Folkestone

Where are you moving from? I'm 45 mins up the M20 in Maidstone - can't comment on the good and bad areas but I believe it's starting to become a more 'up and coming' place to live, 5 years ago I'd say avoid like the plague but a lot of the Kent coastal towns (Margate, Ramsgate etc) are attracting a younger crowd and having money thrown at them.

Mountain biking. Well... Not a lot. You can do rides along the coastal path around Dover, and there's a Covert woods 20 mins away between Canterbury and Folkestone which is a regular spot with some decent trails. Aaaand that's about your lot locally.

Further afield you've got the south downs, Bedgebury (if you're really desperate) and even further you've got Surrey hills.

If you want to drive somewhere with actual hills like the peak District or South Wales, remember you're literally in the arse end of the country and everywhere is a 4-5hrs drive away, minimum.

It's a nice town to visit, cant comment on specific areas. Lots of walking and road biking opportunities around the coast.

Very much depends where you're moving from as to what you'd make of it! The harbour arm area/beach/artists quarter are really nice/funky, the other 90% of the town not so much (fairly grim central shopping area dominated by a TK Maxx and populated by hoodies). As Paul says very much "up & coming", don't know if comparisons with Margate & Ramsgate are helpful though because again apart from the harbour/artists areas the actual towns are not that nice 😬

Beaches good along that side though, especially towards Dymchurch. Lots of kite-surfers etc. I like the Romney Marsh area for road biking - flat as a pancake, but nice & quiet! There's actually some decent hills around Folkestone/Dover area though, and heading towards Wye Downs which again I really like for road biking.

It’s a nice town to visit

As a mountainbiker, the last place in the country I would probably want to live is Kent way unfortunately.
Spent a fair bit of time that way with a previous girlfriend and it was awful(in a mtb sense)

As a mountainbiker, the last place in the country I would probably want to live is Kent way unfortunately.

Folkstone is a lot better for mtb than some areas of Kent for example Thanet. I guess it depends on what your expectations are for "mountain biking". Like Zilog says Folkstone/Dover is one of the hillier areas South/East Kent, but it's limited compared with say Surrey hills. You'll see riders around.

Also get a BMX and go to Folkstone F51 multi level skate park/climbing.

great access to Eurotunnel though for Alps etc!!

Yeah, it's about 10 hours to get to the Alps, including the hour it'll take to wait and cross on the Chunnel. Same time it takes to drive to Fort William. Even the Lake District is a long 7hrs away...

Kent is far away from everywhere. Except London. Yay.

As a mountainbiker, the last place in the country I would probably want to live is Kent way unfortunately.

great access to Eurotunnel though for Alps etc!!

Very true. Bit of a push for the Wednesday night rides mind 😉

There is a decent little MTB scene here to be fair, with regular night and weekend rides, despite the limited riding. There's worse places to live than Kent, East Anglia would be one. At least we have some hills!

I lived in Dover for 10 years and got out about 8 years ago. Dover and Folkestone were shitholes then and from visiting friends don't appear to have improved much since.

There are some much nicer villages withing 10-15 miles if you were thinking of living in the area. Otherwise look a little north as the areas around Canterbury are much nicer and an easy commute to Folkstone.

Cycling if any sort in the immediate area of Folkestone is pants with very few bridleways and the roads treated like racetracks.

In fact there wasn't huge amount of anything to do except walking.

I did used to head over to France for shopping and dinner at least once a week which was great so it did have that going for it.

Also I found the people in south east Kent much nicer than those further north and west towards London.

Hi 
I live in the area. 

If you had asked me ten years ago I would have said avoid Folkestone but there has been a lot of effort and changes put into parts of the town that have improved the area significantly IMO. The town centre itself is still a bit depressing and dull (aren't most) but in the Creative Quarter (around the Old high street and Harbour arm) there are some good restaurants, bars, quirky shops and galleries. There are some low key and some larger music events (Skabour festival)  held in that area and also the Leas cliff hall has regular bands playing and events. The seafront around the Lower Leas coastal park is rarely crowded and well maintained, but the 'sunny sands' can be heaving on a hot day.

I am more of a roadie these days and personally would say road riding is great with picturesque villages, rolling countryside, ample coffee shops and enough short sharp hills to get the lungs going.

I am a bimbler when I take out my MTB so I am mainly linking bridleways and paths above the Channel tunnel. I would say honestly to an exclusive serious MTBer there is not much in the way of linked trails and very little Gnarr that I know of. (other than Covert woods near Barham/ Bladbean, and there are rumours parts of that wood are up for sale, so I don't know how trails will be affected) . Activ cycles bike shop in Folkestone used to run regular MTB rides around the area and Bike Tart have a little shop near Barham. Both of these have knowledgeable staff who could probably give you a better overview of MTB in the area than me. Bedgebury is about an hour away

 As already said the new F51 skate/ BMX/ climbing/ Boxing complex gets good reviews and there is a pump/ BMX track at Swingfield which is rarely used.

The seafront along Sandgate and Hythe is popular with paddle boarders, kitesurfers, and kayakers (and there is also Hythe canal).

Like most places there are some areas of deprivation and poverty and some more affluent areas. Haven't looked recently but I think crime rates are pretty low for the UK especially in surrounding villages. House prices seem quite 'competitive' with other south eastern areas. 

