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For some time now, I’ve been interested in the small Kent town of Rochester. It seems to be close enough to London, priceworthy, picturesque, on a main rail line and have a beautiful city centre. When I read about it, most papers online praised it as a nice priceworthy Dickens town. But then later, I saw on a forum that lots of people thought it was bad, smelly and full of chavs. They seemed to think all of Kent was pretty bad. So, what is the county to move to in the South East of England (from overseas)?
I’m looking for a picturesque town (20 000 - 75 000), up to 45 min train commute to London, to the south or east of London, that is not super pricey. If not Kent and Rochester, what should I aim for? West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire or where?
What about towns, Chichester, Hastings, Canterbury, Guildford, Winchester? Or should I simply move more north towards East of England, and places like Ely, Peterborough and Lincoln?
For some time now, I’ve been interested in the small Kent town of Rochester. It seems to be close enough to London, priceworthy, picturesque, on a main rail line and have a beautiful city centre. When I read about it, most papers online praised it as a nice priceworthy Dickens town. But then later, I saw on a forum that lots of people thought it was bad, smelly and full of chavs. They seemed to think all of Kent was pretty bad. So, what is the county to move to in the South East of England (from overseas)?
I’m looking for a picturesque town (20 000 - 75 000), up to 45 min train commute to London, to the south or east of London, that is not super pricey. If not Kent and Rochester, what should I aim for? West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire or where?
What about towns, Chichester, Hastings, Canterbury, Guildford, Winchester? Or should I simply move more north towards East of England, and places like Ely, Peterborough and Lincoln?
That's why it's pricey.
But the reality is East is cheaper.
For some time now, I’ve been interested in the small Kent town of Rochester. It seems to be close enough to London, priceworthy, picturesque, on a main rail line and have a beautiful city centre. When I read about it, most papers online praised it as a nice priceworthy Dickens town. But then later, I saw on a forum that lots of people thought it was bad, smelly and full of chavs. They seemed to think all of Kent was pretty bad. So, what is the county to move to in the South East of England (from overseas)?
I’m looking for a picturesque town (20 000 - 75 000), up to 45 min train commute to London, to the south or east of London, that is not super pricey. If not Kent and Rochester, what should I aim for? West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire or where?
What about towns, Chichester, Hastings, Canterbury, Guildford, Winchester? Or should I simply move more north towards East of England, and places like Ely, Peterborough and Lincoln?
Oi! Easy! I am a Kentish Man (or Man of Kent, it depends which side of the Medway you are from and I can never remember which way around it is) and I would like to categorically say I am not a 'Chav'!! Who are these 'people' that claim Kent is bad, smelly!?? and 'full of chav's' exactly? I think you will find Kent is 'mostly' an attractive rural county (its known as the 'Garden of England' for a reason you know). Rochester is pleasant enough. Kent covers a fair area and it has many different 'faces' it has coastal towns, farmland, rural villages and part of Kent is in London itself, to paint Kent with one brush is not very accurate and certainly not very helpful.
Whitstable is a nice coastal town, and is famous for it's Oysters, nearby Canterbury has a lot of history.
Brighton has a lot going on in terms of Sussex, and is easy to get to from London, the Brighton Belle train was a famous service.
The South Coast is very pleeasant and other counties in the South West such as Dorset, Devon and Cornwall are very beautiful.
I’ve heard a lot of nice stuff about Canterbury, but is it not very difficult to get a job there and very expensive? Brighton the same?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roscoe Conkling
That's why it's pricey.
But the reality is East is cheaper.
You mean that the East of England is cheaper than the South of England?
Quote:
Originally Posted by easthome
Oi! Easy! I am a Kentish Man (or Man of Kent, it depends which side of the Medway you are from and I can never remember which way around it is) and I would like to categorically say I am not a 'Chav'!! Who are these 'people' that claim Kent is bad, smelly!?? and 'full of chav's' exactly? I think you will find Kent is 'mostly' an attractive rural county (its known as the 'Garden of England' for a reason you know). Rochester is pleasant enough. Kent covers a fair area and it has many different 'faces' it has coastal towns, farmland, rural villages and part of Kent is in London itself, to paint Kent with one brush is not very accurate and certainly not very helpful.
I’m very glad to hear that you find Kent a good place to live. Would you say Rochester is the best town or are there any better ones?
Kent and especially the Medway area does have a lot of "chavs"(although a lot these so called chavs are nice decent people), but they're fairly easy to avoid. Rochester is a nice place I wouldn't write it off based on what a few people on a forum said. I have same attraction to that town as well ever since I visited a few years back(and have done so multiple times since), very nice place. I'd look into Sevenoaks too, but a lot of the towns there are pretty small. Maybe Tonbridge? A bit far out but not too bad of a commute into London and a pretty decent town. Could also look into parts of Surrey too like Oxted? But that might be a bit too pricy, hard to know without knowing what your budget is.
I’ve heard a lot of nice stuff about Canterbury, but is it not very difficult to get a job there and very expensive? Brighton the same?
You mean that the East of England is cheaper than the South of England?
I’m very glad to hear that you find Kent a good place to live. Would you say Rochester is the best town or are there any better ones?
Somebody mentioned Sevenoaks which is now getting really close to my 'home town', Sevenoaks is very nice, very 'posh' and close to London. I am from a small market town called Westerham, its on the doorstep of the city yet very definitely a country town, its where Churchill lived. Personally I wouldn't mind living in Bromley, that is a part of Kent that is also within greater London, it is 15 minutes from London Bridge. Tunbridge Wells is a nice town (nicer than its neighbour Tonbridge) and is also not too far from the city. I know the 'London' side of kent much more than East Kent (the bit near France) but believe it or not I only recently went to some East Kent seaside resorts for the first time and although I couldn't tell you what they are like to live in I thought they were quite 'pretty', I liked Broadstairs.
Somebody mentioned Sevenoaks which is now getting really close to my 'home town', Sevenoaks is very nice, very 'posh' and close to London. I am from a small market town called Westerham, its on the doorstep of the city yet very definitely a country town, its where Churchill lived. Personally I wouldn't mind living in Bromley, that is a part of Kent that is also within greater London, it is 15 minutes from London Bridge. Tunbridge Wells is a nice town (nicer than its neighbour Tonbridge) and is also not too far from the city. I know the 'London' side of kent much more than East Kent (the bit near France) but believe it or not I only recently went to some East Kent seaside resorts for the first time and although I couldn't tell you what they are like to live in I thought they were quite 'pretty', I liked Broadstairs.
Dorking, in Surrey (although only an 11,000 population).
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