Never been to the North really but pls tell me where to live

[TheFirmLurker]

Technically I am lying. I have been to random Northern cities but mostly for night outs with friends who happened to be there for whatever reason.

Dh and I have decided to leave London. It’s too expensive and we are killing ourselves for an expensive mortgage which sucks the living life out of us. We were hoping to find a cheaper house in a home county but once rail cards and commute times get factored in I’m not sure we’ll be much better off.

So I’m just curious if you have any recommendations. Dh has to be in the office 3 times a week (I luckily don’t). He has the option to work out of Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool.

I would love a village location where we aren’t on top of neighbours but can easily commute to a large town/city.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

Marsden and surrounding areas are beautiful. Lovely countryside too. Places like Slaithwaite and Holmfirth. Rishworth and Ripponden - two minutes away from the M62, and then a 30 minute drive to Manchester.

What she said!

I’m struggling to understand all these threads about ‘poor’ southerners wanting to move up north with huge budgets 😂 3/4 of a million £ plus.

Yeah HB and Tod rapidly loosing the things that made them popular in the first place and ordinary locals being priced out. Falling over artisan bakeries and hugely expensive lifestyle shops 😂 Quite sad really. Envisioning the point when the nice parts of the north and the south are full of Southerners, the rest of us squeezed into ever smaller bits of the left behind north.

Pretty much anywhere along the A50 / A34 corridors in Cheshire, right side of the M6 for Manchester, beautiful countryside, lovely villages. My own preference would be South of Knutsford

We're about to move from London to a village just outside Chester.

@Leniriefenstahl

My parents in law are in Tod and they were super pleased to have a new Aldi lol. Im not sure it's Southeners colonising the Happy Valley but it's certainly popular with affluent Mancs.

Mind you they've downsized to Rossendale where there's much better value property

So many popular suburbs especially with good schools are getting silly prices. Didsbury. Chorlton, The Heaton's, Bramhall, Cheadle, Altricham, Urmston. It must be hard for young families to get a start. I remember getting our first Victorian terrace in Fallowfield in the early nineties on a pretty low joint salary and a few thousand deposit.

Go for Cheshire, some lovely villages and easily commutable.
Easily the best of the 3 up north options

Sorry if someone has already said this (not time to read the whole thread) but the north (or more accurately the midlands and north) is a big place and Birmingham area (midlands) is different to Liverpool and again to Manchester (both northern cities). And the rural areas are also very different to one another and the cities. I suggest you go for a few visits - maybe a week/long weekend in Birmingham area and also Manchester/Liverpool to get a feel. I'd also look at commuting times - whether that be by rail or road - and also look at cost, congestion, whether the workplace is in the city or on the edge etc. Those practicalities will probably narrow down a geographical area around each of the three possibly work places to give you something to start from and visit.

Just on Chorlton, I have family there and it is lovely if you want more of a suburban location with great access to Manchester. Lovely restaurants and parks.

Just be aware that Trafford has a grammar school system so my family member often says that people have young families in Chorlton but move out to Trafford for the grammar schools when DC are getting close to secondary school age.

Another vote for Nantwich. It is so well connected to the south... 15 minutes drive to junction 16 of M6 and 1hr 36min on train from crewe.

Crewe station is such an asset when living in Nantwich... easy to park with three trains an hour to London, Liverpool (45 mins), Manchester (40 mins) and Birmingham (1 hr)

Come for the food festival in September and check it out.

@TheFirmLurker you do need to go and have a look at these places and start ruling things out.

There are so many suggestions on here - too many.
Even if you made a decision on which city you'd prefer to commute to - Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham are all great but very different cities.

I was going to suggest Cheshire East. Macclesfield you can commute into London in 1 hour 50 direct, Bristol is 2 hours 10, Birmingham 1 hour 10. Manchester is 20 minutes.
Peak district on your doorstep.

Have a look at Macclesfield, Prestbury, Bollington, Rainow, Addlington.

If you want to be close to the sea, Wirral is stunning. Liverpool salaries are generally lower than Manchester but Wirral is commutable to both Liverpool and Manchester. I personally think the London - Manchester line is better.

We are Cheshire and I commute into London regularly and the trains are fine.

Not all the wirral is stunning eg Birkenhead

Manchester is an easier commute. Liverpool would be my preference but both cities are awesome

This thread has confirmed my long-held suspicion that there aren't many Brummies on here! There are lots of areas to the south of Birmingham which would be an easy commute to the city centre and also not too far from London. You could look at north Worcestershire - Bromsgrove, Droitwich or one of their villages - Barnt Green and Alvechurch are popular - all these places are on the cross city line, so 30 mins or less into the city centre. You could also look at Solihull or Warwickshire - again, I'd go for places with stations, like Dorridge, Leamington Spa, Hampton in Arden. It depends whether you want a village or town. Leamington is more like 35-40 mins on the train, but it's a lovely town (as is Warwick next door) and there's lots going on there.

Ooh I came on to recommend Nantwich! I grew up there and it’s a lovely town, lots of nice little shops and cafes, a couple of good secondary’s, train line to Manchester (not sure about liverpool). Close to Crewe where you can get a train to most places. So many nice villages nearby, particularly Audlem. I always planned to move back one day but life took a different turn, still love visiting though.

I lived in Birmingham for 10 years and still visit family/friends- we exist in many forms