Personally, rather than Folkestone itself I would recommend a house in one of the surrounding small towns/ villages such as Hythe, Hawkinge, Lyminge, Elham, Sandgate, Seabrook or Saltwood.

Happy to try and answer any other questions on here or by DM

Some of the villages between Canterbury and Folkstone are really nice as mentioned.

There were trails close to Folkstone at Sandy Lanes but I think they got squashed. Closer to Canterbury & Faversham is Dargate woods which has good trails when dry and Perry woods which is more of a jump spot but is sandy and drains.

Blue bell hill Maidstone/Medway is my local riding in the summer and I love it. Some nice new trails on the way too...

Blue bell hill Maidstone/Medway is my local riding in the summer and I love it. Some nice new trails on the way too…

Oh, really? I'll have to take another ride up there when it's properly dried out then, didn't know there was new trails being built. Same place as the others (either side of the bridleway up to the pub)? I'm about 20-25 mins ride from the BBH trails.

I used to ride BBH with the Sketchy MTB guys when it was active. It's got some good trails up there.

Also Mereworth and Oldham are ok if you're with someone who knows the trails.

Bit of a hike from Folkestone though.

Hi Jon, are you still building your own frames?

Thanks guys, all useful stuff. We're moving from Buckinghamshire so as far away from the sea as you can get in the UK. Although we do have mountain biking in the Chilterns.

What's the area like for pubs/restaurants? What other sports and activities are on offer?

Thanks again for the input, it's a big decision from us and without any family or friends in the area we are short of honest sources of information.

Same place as the others (either side of the bridleway up to the pub)?

Quite a few trails in Monk Wood now on the BBH side of the bridleway. On the Buckmore park side of the bridleway (Bridgewoods), there has been a lot of tree removal work, so some of the good trails are now gone.

All cheeky stuff up there though. I’ve always wondered how long it can last.

For the OP, there are some nice places down on that coastline. Worth looking at areas just outside of Folkestone.Places like Hythe, Saltwood, Sellinge as mentioned earlier.

Op, other sports, there is a fabulous county cricket team that play in Canterbury & Lydden hill for the rallycross is a good day out.

Canterbury has all the restaurants and there's a few Michelin starred places in the area too.

There are quite a few decent places to eat in Folkestone town, notably Rocksalt for seafood, Marco Pierre White for steak. Some good independent Italian, Nepalese, Indian and Turkish restaurants. Couple of micro pubs, some nice food pubs and enevitably some pubs and restaurants best avoided.

Canterbury, Ashford, Dover and Hythe all under 30 mins drive away. IMO Canterbury nicer town centre out of season, but busy and more touristy in summer. Dover crap town centre and worse pub/ restaurants (but has a nice national trust visitor centre with coastal walks). Ashford pretty crap town centre but has Macarthur Glen outlet shopping centre and Curious brewery. Hythe quiet, quant seaside town with some nice pubs.

Sports and activities
Folkestone sports centre has 25M swimming pool, tennis, badminton/ squash courts and a mini ski dry slope. Its well used but to be honest the whole place could do with some updating.

The Three Hills sports centre is newer and focuses more on local martial arts/ athletics/ football/ hockey clubs.There is a new sport centre with large pool and climbing wall at Whitfield between Folkestone and Dover. F51 has already been mentioned for Skate/ BMX park and climbing.

Folkestone park run on the Leas every Saturday morning.Local public golf course (Etchinghill). Folkestone Sailing and motorboard club (do diving), also Hythe and Saltwood sailing club.Lots of places for Sea fishing and open swimming.

Worlds your Lobster in terms of walking with coastal routes and the north downs way.

Other activities I can think of off top of my head - fossil hunting at the Warren, Battle of Britain museum, Hythe light railway, Betteshanger park. Port Lympne and Howletts wild animal parks. Folkestone air show.

I'm not sponsored by Folkestone tourist board honest, it's far from perfect but I like living around here especially for the seafront walks.

It does sound like moving here you would lose out in terms of MTB trails though. Could you have a short break to get a feel for the area (don't stay in the Grand Burstin hotel though).

Hi Jon, are you still building your own frames?

Hey Lee. Yes, I'm still making frames. Next one will be for my eldest daughter.

OP - The thing I miss least about that area is the traffic. The M20/A20 comes to a standstill when the port in Dover is busy due to weather, strikes, summer holidays, easter holidays, winter holidays, channel tunnel issues, the French being grumpy about anything,etc, etc.......

All the locals then take to the back roads and when some lorries decide to try and skip the motorway queues it can become a nightmare.

Something to think about when considering a commute.

To be fair jonm81 has a valid point that the M20/ A20 can be badly affected by problems at Dover port/ Channel Tunnel, which has the knock on effect of increased traffic on the town and back roads.

Dover bears the brunt of this, but last year Folkestone had problems during the first week of the school summer holidays (and has been affected at other times due to weather, strikes etc in previous years)

Same time it takes to drive to Fort William. 

tbf at least at the end of that 12 hours you're in the Alps and not Fort Bill...

Some pretty comprehensive replies there that cover it quite well.
Riding wise though if you want trail centre type riding then there’s is little of that but grab an OS map and you can have a good day out of bridleways, byways, fire roads, forest single track and maybe a cheeky footpath or two.
I’ve lived here all my life and in the last 10 years it has changed dramatically for the better.