Folkestone – Where is Phil now?

Flat Hunting–the mission continues.

February 06 2016 – Folkestone.

I have made two further trips to Folkestone since I last wrote about flat hunting reconnaissance missions on January 15. Sadly the weather did not play ball on either of those occasions and that crisp blue sky day was not to be repeated.

My first visit was on the 22^nd Jan, it was grey and miserable, the cloud was really low and there was no view at all. In a way it was good to visit on such a day, get an understanding of what an area feels like when it is all a bit crap outside. It actually wasn’t too bad, there were still people walking dogs on the cliff tops, I expect some of the walkers out and about were also visitors like myself.

The high street is a bit grim and uninspiring at the best of times, so I pretty much avoided that, but I did do a circuit of the Creative Quarter and there were a few folk looking into shop windows, and all the cafes were busy enough. I took that as a good sign for such a rubbish day.

I had arranged to see a couple of flats, they were both in the same block and were both vacant. I didn’t like either of them. I also hated the block. It looks OK on the outside, but it stank of cigarette smoke in the hallways, and had that air of tenanted neglect in the foyer. I left feeling pretty miserable about the whole thing. My worst fears were met. I might find a great flat but the building and the other residents may ruin that good will.

I am also having second thoughts about my chosen area due to the number of cheap hotels now acting as boarding houses for the homeless, or temporary accommodation for those who have been kicked out of, or otherwise left, council housing. It is a complex emotion and situation, I firmly believe everyone has a right to a roof over their head, to be safe and to be warm and dry, but I am also a bit NIMBY as well. I am investing most of my money, I have to make sure it is a wise investment, plus I also want to live there and sadly some of those residents bring baggage or have ideas and lifestyles that do not gel with mine.

I went back to London confused and a bit down on it all.

The good thing was I was not totally put off, I am slightly more resilient than that! What is scaring me off buying is the state of the economy, and specifically the impact it is having on my employer. I work for a language school and we are being severely impacted by the high value of the British pound against other currencies and also by the UK Govt making it harder to get a visa to come to the UK study. It is a tough time to be trading with Europe at the moment. It is not really mentioned but I am sure all the xenophobic comments coming out of the UK are detracting potential visitors as well.

Not wanting to quit before I really got started I have kept my eye on the market and earlier this week arranged to see three more flats today, all in the same area as the flats I saw two weeks ago. It is the area I want to buy in.

I finally got around to buying myself a Network Rail Card today, it cost £30 and saved me £10 on my return journey to Folkestone. If had bought one when I first decided to last year, I would already be saving money. I have been really slack lately, and have now promised myself to be more organised and committed to doing the things I need to do, when I need to do them. Less procrastinating !

I actually quite like the ride to Folkestone from St Pancras, on the high speed train it takes just under an hour, it doesn’t stop much and the scenery is not terrible. I do like the Dartford Bridge.

I arrived in a grey old Folkestone an hour and a half before my first viewing was due, I wanted to do a bit more of a walk around, and check out the near-eastern cliffs. As I have said before, one of the things I like about the town is its proximity to the countryside, and right outside the station is a sign advertising it.

I had seen some photos of the Foord Viaduct, and had thought about trying to find it, but it all looked a bit surrounded by dull suburbia so I had not bothered to work out its location. Stumbling up on it, was I suppose, inevitable, Folkestone is hardly big. I was very impressed, it is really cool up close! Built in 1843 in under 6 months, it is comprised of 19 arches, with the highest at over 100ft. It is the tallest arched viaduct in the world. I must say I would not want to live too close !

After my slight detour to walk under the viaduct I walked down to the sea front, and to Sunny Beach, which I believe is man made?, well the sand part anyway. I took a photo of the Folkestone Mermaid when El and I came here a few weeks ago, it was created for the triennial in 2011 by Cornelia Parker. I decided to take another photo as I like it.

