Raising family by the seaside

[Spanieljoker]

I live in London and have two daughters (3 and 1). Will possibly have a third in the future.
I have always loved the idea of living by the seaside. My husband loves the countryside and his craving for a big garden and some land. I love the countryside too and traditional cottages.
We are planning a move, anywhere in the UK. Should be close to the seaside and rural. I have been looking to places like Devon and Cornwall for example. Our budget would be max. £1.2 million.
where would you go if it was your choice? We want to raise the children in the nature but their academic future is also important for us.

I live in the kind of place you describe. It's Dalgety Bay, near Edinburgh.

For £1.2M here, you would get an enormous 5/6 bed house with a swimming pool and a sea view. In fact you'd possibly have change. Have a look on Google maps, at a street called Donibristle Gardens.

We have 2 excellent Primary schools, and a brand new state of the art High School is currently being built to replace the existing High School. We have a couple of excellent restaurants, about 5 take-aways, Asda, Tesco, all the amenities you'd need. It's very family friendly, with regular Gala's for the children. We have 5 lovely beaches.

Also, within very easy reach is South Queensferry, which is also on the seafront, with a long cobbled street lined with bars and restaurants.

There are lots of other villages towns, and up here each town has it's own Gala day in the summer, and Highland games days - brilliant for kids.

The train into Edinburgh is about 20 minutes, and of course you have everything you could possibly need there. Lots for kids like the Science Museum, regular museums, the festival every August.

Closer to home is Dunfermline, with everything you'd need for kids, like bowling alley, cinema, swimming, loads of child friendly restaurants.

We don't have the immigration problems that you have down South. Also, if your kids go to Uni, it is FREE up here. We moved here from England in 2003, and both of my kids had free Uni - absolute huge plus imo!

Hospitals are much better up here. Never long waits. I would never move back to England.

This is extremely helpful thank you.
May I ask you please where you grew up? My husband is from Gloucestershire. Grew up in a very rural and remote farm. When we speak about Scotland he seems to be scared that I’d be bored to death and/or it’s too far for us. I am French btw

In Scotland you’d never get in that pool… Can you afford private fees? Some of the schools in Cornwall are dire.

Ah yes I am worried about secondary schools down south. And the climate in Scotland. I heard Suffolk is a better choice if you want good schools..?

Well, the usual constraints on where people live are work and commuting time.

do you work? WFH? Need to be in a particular place?

the seaside in the uk can be very built up (eg places like Tynemouth in Newcastle which I personally love but is definitely not rural) or … not.

the further south you are the less you are likely to need wetsuits and similar for swimming in the sea although there’s plenty of people even in Scotland that wild swim all year round.

Devon and Cornwall are lovely but have limited rail connections and the roads are such that it can take ages to get anywhere.

if you’re happy to go with that then the coast around the Lake District is pretty rural and a lot lot cheaper.

long journey times to even the closest state school though,

I am not working at the moment. I think I will be SAHM for a while. My husband works from home with his company right now so yes we are very open to any location really. But for the children, it is very hard to know where is best for them. Ideally I do not want to drive more than 20 minutes to their primary school really, if it’s possible 🙄

What about either The Wirral, or Cumbria ?

Close enough to Liverpool / Manchester when you need / want theatres, shops, restaurants, sports fixtures , airports, etc but some nice coastline.

Grew up in the Midlands. Then moved around with work, so lived in London, then Shropshire, then came up here. You would not be bored! Edinburgh, the Capital City is on your doorstep. It's much nicer than London, all quaint streets, old buildings, loads of things for kids, loads of nightlife. You can get the train in from Inverkeithing. And there's trains home every 10 minutes!

Ok, so you really are not constrained by work.

are you/your dh familiar with the English schooling system? If you are French then it is really quite different. Do you want the children to access French language education? If so you’ll need a fairly big city.

if you are happy with English state primary then most places in England have a primary within twenty minutes drive.

you might like eg north Norfolk

https://wellsguide.com/

or Suffolk
Aldeburgh

https://www.thesuffolkcoast.co.uk/suffolk-coast-towns-and-villages/aldeburgh

or Cumbria - silloth
https://www.visitlakedistrict.com/explore/silloth

Schools here are top notch - my daughter is a teacher and I worked in schools for 10+ years. The primary schools are Dalgety Bay primary school and Donibristle Primary, They have websites you can check out. The new High School will be epic!

Climate here is lovely. My neighbour sat out the other day and you should see her sunburn! Fife especially gets lots of sun, I think it's supposed to be the sunniest place in Scotland.

The houses I was talking about have indoor pools anyway.

I will try to tell my husband ! 🤣 And what about the weather ? 😄

5 mins in the car is all it would take here.

https://www.onthemarket.com/details/9778947/

This is the street I was talking about. I think this one sold for £950k.

Omg !!! 😂😂😂😂 incredible.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Donibristle+Primary+School,+Morlich+Rd,+Dalgety+Bay,+Dunfermline+KY11+9UE/Donibristle+Gardens,+Dalgety+Bay,+Dunfermline/@56.0309381,-3.3600674,748m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x4887cef91f9daf03:0x6cba7d4ce2121f38!2m2!1d-3.3574665!2d56.0311405!1m5!1m1!1s0x4887cefb16936cd7:0x12cecabbe135a045!2m2!1d-3.3504079!2d56.031577!3e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDQyOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

3 mins in car to school !!

I used to fantasise about my girls going to French school in Kensington. But honestly I just got fed up of London. I’ve realised I want to live in the countryside

I live in the south east and it’s perfect as we have loads of beautiful country side and the seaside all
close by. theres some lovely villages like Steyning/bramber/amberly (expensive though!) and then you’ve got the Shoreham /worthing / Brighton beach so close by. It’s a great mix

I live in Gloucestershire. Amazing schools here, rolling countryside and great farm shops.
i lived in Scotland. Our state secondary schools are way ahead and having nursed in both countries, so are most of our hospitals. Not sure I would live so far up North, with the weather. I am so glad we are warmer. I also love Devon and Cornwall.

I lived in the Cotswolds. I loved it but the sea is too far 😔

Another vote for the Wirral. Seaside and countryside. Look at this huge house for £950,000.

https://homewirral.co.uk/property/caldy-road-west-kirby-ch48-3/

South Wales. Vale of Glamorgan, or Gower, or further west if you want very rural- but that limits opportunities for older kids.

Yes it is quite a distance. But we have lots of lakes nearby for cold water swimming and sailing etc. Voted one of the best places to live in the UK, so lots of positives x

Where? I’m interested 🙂 I only know about the Cotswolds country park & beach in Cirencester

Isle of Wight. My kids grew up there it was lovely and met (and still have) some great friends. You could get something fabulous for your budget.