Thinking of renting a place on the river next summer.

Wassit like?

Its on the coast but I don’t think many would describe it as a nice place…

Yeah, umm, I’m not sure I’d choose it as a place to base a holiday at…
Arundel/Amberley are nice 🙂

I wouldn’t. One of the less nice bits of the south coast. near butlins though if thats your thing
What are you after? riding , swimming , heritage , culture , history , shopping , sun and sandy beaches, watersports ?
you could use it as a base to travel to nicer parts i suppose

We’d use it as a base for exploration. The town isn’t that important to be honest, as long as it isn’t a complete dump and there is a beach nearby for the kids to go in the sea for an hour after a day out.

Used to visit a lot as I had family there. I can’t think of anything of particular interest as a holiday destination but it’s pleasant enough if you just want to use it as a base. The beach is nice and there’s the usual seaside attraction stuff for the kids. Arundel’s worth visiting.

Personally, I wouldn’t as the others have suggested. Arundel is lovely and a good base. I’m in Chichester and also a great base. West Wittering beach/East head is 10mins away (traffic depending) and Arundel/Portsmouth docks etc are 20mins. We also have the Southdown national park and Goodwood right on our door step. It’s an hour to the New Forest and only 1.30hrs to Dorest and the Jurassic coast. Some lovely local rides too if you’re bringing bikes, along with a cycle path to the beach via Chichester harbour.

I think the beach is nice enough and the river side has been improved massively but the town centre isn’t great unless you like a few cans and a row before 11am.  As a base with a beach nearby it could be just what you want

West Wittering beach/East head is 10mins away (traffic depending)

Er…well, that and not being too fussed about driving at 140mph on the A27 or A259…probably easier to do on the A27 as there are a couple fewer roundabouts or pedestrian crossings…

Ok, Littlehampton is a very traditional British seaside town. The town itself is ok, a bit tatty in places and always feels a bit like its in a slightly sleepy decline. However, the seafront is actually ok: long promenade, touristy funfair/amusement arcade, no pier but there is a jetty thing, there’s is modern riverside walk as well which is actually quite nice and a new swimming pool too. The beach has a RNLI patrol in summer too. The only dodgy bit is Wick which is locally viewed as a being bit rough but to be honest its just sort of rough in a kind of half-asleep way: Its the south coast, not the Gaza Strip FFS.

Yes, Arundel is nicer but its only about 15mins away and rentals there are liable to be a lot more expensive. Rustington (next town along) is a bit more upmarket (its a town, they refer to it as “a village”, they have a Waitrose…) South Downs (and some corking good trails) are about a 20-25mins cycle ride away…

I guess it really depends what you want to do.

Portsmouth .
HMS Victory
Museum Naval Firepower
Spinaker Tower
Mary Rose museum
Gunwharf Quays Shopping and Cinema ( wet weather option )
Submarine Museum
HMS Warrior
Amberly Museum nearby
QECP walking and riding
Hovercraft Museum
either way , make sure its low tides in the late afternoon, so you get some sand as most of the beaches are a sand / shingle mix so sandy at low water and shingle at high , apart from Witterings which is sand all the time

Getting around can be a bit rubbish, the A27 is a total nightmare and the A259 not much better (18 years of commutting in that part of the world).  AVOID driving on either anywhere near the peaks or school start finish times.    Train service is OK when I’m not breaking it to stop muddy@rseguy getting to work.

Arundel and Amberley are lovely, nice riding near at Whiteways.

It’s tatty and economically deprived.

Lovely place for Chips by the river on a weekday evening or a single weekend night visit by boat but a week there? No way.

As everyone else says it’s not much use as a base to visit the (many) local attractions due to traffic.

Isn’t Little Hampton the murder capital of Britain? I’d take a big stick with you.

The beach is quite nice, but I seem to recall there were a lot of nudey men in the grassland at the back who took a great interest in the young swimmers.

There’s not much else there, but then you’re close to lots of interesting places.

There’s a reason it’s known as LA, as in Little ‘Ampton! Traffic is crap everywhere round here. I’m biased but think Worthing is a nicer seaside holiday town than LA. Great riding just over the top at Steyning too.

