Hastings...

Debt_Free_Chick

Generali wrote: »

There are some lovely places near by. Deal, Battle and Rye amongst them.

Interestingly, Rye has a worse reputation locally for anti-social yoofs - and drug use in particular - than Hastings!

Generali

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Interestingly, Rye has a worse reputation locally for anti-social yoofs - and drug use in particular - than Hastings!

Funny. It's always seemed quite nice as an outsider. I'd always take an insider's view though.

Debt_Free_Chick

Generali wrote: »

Funny. It's always seemed quite nice as an outsider. I'd always take an insider's view though.

Oh, for visitors, it's beautiful. But as is the case with many visitors, one tends only to go to the places that are "promoted".

There's quite a lot of "social housing" and job prospects for young people are worse than Hastings - again, just seasonal jobs in tourism and, possibly, agricultural work, which is terribly low-paid. No prospect of ever buying a property in either occupation - hence the social housing need and the ever decreasing circle of repetition!

It's a Town Council though - it has a Mayor and a Town Cryer

Generali

I've done in Rye what I do when I visit most places, had a bit of a nose around the place. It seemed quite nice but I stayed close to the beach, mostly.

Debt_Free_Chick

Generali wrote: »

I've done in Rye what I do when I visit most places, had a bit of a nose around the place. It seemed quite nice but I stayed close to the beach, mostly.

Interesting .... as Rye has not been "by the beach" for several hundred (thousand?) years Honest - the bay has silted up and the land reclaimed from the sea, so Rye now sits on a hill about 4 or 5 miles from the sea

You must have been at Rye harbour (nature reserve and shingle/pebble beach) or perhaps at Camber (sandy beach bordered by lots of caravans and a Pontins )

Libra1975

I can't advise from the Hastings point of view but I can advise from the commuting point of view as at one point I was doing 2 hours 20 minutes door-to-door between London and Chichester. The first thing to say is that a commute like that is only possible if you have very defined hours i.e you work 9-5. Anything involving overtime, shifts, random extra hours and it becomes more difficult and more of your day gets eaten into.
Also make sure you can sleep on trains.
Ensure you don't mind having to leave drinks in London at 9/10pm to ensure you get home at a semi-decent hour and not resent the fact the people leaving the pub at 11:30pm will STILL get home before you.
Make sure you carry a train-timetable with you at all times.
Don't have children, they may enjoy the extra space and sea-side but they will only have a "weekend" Dad.

Saying that I loved Chi and the benefits of coming home to a house rather than a pokey flat and having the South Downs and beach 5 minutes away more than made up for the commute. I was also lucky that I had a friends floor to kip on when I couldn't face the journey home or wanted a late night out.

Running_Horse

There are a lot better places for the money, less than 2 hours commute from London.

ixwood

2 hour each way commute? that's shocking. I've got far better things to do with my life.

I resent my 20 mins each way 3 times a week.

lowis

thanks for all your thoughts and opinions. I currently cycle 15 minutes to work at London Bridge, so a 2hr commute door-to-dooor would be quite the shock to the system - but I think if it was for a short-term thing (1-2yrs) I could grin and bear it.

I used to live in a tiny village so am used to being in the middle of nowhere with not much going on, hence my move to London...but I am at the age now where I wouldn't mind a bit of countryside and seaside nearby and an EC1 postcode doesn't offer much of that. although, it does offer ALOT!

i'll check out your sugeestions - thank you! dreaming of the seaside...

Running_Horse

If it's seaside you want then Whitstable is probably the nearest to London in Kent.

It's also full of trendy arty Londoners pushing up prices.