Relocating to North West

[blueskiesblue]

Hi all. We are hoping to relocate to Bolton/Bury area soon. Where are the better areas to live in Bolton/Bury and surrounding areas? OH is from Little Lever but we don't necessarily want to be on his parent's doorstep IYKWIM
Can anyone tell me what Gigg Lane, Bury (near Rutland Drive) is like to live on please, as we saw a house there that might do?
I also need information on which are the better primary and secondary schools. Eldest has high-functioning Autism and needs a secondary school with firm boundaries and excellent support. Will also consider small independent schools if anyone knows of any good ones. Many thanks.

Hello. Both Bury and Bolton are very good for schools. Not sure about the area you described but I live in Ramsbottom (part if bury) and its wonderful. It was runner up in high street of the year! Many of the primary schools are rated outstanding and it has a second school that I hear is very good ( wood hey) but its easy enough to get into the centre of bury to the grammar schools and there is another good high school not far in Bolton- I can't remember the name... Maybe 'cannon something'.

Ramsbottom is very friendly and there's a lot going on, steam train, an annual music festival, the chocolate festival, war time weekends, Thomas the tank weekend. Since I had my son and have met a lot if people, the majority seem to he like us and have moved to the area from Manchester (although we're originally from Lancashire and Kent). Other nice areas I know are greenmount, holcombe village, tottington and summerseat.

Not sure about schools for your son, although a neighbour of mine has an autistic son who is collected in a minibus and taken to and from his school so I can only assume there are facilities for him reasonably close. Hope this helps! Good luck.

Markland Hill in Bolton is lovely. I had some of my childhood there. Some of Heaton is good, too.
Parts of Westhoughton are ok too, Horwich and Adlington also.

Cannon Slade is the school loxmatoz was thinking of, but can't comment to whether it's a good school or not! It is over towards Harwood in Bolton. It's a nice enough area around there, but very quiet. You'd probably end up doing a lot of travelling around.

I don't know too much about the gig lane area, other that a) beware of football traffic - the area gets heavily parked up around match days close to the ground, and b) the main road (bury old) also gets heavily congested. On sunny football days there can be a lot of people around so I would be cautious if crowds and noise would upset the DC

I suspect there will be plenty of help around for autism round the are though. The centre of bury has a soft play centre which has disabled and autistic children in mind, and the primary schools in prestwich seem to have a high proportion of (well supported) autistic children. I assume that they will be catered for at a secondary level as otherwise there would be a mass exodus out of the area and I've never heard of that. I'd check out Philips Park high school around that way, and there's a catholic high school closer to gig lane that people rave about but other than having bury in its name I forget what it's called! If you look around whitefield or prestwich there are some good transport links to both bury and manchester, and it's only 20mins drive away from Bolton too.
Simister is fairly quiet but has Parrenthorn secondary nearby which had a good reputation. My neighbour's kids go there and it sounds like there is a lot of work and discipline

just checked - rutland drive should be far enough away from the stadium to avoid disruption, although traffic jams would still be an issue I would think. Not sure about the schools in the immediate area, sorry!

I don't know Bury very well but used to live near Markland Hill in Bolton as mentioned previously. The area around there up Chorley New Road towards Horwich (and the roads off Chorley New Road) is probably the nicest part of Bolton in terms of property (although there are other parts that are more traditional / with better views etc). Markland Hill Primary is good as far as I know (we moved before children attended school). Canon Slade is the high school (Church of England) but it is over-subscribed and requires regular church attendance (pretty much every week with a sign off from the vicar) to get in. It gets very good results for a high school. Obviously you have Bolton School a private school (Junior Division, then separate Boys and Girls Schools) it is very well regarded. The main reason for posting was to mention Rumworth School I don't have any personal experience other than our neighbour was an autism specialist who worked there. It is very close to the Markland Hill area (just off the Ladybridge estate) and the neighbour was lovely and said the school was excellent in this area.

I live in Horwich and love it, it's a lovely village