Buying in Leigh on sea or surrounding areas

[CreamLampshade]

Dh and I are having a baby and looking to potentially move to around Leigh on sea from London for more space. We visited today and loved the properties on offer plus the Broadway area. However we are both keen on nature walks and the sea, and I found the coastline a bit bleak (it is winter and the tide was out. I’m sure they really affects it!). I had a few questions for those that live there:

• are there any nice parks I could walk to from the marina estate while on maternity leave? Ideally within 5-10 mins
• is not driving going to be an issue for me?
• how possible is it to go on longer nature walks with a child if you don’t drive - is it going to be difficult, are there any nice woods around?
• is there a magical area which has proximity to the sea, the Broadway, a park and some woods within walking distance?!
• I do like the buzziness of Broadway too and would like nice coffee shops and restaurants close by
• did anyone else also find the landscape a bit bleak before moving there? I’m sure it’s gorgeous in the summer; just need to move before then so don’t have time to wait and see!

any other areas I should be looking at, that are commutable to London?

thank you!

I don't actually know what counts as the marina estate.

Nice parks would be Chalkwell, Belfairs Woods, and there is a little one down near the library.

Belfairs woods is your nearest nature walk, you also have Hadleigh Castle nearby.

There probably is a very small area (a couple of roads) which you can get to a woodland area (Belfairs woods), a park (Leigh Library) and the Broadway. You can triangulate this on google maps.

Leigh is 50:50 vibrant/hustle/trendy:vacant/boring/'nothing actually happening'.

However, it is fundamentally a nice place a child would be lucky to grow up in, and good schools/transport etc.

Im not local but like having a nose around on street view

The area seems to have massive green spaces and if you travel about on street view some of that is coastal, some marsh, some nature reserve, some woody, seems to be some nice walking area. Depends how far you think you can walk, walk an hour in one direction and that is 3 miles so you can get quite far

Looks like you can get a train to Benfleet and then walk back

I love Leigh. From the Marine estate you can easily walk to Hadleigh Castle across grassland. Two tree Island is a nature reserve that's very walkable, behind the station. Lots of sea swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking there. More maintained gardens you will find along the cliff tops and if energetic its a nice 40 min walk across the cliff and sea front to Southend via Chalkwell. Obviously the Broadway is nice and loads of good schools around.

@CreamLampshade we're in a similar position now to what it looked like you were in last year and your post pretty much sums up what I'm looking for and resonates with the not driving/wanting to be able to walk places so was interested to know if you did make the move in the end and what you think of it? x