ADVICE want to move to coastal town/village ... Dorset, Devon, Devon, south Wales,

[CB1988]

OK so dh work from home, we have an 8 month old and I will be wfh.
We are stuck on where to move to as so much choice , any recommendations greatly appreciated !!!!

Our budget is 500k£ we want a min 4 bed house with decent garden.

Nice town shops cafe ideally if weekly market
Must be on the coast, with njce sandy beach on doorstep
Good primary school
Great community
Ideally swimming pool
Safe nice area not a drug problem please!

Not for 500K…

Dawlish in Devon. Properties on Right Move within your budget. Beach. Pretty Georgian town. Community feeling, shops, leisure centre, sandy beaches - not sure it has a market though

Or this is a lovely house. It’s far enough away from the bad areas (worst bits round behind the railway station) and very close to the beach at Greenhill. It’s over budget but who knows about any wiggle room, there aren’t enormous numbers of people with this budget in the area!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136213736

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/16/hell-on-sea-dawlish-drugs-gang-geordies

Swansea/Mumbles is lovely as well as the villages near Mumbles - Newton, West Cross, Langland and Caswell. Loads of great beaches and fabulous views from many houses. Lots of gift shops, decent deli, fishmonger, M and S food etc. Fat face, Seasalt - usual suspects! Nice bars/pubs. Joes ice cream. Lots of youngsters hang out at the beaches and surfing, paddle boarding etc is popular. Coast line is stunning. Great schools and University.

Monthly farmers markets in Mumbles, as well as Uplands and the Marina. Fab covered market in town (only reason to go!) with great fishmongers, butchers etc plus nice little places to eat.

Downsides - one road in and out gets choked up with traffic, especially when the weather is good. Busy. Increasingly touristy. Gorgeous streets but narrow so manoeuvring cars can be fun. Parking is a challenge and car parks are pricey.Would need to into the town for big shopping, cinema, gyms etc. Swansea town centre is a shithole! Most people use the out of town shopping centre, or go to Cardiff for clothes shopping. Parts of Swansea itself are run down/ druggie but no more than any other city.

We opted to live in SA2, more central but still Swansea West, so about 3 miles from Mumbles. This was due to aforementioned traffic, cheaper housing and easier access for cinema, leisure centres and so on. There is also the rest of the Gower to consider but the villages are tiny and the only amenities are seasonal chippies, a few pubs and small shops. Still lovely though.
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@AnotherElaine The OP said her budget can go to 600k & to be honest in this climate Id argue a lot of homes will sell for under what they are first listed at.

Thanks for all the info re mumbles @FatCatatPaddingtonStation and thanks @watersprites .. exactly my thinking, its potential to offer and also we can modernise. X

Re traffic. We recently lived in Hampton Court for 5 years. I wonder how bad traffic is in comparison?

if you're used to Hampton Court I'd say you would be used to most traffic! And at least you don't need to worry about work commutes!

That's my thinking. Mumbles sounds fab and we will go to spend some time there. Not alot of property showing recently sold even :/

If you don't mind busy summers Burnham-on-Sea fits the bill.

I think you need to be realistic about the drugs situation, hard to avoid. We were in an affluent Dorset market town and a girl in my DC’s class died of an overdose and the DC of a friend killed himself after drugs triggered paranoid episode. You have to be vigilant wherever you are and just because drugs aren’t outwardly evident don’t think there aren’t problems.

Also I would make sure you are near a station, we weren’t and it was a right pain as they got older. We moved a year ago to somewhere not as “nice’ but are all much happier now.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137491295

it’s walkable to the beach
tourist village with a few nice restaurants
a leisure pool in the next village or the open air free sea pool ( there are the blue tits ladies who swim all year in the sea pool)

there is a market in bideford

Nice layout but blimey the damp/water marks on some of the walls and ceilings! Love the way the estate agent has said it has a “rustic style”. Ie, needs some work!

Ilfracombe is a dump.

It does indeed need some work

there are new builds up top of hill behind this house for same money. The disadvantage is there is a hill to walk up going home.

it’s interesting looking to see what you can get for £500k

agree Ilfracombe is not desirable but westward Ho has increased in desirability over the last few years

Do you live here? Or are you just another grockle who sees the place for 1week out of 52?

@CB1988 mumbles is a lovely spot but in the summer it and the Gower in general get very busy. Mumbles gets gridlocked. Swansea has a good leisure centre but can be hard to get to when the traffic is bad! Swansea city centre has unfortunately gone downhill. Prices skyrocketed mumbles/Gower the last couple of years and probably due to take a bit of a tumble so keep that in mind. If you’re wanting a decent sized garden for your budget don’t look mumbles but better off Langland/Bishopston or further into the Gower. Bishopston is a really good school.

This house is so weird.

It looks like it's basically derelict and someone has gone in with a bag full of colourful throws and tried to make it look boho.

@good96 live where grumps?

@Seaitoverthere I retract my drug comment. Il make up my mind when I travel. Some places are ALOT worse than others. And I don't want to live somewhere very rough.

As long as you realise once your kids grow up they will probably move away as there’s little career/higher education opportunities for them in most seaside towns.

@ivykaty44 thank you. The summary has made me chuckle. Magical paths ! Masterpiece of artistic rustic !! Eek. Its a nice size though xxx

@ivykaty44 il look at westward ho

@FannythePinkFlamingo , @retzsyna , would the people of cornwall welcome outsiders? (on the whole, I know you can’t speak for everyone)
Dh and I adore Cornwall and would move there in a heartbeat, but I have heard so many stories about outsiders never being accepted into the community?