Where to live by the seaside, that’s not a tourist trap?

Another vote for Cardigan or further north – some incredible beaches, dolphins, seals, and half decent cycling

I worked in Aberaeron for 5 years but never lived there commuting from Aberystwyth or villages along the coast. It was nice enough with friendly, helpful people and the micro-climate of the coastal strip. If I’d stayed I’d have learnt Welsh because it was the main language and opened up more activities.

@Mintyjim

Brill – thanks!

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I probably shouldn’t give this secret spot away but it’s about 6 miles south of Bridgend. And this may well have been taken on a bank holiday (except if it had have been there would be about 15 or so of my family crowding it out playing a big game of rounders).

Pembrokeshire or Northumberland.

Both get fairly busy in the summer but nothing like the really busy areas. You can always find quiet spots.

Not tourist trap, you say??? Grangemouth, obviously not England or Wales (and some even question Scottish!), but it is by the sea and not a tourist trap.

Or if that doesn’t tick all your boxes…Kincardine, just across the Firth of Forth from Grangemouth.

Clacton id imagine

Budleigh Salterton

Handy for The Twilight Rest Home for the terminally short of cash.

I hear room 12 is nice.

North Berwick!!??!! Chuffing busy in the summer.

Tynemouth and North Berwick would be on my list to check out.

Did the OP say they were a milionaire?? 😉

@mintyjim you lucky so and so. We holidayed in Aberporth a couple of years ago (just post covid) and thought it was fab. Wife would like to move there, but it is a long way from anywhere really.

Porlock, North Somerset coast. Walking distance to the sea, but doesn’t feel like a seaside place. Nice pubs, cafés, basic shops, coffee roaster. Easy (if a little steep) access to Exmoor by bike, car, or on foot. On the south west coast path. Never seems massively busy, and although it has a “main” road through it you can often walk along the middle of it with almost zero chance of getting squished.

I do love Cardigan but being 40odd mins away from the nearest train station could make it feel pretty remote at times! That bakery almost makes up for it, mind

@willard Whenever I go back to visit my mum I’m told that Felixstowe is the next Southwold. Obviously it’s nothing like Southwold but I do appreciate that there aren’t really any other towns along that stretch of Suffolk cost for people to invest in so apparently the money is coming (you can already see money being spent in some places) and then who knows…

It is at the end of a road though albeit one that provides pretty good transport links until high winds close the bridge. Then you’re not going anywhere

We’ve been to Aberaeron 2 or 3 times and it is a lovely area. But as crazy legs mentioned it’d be Arnside/Silverdale area for us.

Croydon

Fleetwood

Machynleth.

Weston Shore, Southampton 🏝️

Ignoring all your criteria bar the ‘seaside but not tourist trap’.

Hull?

Campbeltown?

Workington?

Stranraer?

Peterhead?

Port Talbot?

Carrickfergus?

somewhere on the left of the A1 between Alnwick and Berwick.

pretty empty all year round, with no more than a 10 minute drive to the countries finest beaches.

Above post re Arnside Silverdale is a good shout, a bit dependent on 1 rail line though.  I d go Kents bank though, rail station on the same line so you can get to Manchester and airport, incredibly peaceful, really nice houses and views but no supermarket, you have to go to Ulverston.

Problem with any seaside town, soon as sun comes out everyone piles in, even morecambe, you can’t park, takes ages to drive through.

How about Lytham.

If I was thinking about this for me, for retirement and wanting not just seaside but also local facilities and transport links

Area around arnside, grange over sands, ulverston is fantastic for a number of reasons.

Saltburn also very nice with lots to do  on the doorstep.

Berwick upon tweed is ace.

I like North Norfolk but it’s a very long slow trek over the fens to anywhere else interesting

@mintyjim  i still remember holidaying  at aberporth in the early 1960 s, in that train carriage overlooking the sea, dixie it was called.  I live close to tenby and saundersfoot now, busy in the summer season would be an understatement. There are usually less visited spots around to find, @teenrat  haverfordwest  area good shout, the beaches in the freshwater area are grand.

I can’t see any way  that close to a city plus by the sea isn’t likely to equal rammed at half term and on sunny summer weekends.

But what about somewhere like Topsham in Devon. You’re on the river, you’ve got train access to the beach and to Exeter which is pretty well connected to other areas.

