West Sussex: Best / worst places for family to live

juliamain

Hi all, my family and I have spent the past 18 months trying to move to the Surrey Hills near where my parents live but to no avail. Prices have rocketed there since Covid and it’s incredibly competitive, some places we viewed had 60-80 viewings on them in a week. We are now looking at West Sussex as an alternative but don’t know the area as well so I was hoping anyone with insider knowledge could let me know the nicest places for a family (3 kids age 2, 3 and 5) to live. 

General requirements are:
- village / small town with a nice community
- local primary school
- good pub within walking distance 
- larger town with swimming pool, kids clubs (gymnastics, dancing etc), shopping no more than 20 minute drive away
- would love to find somewhere that has access to good walks and bike rides from the door as we will be getting a dog once settled
- mountain biking within a 20 minute or so cycle a massive plus 

What’s Worthing like these days as that may end being our nearest big town?

Any places to avoid??!

thank you

davilown

Most important questions is, what is the budget?

have you looked Chichester / east Hampshire way?

Indigo_and_Violet

Got a friend that lives just over the border in Cooksbridge and it's a lovely little place, although I've just looked on RM and prices have gone up a lot since they bought. 

I used to spend a fair amount of time in that area, although it was a few years ago. Generally I would go for one of the more inland villages than a seaside town itself. Pockets of coastal deprivation mixed with a lot of (air)B&Bs meant the towns often had a weird vibe, particularly in winter. If schools are a consideration bear in mind that there are some big private schools (Hurstpierpoint, Stenying, Burgess Hill, Lancing) which can distort the intake of the local secondaries. There are still plenty I'd send my (hypothetical) kids to but I'd probably be looking at the local secondary schools more than the primaries if you're planing to be there a long time. 

We were up at Balcome the other day which had a lovely vibe, but it's on the direct trainline to London so also probably asking premium prices. 

Good luck - I'm sure plenty people with more up-to-date knowledge than me will be along soon. 

juliamain

davilown said:

Most important questions is, what is the budget?

have you looked Chichester / east Hampshire way?

Looking to spend about £700 - £900k.

yes have looked Chichester way but thought it was perhaps a bit too big of a town to have much of a community vibe going on. Probably would be more interested in a village close to it but there are so many I don’t know where to start. 

Have also looked at bosham but that’s as far west as we want to go. Bosham is beautiful but it’s probably a bit too pricey and seems a bit one dimensional ie all about the sailing...is that true? It’s quite far from South Downs way and mountain biking which is more important to us

Titus_Wadd

We relocated to Worthing 20 years ago and it's been a good place to bring up kids.  Plenty of local communities with pretty good schools.  It might be worth spending a day or two driving through Broadwater, Findon, Gpring-by-Sea, Tarring and Durrington (Ferring might be a little too quiet); you should get a nice family home with your budget.  Prices continue to rise steadily. 

Our grown up kids still like coming back to see their mates (and us I hope).  Once the children start going out in Brighton it's not too far for a mercy pick up if the miss the night bus (just don't let them know in advance this is an option).  If you want to be nearer Brighton your budget might not stretch so far but that's partly because the commute from Brighton to London is shorter and easy (most of the time).

There are plenty of out of schools activities to get involved with dancing schools, karate and football.  Plus the Downs and the seafront provide no cost places to explore with kids and or dogs.  Just South of the Downs we seem to be sheltered from some of the rainfall predicted by the weather apps; we rely on the cat to tell us when showers are imminent.  You can be sitting in your garden while your folks in Surrey are dashing in to avoid the rain! 

davilown

juliamain said:

Have also looked at bosham but that’s as far west as we want to go. Bosham is beautiful but it’s probably a bit too pricey and seems a bit one dimensional ie all about the sailing...is that true? It’s quite far from South Downs way and mountain biking which is more important to us

I know it’s possibly a bit too west for you but Rowlands Castle is a very good option - lovely village with community feel. 