It is really windy today, really really windy, so there was a bit of a swell going and I was surprised to see surfers out, I did not picture Folkestone as a surfing town, but you learn something new every day, another positive.

I walked along the wall above Sunny Beach, and then up the stairs to the cliff top. I am not sure if the sign or the seat was first….

At the top there are a few second world war pill boxes or coast watch buildings one of which is still being used not sure if it by the coast card or the RNLI, but I like the way it is all hunkered down in the cliff top, It needed to be in this wind.

With its proximity to France this section of coast has long had a military presence, with small forts and large castles like Dover dotted all around. There is also a long string of Martello Towers, small 19^th century coastal forts, in between the large forts all along the coast here.

The view up and down the coast from here was nice, and one day I could see myself exploring up and down those cliff tops !

It was drawing close to time for the first viewing so, I headed back the way I came, and once off the water front, decided to wander up through the Creative Quarter, which was really busy again.

I just happened to pass by Salvation Records and had to go in, and this time was forced into buying couple of things. When I come back, I must try and stay clear, or stay strong if I do visit ! To be fair to myself, I have wanted that second Telescopes LP for a while and it was on sale…

My first viewing was a real let down, it was a basement flat, which I will admit I was not interested in anyway, wanting to be at least first floor, but it was in a real state. It would need tens of thousands to sort out, I was wondering why it was so cheap! I was informed by the real estate agent that the second viewing was off as the sellers had taken the property off the market. This was not working out well at all. The second viewing was the ground floor in this building.

There was another guy looking at the basement flat while I was there. He wasn’t interested either, but he did live in the street, and has been renting for a year and is now looking to buy. He loves the street, he said the low rent hotels do not cause any real issues, and he is keen to buy there. This was great news and made me feel a whole lot better about my choice of location. We had quite a good chat and compared notes on our experiences with agents and areas. It was very worthwhile.

After a break for coffee and cake I met the agent for the last viewing and quite liked the flat, clearly the best I have seen and well within my price range. It needs some work, decorating and a shower fitted, nothing major and is in a nice spot, with a view out to sea of you look sideways out the bay window. It is a Victorian conversion so has some of those nice Victorian features, like high ceilings and a fireplace. To be considered.

I went home feeling a lot better about the experience. As this was my fourth (fifth ?) visit to the town, I am more familiar with the streets, and with knowledge comes some comfort, I felt less like it was an alien place.

I will organise myself some more viewings now, and maybe a follow visit to the one I sort of liked, this time with El.

House Hunting-The First Sequel.

January 15 2016 – Folkestone.

It is winter in the UK at the moment, which generally means a lazy time for me. This makes it a good time to look for houses and since my trip to Broadstairs, Margate and Deal I have been pretty busy doing that. Online at least. El and I have just booked a trip to Valencia for a long weekend, good friends of ours have recently bought a holiday home there and we are going to join them for a weekend at the end of Feb. It hasn’t all been house hunting!

After knocking my action list down to just Folkestone and Broadstairs when I came back from my trip last week I have made a further cut to the list and am now going to focus solely on Folkestone for a while. I like Broadstairs but Folkestone has a little more life to it than sleepy Broadstairs, and that suits me more right now as this is not a long term purchase. If I was retiring it would be a completely different story!

I was in luck again this week with another gorgeous looking day on Friday, I had booked myself train tickets earlier in the week, betting on the weather staying nice. One of the advantages of Folkestone over the other locations is that the high speed train goes there so it is a 55 minute trip, out of St Pancras. Broadstairs is slightly longer at 1:20. Trains out of St Pancras was a key factor in choosing the Kent coast over Sussex or further west. St Pancras is 10 minutes from work and 20 from El’s house, far more convenient than Waterloo or Paddington.

I had a small panic last night when I got home from visiting a couple of galleries and having dinner with my mate Daryl and discovered I no longer had my wallet. I rang the burger joint we had eaten in – Honest Burger off of Old St, and thankfully my wallet had been handed in, phew. It was a great burger too !! Almost as good was they opened at 9:00 today so I could get there, pick up my wallet and get to the station in time for the train I had booked at 10:30. Ample time really, it is only 10 minutes away.

