hi
im canadian too (other side, originally from toronto) and lived in brighton for over 3 years.
i would absolutely recommend brighton without hesitation. prior to this we had lived in london and i was terrified of leaving the capital. brighton is funky, young, vibrant and fully of fabulous shops cafes and a wonderful openness by the young poplulation. it is full of artists and the atmosphere of the community is fantastic. i worked in public sector at the time and saw the grotty side too. we had a stint in kemptown and loved it too. we ended up settling in the preston park area and absolutely adored it too.

if its schools you are after, choose area wisely as there is an over subscription to local state schools. if this doesnt affect you, then choose the property. i found brightonians to be immensely proud to be from there as well.

lewes just outside of brighton more conservative posh and many commute to london from there if that is important.

love love love brighton.

good luck!!
xo

Wow that is some recommendation. Just the intensity of your feelings is almost enough to make me want to pack up and move there.
I know what you mean with regards to being terrified to leave London.
Did try the sticks a few times but never lasted for numerous reasons, mostly being young and having a lust for life which to my thinking then the regions did not provide for adequately.
Brighton being the one place where I could imagine being in if tired of London.
Now being older but barely wiser my thoughts have returned to that city as lived a half year (little less) in London last year and although liked it in many ways there are periods in life when perhaps it's time to move on.
Brighton has again resurfaced as a possible candidate. I guess there must be some cool folk over forty there as well?
Must check it out again. Hopefully next year.

im just over forty and cool. and know loads of cool over forties there as well. being smaller than london yet not at all claustrophobic, there is a diversity not only in thought but lifestyle. it is true that one feels young being in brighton. its fashionable, alternative and has excellent access to outdoors--country walks if thats your thing. there is a london to brighton cycleride, the brighton marathon and loads of small villages nearby to explore. if that isnt enough, you can take ferries to normandy france easily as i believe there is a ferry port from nearby newhaven.

if i were to return to britain i would return there i think. we are in france now. and i do miss brighton hugely.

xoxox

LEWES East Sussex England

Bonfire Night The Fifth of November Commemorating the Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in which Fawkes (a native of the city of York, as was the higwayman Dick Turpin and as is the film actress Dame Judi Dench) and his henchmen attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament by means of gunpowder explosions.

The town of Lewes traditionally hosts the UK's largest public Bonfire Night party and Fireworks procession in the entire UK, which pretty much takes over most of the town centre on the evening of each 5 November.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OttN...eature=related

Just outside Lewes is an inn which nestles at the foot of a very steep hilside on the southern edge of the South Downs. Just before Christmas in 1836 a raging snow blizzard which lasted for many hours non stop deposited huge snowdrifts and masses of overhanging snow banks all along the escarpment above a row of cottages at the foot of that same steep hillside I mentioned previously. Late on Christmas Eve gusts of strong easterly winds suddenly dislodged huge masses of loose powdery snow and this resulted in an avalanche of deep snow to slide down the hillside with a deep thunder like roar and it completely buried all of the cottages below, killing an appreciable number of people as they slept in the beds.

Sometime later, long after the ruins of the cottages had been cleared away an inn was built on the same site and it is still there today - it's name is The Snowdrop Inn.

I come from Eastbourne and moved away about 7 years ago. Like any town there are some very nice areas and some not so nice!

As people have said it is much cheaper than Brighton which is only 22 miles up the coast.

I know many of my friends who work in Brighton then chose to live in Eastbourne as they get a lot more for their money.

Nice areas of Eastbourne are Willingdon, Kings Drive area, Meads, Saffrons and more - If you see something PM me and I will let you know.

Leaving Toronto on Wednesday. We're hoping to get to Brighton/S coast v soon.

I thought that Bognor Regis had the title of the UK's sunniest town, and has had on and off, for decades http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/we...n-Britain.html.

Wherever you decide to settle, Sussex is a wonderful county, with lots of great spots, and easy access to London. I'd be tempted to live somewhere other than Brighton, as it's an easy place to get to, but probably a bit busy for us. We did find that the traffic had got a lot worse and parking was very expensive on our trip last year. Lots of bus and train services, though.