Rustington, East Preston much better than L.A. Angmering is nice but away from the beach. Ferring is God’s waiting room.

LA is ok(ish)… They’re doing it up..

I mean, its a seaside town, with arcades and a nice beach.

He wanting to stay there a week, not move there!
You’ll be fine!

Worthing (hi!) and Brighton within easy reach.
Loads to see and do round here.

Arundel is nice for a trip.

Tbh, i wouldn’t bother going much further afield (new forest etc) as all you’ll be doing is driving.. Save those for another trip…

If you do come down, shout me up and I can show you nice family rides, or a proper ride if you fancy.

DrP

Too late. Wife has booked it. Big house in budget with a cinema room, dishwasher and off street parking, near to the beach.

We were in Weymouth for the last two weeks and went into the town centre twice. We’re just going to use it as a comfortable base for exploring West Sussex.

My mum lives there, I think muddy@rseguy covers it. West Wittering is not 10 minutes away unless you have a helicopter, but it’s also down the most hellish dead end road, and can easily take 2 hours. I certainly wouldn’t bother going there from Littlehampton.

LA has a nice sandy beach, a funfair and arcades. The town’s alright, not much there, but a few nice restaurants and decent fish & chip shops. Lots of places/things close by, and despite the doom and gloom I’ve never found the traffic all that bad, a few bottlenecks, but where doesn’t have that!? I’d not stay in Arundel instead, it’s a nice quaint old town, but once you’ve done the castle and the cathedral you’d be driving everywhere, at least with LA you’ve got the beach (and the station if you want to catch the train – Arundel station has a worse service and is a fair trek from the town).

I learnt to Kitesurf in LA, I never spent much time anywhere else in town but the beach is nice if a bit spiky on the feet.

Lovely place for Chips by the river

Harry’s taking him on his family holiday? Nice 😀

We’re very close.

Has it still got that death trap wooden roller coaster? That used to scare the shit out of me as a 5 year old.

Has it still got that death trap wooden roller coaster?

That’s the Wild Mouse at Hayling isn’t it? Worth the trip though 🙂

Littlehampton

That’s the Wild Mouse at Hayling isn’t it? Worth the trip though

Maybe, it was a long time ago…

Found this – which I think is what I remember*

https://youtu.be/2KttSIWWkg8

* can’t quite tell but it might not have been wooden.

H_T_S didn’t need this thread… just that video! Superb 🙂

we used to camp as a family up the river a bit on the town side, back in the days when that rollercoaster was still there – early 1980s.

It was great, there was a big reinforced bank protecting the camp site and we used to lie on it in the sun, then dive into the river for a quick swim, then lie on the bank, and repeat. Used to get a hell of a tan.

Had a 4 berth tent that had one central expanding octopus arrangement of a frame which you could get up and covered in 3 minutes alledgedly. Just about fitted on the roofrack on Dad’s 1750 GTV Alfa.

Took a girlfriend from Uni down the but there was a hell of a storm and it ripped the zip of the tent door – missed the last train back and had to take an expensive taxi home.

Dad drove down the next day to find that the cows had escaped from the local field and walked over the tent, leaving it a flattened mess on the ground!

Bought an inflatable with a 2.5hp seagull motor that matched the speed of the tide just if you stayed in the shallows at the edge of the river.

Good memories 🙂

West Wittering is not 10 minutes away unless you have a helicopter

I was trying to sell him chichester not LA, which is 10mins from West Wittering.

I remember the ‘crazy mouse’ or whatever it was called, as a kid! Good old billy smart!!!

My kids do like the arcades and ‘theme park’ on the beach front… rather chavvy, but fun!

DrP

Loved the Wild Mouse, you could never feel confident it was entirely safe😀

We were in Weymouth for the last two weeks and went into the town centre twice

Having been to Weymouth a couple of times, I can understand that.

Used to live in LA. Bought my first flat in Beach road just down from where Gamleys used to be for 28 grand!

For an idea of how the river looks, check out the episode of the inbetweeners where they went to “Swanage” on a field trip. Sone of it was filmed on the river Arun in LA…..