Natasha Santos said Hastings has a good pub scene, and people are up for socialising
(Picture: Handout)Natasha Santos and her husband Tim took a no drama approach to leaving London.
They knew they wanted to live within easy striking distance of the capital, heard from one of Tim’s cousins that Hastings was an interesting sort of place, went down to have a look, liked it. Within a few months they were living there.
And the transition from Stoke Newington to the south coast has proved equally seamless.
Natasha, 34, and Tim, 31, were living in a one-bedroom shared-ownership flat with their chihuahua Frida when the pandemic struck. Working and living in such a confined space was “claustrophobic”, said Natasha, and they started considering their options.
“We loved Stoke Newington and if we could have afforded a Victorian house there we would probably have stayed,” said Natasha.
She and Tim toyed with the idea of moving to Margate or Folkstone until Tim’s cousin suggested Hastings. “He lives here and said it was a creative, cool place to live,” said Natasha. “We had never been so we went and had a look. Even though it was the pandemic and everything was closed we liked the look of it and thought we might as well give it a go.”
Last year they sold the London flat they owned a 35 per cent stake in for £470,000 — the same as they had paid for it back in 2017 — and paid £340,000 for a two bedroom Victorian terrace close to the station.
“It had got the high ceilings and original floorboards which we were really looking for,” said Natasha. The house was in good condition — although not completely to their taste — and they are now taking their time in redecorating it.
Natasha, who works in sales for Walthamstow-based start-up Hackney Gelato, travels to London for work once a week — the journey takes about two hours door to door. Tim, a software engineer, mostly works from home.
“Our friends come down to visit quite a lot and its easy for us to go to London when we want,” said Natasha. “That’s the benefit of being so close, it hasn’t felt like a massive shift.”
Locally they have also started making friends. “The pub scene in Hastings is really good so there is always something to do locally, and so many people are in the same boat as us that they are more willing to have a chat because they are establishing new networks.”
The only thing Natasha really misses is the diversity of London’s food scene, and its culture. “I really like going to the theatre and for that I do have to go up to London,” she said.
Before the move Natasha had imagined herself visiting the beach daily, but the reality has been slightly different. During the summer heatwave she enjoyed regular swims but a wet and windswept expanse of pebbles is less appealing at this time of year. “Hastings really comes alive in the summer,” she said. “In the winter it definitely slows right down.”
