MissBetty

Definitely! Fish and chips all round - my shout!

aries

Seagulls have a beautifully shrill sound in Britain, I hear them every day . . . at the moment in fact. Totally different to the harshness of Australian cockatoos even though they are an attractive bird. I'm sure MissBetty will know what I mean, they're enough to give you a heart attack!!

aries

The video is amazingly opportune. I looked at flats in Hasting on the internet yesterday thinking the town might be more convenient than Torquay to visit family and friends. I've never been to Hastings so it might be worth a visit.

MissBetty

Yes I agree with you on that one - I nearly jump out of my skin when the cockys start screeching!

I do like Hastings but as I have stressed to people the main town is quite run down but the Old Town is lovely, there is a guy called PistolPete who also knows the area very well and he made some valid points earlier in this thread.

The transport links are not brilliant once you get out of town but if you are retired, self employed or a shift worker like me it really doesn't matter. Its about 75 mins on the train to London but we are not far from Ashford either which gives you a gateway to Europe as you can catch the Eurostar from there.

There is a lady on here called Maltoo who started a thread re Hastings that I contributed to that might be worth a read? I love Hastings though, its has its problems but its my home and I will defend it to the last - warts and all!

Perth

You're on matey

Perth

Exactly! Florida neither

WhoFan63

Can I come too please?? Although you should all come to Diggle and go to the best chippy in Lancashire..

Pistolpete2

Hi Betty, I'm here!

I don't know what Maltoo decided about the Hastings area but I believe she was in the UK over the Christmas period and must have done some checking around then though I believe she was based in Essex. Wasn't she looking to get into the antiques business?

I recall that I had recommended the area surrounding Hastings to her and in particular Rye plus Battle and Etchingham but the youtube videos reinforce the idea of being in the old conservation area quarter of the town as well. Lovely! You did well to get in at the price you did because there isn't that much supply in that area at all these days at the right price.

I managed to dig up a previous aries post of her priorities before she had finally decided to plump for Torquay.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...&postcount=343

It's hard to say where she would be best placed to visit family but Gatwick has no flights to Frankfurt (only Dusseldorf on Easyjet) and Torquay actually still has direct train service to the Midlands (CrossCountry) as opposed to getting to London, through London and then onwards, from Hastings whether to the Midlands, or Essex or to an airport (Heathrow or Stansted) that serves Frankfurt.

Ex Torquay - Bristol doesn't have service to Frankfurt either (only Berlin) and Exeter only serves Dusseldorf (Flybe).

Cardienscarf

In my mind I'd already invited myself to Diggle

Lorry1

why did you do that!?
I have been craving fish n chips for so long and I forgot about it but now I am craving again!
I want to go to Brighton pier and eat fish n chips

aries

Early last year I had a good opportunity to buy a small affordable flat adjacent to London's City Airport with a picture-window view up the Thames to Canary Wharf, but stupidly I let a small patch of damp on the wall put me off. The damp in my flat here was far worse! City Airport would have been perfect for flights to Frankfurt, and of course there is good transport into the centre of London.

Pistolpete2

Dead right! I'd forgotten that London City would have had good access to Frankfurt as another business centre.

Concerns ref damp can be very off-putting until one finds somebody reassuring that says it is really no big deal when properly attended to.

Funnily enough I had looked at buying a property in Cornwall some years back but the survey report indicated that there were ongoing issues relating to damp - it was on the edge of Bodmin Moor - which would always require watching and some maintenance from time to time. When I brought this to the attention of the vendor he said that one would never be able to buy property in Cornwall if one were concerned about damp .

Perth

Me too

aries

I read some months ago that more than 60% of homes in England have damp problems, enough to make you go troppo

WhoFan63

I will get the chippy to stock up then for when you and Cardienscarf get here