West Sussex: Best / worst places for family to live

Mrs_Tiggywinkle

I live in Littlehampton and am about to put our former family home in Worthing (my Mum’s house) on the market - detached, 4 bedrooms in Durrington. Having lived in the area for over 40 years, my personal choice for your requirements would be Angmering village. Plenty of choice of newer and older properties, good primary schools, a couple of nice pubs, and easy proximity to towns (Worthing/Chichester), countryside (Angmering Park Estate, Clapham Woods, Highdown Hill etc) & easy access to main routes north to Horsham and the Surrey Hills, or other local towns eg Rustington village (great little local shopping) & Arundel (castle, walks, Swanbourne Lake etc). Alternatively try Rustington (slightly more expensive) or East Preston (both are closer to the sea). Worthing is looking and feeling a little bit downtrodden these days, in my opinion. Angmering has a nice village feel but with close proximity to a station and other facilities. Steyning is lovely, but has no railway station which can be a bit of a nuisance... same goes for Storrington. 

Titus_Wadd

I'd agree with Mrs Tiggywinkle re Angmering (BN16 I think) and Rustington.  I'm rather fond of Littlehampton too. I'm not keen on East Preston because the level crossing to get in or out of EP and onto the main road feels a tortuous PITA if you have to go through it more than a couple of times a day.  All the communities mentioned have a good supply of toddler groups and ways to connect with other parents.  The highly sought after schools change overtime, certainly the high school my kids eventually went to had glowing ofsted reports whereas when we first moved here it was the one to avoid.  We grew up in the NW and had experienced "deprived areas" and didn't feel Worthing had any no go areas or roads you wouldn't drive down.  It's all relative! 

Findon Village is perhaps more "sought after" than F Valley (BN14).  I've lived in Tarring (BN13), West Worthing (BN11), Goring by Sea (BN12) and High Salvington (BN13) and liked them all at each stage of our family's life.  Goring was my favourite (still miss my neighbours) but there just weren't the available houses in the size we wanted in our price range.  High Salvington has a nice blend of retired folk and families and has had a community spirit (when not hampered by Covid restrictions).

I'd whack in a BN11 or Worthing search on Rightmove with an increasing mile radius for the price range and no of bedrooms and see what appears.  Some areas have plenty of 4-5 bed detached houses whereas some have more bungalows.  Well that's the same in many towns.  There are a couple of busy roads: A27 and A24 which are handy for access but you might want to live a few streets away if you worry about traffic noise or have a wandering cat.  Angmering has had several new build estates, and offers "recent builds" of less than 15 years where the snagging has been done, established gardens etc.  The road width on some estates is a factor; definitely view them when folk are at home say on a bank holiday to see if it's congested with too many parked cars.

Sorry not very organised thoughts, but if anything else occurs to me I'll let you know.

bamgbost

Another totally different spot could be Southwater or Warnham, both outside of Horsham.

Its about 20miles north of Worthing. May be worth considering.

Ramouth

Have you looked at Arundel and surrounding villages?  It’s on a train line to London, is very pretty and has some great walking.

Dark_Star

Have a look at Hassocks. Has a couple of pubs, small high street, infant, primary & secondary schools. Train line direct to London/ Brighton. Nice & quiet little place. About half an hour down the A27 to Worthing.