Moving to cheltenham - where can i afford to live?

[kalo12]

dh been offered a job, but will mean i have to give up my job in london.

where are nice areas to live? near good schools, primary and secondary state schools.

any tips for area?

[saramoon]

Leckhampton/Charlton Kings are good areas and good schools. Great if you have a family. Fairview nice too as well as Pitville but you will be in catchment area for Pitville school which apparantely is not the best. St Pauls is studenty area. Avoid anywhere near GCHQ and Hesters Way/Princess Elizabeth Way - apologies to anyone who lives there. Cheltenham is a great place to live - although if you are used to the hustle and bustle of London it may be a little quiet. Cotswolds nearby as well as Forest of Dean, easy access to Bristol, Wales. Let me know if you need any other info

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I moved to Cheltenham 3 years ago because I got a job there, my main consideration was a good secondary school as dd was in Year 6 and needed a good feeder.

You either have really good schools in Cheltenham or crappy ones - the good ones are Cleeve School, Cheltenham Bournside, Balcarras and Pates Grammar (selective). I moved to Bishop's Cleeve (a large village 3 miles north of Cheltenham town) as it is significanlty cheaper than Cheltenham itself, that feeds into Cleeve School (very good, my dd goes there) and good primaries as well (Bishop's Cleeve Primary, Woodmancote and Grangefield).

Bournside catchment area is Hatherley/Lansdowne area of Cheltenham, and catchement for Balcarras is Leckhampton/Charlton Kings, however I could not afford to live there (SIL lives in Leckhampton in a very ordinary 70s 3 bed semi, just valued at £340K). Leckhampton Junior School the best for results and best reputation in Cheltenham imo.

Prestbury is a village just outside as well, however prices will be very high I expect (feeds into Cleeve School). Cheaper areas for houses in Cheltenham itself are Springbank, Fiddlers Green (these are near Hesters Way as mentioned above) but these will feed into less good schools (Christs College is the senior school). Also, Whaddon/Priors Park area cheaper for houses, however that would feed into Pittville which I wouldn't recommend.

Churchdown is between Chektenham and Gloucester, a large village with loads of schools, this may be worth a look as I know the houses are cheaper. Also, Tewkesbury (next junction up from Cheltenham on the motorway) is significantly cheaper, schools aren't bad.

It is a very nice place to live, lovely shopping and you are very near the open countryside. I would recommend it.

HTH - if you have any other questions feel free!

[kalo12]

wow thanks. thats brilliant. i was looking at leckhampton, but could only afford something around 200k. do you think thats poss for 2/3 bed?

[CMOTdibbler]

Churchdown is really nice - BIL/SIL live there, and have been very happy with the schools, and there seems to be a decent amount of things going on. Good transport links on the bus (SIL works in Cheltenham and goes by bus).

Seems to be a good range of houses in your price range

[saramoon]

You CAN buy a house in Leckhampton for £200,000. Don't know if there is much around at the moment though. You will get more for your money elsewhere though. Yes, Bishops Cleeve is lovely as is Prestbury.

[Restrainedrabbit]

We moved up here in June for DHs job, wanted to live in Cheltenham but couldn't get anything for the money we wanted to spend so bought in Churchdown (west of Cheltenham) village. It's green and leafy and very quiet but close to all the main amenities (two Co-ops in the village, doctors, cafe, takeaways, library etc etc) and the M5. two outstanding primaries in the village and two secondaries, one of which is very highly regarded (Chosen Hill).

So yes, would recommend it here Otherwise if you want to be in Cheltenham Leckhapmton/Warden Hill are popular as is Fairview (but Pittville is a crap school), avoid Whaddon, St Marks/St Pauls and other places previously mentioned. Futher away: Stroud is popular with some great grammars and one of the top primaries in the country.

[Restrainedrabbit]

Oh we bought our 3 bed semi in Churchdown for 180k, with a 150ft garden, garage and of road parking.

[EvilTwins]

Up Hatherley area is very family friendly and popular with young families - 4 bed semi for around £250,000-£275,000. There are 4 well regarded primary schools as well as nice parks and green areas, and it's only a short drive or bus ride into the town centre.

[Littlefish]

[bottersnike]

kalo, we are looking to move to the Cheltenham area as well, and think we've settled on Bishops Cleeve. In fact, we're going house-hunting next week, so if anyone knows of any lovely 4 bed houses for sale in the village, please let me know!

I noticed that there is a 3 bed semi on the market in the village for £190K - would that suit you?

[kalo12]

oh wow, you are all so helpful. that 3 bed semi sounds good. have you a link?

[newpup]

Have a look at Hatherley too. Lots of newer houses and in the catchment for some good schools. Leckhampton is over subscribed and very hard to get into but is a great school. You can apply for Pates Grammar from anywhere in Cheltenham. Avoid catchment for Pitville though.

