Relocating to South Coast

[Rhiannon]

DH and I have decided that in 4 or 5 years we would like relocate to the south coast. We are currently in south Herts. I would like to be within 20 minutes of a nice beach and within 30-40 mins drive a decent town with good shops (M & S etc).

I want to live somewhere beautiful, not too much traffic!

Ideas ladies please. Thanks R.

[Viv]

Rhiannon, we live in the New Forest which we love, we are only 15mins from Southampton, 25 from Salisbury and 45 from Bournemouth so have lots of Shopping options. There are various beaches within 15 to 45 minutes drive and we do seem to spend a lot of our time down there in the summer. The forest itself is beautiful especially when you get to know it and find all the places away from the tourists, we are really lucky that we walk out of our house and are in the forest within 3 minutes. In addition we are near a commuter line to London so can be there within 1hr 30 minutes by train.
The schools are mostly all very good, and because we live in a smallish place its easy to get to know the other parents and settle in.
Yes I know I'm going on but I love it here.
Good luck where ever you decide to move to.

[Joe1]

I agree the Forest is nice. I live near Portsmouth and there are some nice places around here too all close to shopping, beaches and countryside. How about somewhere near Chichester, Southbourne etc or the Witterings. Loads of places to choose from, have a look on a map and if there is anywhere that takes your fancy I will try and tell you details.

[Ems]

Chichester area is nice, beaches nearby, nice town, good roads, not far from massive M27 Hedge End M&S!! Friends used to live there, always seemed lots to do, great theatre, beaches of Wittering and Selsey nearby.

[Rhiannon]

DH says he needs to be able to access the A23 within 20 mins or so. Is Arundel 20 minutes? We bought map books and guides over the weekend but we really need to go down for a look too and definitely whilst the weather is bad to see things at their worst! R

[serena]

Does anyone recommend Hastings? (Not too sure of geography of area so may be way off the map) It's just I'm trying to get info for a pregnant friend who is thinking of moving there.

[kizzie]

Hastings is much cheaper than London for houses but it's not great for transport links. It's a good 2 hours from London in the car (considerably more in the summer when traffic bad.)

I agree with all the comments about Chichester / Arundel area. Some beautiful villages and beaches but Chichester is a good city centre so you don't have to feel too cut off.

[Dannie]

Hastings, which by the way is looking particularly lovely this evening, is about to get a huge development package to create a higher education centre that will be an arm of the University of Brighton. Optimists say this will bring in teachers, students & investment and put to use some lovely but empty buildings. Pessimists say it's just an extension of Hastings College. There's also talk of speeding up the trains. Charing Cross is about 1hr 40, which is ages. The schools are not great, unless you're religious or prepared to go private. There is loads of fabulous countryside immediately accessible. The Old Town attracts quite a lot of people from the creative professions who work from home, there's a lot of music and arts stuff going on. Longshore drift has shifted much of the shingle so this summer the beach is going to be sandy. Part of the A259 is occasionally unusable in stormy winter high tides, but hey, the beach is sandy.