Hippy at heart - where to live?

[yellowbeads]

That's just it really...

Ideally an hour or so from London (Notting Hill), good for kids (ages 1, 7 and 8), and in / very near to a town / city.

All ideas welcome!

Broadstairs, Brighton or Isle of Wight.

Walthamstow/ Dalton?

Dalston

Great selection of suggestions, thanks so much.

Lavender I'm a kind of lapsed hippy - fully fledged a decade or two ago, now slightly midlife crisising.

RiverTam where in SE London?

I'm off to rightmove some of these suggestions!

Bristol. Bit further out though!

^ What flower said

Is Broadstairs hippy now? I always though Shepton Mallett was pretty woo.

Frome Somerset

Glastonbury is a pretty unpleasant mix of aging hippies, heroin addicts and failed musicians. Avoid.

Frome
Bristol
Totnes
Brighton.

Well Broadstairs has folk festival and quite a quirky community.

Is the Isle of Wight alternative now? Last time I went there it was definitely not! Neither is Lewes, particularly, unless your idea of alternative is looking around overpriced antique shops.

Brighton is, however, full of middle aged alternative types (and students). Everyone else has been priced out...

Broadstairs was just boring when I was growing up. The Charles Dickens was awesome on Saturday nights when I was 16 . Cool and alternative it wasn't .

Whitstable was a complete hole 45 years ago.

Cambridge

Someone said this before, when we were talking about Cambridge. The alternative area in Cambridge is very small, and basically the whole place is an over-priced and extremely non-alternative, unfriendly hell-hole (in my opinion ... I suppose the small alternative area might make it worthwhile and nice, if you can make good friends there).

Isle of Wight is probably the most genuinely alternative place ever - place like Ventnor are far, far quirkier than Kemptown. Brighton is a very middle class, quinoa eating hippiness. IoW is more 'Sometimes shut happens' type of place.

Stroud and Totnes. Glad other people don't like Glastonbury as well, I thought it was just me.