Bishops Cleeve just outside Cheltenham is lovely. Good primary and secondary schools too.

[kalo12]

which other primaries are good round leckhampton / hatherly?

The catchment for Balcarras - what happens if you don't get in? is the other nearby secondary in charlton kings ok?

I've noticed some nice two bed georgian terraces not far from town near brighton road / hewlett road. How come they are so cheap? - ie 130 - 160 k?

Dun ally primary looked nice is it?

[newpup]

Not sure about Dun ally but Naunton Park is good. Bournside is the other secondary school, to be honest Cheltenham has mostly good secondary schools would just avoid Pitville.

Some of the areas around the town centre are not so good, lots of student housing.

I would stick to, Hatherley, Charlton Kings and Leckhampton. Although am sure there are other nice areas I do not know so well. Would definately recommend a look at Bishops Cleeve unless you must be in Cheltenham.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Kalo - I will have a look for that 3 bed semi later when at home (can't access that website at the mo).

I think houses are significantly cheaper than when I moved up here 3 years ago.

I know that my SIL (who livesi n Leckhapmton) has a neighbour who applied for Balcarras, she got refused a place there and was offered Pittville. They got into Balcarras on appeal, but still.

Both my nieces go to Leckhampton primary - it is a brilliant school is must be said. Another good one which I have heard good things of is Holy Apostles and Christchurch primaries, sorry I don't know the exact locations but have a look on the Ofsted website, that will give you a map and the latest reports as well.

SIL knows of people who live on the Pittville/Balcarras border, if they have been offered Pittville they apply for places at Chosen Hill in Churchdown, which is also an excellent school.

Cannot rate Bishop's Cleeve hiugh enough for the good value housing, community spirit and good schools. Cleeve School has been excellent lately, dd has had a bullying issue and they have been so supportive.

If you are prepared to go a little further out, just 2 miles north of Bishop's Cleeve is another (smaller) village called Gotherington, which has another excellent primary school which feeds into Cleeve as a secondary. Is also on a regular bus route into Cheltenham if you need it.

[bottersnike]

Just tried to link to the semi, but the link looked really long, so not sure if it would work. It's still on the market though, and is listed on rightmove.

We saw a gorgeous house in Bishops Cleeve this week, and are now trying to sell our house asap so that we can buy it. We went round the primary too, and that seems great.

So exciting!!

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I lived in Bishop's Cleeve and it was lovely. The school (BC Primary) was absolutely excellent.

The only bad thing about living in BC is access to Cheltenham on race days, specifically Gold Cup week. If you can avoid travelling into Cheltenham town centre for these days.

They have a spring fair in Bishop's Cleeve as well, as well as a Christmas carnival type thing. BC may look like suburbia (esp. the new housing developments) but has a really nice village feel to it.

[saramoon]

If you are looking at houses around Brighton road, you will be in catchment area for Pitville school. It is a nice area though - my brother has just moved from there to Bishops Cleeve cos of schools.

[fimac1]

Hatherley has some great Primaries - Greatfield Park, Warden Hill (nice area to live), and Lakeside, Hatherley is considerably cheaper than some areas over on that side of Cheltenham, lots of choice from 1960's right through to 1990's builds, both mine are now at Bournside and went to St James Primary which is at the back of Bournside, in the Park area, let me know if you want any more info

[kalo12]

bottersnike how is it going?
i am still keeping my eyes peeled for bargains in leckhampton but i'm starting to have cold feet cos someone told me cheltenham is full of chavs or total straights. are there any nice normal coolish people there?

[saramoon]

I have lived in many places in the UK and abroad and grew up in the Forest of Dean. I came back to this part of the UK 5 years ago to settle down and LOVE Cheltenham. Chavtastic? No, although i guess we have our fair share. I am not a chav or total straight - although i'm not sure what that is. All towns and cities have their fair share of all kinds of people. Cheltenham is a lovely place to live actually

[kalo12]

oh good Saramoon, thank you for your reassurances. I'm from the north and I don't want to go back there after living in london for 20 years but its quite daunting moving to somewhere new to settle long term when I don't even really know it

[bottersnike]

Move is going well, in fact, I got offered a job today so we are looking for somewhere to rent short term until our house has sold. We're hoping that the house we've fallen for is still available once we've sold ours!
I think you will find that there are coolish people everywhere! Certainly there is a lot of money in Cheltenham, but that just means there are lovely shops

[anne1980]

hi ive got a chance for an exchange to cornmeadow drive arle farm spring bank arear just wondered if any 1 can tel me what that arears like as im in swindon at the moment and dont no cheltenham and if crime is real bad around there also how far away from there a good secondry school and junior school are thanks

[lbubbly]

Cheltenham is a fab place to live with great schools.Heard through the grapevine that Balcarras and Pittville have joined now force ,so great opportunities for both schools.....