Bristol, Brighton or ???

[MumShack]

We are a young family with a 1 year old son relocating back to the UK from Canada.
We previously lived in London and Brighton before we had our little one.
We are looking to buy a house a settle down back in the UK this winter. Our jobs are a little up in the air at the moment but likely we will need to commute to London semi regularly. We have a good budget for a house and would like to get the most amount of space and garden for our money. We have always lived in busy city centers and would like to continue to live within walking of some shops and restaurants. We are very active so looking for lots of nice places for walks and some outdoor activity
Because our families are spread out we are looking at a few different areas including Bristol and Brighton.

Can anyone help to narrow down which areas might be good for us?
And any other suggestions of places to live are welcome too!

So to summaries what we are looking for
Young family friendly neighbourhood
Parks and outdoor space
Good shops, cafes, restaurants close by
Decent housing available with garden
Good transport links to London and motorways (for visiting extended family)
Budget is between 500K-650K

Thanks!

How about Southsea? As you may know its a seaside resort, part of Portsmouth in Hampshire.

It has all the attractions you list and is very walkabe/cycleable and has much of the trendy 'alternative' vibe of Brighton with good restaurants, bars, theatres but is more manageable in terms of size - the town centre, the seafront and its attractions are only a max 10 minute walk away.

Its inbetween Bristol and Brighton in terms of location. And close to Southampton, Chichester, Guildford, the South Downs and of course ferries to the Isle of Wight and France. House-wise you can get a good four bed plus terraced house for under £600,000 - only thing lacking maybe is the size of gardens but the Common and other open spaces are nearby,

We moved here from London about five years ago and absolutely love it - we are five minutes walk from the seafront and the bars and retaurants of Palmerston Road and Albert Road. And its a five minute cycle to Fratton station for trains to London, Brighton, Bristol and beyond. DH did commute to London daily for the first year or so which was fine but long days - he now works closer but still goes up to London 3/4 times a month.

You really want Hove or Clifton, but will struggle with that budget. Take a look at RM and feedback to us.