Considering move to rural area near Stockport/South Manchester

[CrazyDiamonds]

Hello everyone,
I am reaching out to seek your wisdom. We are considering moving back to the UK to be closer to my husband's family. He's got a job offer from a company located near Manchester Airport. I have only been to Manchester once, so don't know anything at all about it (we lived in London, Nottingham and in and near Southampton before).

We would like to live somewhere rural, a small village ideally. Again, I do not know much about small village schools in the UK. I am guessing it varies from school to school whether they are able to provide a challenging, stimulating environment? Perhaps they are able to give more personalized attention to each child's needs? Or maybe they just have one teacher who covers many subjects very broadly vs deeply? Our daughter (6yo) goes to private Montessori school here, which she loves. So we are potentially looking at Stockport Grammar School for her.

The family are in Nottinghamshire, and I am researching villages east/south-east of Stockport. Ideally, we'd be within appx 20 min drive to our chosen school. I don't know how bad traffic towards Stockport gets, I am guessing it is quite heavy.

Have you got any recommendations of villages to look at? A village with a pub and a shop would be nice, and maybe a train station. I'd like it to be a long-term (fingers crossed) move for us.

It seems crazy to be moving in these times, but for many reasons, we might have to do it. I've no idea how it will work, where to start a search for places to rent, buy, what happens if we move mid-term, etc etc..
Apologies for a long post; thank you and keep safe!

[Teenytinyratsass]

Marple, Mellor, Marple Bridge and Disley are not far from Stockport grammar and the new airport road and are lovely. They’re on the High Peak border so you get beautiful walks and countryside. House prices are high though, you pay a premium for the village life and train lines to Manchester.

[500BusStops]

Good schools in Trafford if you went for the Altrincham side of the airport. Lymm is a nice village. Then you’ve got Mobberley, Ashley etc

[CrazyDiamonds]

Thank you, @Teenytinyratsass and @500BusStops, back to Googlemaps I go . Good to hear about the roads, less about the house prices, but I guess that's expected. I hear many are looking to move to rural areas with these trying times.

[CrazyDiamonds]

Soo... I've been living on rightmove and primelocation for the past 24 hours, and feel totally overwhelmed and lost. Not found ideal house or ideal villages yet within a reasonable distance to Stockport and within our budget. Is anyone aware of other websites specifically for rural locations?

Have also been watching "Move to the Country" for research purposes , the Peak District looks like an amazing place for growing up. And SGS looks brilliant too. So some positives!

If anyone would like to share their experiences living in that neck of the woods, or the Stockport Grammar, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Many thanks!