Moving to Shropshire advice please

[Forestmum4]

H

If you don’t mind me asking do you use the Cheshire or Shropshire schools?

@Forestmum4

Cheshire for my DC. Primary and soon to be secondary.

Watch Greg Davies stand up on Wem, it's proper yokel local (I say this as someone who'd fit in seamlessly due to multi generational Shropshire). Shrewsbury all the way or Nantwich if you go over the border into Cheshire. There is a reason Wem is cheap.

Prees is in the catchment for SJT along with Lower Heath and Tilstock.
However, school buses run to TA from Whitchurch-Tilstock-Higher Heath-TA and Prees-TA.
There's also a bus from Market Drayton, Shawbury, Clive, Whixall and other outlying villages. If you aren't in the catchment area, the bus is £65 a month.
If you live in Whitchurch, Tilstock, Higher Heath or Prees, the public bus runs about 2mins later than the school bus and is cheaper.
Whitchurch has shops, take aways, pubs and restaurants.
Whixall has nothing (well it has a social centre).
Tilstock has a couple of pubs.
Coton has a lovely pub.
QB, Edstaston, Lower Heath nothing.
Higher Heath nothing except a heath and a wood which are fab for walks! There is a garden centre with a cafe on the A49 that you can walk to from the village.
Prees has the sports club which opens at weekends for drinks, a post office with shop and there's another little shop.

@mintylovely nice to see another vote for Nantwich.

Thank you so much for such details information!

I was thinking this I am trying to convince my DH to rule out Wem. As I don’t think it would be right. I think we were just so thrown with the lovely house we viewed as it had been the nicest so far. And the TA school.

Nantwich is brilliant @AwFeebs a gorgeous place with everything going for it.

I'm seriously horsey and agricultural but Whixall is way too banjo country even for me! Rural can be rough, it's not like town rough but it can be very undesirable. I give you Craven Arms where working in the abattoir by day and then pub Friday night and a fight as having hit the status of living the dream as an example.

@TDMN

All my advice has mostly been given but as domeone who grew up in this part of the world I would definitely recommend that you choose a house that is within walking distance (on safe pedestrian paths not country lanes) of a train station. You will have much more harmonious teen years with your kids and they will thank you for it! Lots of people go for cute quaint cottages on the outskirts and say 'its only 10 minutes to a bus stop!' Without realising that bus transport is a lot more sporadic in the countryside and that '10 minutes' walk is down roads with no footpaths that people who have grown up here speed round. Oh and not sure if Ludlow has been mentioned - not sure about the schools but its a gorgeous town but Shrewsbury is brilliant, best of both worlds of countryside and a busy town.

Absolutely this. You may not think you need a train service now, but your children will grow up and their choices will be limited by their transport options. There’s a big difference between driving and not driving when the last bus home is at 5.00. Shropshire is beautiful, but I’d never live there again because the public transport is so bad.

www.arrivabus.co.uk/find-a-service/511-shrewsbury-to-whitchurch

Wem, Whitchurch and Nantwich are the best train stations to be near - more regular trains including going to Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham.

The secondary school in Nantwich is good.

Thomas Adams catchment villages like Hadnall, Clive, Shawbury, Stanton, etc are much nicer than Wem, Whitchurch and surrounding areas IMO. There's even a school bus from Hodnet because so many kids are choosing TA over Grove, SJT etc. Public transport isn't particularly great from any of them but at least you can be in Shrewsbury in 15mins rather than 30 mins from Hadnall/Shawbury so getting taxis back is much more reasonable.

Does anyone know anything about Harmer Hill?

Malpas is a lovely little village and Bishop Heber is a great school :)

I have heard that Malpas is very nice from several people but tgat the school is very over subscribed. I have not researched this myself so unsure if it’s true or not.

Sent you a pm

Thank you so much have pm back

Hi I'm male 60 and wondered about moving to Shropshire or Herefordshire both seem similar i have no family so would have to be near a town somewhere that has things to do in the evening but actually like living in remotish areas if that makes sense. Would hate to live on an estate. I think both counties offer tremendous value for money but not sure of their remoteness currently live in the countryside outside pewsey wilts.

From what we have seen so far I would say the North would possibly be better for you. Shropshire that is. We thought Ellesmere and Oswestry were really nice they have what you would need.
I don’t really know Herefordshire but have a few friends that grew up in that area they loved it.

