Findon is well connected to the internet and loosely connected to everything else. Hardly anyone takes the train. Half the households run two cars or more. Over a third don't commute at all. The village sorted out its transport by staying in and buying another car.
There's no railway station in Findon. The nearest options are down in the Worthing area, at Worthing, West Worthing, East Worthing, Durrington-on-Sea and Goring-by-Sea, and the 2021 Census found only about 1% of working residents take the train to work. Buses do no better on that measure. The village has 11 bus stops, and about 1% of commuters use them. Anyone planning a car-free life here is planning something the neighbours have quietly decided against.
The real commute runs by car or doesn't run at all. About 48% of working residents drive, and around 38% work from home, which together leave very little for anything else. About 6% walk to work and 2% cycle. Car ownership matches the pattern: only about 8% of households have no car, and around 53% have two or more. The second car isn't a luxury in Findon. It's the bus service.
The Department for Transport's journey-time statistics, modelled for the area in 2019 rather than timed from any particular front door, show why. The nearest town centre is about 14 minutes by car and about 32 minutes by public transport. By bike it's around 25 minutes. On foot it's about 65 minutes, which is the finding in itself: Findon is a village you drive out of, not one you stroll away from.
Everyday errands follow the same pattern. The same statistics put the nearest GP about 10 minutes away by car, 27 minutes by public transport and 37 minutes on foot. A hospital is about 22 minutes by car and about 58 by public transport, a gap worth thinking about for anyone who doesn't drive. A food store sits about eight minutes away by car and 29 minutes on foot. For employment centres, the model gives about 43 minutes by car and about 19 by public transport, an unusual result that runs against everything else here and is best treated with caution. The public transport figures are the ones most likely to have aged, since they date from 2019 and bus services have been cut in many places since. The car and walking times, tied to fixed distances, hold up better.
The current bus timetable is more useful than the modelled times. Each of Findon's 11 stops averages about 27 scheduled departures on a weekday, with roughly one or two buses an hour at peak, and all 11 see some service at weekends. That's a working bus service, not a token one. It's also a timetable you plan your day around rather than one you turn up and trust.
Broadband is where Findon catches up. Superfast speeds reach about 98% of premises, and gigabit-capable connections reach about 70%, the same share as ultrafast. No premises fall below the legal minimum broadband speed. For the large share of residents working from home, that's the connection that matters, and it's much better than the train line they don't have.
Mobile coverage is close to complete. About 100% of the area gets a 4G or 5G signal from at least one operator, and all operators together cover about 100% as well. Nobody in Findon needs to stand at the top of the garden holding a phone above their head.
For a typical commuter, that all adds up to one arrangement. Drive to work, or don't go. The buses help with the town and the shops, and the trains need a car ride to reach, so most working days start in the driveway or at the kitchen table.
The price of all that driving is road noise. Every postcode in Findon, 100% of them, sits near or above the 65-decibel level at which official noise mapping treats road traffic as significant, and the loudest mapped band reaches 75 decibels. That's a measure of exposure at postcode level, not a verdict on any particular bedroom, but a buyer should listen from the garden before signing. Rail noise barely registers, with 0% of postcodes near the threshold, which is what happens when there's no railway.
Findon's connections are middling. The broadband pulls its weight and the bus timetable is better than expected, but getting anywhere without a car stays harder than it should be.