Bury Lancashire

[lilz7788]

Any advice gratefully received! Partner and I are looking to relocate to the Bury area in the summer to start a family. We are looking at areas somewhere between Prestwich and Edenfield and not farther than sort of Egerton area in Bolton. Can you recommend any good areas for those starting a family, and the areas which should be avoided at all costs! We have also seen a house in Elton, near Bury, but unsure of what the area is like. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[minniemoll]

I moved to Rawtenstall 18 months ago and love it - house prices are cheap and you can get straight into the A56/M66 very easily. The people are friendly and the scenery is stunning and very easy to walk to and around.

[Littlejayx]

I would say ramsbottom! Lovely area with a nice village.

[TheTurnOfTheScrew]

while the areas you mention are only a few miles apart, those miles can make a lot of difference in the Greater Mancunian Rush Hour. Will anyone be commuting, and if so where to?

[lilz7788]

Thanks for the advice so far! We did check out Ramsbottom and fell in love, however it's slightly out of our budget and worried about those hills in any northern snow (I'm a southerner, relocating from Essex!)

My partner is looking to work in Manchester, but is open to commuting by train and metrolink (though ideally not more than a 45 minute journey).

[minniemoll]

The Witchway bus goes direct to Manchester from Rawtenstall - and has Wi-Fi on board. All very civilised, and only ten minutes or so from Ramsbottom but much cheaper :)

[lilz7788]

Oh wow I hadn't heard of the WitchWay bus, sounds fab! Definitely worth looking into!

[another20]

We have friends in Lostock - very lovely safe area, great schools and great transport links.

[Mercurial123]

Bromley Cross is lovely as is Egerton and Entwistle.

[Mercurial123]

Belmont is a good area too.

[lilz7788]

Thanks so much for the advice! Definitely going to spend some time around these areas. Where roughly is Belmont? I haven't heard of it before, and when I google it, there are a few places dotted around but not an area?

[lilz7788]

Ignore previous! I've looked a bit deeper and found it, silly me!

[x2boys]

Greenmount is lovely I grew up there my parents still live there can be quite pricey though , Tottington, Walshaw , Holcombe Brook?

[pud1]

I lived in bury for 15 years, mainly in Elton. It is a decent area but has seen a lot of redevelopment of late. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Locals are trying to prevent further development on walshaw road.
I now live in rossendale and cannot recommend it enough. As people have said the witchway to Manchester is great. The schools are fantastic, surrounding countryside is beautiful. The local shops in Rawtenstall where I live are great and the house prices are great value. I paid 190k for a 4 bed with really good size rooms and a garage.

[pud1]

minniemoll - hello neighbour

[minniemoll]

Pud1 - waves! I paid £185k for a four bed house with a garage and an attic - I've now converted the garage into a living room, utility room and hall, it's a great house for the money :) And the hills are on my doorstep but I'm less than ten minutes walk from the town centre, with everything I need within walking distance, I'm so glad I moved.

[lilz7788]

Thanks so much for the advice, its greatly appreciated! We've actually just seen a house in Little Lever that we've fallen in love with (on right move haha) so considering taking a look next week, as from constant research from the past year, houses like this wont come up that often! Very excited about the move up though. Northerners are so much friendlier than the south, thats for sure!

[TheCaptainsCat]

I know Bolton well and personally wouldn't want to live in the Little Lever / Great Lever area. What's your rough budget OP? I'd be looking at Lostock, Bromley Cross, parts of Westhoughton and Horwich. Also, don't be put off by places like Ramsbottom being in the hills, it hardly ever snows in the North West, it just rains

[NoCupcakesOrCocktails]

I live in bury in unsworth. I used to live in whitefield and love the area. I would recommend prestwich, whitefield, unsworth/sunnybank as are nice areas to live and close to the metrolink. There are lots of lovely places further into bury and the outskirts like walmersley, Torrington, ainsworth and then places like rawtenstall etc. I work in Bolton and would say little lever is fine but is surrounded by some not as nice areas like great lever and farnworth. Places like lostock, westhoughton, Bromley cross are very popular in Bolton. Good luck!

[lilz7788]

That's really helpful thank you! Such a shame as although houses always look better in photos, it pretty much had everything in our non-negotiables and negotiables list, just typical that the area isn't so desirable! We have had the few areas you have suggested on the list to look into (we are coming up over the long bank holiday to start spending some time in the areas) so will definitely keep them on there! Is Little Lever itself not very nice, or mostly the surrounding areas that give it a bad name? Is it somewhere that would put you off raising a family?

[lilz7788]

Also our budget is approx £185K at the absolute max (other half is more £175K but is annoyed when everything is over budget!)

[TheCaptainsCat]

Little Lever is OK in itself, but it is sandwiched between Great Lever, Farnworth and Breightmet, which are some of the rougher areas of Bolton. With your budget you could buy a decent sized family home in any part of Bolton, maybe harder in Lostock as it is quite an expensive area, but it is nice, and has a train station with direct trains into Manchester. Chew Moor is nice too, close to Lostock and feels quite rural. If you liked the rural feel of Ramsbottom, I'd look to the northern side of Bolton, very close to the Pennines and feels less built up than southern Bolton.

[lilz7788]

Thanks TheCaptainsCat. We love Ramsbottom as an area and was our first choice, but just found that with our budget we can't really get what we would like as opposed to the areas you have suggested. I'm working on other half to increase his budget...or hopefully get a cheeky offer accepted!

[Mirrorxx]

Sorry to ask on OPs thread but can anyone tell me what atherton is like? Thanks

[NoCupcakesOrCocktails]

Sorry I meant Tottington not Torrington in my earlier post! I've never lived in Bolton but have worked there for years and like Thecaptain says there are lots of lovely areas in the north where you can get a lot for your money. Lots of stuff going on for families and nice parks/walks. The same can be said for bury but house prices seem slightly more expensive than Bolton

[bk1981]

If you can stretch to Ramsbottom it is a lovely place. I grew up there and my parents still live there. Good transport links for the motorway or you could drive 15 minutes to Bury and get the metrolink to Manchester. The town center is great with lots of restaurants, pubs and little shops, plus you have hills in your back garden for country walks.

I definitely wouldn't recommend little lever but I think Rawtenstall is generally nice.

I second the poster who says it's the rain you want to worry about not the snow- it rains ALOT in the North West. I live in the North East now and the weather is loads better!