I have lived in Northwich, Nantwich, Crewe (all in Cheshire) and Whitchurch. Nantwich is ok but you'll certainly get less for your money. I ended up in Whitchurch as we got for more for our money than in Nantwich and Northwich (Crewe was a temporary stop gap and I don't recommend it).

I have to say we love Whitchurch. We are very close to the Cheshire border just off the A41 so it's easy to access Malpas and the A49. We both frequently have to access Crewe and London for work and it's only 15 mins on the train to Crewe for any onward connections or an hour the other way to Manchester. Nantwich is also accessible on the train and is a stop en route to Crewe so only about 10 mins. Things that still astound me is the train station parking is free, albeit it can be difficult to get a space but still it's free! Shrewsbury is only 20 mins by train. Also bear in mind in Whitchurch you actually may be closer to some parts of Cheshire, e.g. having to go for a scan at hospital it was far quicker to access the hospital at Crewe or Chester than Shrewsbury!

Whitchuch SJT is due another Ofstead this year so it will be interesting to see if they have improved their Good rating. I do believe it is getting better.

We have found the people in Whitchurch lovely. It's very traditional but everyone has been welcoming and I've noticed more people moving from cities who enjoy the pace of life. There are plenty of independent shops albeit you can't necessarily get what you want but Chester, Shrewsbury and Cheshire Oaks are all easy to access, a good sense of community spirit and the high school does tend to mainly have Whitchurch children.

There is a strong community spirit and this was recently on TV recently fb.watch/7jSJHcGSHy/

I suggest you join the Friends of Whitchurch Facebook page or Whitchurch Shropshire Have your Say Facebook page lots of people will give you advice.

Thank you so much for all this lovely information. My DH was very taken with Whitchurch I was more reluctant as not too sure about the area as parts looked a little run down to me but having said that there are areas in our local town I would be more unsure of. Or original search was Whitchurch and we did look at the White House school (did a tour) and SJT but we’re told they had no spaces. I think it’s all going to come down to schools in the end at least until our girls are older. We are widening our search to the Baschurch area atm but think we possibly need to go back and look at Whitchurch. Can I just ask if you moved from a local area or was it a big move?

@Forestmum4 I'm originally from a very rural part of Staffordshire and had no bus route, no train station and resented the life growing up. No popping to friends after school etc. It was only in my final year of high school the council realized how far from the school we lived and how remote it was they sorted a taxi. Prior to this my mum had dropped us off in the village for the school bus and we use to them walk home from the local bus in the afternoon as my parents worked. Whitchurch is a traditional market town.

Whitchurch was an accident when Rightmove changed my search criteria to +1/4 mile outside of Cheshire and the rest is history. It was about an hour and fifteen mins from where we were previously.

Having been to Chester town and Shrewsbury recently I was surprised at how run down they are in places. The shopping centres in both are half empty, shops all boarded up.

Parts of Whitchurch are a bit run down at the moment but it's changing, the swimming pool has a leak and has never reopened but we are getting a new leisure complex. In a time when shops are shutting Whitchurch has had new independent shops open during lockdown - Moo and Boom, Refill your Boots and others are on the cards.

I'd definitely join those Facebook groups and ask questions. Lots of parents will be able to give you honest advice and suggestions and perhaps address some of your concerns.

Oh and if you head over to Whitchurch again book a table at Etzio Italian, it has great food!

I think we may be back as a Previous house we were interested in has come back on the market. Do you know anything about the station road area? I know it’s near the junior school and apparently the school didn’t have a very good OFSTED (no idea why and I know how OFSTED can be so not my position to comment on it) but it does obviously make us a little concerned for our youngest so are looking into local independent schools. I would prefer not to but we will be moving her from a local outstanding primary where we are.

I currently live in Shrewsbury, having moved from the south coast. Before Shrewsbury, I lived in Oswestry for 6 months.
Shrewsbury although it has some nice parts, I find it quite rough really. I've seen lots of drug dealing and kids been a nuisance. The public transport is terrible even in Shrewsbury.

Oswestry is awful, I had never seen so much dog mess and people drug dealing. The shopping is also terrible.
If i could go back, i wouldn't have moved to Shropshire. It's quite backwards in places and feels like it's not moved on from 1970.

@southern82 I confess I don't go to Shrewsbury much even though it's 20 mins on the train from us it's almost an hour drive so we tend to either catch the train to Manchester or drive to Chester/Cheshire Oaks as it's closer. I think alot of bigger towns are suffering with shop closures and can look quite rough, including places like Chester. I've only been to Oswestry once so can't really give an opinion on it.