I arrived at St Pancras with time enough to get a coffee and a muffin before heading up to the high speed platforms to wait for my train. It was a lovely, clear but very cold day.

The train I was catching originated in Folkestone and I was pleased to see it was really full with office workers and other city types commuting from there, or thereabouts. It was a bit comforting to know there were other ex-Londoners there.

I had spent a bit of time pouring over maps of Folkestone and noting a number of properties for sale that I could do a walk by. I do not know the area and wanted to suss out a few streets that looked OK and had properties I could afford. Luckily they were all on the west side of town, so it did not include too much walking. I had also organised my first house viewing in Sandgate. On the train I organised my day and made a bunch of notes on some street maps I printed out. I wanted to make real use of my time there. I had also arranged to meet a friend of a friend who lives in one of the areas I am interested in. Getting some local knowledge about the place was critical for me.

The train arrived on time and wrapped up warm I headed off from Folkestone West station to the north to check out, and write off a couple of flats on my list. One was sold and the other was on the corner of two major roads. Not for me at all!

Heading back the way I came I arrived at Sandgate Rd just behind the Metrople Building, which does have a flat I am vaguely interested, I love the building, but am not sure I could live in a converted hotel. I will try and get a viewing next time I am down. It looks a lot better from the front.

I walked down Sandgate Rd to the village of Sandgate, at the bottom of the hill, and right on the sea front. It is quite a nice spot, very close to the sea – too close when I saw a photo of a wave breaking on the houses…. I was here to look at a top floor flat in the orangey coloured building.

Last week I registered with one of the big estate agencies, taken my first step into the painful world of unwanted phone calls, texts, emails and probably a lot of frustration. But it has to be done, and to be fair after the early rush it has been OK since. I just know I am going to have to register with a load more before I find the place for me. I sort of liked this flat, but it need a lot of work, and to be frank, I am lazy. I have closed the book on Sandgate for now as well. The risk due to flooding and storms just seems too high, when there are good opportunities at the top of the cliffs. But as a place to visit, on a day like today, lovely. Apparently the path goes all the way to Rye, way down the coast. Something for some long flat runs.

I walked the path back up to Folkestone for my meeting with Eugene. The amount of beach on the path definitely helped in my decision making, there are now houses here, but the houses back in Sandgate are not far off being this close to the sea.

There is a lovely park stretching along a section between the sea and the cliff, with paths winding their way up to the top. A good spot for getting some hill reps in.

At the top of the cliffs is The Leas, a wide section of grass and path for walking and relaxing, a legacy of when Folkestone was in its heyday back in Victorian times. There are a number of flats around here which I am interested in, nervously so as it looks all a bit too nice to be true, especially when the sun is out. I am going to try and have a look at a flat in here. Which I subsequently found out is too good to be true as it is over the road from a hotel how being used to house families that have been kicked out of council housing.

Eugene lives around here and I stopped in with him for a cup of coffee and a chat about the area, he has been here for two years and quite likes it, though for family reasons is heading back to London. At least the streets seem quiet and safe, both day and night, a couple of points I really wanted to have Eugene clarify.

After receiving some great advice I headed off back down the Zig Zag Path to the sea front, a continuation of a lovely walk.

You cannot see it here, but I promise you on that horizon sits the coast of France and I could clearly see the cliffs.

I made my way along to the harbour arm, passed this lovely terrace on Marine Parade and the not so lovely old and unused railway station.

The harbour arm is closed at the moment, but last summer it was the scene for pop-up bars and cafes and all sorts of things, so looking forward to that opening up again – if I do choose to buy here before summer time.

