Commuting by train to Manchester Piccadilly

[MissElaineNeus]

Considering a potential move to the NW - can anyone help with ideas for towns and villages that are under an hour by rail to central Manchester? Short drive to a local station OK.

Two of us, no kids, one dog. We like hiking in the hills, riding bikes, photography, eating out.

Perfect scenario would be a small town with food shops, pubs and restaurants, ideally a cinema, with quick and easy access to beautiful countryside.

Does such a place exist outside my wildest dreams?

I'd definitely look at Marple, they've got the cutest cinema, nice restaurants and so many walks.

Sandbach is lovely! 45 mins from Manchester I believe (although Cheshire) you get a lot for your money there too but gorgeous market town

I don't know what style you're looking for but I'd love this is i had 500k
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74139191.html

Clitheroe is 1hr 10mins on the train but is a small market town, lots of beautiful countryside on the outskirts most of it in the forest of Bowland. There are other places on the same line worth looking at Lango or Whalley for example.

Anywhere between Sheffield and Manchester on the Hope Valley line would meet your needs. It goes right through the heart of the Peak District in about an hour.

(No Elizabethan manor houses with three cottages for 700k though, but you could have something like this.

@Littlebelina Marple has an independent cinema with a circle and interval. It's very popular I believe.

Saddleworth or glossop if you don’t want to go the Cheshire route. The ribble valley might be worth a look as it’s meant to be the place in the UK with the highest standard of living.

Sold @tonicclonicandthewaves, that's fabulous!

@loopytiles, very near Manchester Piccadilly.

You know, I think I've seen the cinema but obviously blocked it out. Been a while since I've been to the centre of Marple as moved out of the area.

@ilikeyourhairyhands. Wow - that's lovely. But it does seem expensive. Our current house is kind of similar, hall house, built around 1450, bigger inside but much smaller garden, not such a nice town and valued about the same - and it's in the SE. (Kent to be fair, not Surrey.)

Yes Miss, the Peaks are lovely but they aren't the cheapest. You will get more for your money Marple/Glossop way, it's much busier than the Hope Valley though.

Most places in Cheshire within easy reach of Manchester also command a premium. Buxton might be a good bet.

I wouldn't go for Chorley. The town centre isn't great and the Blackpool - Manchester train line usually just has 2 carriages that are packed to the rafters. Blackrod is on the same line. I wouldn't move there knowing that is the daily commute.

Hi OP

As well as looking at journey times, I would also check where the last station you will reliably get a seat is.

I commute into Manchester from Lancashire. Northern trains are especially poor at the moment, but anyone further than 45 mins out on my line really is squeezing on trains from 6.30 until 9.30 and on days where fewer carriages (2 not 4) are available, no-one gets on at all from about 60 mins out.

If you can bear it (and it may make you swear off any idea of travelling by train forever), the northernresist Facebook page is an unvarnished overview of some of the congestion hotspots.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47480736.html

See @curbside has similar advice!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43397904.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72553799.html

altrincham.today/2018/03/15/news/new-found-buzz-altrincham-judged-best-place-live-north-west/

Macclesfield and surrounding area. Macc is a decent sized town right on the edge of the Peak District/Derbyshire, a town in its own right and not an expensive suburb of south Manchester like Altrincham, Hale etc. Macc has great train links to Piccadilly (20 mins) and London (1:45) on the Virgin trains so no need to rely on Northern Fail.

£500k would get you a lovely house.

Knutsford also a possibility, trains not as good as Macc though. Buxton is pretty but a long commute and overcrowded with tourists in the summer.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67045280.html

Macc has my favourite local cinema - cinemac.org.uk/

In theory one of the villages on the southport to Manchester line would suit you perfectly. In practice the rail service is horrendous at the moment.

Ramsbottom ,Tottington, Greenmount all near Bury and Holcombe Hill would be right on your doorstep?

@Ginpuddles luckily I only have to do the journey when I'm summoned in to head office! Oh god I just couldn't do it 5 days a week. It's so awful to be stood at Oxford Road / Victoria / Picadilly looking at the board just showing Delayed with no way of knowing what time you'll actually get home.