Obviously lots of people know this, so you will need a whopping great bag of cash.

Thanks everyone, I’ve really enjoyed reading the responses over the day.

I like the idea of Arnside / Silverdale / Grange-over-Sands.  I’m originally from East Lancs and spent quite a bit of time walking with my Dad over that way as a boy / teenager, and I would like to return to the North (my wife might feel differently about that!).  The train line is appealing – you can get to Morecambe and Lancaster and onto Manchester pretty easily for gigs and other fun.

I also know Lytham reasonably well, but I think I’d prefer around Morecambe Bay.

I’d like this to be a thread for everyone, so my suggestion to throw into the mix is Burry Port just west of Llanelli in South Wales.  The beach is pretty nice, there’s the Millenium path along the coast to Pembray / Pendine sands, and a train line to Carmarthen or Cardiff one way, and Pembroke and Haverfordwest the other way.  The town is a bit tired but still has pubs and convenience stores (and a good Greek restaurant), and Llanelli has loads of supermarkets and some shops left.

I like it around there, Burry point, Pembrey, Pendine and over to Tenby, nice areas, and you have Saundersfoot and Tenby as smallish towns, other side as you say Llanelli, probably best to be inland by a few miles for ease of logistics and then just simple journeys to the coast, winters a bummer over there though!

Also quite like the Devon coast, think Burgh Island is up for sale just now 😋

so many options!

Well thats STW for you. They’ve narrowed it down to 80 possibilities.

Alnwick, the benefits of a small town with shops, good pubs, cycling at Rothbury or along the coast, easy access to lots of nice beaches, shortish journey to Newcastle, affordable housing. WNTL?

Define ‘seaside’. Greenock has the Firth of Clyde, fast train to Glasgow, the outdoor pool on the front of the last Blur album (also featuring the dentist I went to as a kid swimming) is in Gourock a couple of miles away, there is or was decent MTBing in the hills behind.

In the winter it can tend towards bleak though, and unrelenting rain and getting dark at 1530 wears a bit thin.

And there is something uniquely depressing about seaside towns in winter wherever you are.

Felixstowe. Certainly not touristy, but 100% fails the test for “never live anywhere at the end of a road”

Having spent a winter in Felixstowe, just don’t. Divorce or suicide may be preferable for you and Mrs Nerd after 2! This applies double for HArwich and Dovercourt.

I probably shouldn’t give this secret spot away

I know exactly where that is…grew up just along the coast 😁

Moray coast. Beautiful empty coastline, but there’s a good local quiet pride and buzz about the place. Check out the average rainfall maps too.

Cycle through the woods (for erm…45 miles) and you’re in the Cairngorm mountains.

Plenty of civilisation and services, 20mins from Inverness and there’s an airport. Scotland is great.

Another vote for Wirral.

Great beaches on the west and north sides of the peninsula, but oddly all the tourist traffic from Liverpool/Manchester drives right by and goes to Blackpool or north Wales instead on the sunny days.

Plenty of decent road cycling around; north Wales for mountains and Liverpool, Chester and Manchester are all easily accessible for city pursuits.

Saltfleet

the bus depot used to be lovely until it was destroyed in the early 80’s.

That deserves more credit 😜

I’m not telling any of you lot.

Last thing I want is this demographic (https://singletrackworld.com/surveys/) competing with me for housing there 😉

One of the issues of living by the sea is the reduced number of places to cycle or walk from the door.

If you live inland you can set off on any point of the compass (path permitting) but by the sea you halve the number of directions (the other half can be good if you sail, canoe or surf). This is more so if you are on a geographic shoulder or peninsular.

From Saltburn (mentioned a couple of times above) you can go South or West but to go North you need to travel 12 miles West first in order to cross the Tees. Travel East and next stop is Denmark.

Also check out local geography before moving somewhere. Skinningrove floods so often that the village has a warning siren to warn residents and the hotel in Scarborough my gran used to like is now in the Sea!

Fife, Scotland. It’s lovely here

Or more precisely, the Neuk of Fife. You do have to live with Fifers though 😜 But at least the view of Edinburgh, East Lothian and the islands in the Forth are worth it.

It’s also tremendous for gravel riding, I often call it the Kingdom of Gravel.

Hornsea.