I walked up through the Old High Street and the Creative Quarter, which is one of the key things that attracts me to Folkestone. The Creative Quarter is set over a couple of streets leading up from the harbour where most (all ?) of the properties were bought by a trust set up by Sir Roger de Haan back in 2002 as part of an creative based regeneration of the area. Sir Roger was the owner of Saga a large employer in the area and when he sold the company he chose to reinvest in the town. The area is cute and full of small shops, galleries and cafes. I also came across one of the less charming sides of these up and coming towns as I followed a family up the hill where the adult male who was obviously drunk was swearing and talking loudly at the kids and his partner. Lovely chap.

At the top of the hill was my second to last destination for the day, and a good reason to want to buy in this particular town. Hot Salvation records, what a cool shop, pretty much specialising just in the music I like as well. I didn’t buy anything today as I was planning on meeting El in London when I got back, but I could have…

I stopped for a very late lunch at 3:00 at one of the cafes nearby before walking back along The Leas, stopping to take a last couple of photos of the setting sun before heading up to the station for 4:00 train back to London.

I had to make a bit of a fast walk to the station and a quick run into the loo before the train arrived. I don’t think it was something I ate, El had been sick earlier in the week, but I am very glad I made it. Apart from the end it had been a good day of checking out properties and locations and I came away feeling better informed and keen to come back and actually view some properties next weekend.

P.S. I am writing this a couple of days later and have been unwell all weekend, fortunately not with anything vile, just horribly tired and a bit achy. I was in bed by 9:00 both Friday and Saturday nights and suspect I will be heading back their again before 9:00 tonight, Sunday. Work tomorrow, where I am sure I will be perfectly well!

P.P.S. El and I have just booked holiday to New Zealand over Easter. Yahoo!

Sun, sea and pebbles. A day trip to Folkestone

Saturday 31 October 2015 – Folkestone, Kent.

Another day, another blog post, and yep, another change in my employment situation.

Only 28 days ago I wrote that I had decided to not take a permanent role at my current employer, which created the opportunity for me to look for a job outside of London and I could start my move towards the sea. Since then I have signed a permanent contract and am now staying right where I am!

What changed my mind was a change in working conditions which pretty much allows me the lifestyle I want. I am now working four days a week, but can work one of those days at home. This means I can stay with El in London on work days and once I have found one, I can stay in my own flat on the coast for the other days, sharing weekends between London and where ever I end up.

I do not have a lot of money for rent, going to working four days a week means I have even less than I used to. This very definitely rules London out, so I am looking at reasonably priced coastal towns that are not too far from London by train. I also have a whole bunch of minor, yet critical criteria as well – access, to the countryside, decent coffee shops, a pub I will fit in, a record shop etc – all the essentials.. This does not leave too many options.

I have drawn a line on the map and today El and I decided to visit Folkestone in Kent. It has its issues, but it is ‘up and coming’, reasonably priced and just over one hour by fast train from both work and El’s. Sounds good!

We were blessed with one of those awesome autumn days as well, fresh to start, but clear skies, lots of sun and very little breeze. A perfect day for the coast.

We caught the train from St Pancras and decided to get off at Folkestone West, walk down to Sandgate and then up the beach to Folkestone centre. Checking out a few rental properties on the way,stop for some lunch, find the record shop for a look and then head back to London from Folkestone Central.

I have been to Folkestone as a child and visited recently for as long as it took to get a bus to Dover from outside the station, so had not remembered/realised that the town was on the top of a cliff. It was a surprise to walk down quite a steep path to the shore side village/suburb of Sandgate. I was also a bit surprised to find the Norfolk Hotel so far from home.

Sandgate is small, pretty much a single street village backing on to the English Channel, and it was very nice on a sunny Saturday morning. A couple of nice cafes – even a real ale bar, and you really could not get too much closer to the sea than this.

A nice place to fish, or doze in the sun…

It even has a blue plaque!! The author H.G. Wells lived in this cottage briefly in 1896 but moved out due to the rough weather causing the waves to break over his house. He lived further inland in Sandgate until 1909. Sandgate and Kent featured in some of his books from that period.