Lots of things to do around including local swimming pools, great transport links (inc London Mainline railway).

It’s on the border of the Southdowns’s national park. We use it all the time for running, and there are lots of cycle routes that can include SDW.

Splatfoot

 I've just moved from Findon Valley on the outskirts of Worthing, we did love it but have moved to Scotland to get away from the crowds of the SE and the A27.. Have you thought about Findon Village or Steyning? 

tooldle

My parents lived in Bosham for many years. They loved it. As a teenager i was not keen on it. That said i went to school and College out of the area and didn’t have any local friends. Our neighbours (none of them sailors) had lived there for years and brought up their own families. Some were involved in community activities, amateur dramatics, parish council, bowls, football etc. There are a lot of villages along the coastal strip, giving options for activities. Plenty of walking available from your front door. 

juliamain

Splatfoot said:

 I've just moved from Findon Valley on the outskirts of Worthing, we did love it but have moved to Scotland to get away from the crowds of the SE and the A27.. Have you thought about Findon Village or Steyning? 

Findon village is on our list, what is the difference between findon village and findon valley? Do you know if findon village  itself is really busy with tourists in the summer? Can you hear the a24 road noise all throughout the village/valley? Does it have a strong community with events through the year or does most stuff go on in Worthing instead?

I’ve just looked into steyning and it looks like it might be a great fit from what I can see. I take it it’s bigger than findon and has more going on in the village itself, although is further away from bigger towns like Worthing and Brighton?

juliamain

Titus_Wadd said:

We relocated to Worthing 20 years ago and it's been a good place to bring up kids.  Plenty of local communities with pretty good schools.  It might be worth spending a day or two driving through Broadwater, Findon, Gpring-by-Sea, Tarring and Durrington (Ferring might be a little too quiet); you should get a nice family home with your budget.  Prices continue to rise steadily. 

Our grown up kids still like coming back to see their mates (and us I hope).  Once the children start going out in Brighton it's not too far for a mercy pick up if the miss the night bus (just don't let them know in advance this is an option).  If you want to be nearer Brighton your budget might not stretch so far but that's partly because the commute from Brighton to London is shorter and easy (most of the time).

There are plenty of out of schools activities to get involved with dancing schools, karate and football.  Plus the Downs and the seafront provide no cost places to explore with kids and or dogs.  Just South of the Downs we seem to be sheltered from some of the rainfall predicted by the weather apps; we rely on the cat to tell us when showers are imminent.  You can be sitting in your garden while your folks in Surrey are dashing in to avoid the rain! 

Thank you for your reply, would you be able to give thoughts on the different areas of Worthing you mentioned? Are any of them better to live in than others in your opinion? We’d love to be in an area which has lots of other families the same age as us around and are a bit wary of moving somewhere where the demographic is older/more retired 

Splatfoot

juliamain said:

Splatfoot said:

 I've just moved from Findon Valley on the outskirts of Worthing, we did love it but have moved to Scotland to get away from the crowds of the SE and the A27.. Have you thought about Findon Village or Steyning? 

Findon village is on our list, what is the difference between findon village and findon valley? Do you know if findon village  itself is really busy with tourists in the summer? Can you hear the a24 road noise all throughout the village/valley? Does it have a strong community with events through the year or does most stuff go on in Worthing instead?

I’ve just looked into steyning and it looks like it might be a great fit from what I can see. I take it it’s bigger than findon and has more going on in the village itself, although is further away from bigger towns like Worthing and Brighton?

Findon village is quite small, as far as I'm aware, it doesn't get busy with tourists. They do have community events and its popular for horse riding. Findon valley is about half a mile down the road, basically a fairly large estate on both sides of the A24. I could hear the road sometimes from my garden. But it's nice, all the houses are different, built at different times etc. Findon valley is probably too large to get a real community feel but if you've got children at school, this is a plus point for activities etc. Steyning is a small town rather than a village and quite bustling. There's no train station but there's a bus that goes to Brighton.