Whywonttheyletmeusemyusername

Kent all the way. Herne Bay is gorgeous, as are everywhere else you've listed. I'd also second Whitstable and Tankerton

I used to live in Herne Bay. I've never in my life heard it called "gorgeous". Deprived and run down yes. Gorgeous no. I'm not saying it doesn't have it's charms but there's a reason why it's so much cheaper than Whitstable. And neither of them fit the OP's requirement for a sandy beach.

Deal is pebble beach and agree with hundred miles about Herne Bay and avoid Dover. Some areas of Ramsgate and Margate are slightly better than others, Joss bay area is beautiful if you want sandy beaches but schools aren't great at secondary age, Kent has a grammar school system so it would depend how you feel about tutoring for entrance.

Mummy, don't forget there are several industrial estates in Eastbourne, the one by B and Q is expanding.Dittons, Polegate which isn't far. I carried on working in Redhill,over 100 miles round trip (long story!)

Sorry Lottbridge!

Thank you everyone for your input.
It's really helpful for me at least to get a start on which area we should must focus.

Our budget is up to £400k and hopefully it can get us for a decent and spacious house in the nice neighbourhood.

We also more into detached house rather than a flat.

Nice to know about this Kent school test which I don't have any idea before :)

So far I have narrow down this on my list :

• Eastbourne and nearby area
• Hasting
• Folkestone
• Herne Bay
• Whitstable
• Broadstairs

Any other area that I can look into? Any area in England worth to be considered as long as it has Sandy beach

Herne bay is about as far from ‘gorgeous’ description as possible. I grew up there and family still there. It just feels so run down and miserable still whenever we go back.

Whitstable nicer but terrible roads and parking as all very narrow and mainly terrace houses with no driveways so wouldn’t recommend if car owner.

Once you have a narrow list I suggest you go and spend a long weekend in each location

Here you go OP - this is an interesting article on some of the challenges Thanet faces and why:

www.kentonline.co.uk/news/in-depth/tip-of-the-iceberg-235843/

There aren't that many places in the south east that actually have a sandy beach. And those that do are usually unbearably busy in the summer months. The nearest sandy beach to Hastings (camber sands) gets crazy busy and they sometimes have to shut the road off to get there. You can queue for hours!
No way would I want to live near one. The pebble beaches are just as nice (apart from maybe to walk on) and much quieter.

You won’t find much sand in Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne or Brighton, unless the tides out. Nice places to live though and you’ll get a decent property to live in with your £400.000, in the first 3 aforementioned places anyway. Plus it’s true what they say about Eastbourne, it really is the sun trap of the South!

The nearest sandy beach to Hastings (camber sands) gets crazy busy and they sometimes have to shut the road off to get there.

The last time I went to Camber sands was about 3 years ago and we practically had the beach to ourselves, even though it was a gorgeous day. Then all of a sudden the wind got up and we found ourselves in the middle of a sandstorm. I’ve never known anything like it, it was wild and our clothes and everything were blowing away but we couldn’t open our eyes so couldn’t go and chase them. Fun times.

I have lived in East Sussex, I know all the places on that list, Peacehaven, no central hub or trains, Newhaven, does have train stations and cheaper properties, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone., Seaford lovely, but nothing much going on, but has a train station, more expensive for property, Eastbourne, much busier, some real grotty parts though, trains, lots of street drinkers, I feel safer in Brighton than Eastbourne tbh. But if you want Sandy beaches, you won’t get them anywhere here, so those you need to think either Bournemouth or have you considered Norfolk, cheaper properties, tons of gorgeous Sandy beaches. Norwich is a busy, safe city. And in just over half an hour on you be on the beach. Lots of logistics hubs too.

The top of Eastbourne beach is pebbles,then shingle,Hollywell end walking towards Beachy head,is sand, not just when they tide is out. We walk the dogs there in the winter. Was there in Thursday,and the diggers etc were replacing the shingle, over the sand. It's not fine sand like Camber,but it's definitely sand. Always seems to be windy at Camber,great if you need exfoliation. Have never lived in Kent,so don't know,we do visit Rye, Romney beach. You can get a small detached house for around that price. They sell very fast,I saw a bungalow in a lane I've always lusted after,it went UO in 3 days,never even looked at it

Also Eastbourne has a reputation as the sunniest area in the UK, last year 188 hours of sun.