Sandgate has a small castle, not accessible unfortunately, but a castle nonetheless. Built under the rule of Henry VIII as an artillery castle, it is part of a chain of defensive positions along the Kent coast in response to the potential threat from France.

The walk along the waterfront from Sandgate to Folkestone proper is quite lovely, with cliffs looming over one side and a pebbly beach on the other you can almost believe you are not on the edge of a busy town. There were some quite nice, very brightly coloured beach huts along the stretch, it was nice seeing some old wooden huts that are obviously being cared for.

We walked up through a park and a surprisingly steep cliff side path to Folkestone West where there were a couple of flats I was interested in doing a walk past, just to see if the outside looked like the photo. The first was in the Metropole – and I was quite excited to see it. It actually looked better than the photo, the flat does not have direct sea views, but it can be seen from a window ! It is surprisingly cheap which does worry me a little…

There was nothing but carpark and grass between it and the cliff edge – no other buildings to spoil a view!

We walked along the cliff top towards the town centre, nice views, nice quite town, not too many bums, I was probably the only one. It all seems quite idyllic.

By the time we got into town we were feeling a bit peckish and once we spotted the British Lion, the oldest pub in town we were pretty much sold on going in for lunch. It was good pub grub too.

And the square it is located in is not too shabby either.

So far all our impressions of Folkestone have been really good, it is clean and tidy, not run down like some coastal towns, the people seemed friendly. All jolly good really.

One of the things that attracted me to visit Folkestone was its creative quarter, an area between the town centre and the harbour that has been purchased to provide places for creative people to live, work and sell. It is a really cool area with some great little shops, cafes and galleries.

We visited Vintage and Vinyl, which had, along with expensive records, some wine and cider, but only from English vineyards – we bought a really nice (but not cheap) Sussex Pinot Gris. Did anyone know they made pinot gris in Sussex ???? It was really nice too.

We took a detour down to the harbour, which seemed to be the main entertainment strip in town, with more pubs than I have seen elsewhere,. I suspect this would be a place I would not be going on a Saturday night in summer if I did move down here. On a sunny day it was very nice, and quite popular too.

One of the things that is critical in my choice of a place to live is access to the countryside, I want to be able to ride my mountain bike or go for a run without having to get into the car. Pretty much like I have in Walthamstow, but maybe with the occasional sea view and a hill! Folkestone seemed to be quite proud of its access to the countryside – and it wasn’t shy about its cliffs either.

Inspired (obviously) by Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid, but not crowded by morons, this sculpture by Cornelia Parker was gifted to the town as part of the Folkestone Triennial in 2011, and is modelled on one of Folkestone’s residents. I really like some of the art around this town, and there is plenty of it to see.

We wandered back up through some more of the Creative Quarter and what is probably of the older, more historic part of town, and after a bit of searching found Hot Salvation Records. Wow. What a great record shop, not something I expected in a small coastal town. A really cool collection of punk/goth/metal/indie vinyl. I could easily have spent an awful lot of money. I did pick up an LP of a band I am going to see in a couple of weeks, I was not planning on spending any money today either. I suspect if I moved to Folkestone they would get to know me quite quickly. I was so excited I forgot to take a photo…

We walked back up through the high street and its market, the market was kinda OK, but the high street was a bit drab, probably more like I expected Folkestone to be, I guess. I would not hang out there. Though the road up towards the station was quite nice with the autumn fall,. I imagine it would look a lot bleaker with winter trees, blowing in a high sea wind under a dull December late afternoon sky.

I am going to have to say, that Folkestone was way cooler than I expected it to be, I am going to have to check out what the top four are !!

We enjoyed our day out, I do forget how nice it can be to take a day out and just go walk by the sea.

I am tempted by Folkestone. It has its problems, it has a horrible UKIP controlled council which is a bit of a worry, but tempted still I am (to use a Yoda’ism).