I've worked at various times all along the South Coast including......

Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport, Southampton, Portland and Plymouth (was in the Navy and the Merchant Navy)

If you can afford a property I would without any doubt at all go for the Bournemouth / Poole area, it has good road links (30 mins to Southampton, 45 to Weymouth about an hour to Portsmouth) London is about 90 mins on the train and Basingstoke would be about 50 mins.

If you fancy somewhere a bit smaller, go for Salisbury. Again the road links are good and there are direct trains to London 60 mins and Basingstoke 30 mins, but its not as convenient for Weymouth.

Avoid Portsmouth (s**thole) and Reading (same), Southampton is nicer, but the towns between Portsmouth and Southampton are better still. However, that whole area is dreadful for traffic conjestion.

Posted By: Kirrie, Jun 13, 10:17:02