Anyone live around Swanage?

[Bill]

There's a job opportunity for SWMBO there which has re-ignited our desire to move to the south coast. Her family live in Bournemouth and we have various friends there (and there's the sea...) so there's a lot going for it. It also seems to be the perfect blend of rural with easy access to a city centre.

But I'm concerned that it'll be dead in the off-season and horrifically busy during the summer.

So, does anyone have any advice?

[Agoogy]

I lived in Christchurch for over 10 years.
And you have it spot on...
Rural countryside, varied town life, the beaches, New Forest, airport, cross channel, all are good aspects.

Whats bad is off season tumbleweed...and in season traffic

BUT - what is off season for the mass hoards isn't necessarily off season for you depending on what you like doing.... surfing, sailing, walking, swimming, cycling, nice country drives, camping, kite flying, wildlife spotting, shopping, eating, you don't have to do this during June-August window and can be just as, if not more, enjoyable when the holiday makers naff off.

I'd live there again like a shot, but industry down there is limited, so it remains a bit like god's waiting room...despite the nightlife upgrade and surfing reef attempts at lowering the average age.

[ecain63]

Gott be Swanage or is Poole close enough?

[Bill]

Poole probably is but we fancy the Purbecks and don't fancy a long commute or the ferry in the summer.

[ecain63]

Cool, no worries. Yeah the ferry is a bh in the summer but it rarely works in the winter so you've got a long drive no matter what. Wareham is a good compromise if your interested. Or Corfe.

[Bill]

ecain63 said:

it rarely works in the winter

Aha, I didn't know that. So an hour to the in-laws whatever, they're only two hours from Bristol

And the problem with Corfe or Wareham is you're lumped in with the tourists trying to get to the beach.

Cheers Agoogy, you can add climbing to the list too...

[Highway Star]

Living in Swanage or anywhere around there in the Purbecks doesn't really give 'easy access' to the city, if the city in question is Bournemouth.

I grew up in that area and my folks still live down there. A classmate of mine lived in Studland and went to school with me in Poole. He had a nightmare every day with the sodding chain ferry and the grockles. It's the best part of an hour's drive around Poole Harbour and the stretch past between Wareham and Sandford and the roundabout with the A35 at Lytchett can be queued solid, especially in summer.

The villages on the Isle are nice; places like Kingston and Worth Matravers are lovely. But I've never been that taken with Swanage, especially during winter it's just a bit dreary - 'the coastal town they forgot to close down' as Morrissey would say.

[DamianBPhoto]

The off-seasons are the best around here! You can enjoy the summer pretty much all the way up to autumn. I find for only 2 months a year do you really have an issue with grockles otherwise way up until latish July, you can happily go and enjoy a free beach to relax on or quite happily go for drives without being held up by people who don’t have a clue. Swange is normally quite a quiet place anyway but if you venture towards Poole or Bournemouth you will soon enough find life. One of the best places to live in the country in my opinion.

[Bill]

It's a bit marmite then?

I can't decide if the relative isolation is a good thing or not, particularly considering how disorganised we can afford to be living 200 yards from a supermarket in central Bristol

[Bill]

Looks like we're doing it Anyone got an independent they'd recommend to look after a supercharged, Mustang engined Rover??

[zs]

plenty of fine walks in the 'down season'! today from the top, towards Studland:

[Bill]

It was clear enough on Saturday to see the IOW