Uckfield living for families (or east Grinstead??)

[Mamamoola]

Hello can anyone advise on whether uckfield or east Grinstead would be better to move our family to? We both work from home so commuting isn’t an issue. Main thing we desire is a nice spacious 4 bedroom house (budget around 650) and a real sense of community /friendly other families around. I’d go to lewes or forest row if could afford it due to much preferring the places and also slightly more alternative vibes (which describes us!)
wouid uckfield or east Grinstead suit us better? Trying to find a place that works for our whole family. Husband doesn’t want to be driving everywhere always so need to be able to walk to a shop /park etc. I need to be able to walk from door of house into nature. And the area needs to have a nice community feel (we have two young children).
areas to explore /avoid ??
Primary schools not an issue as we’ll probably be driving to a small rural one somewhere.
Appreciate any insight! 🙏🏻

Uckfield is smaller and houses a bit cheaper than EG, with a good sense of community.

Uckfield is a small town but still has a good range of facilities - lovely independent cinema, leisure centre, Waitrose (!) It feels quite a bit more rural than EG, being that bit further out of London (and on a rubbish train line!)

As a bigger town EG has more facilities. It does feel more suburban than rural though - although the lovely Ashdown Forest is on its doorstep, in the other direction is Gatwick/Crawley and the suburban sprawl until London.

Uckfield is really close to Lewes, also the sea, South Downs and Ashdown Forest all of which are lovely. Definitely much more a small market town feel rather than suburban.

EG is further from the sea and Downs.

Nothing wrong with EG at all but I'd say if you don't need a decent train line or the facilities of a bigger town, Uckfield is much nicer.

Just to add, Uckfield is pretty manageable without too much driving if you don't mind hills. Lots of green spaces within and around the town. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it's "alternative" but it is a place people move to if they can't afford/want a bigger house than Brighton or Lewes!

House prices are, I think, slightly more reasonable than in much of the SE. You could get something decent with that budget.

Thank you!
yes I feel more drawn to uckfield tbh tho can’t quite put finger on why. Wish it just had some better cafes / food places ! Like I said though, good community feel is number 1 priority.
are there any particular areas you recommend checking out in uckfield for living ?
it’s that age old debate…. Do you go for location or house? Choosing uckfield above other places like forest row / lewes, we’d be going for the house. No idea if that is the right decision! I guess if we made good friends in uckfield it would all be worth it, currently don’t know anyone there whereas do in lewes and forest row.
we’ve moved so much in the past 6 years so really want this to be the place we can finally land / settle. So difficult to know what / where is right !!

Personally I've never liked EG and when I last checked there were 2 trains an hour. From Uckfield its 1 an hour but I would drive to haywards heath/ lewes/ tunbridge wells for a better service.

There are nice cafes and restaurants in the town (Hartfields and Picture House restaurant are popular) and loads of nice pubs a short drive away.

I have a friend whose recently moved and said Uckfield Collegs is very good and no issues with an influx of students due to new developments.

Probably depends what you want in terms of proximity to the town but if you're happy to drive in Maresfield, Buxted and Newick are all really nice villages. Close to town I think the North side is better. New builds are mainly in Ridgewood but there are schemes coming forward on the north side as well. If you want period townhouses look down by the river/ Station. One off period houses look just on the outskirts.

There are four or five biggish residential areas with houses from 70s - 2000s. Of these, I'd say the Harlands area and Pipers Field area are the nicest (both on the South side of town) - well designed estates with green spaces. The Millennium Green in particular is lovely. And from that part of town you can be in Lewes in 10 minutes by car, a little more by bus, and you can walk/bus into centre of Uckfield. Worth looking in these areas even if you don't think you want an estate as they're really well done and do have a good community with many good sized houses. The local primary school is a single form entry, and good sized grounds, so has a small village feel about it.

Thank you! Very helpful,
I checked out ridgewood today and thought it had a good feel to it. I liked the millennium green. Will have a look at harlands then next. So tricky trying to make right decision for whole family. Really don’t want to have to move again after this move!

I am in Uckfield. Pm me if you have any questions. I've been here for 18 years. Have children at the College. We are happy here. Near enough to the forest and the coast. Lots of buses (not that I use them). The high street has a nice feel to it. Lots of charity shops and hairdressers but I think that's the same everywhere. Not as big as East Grinstead but you get more for your money.

I live in Rh16 and went to east grindstead for the first time yesterday. I liked it. There was a real community feel and the theater is lovely there is a great gym swimming pool etc and the sports club is excellent. The doctor's is excellent. I didn't like Uckfield all charity shops and estate agents last I went, about 8 years back. Haywards Heath is lovely and cuckfield, horsted Keynes Dane Hill but maybe a bit pricey for a 4 bed.

I grew up in Uckfield and my parents lived there until my dad died about 12 years ago. So although I have long since lived there I did visit a lot and still do occasionally as have an relatives there.

A family member lived in EG for many years and visited there many times. I found the town a bit strange, didn't seem to be much of a community, so I would rather live in Uckfield than EG. I belong to the local Uckfield fb page, and it still has a village feel rather than a town.

Let's just say after leaving Uckfield in my 20s and now being in my 60s I would have no hesitation in moving back there.

I couldn't say where is best to live in Uckfield as there has been a lot of housing built since I was living there, when I was a kid Harlands was a farm we visited to see the calves!

Hi just wondering if you made a decision and moved to uckriwld? We are in a similar scenario, wanting to move for more space and considering the affordable options as don’t want another pokey house which is all we can afford in Lewes or Brighton.
be keen to hear from anyone who has moved into Uckfield recently. Thanks so much. X

Hi
We are looking to create a utility room in our garage, knock through into our kitchen and remodel that. Has anyone used Cannadines of Uckfield for this sort of work? What are your views? Any other recommendations/feedback would be appreciated. We only moved into this area 6 months ago. Many thanks.