Where to land in the UK

[BevfromSA]

Hi all, I may be blessed with a Project manager job in IT in Crewe next week, my Son (17yrs) and I (& 2 dogs) are emigrating from SA end December. Please help me with a place to live. I'm hearing Crewe is not a good choice. My son may want to go to University in Chester some time so I would like to find a village somewhere south of Chester I think. I can afford about 800pounds rent a month and would like a "nicer" village to settle in. I love rural but he's a teen so needs a gym nearby etc... can you help please? Where? Ive been online for hours

There’s some nice places in North Wales that would fit the bill?

North Wales where?

Places like Northop, Broughton, Mold are all close for transport to Chester and Crewe

Are they nice places to live?

I will be buying a car

Yes, north Wales is lovely. And it’s easy to drive from there to most places

Thank you so much, I will research those areas

Denbigh and Ruthin are nice too but a bit further out. Chester is beautiful. Shrewsbury is also lovely but further from Chester

If you put the postcode of your new work into Rightmove, then specify number of bedrooms, maximum mileage are willing to drive and max rent it will give you everything within the area. There's about 160 2+ bed houses with gardens within 10 miles. Please do note not all (actually very few) rentals allow pets so you may find choice is far fewer than first seems

Why has your son fixed on the University of Chester? Is there a particular course there that he wants to do? It seems a bit odd to limit your searches in relation to your son’s possible university in the future.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113468462#/?channel=RES_LET

Caerwys is beautiful

Thank you all. My new employer suggested Chester University - we are not sure yet. I will look at the suggested areas and try the Rightmove option with postal code - Im only there daily

I don’t think it’s any employer’s place to suggest a university for an employee’s child. Chester would be a very odd one to come up with out of the blue.

The postal code in Rightmove didnt work for me - will keep looking tx

Depends what he wants to study but Chester Uni is not one that immediately springs to mind for most subjects. Are you assuming he would continue to live at home?

Nantwich is lovely and 5 mins from Crewe

Yes he would probably live at home whilst studying further.

Thank you. I have applied for some houses in Nantwich

Im hearing that he would have to be in the UK for 5 years to qualify for a student loan - this is unexpected. I had hoped the school he is currently with (Reddamhouse) would facilitate A-Levels online and then he could study something further in the UK in the Science line (Chem,Physics,Maths,Biology). I think I need to investigate if that could be done online via SA as I will be keeping bank accounts open here and renting out my home

I think my new employer was merely trying to be helpful with sufggestions

You might consider Whitchurch also, though Nantwich is super.
Where is your son up to educationally?

Oh, Crossed posts there!

I think it is 3 years but not only being resident for education purposes ie. settled here not at boarding school. Otherwise he is likely to be assessed as an overseas student and charged uni fees accordingly.

Ok, have I got this straight? You’re in South Africa now but are relocating to the Crewe area. Your son is at school in South Africa. You want him to come with you to the UK and attend university in the UK at a local university near to where you will live.

If your son is 17, how many years of school does he have left? Could he stay in South Africa if it’s only a year? He won’t be eligible for Student Finance to get a loan for university in the UK. Can you afford international fees? It’s not typical that students live at home while attending university, though it does increasingly happen. For a young man newly arrived in the country, I would strongly suggest he does not live at home with his parent. It will make it difficult for him. There are far better universities than Chester to go to in order to study the subjects you mentioned.

Manchester and Liverpool are far better universities

Why would someone live in north Wales and travel to Crewe for work?

Look at Tarporley, Bunbury, Northwich, Nantwich.

Do you know how close to the train station in crewe your workplace would be? Train links from Chester to Crewe are really good, regular and fairly quick.

Living closer to Chester itself could give options of other Universities, Liverpool would be easily commutable 45 minutes by train and every 20 minutes I think. Even Manchester would be possible but commuting would be costly.