Coast, definitely

Well, depends on how close to the coast you class as actually living by the coast I suppose. I live in Ireland which is even smaller than Britain and when I lived in the city I was still only maybe a 40 minute drive from the coast but I wouldn't class that as living by the coast, now I live in a coastal village and am a 2 minute walk from the beach so I class that as coast.

I live about 30 mins away from the sea.

Still waiting for a tsunami to wipe me out, with all these under sea earthquakes :p

I live on the edge of a small fishing village in the countryside. 2 out of 3 aint bad.

City. I'd get bored in living in the countryside, literally nothing to do and I think the living on the coast would be boring in winter but alright in summer. Still prefer cities, something's always going on, loads of shops, loads of stuff to do etc.

;)