Please recommend a town by the sea - love watching boats

Would you consider Northern Ireland we have some beautiful little villages and towns on our coast alot cheaper than mainland UK. We also don't have polltax here and we don't have water bills either 😊

Bexhill on sea

Lots of mentions of Whitby. The harbour is great and plenty of boats, but on that budget you would struggle to get anything with even a distant sea view. Whitby post code includes lots of inland countryside without much public transport. Some of the more affordable estates within reasonable distance of boats are up very steep cliffs and narrow winding footpaths from the harbour. Harbour parking is crazy and can be expensive in season.
Scarborough and the coast surrounding these lovely towns can be more expensive or devoid of public transport. Lovely places but don’t expect everywhere “up north” to be as cheap as you expect.

I'm am slave to 'Rightmove' so I couldn't resist!
Ooo good, a kindred spirit SuperTinny! The thing with anywhere is that some of the cheaper properties might be a long, long way from the water too. £400k for a 3 bed in not proper Topsham would probably mean you are half way into Exeter right under the M5 motorway.
That's why the only way is to go and view an area, although the OP might be at it a long while with all these lovely suggestions!

Dillonsgranma

Topsham near Exeter in Devon
Very pretty town too
Or Salcombe in Devon. Very classy

Good grief Dillonsgranma, they have only got a £300-£350K budget.

They would be lucky to get a cardboard box in t'middle of road in the places you have mentioned.

I am slave to 'Rightmove' so I couldn't resist!

A quick look on 'Rightmove' has revealed a quarter share of a 3 bedroom apartment in Salcombe for 250k or a couple of plots of agricultural land at around 200k. There's also a boat shed for 400k. The cheapest 3 bed house is 550k

Topsham doesn't fare much better where a one bedroom apartment or a 2 bed park home will come in under 300k. The cheapest 3 bed home is 400k.

Michel Roux was singing the praises of Leigh on Sea recently for its excellent seafood, cafés and restaurants. Good fishing industry still so lots of interest for boat watchers. It’s quite near to Southend-on-Mud though

I think Ramsgate will ve cheaper than Margate which us quite trendy abd arty these days. Great but property prices have gone up quite a lot.

I would look at some of the smaller places/towns smaller price tags than the main places. I live on the east coast and there are lots of villages that would fit the bill around Harwich Clacton Brightlingsea Wivenhoe areas.

Teignmouth Dawlish Warren or Dawlish all have railway stations, lovely parks for walks and nice beaches

Callistemon21

I didn't realise that Alan Titchmsrsh had been High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight at one time.

If you want boats, nowhere better!

He was also chancellor of Winchester Uni for six years and presented DGS1 with his degree.

Yorkshire men seem to love Hampshire. James Martin is another one. My late DH must have started the trend! 😂

What wonderful recommendations .
I love the seaside , because I enjoy painting sea scenes especially boats .
I also enjoy fish and chips and an ice cream on a sunny day . Bliss !

A lovely town just outside Lymington, Hants, Milford on Sea, right opposite the Freshwater part of the IOW, so close you could practically swim it, well if you were David Walliams you could, I might struggle a bit

I didn't realise that Alan Titchmsrsh had been High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight at one time.

If you want boats, nowhere better!

The ridiculously high cost of the ferries is what prevented me from returning there to live when DH died. I’ve settled for living opposite so I can sip my coffee in a beach cafe and gaze longingly at my spiritual home.

That’s if it’s not shrouded in mist! 😂

Athrawes

Spoilt for choice on the Isle of Wight but very reliant on ferries to get to and from the mainland.

There's a series about the I of W on Channel 5 at the moment, presented by Alan Titchmarsh.

Spoilt for choice on the Isle of Wight but very reliant on ferries to get to and from the mainland.

OldFrill

I really don't mind if OP responds or not, it's been an interesting thread. I'm surprised Scotland hasn't featured more, many have retired there from England.

Exactly my point, in a more lighthearted way!

South Wales is the way to go - lots of lovely small towns and villages on the coast and house prices lower.

I really don't mind if OP responds or not, it's been an interesting thread. I'm surprised Scotland hasn't featured more, many have retired there from England.

Hello OP.
Have you disappeared, or are you just using us all as estate agents? Interested to hear your shortlist from these great offerings.
What a beautiful country we live in.

Dillonsgranma

Topsham near Exeter in Devon
Very pretty town too
Or Salcombe in Devon. Very classy

Sorry, lost Dillonsgranma's quote above.

Stunning places, you're right! (I lived on the Exe estuary, and DS had a boat at Topsham). Trouble is £350k barely buys a one bedroom flat. OP could try Exmouth as suggested by Henetha.

I’m very late to this and have only really scanned quickly through all the posts but has anyone suggested New Brighton on the Wirral.
You will see boats everyday going into the docks in Liverpool and the ferries coming in and going out. Luxury yachts not so much but there is definitely something about watching the big boats manoeuvring into the docks with the pilot boats.
Some may tell you New Brighton is a dump but it really isn’t - well worth a google to see what it has going for it
There are excellent travel links to Liverpool (bus or train) which if you are of pensionable age won’t cost you a penny and you are close to the M53 for wider access

Burnham on Crouch ticks nearly everything on your wish list. Small town, friendly people, boat yard, marina, harbour, yacht club, restaurants, pubs, small cinema, oh nearly forgot railway station behind the large Co-op supermarket, fish & chip shop. It`s not actually at the seaside, but has a very wide estuary along side it. so when it`s high tide you get cargo ships sailing up & down, fishing boats going out to sea,

Teignmouth in Devon is at the mouth of the river too so has plenty of boats activity.