…provides a good mix of employment opportunity, affordable housing and good outdoors activity access?

Portsmouth?

I think you need to define ‘affordable’ though.

good outdoors activity access

Be more specific, do you mean cottaging or dogging?

You need to define outdoor activities too. The Kent massif are not renowned for their epic-ness. 😉

Poole??

Poole is not awash with employment opportunity as far as I know

I’m near Bournemouth and outdoor wise it depends what you are in to. Employment wise is good ime. Bournemouth as a town is dull and suburban sprawl but it is a lot nicer than many other south coast towns.

Exeter is much nicer city with better outdoor life. Don’t know About jobs.

I was thinking about the Bournemouth area, dull suburban sprawl is where I am in my life at the moment, more interested in gyms and swimming pools than rowdy night life.

To be honest I just fancy a change and was going to set up some jobs searches to see if anything pops.

Plymouth…

What sort of work?
Portsmouth is a good shout for tech/Engineering jobs (my sector) as lots of military/defence stuff going on down there.

However, inner-city Portsmouth is bit grim – better off living just outside and commuting in..

Bournemouth is pretty good for gyms etc water sports is obviously big too. Climbing on perbecks. East where I am is not so good but has more commuting options if needed

It’s a generalisation, but there’s a good surf scene around Bournemouth and further west, lots of windy water sports around Poole and further east. Surf’s more consistent in winter so you’ll need a winter wetsuit, boots, glove and hood to get the most from it, but I was surfing yesterday in a 1mm neoprene rashvest and board shorts.

The island is pretty decent for all of the above water sports, but suffers from employment woes unless you’re public sector, tourism, marine or aerospace (as a rule of thumb). There’s obviously also the ferry, which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s also a ghetto, apparently.

Lots of tech and creative in Brighton if memory serves, but a cost of living to go with it.

South Downs stretch from Lewes to Winchester, and are easily accessible from the coast from Brighton to Portsmouth. There’s obviously QECP near Pompey too. However, it is chalk-based – get your non-slip tyres out for the winter!

New Forest is flat-ish and full on NIMBYs, but the riding round Bournemouth is meant to be halfway decent (and drains well). Swinley is also not too far in the car, so all-weather riding is available. Tidworth and a few other DH-orientated spots are dotted around too.

Eastbourne if you don’t mind the commute to Brighton

Portsmouth, or Worthing living for Brighton working, Bournemouth is nice but no experience of it. Chichester is bang on for cycling.

I suppose really, there would be affordable housing in all areas..

I’m in worthing and it can be super pricey in some areas, much cheaper in others.. However,I suspect pompey is cheaper..

DrP

I’ve moved to just outside Bournemouth a couple of months ago. Job opportunities are fairly good but Portsmouth is better. Living costs are pretty good compared to Kent where we moved from. There is loads to do outdoors with good riding on the various moorland around, New Forest a stones throw away and the Purbecks about 20 min drive. There is loads of climbing nearby too. The way of life down here is much more relaxed compared to the South East.

At the moment it’s like being on holiday every weekend with the beaches, hot weather, cycling, climbing, water sports, etc.

East Sussex coastline is probably the cheapest part of the south coast. South Downs and the Weald within cycling range. Only just over an hour to London on the train, and lots of big towns even closer.

Bournemouth blows goats, I’m from there. Dull sprawl that thinks it is London with none of the good things about London. Surfing is rubbish there, windsurfing is decent. Poole is not the greatest for employment opportunities. West Dorset is lovely but not exactly a world leader in, well, anything. Enjoy !

Pimpmaster Jazz – Member
You need to define outdoor activities too. The Kent massif are not renowned for their epic-ness.

Hey!
Kent wrote the book called epic and we are the most civilised county in the UK according to a recent survey, plenty of jobs for teachers going and none of that black pudding down here. 😉

Far more jobs in Southampton than Pompey.
But given the choice I’d live nowhere that involves using the M27. EVER.

I’ll put it out there… aldershot? Near to north downs riding, housing is cheaper than the surrounding areas. Can commute in to London.

I’ll put it out there… aldershot?

Put it back again! 🙄

I’ll put it out there… aldershot?

Any suggestions that are near the south coast? Plenty of equally shit places exist in the area that the OP actually specified. Why not recommend one of those?

Worthing, Newhaven, Eastbourne, all at the foot of the Downs and less expensive than Brighton and Hove.

Kent wrote the book called epic and we are the most civilised county in the UK according to a recent survey, plenty of jobs for teachers going and none of that black pudding down here.

😆

Outskirts of New Forest, so you can still get to Southampton by bike/ train/ car, but have all that greenery on your doorstep?

affordable housing.. in the New Forest? I don’t know, but I’d think it’s a fairly pricey area.

I’d contest that Worthing now sits in ‘unaffordable’. It’s bonkers down here now for buying. 🙄

Some of the less salubrious bits of East Worthing/Lancing might still be classed as affordable but I doubt it, Shoreham seems quite good for employment, but definitely not affordable.

Just make sure you live near where you work, we do traffic with the sort of enthusiasm the North reserves for whippets and coal.

Thanet can be cheap and you get to vote UKIP what could be better?;-)

I would be moving from Germany, I think Thanet might blockade the roads to stop me entering the area.

Thanet can be cheap

There’s a very good reason it’s cheap. Always told it was an attempt to draw in some new blood to the Thanet gene pool to stop people marrying their siblings. Plus it’s a sh**hole.

I live a few miles south of Winchester and have some nice trails within 5 minutes of the house, plus it’s easy to get to other places, Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, New Forest and Swinley is only 45 minutes away.

Housing is a bit pricy but that’s because it’s a ‘nice’ place to live I guess.

Southampton (where I’m currently working/buying). Best place to be for work vs house prices, if you have to direct line to London is pretty quick, an hour twenty I think. And you will get a seat unlike winc.

Outskirts of NF does have some cheaper housing you’d have to look at Hythe / Applemore / Fawley. Getting anywhere from those places sucks though if you need to co,mute for work.

Our main choice would be Romsey but we are priced out, same with Winchester. The same house we have in Southampton costs £300k more in winc

Also worth bearing mind that there is/will be an awful lot of development going on just North of Southampton.

Edit: would also agree with Dez’s comment re the M27 and the standard of driving on there is shocking. Give me the M25 any day.

Not only the standard of driving, but it only takes 1 incident in a 30 mile radius and the whole area grinds to a halt! This happens often.

Yes and there’s regularly incidents/accidents Dez. Didn’t realise until fairly recently that Portsmouth was the [EDIT] most densely populated city in the UK.

Not enjoying being back in the South. 🙁

Nice cycle commute into Southampton if you lived somewhere around Hythe, Marchwood etc. going over Eling Tide Mill and then use the cycle lanes to reach the city via the likes of Reagents Park Rd or Millbrook Rd East.

Always got the option of the train from Ashurst and/or the Hythe ferry with your steed too.

I would like to live somewhere where a cycle commute is possible, and would not want any commute to take longer than half an hour. I probably wouldn’t have a car at first.

One thing that just struck me today, is that living in Germany I am used to having a cellar room with my apartment where I store my bikes, this is just standard here. How do people store bikes in the UK now if they live in an apartment? I have only got into cycling a lot since I left the UK and I have 4 bikes.

I live in a house and my best bikes are kept inside, others are in the garage. Just buy some bike bags and keep them in your flat. I’ve had bikes in my bedroom before, what’s the problem?

I’ve had bikes in my bedroom before, what’s the problem?

My kind of woman!

😉

Hope you’re well, CG!