to ask where the most woo woo guardian reader bit of Sheffield is?

[Coastalwalks]

Hi all,

DP and I are moving to Sheffield later in the year.

We are both outgoing, and like long-distance walking, art galleries, over-priced pastries etc etc. We are both women, and would like to have children in a few years. I understand that the West of the city (Nether Edge, Sharrow, etc) is meant to be very nice, excellent parks etc.

Thinking with one eye on the future, it would be good to buy in the catchment area of a good school. I am conscious that - as in any city or area - there may be areas and schools where it is better or worse to have gay parents. If anyone has any insights to this end I would be pleased to hear them :) essentially looking to live in a fluffy guardian reader type area. Budget up to £300,000, and ideally would like to live within walking distance of the train station.

Thank you!

Long time since I lived there, but Walkley, Broomhill,Crookes, Ecclesall Road(though still pretty uni student heavy) and the areas you mentioned. The areas past Endcliffe park are quite nice, leafy suburbs. Nay chance of walking to the station (unless you go for near Dore station), as its bang in the middle of the city, but buses and trams are still pretty good. No clue about schools these days.

Nether Edge, doubt u will get much for £300k, but it is easily walkable into town and the station, approx 25 mins, though buses were good when I lived there.

Oh and that end is good to get out into Derbyshire. Honestly no one will bat an eye.

I live in Sheffield in Ecclesall. The South West of the city is generally lovely but expensive and the catchments of what are perceived as good schools push the prices up. I think you may (sadly) find you’ll struggle to buy a family home in the catchment of a good school with that budget. Do you want to buy your final home straight away or would you be willing to move up here and then research where you’d like your final house to be?

PS I also think Crookes is worth looking at - lovely vibrant Main Street but am not sure about school catchments.

I don’t think you’ll have any issues with your sexuality really either although obviously there are bigoted people everywhere unfortunately:

Echo what others have said. Crooks/hillsbrough/walkley not to be discounted. I think great areas of Sheffield. On the tram Lin too so easy access to city centre and train station.

Schools wise malin bridge primary and Marlcliffe both nice primaries and feed into forge valley secondary which is ok too. Chaucer has just been integrated into the Mercia trust and so in a few years could be very very different to now. I mean lots of things can change re secondary schools by the time you would be considering that.

in terms of the other side of the city where people have mentions eg Eccleshall Norton Dore etc lovely areas and close to peaks but you will pay an absolute premium. You won’t get much if anything for £300k unfortunately.

Mercia is making waves as a secondary but it most definitely a marmite school. You’ve also got High stors and silverdale over that way which are known to be good secondaries.

personally I think most areas of Sheffield fit the ‘fluffy guardian eating over priced pastries types’ 🤣 Hillsborough park has its own version of over priced pastry cafe next to the library in a huge park!

re the gay parents I would like to say we are pretty welcoming up here so anywhere you like but sadly you will get biogots in every city 😔

good luck with the move

One thing to bear in mind is that a lot of Sheffield is very hilly! It might appear on a map that you’re only a mile from a Supertram stop and an easy link to the train station, but that mile might be a very steep walk! Suggest you have a good look round before you pick your area to focus on. Good luck with your move.

I'd go for Broomhill but with that budget you'd be in Crookes (Broomhill adjacent). Broomhill has a lovely little infant school which you'd be in catchment for if you are on the broomhill side of Crookes (Crookes has a larger primary school which is also very good I think). The parents at Broomhill are lovely, some definite 'hippy' types but also lot of doctors and other people working at the local hospital. Quite a diverse intake ethnically. It's majority white but in our kids class lots of other cultures and ethnicities are represented (and not all the white children are British). No-one would bat and eyelid about same sex couples.
Lots of Green voters locally and lib dems; Sheffield has always been a Labour City but these areas in the west we are talking about it are more Green / Lib Dem.

If you go further west (Ecclesall, Bents Green or out towards Fulwood) it gets more suburban as you get futher from the city and that wasn't what we wanted.

There's lots of Victorian terraces in Crookes and you can get something for 300k. Parking is a nightmare unfortunately.

Whilst you still have no children you could look at a flat in Park Hill or somewhere similar in the city centre then move to a house slightly further out of the centre when you're ready to have children.
Would give you a couple of years to get to know the city and decide where you'd like to set up the family home.