Where to live in Sutton Coldfield

[claireb8]

Hi there

My husband and I and our one year old daughter are plannig to move out of London so we can be closer to family in Wolves and Liverpool.

Sutton Coldfield sounds great on paper - lots of green space, excellent schools and good transport links into Birmingham.

Please can someone share their local knowledge and advise us if we should be looking for properties in specific areas of SC. We want to increase our likelihood of being in the catchment areas for the best state schools (infant through to secondary) and we're ideally looking for a period (Victorian or Edwardian) home. All advice and knowledge shared about the area would be gratefully received! Which areas are best for our property search? Any areas we should avoid?

Many thanks
Claire

I would go for Maney around Maney Hill Primary School and Plantsbrook Secondary School or Four Oaks very close to the Arthur Terry Secondary School - it's excellent but the catchment can be v.small. I don't think there are any bad primary schools in Four Oaks. I wouldn't do Boldmere, not because it isn't nice but because Boldmere Junior school is so hard to get in to, and if you didn't get a place you're bordering an area with less desirable primary schools on the one side. Streetly is a nice residential area but really there is nothing there and the transport is terrible. Walmley is fine too, but again not as well connected. The area of Wylde Green around Vesey Road/Highbridge Road/ Station Road is lovely and convenient, but I think it might be hard to get in to a primary school within walking distance.

If I had to pick, I would choose Maney, because it's closer to Birmingham and walking distance to Sutton town Centre.

What's your budget, and where will you both be working?
Do you want to move once or twice? (Because I don't think catchment for v best primary would get you in for best secondary).

Our budget's around £750k. We could stretch a bit more but one of the reasons that we want to move from London is to gain more space and at the same time, reduce our mortgage.

We're planning to quit our London jobs and find alternative employment in Birmingham. Alternatively, work from home and commute into central London one day a week. It would be helpful to be able to walk or cycle to a station.

And I'd like to think that the next move's the last one we'll do for a while - so a place that is close to great infant/primary and secondary schools. We may not be able to live close to the best schools for all ages. Our preference would be to try and be in the catchment area for an excellent state secondary though. Thanks everyone for your advice so far!

Four Oaks close enough to the Arthur Terry school then. It's one of (if not the?) best comprehensive secondary schools in Birmingham. Butlers Lane train station is close to the school and will take you to the city centre.

Thats a fantastic budget for Sutton Coldfield but the one thing you may struggle with is finding that era of house close to the schools you want, there are not that many period houses in Sutton majority being post war. There are many outstanding primaries throughout the area (mine went to Boldmere) and the best secondaries are Arthur Terry & Fairfax. Plantsbrook which is in central Sutton has just been rebuilt & was also outstanding until the last Ofsted put it at requires improvement but they are working hard to pull this back (both mine go there and i have no issues with it).

Definitely visit the area and get a good feel for it. Prime locations are Boldmere which has a nice high street, lots going on (music festivals, running clubs, lots of indie shops) with a good family community. Around the Maney Hill area is also lovely with the type of houses you love but nothing up for sale (very rare they come around there).
Four Oaks is more affluent with lots of private roads.

Here are my top picks if I had your budget

Four Oak Lovely road but on the corner of a busy junction.

Close to central Sutton but again a fairly busy road

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60841576.html
Needs some TLC but opposite Bishop Vesey Grammer, close to the centre also so excellent for trains into Brum, also if you look at what next door did to theirs it gives you an idea of what could be acheived :-

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=59601773&sale=89173947&country=england

This one sold most recently on Maney and is a stunner but they do not come up often

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=61940687&sale=89463237&country=england

There are lots of beautiful houses around here though and your budget will stretch far but good houses sell fast and you may need to rethink the period part. I have lived here for some years now and think we have a really nice life here. Hope that helps!

This is quite nice, close to central Sutton and Maney area but not huge

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49984257.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66347624.html Highbridge is nice, but no real off road parking

Thanks to everyone who's shared their knowledge so far. And thanks for doing some house hunting on Rightmove! We'd spotted most of those properties and thought they were promising, but we've since ruled some out if they're on busy roads. We want somewhere free from traffic noise. So it looks like our concession may need to be a period property. We thought there'd be more of them around. We'll keep searching around Maney Hill, Boldmere and Four Oaks. Very helpful advice - thanks so much.

Presumably, plenty of stuff to do for kids in and around Sutton Coldfield?

Yes theres lots going on. The park is great as is the leisure centre, each year they do community games there which the kids love. Theres plenty of running/cycling clubs if thats your thing. They close Boldmere High st down and have a food/music festival each summer and then another get together for the Christmas lights switch on. Plenty of toddler groups/nurseries around. Lots of great restaurants and bars. I think though it depends on what you are used to already, I personally like it here and the children have had brilliant state educations (so far!).

Good luck with your search!

Just to add Tamworth is pretty close by and there is also great facilities there like the Snow Dome, retail parks, drayton manor, kiddies farms, Kingsbury water park is also great. All in all its a great place to live.

Well, if you want Arthur Terry, you'll need to be v close, as in 300 yards, and the catchment may well shrink further by the time you DD is ready to go. But that would place you close to the station, so it's not all bad.
Primary school may be more of an issue there- there's a little black hole in terms of primary schools just to the SW of butler's lane. Also, I personally believe you should go for the v best early education as that is when the foundations are laid down, rather than focussing on secondary, but hey.
Schools in Birmingham are not of the same standard as London- London state schools have had money thrown at them, and heavily targeted for improvement. The opposite has been the case in Birmingham for the last ten years.
If I had a budget of £750, I would live elsewhere and send them to independent, for primary at least. (Birmingham does have super selective grammars for secondary).

I would recommend wylde green for the style of house you want and it's so close to Boldmere! 😍

Hi I need your advice ... iam moving to Birmingham and looking for a house to buy through my search I saw a really good house in New oscott near the retail park area on Elizabeth Road ... any one has any idea if the area is a good one? I have two daughters so iam looking for good schools as well.

Hi, Elizabeth Rd looks to be on the other side of Chester Rd - so more in to Kingstanding and not such a good area imo.
I don't know if you'd make the catchment for New Oscott Primary School from there and would be more likely to get a Kingstanding school.

Thanks PurplePimplePin for your reply... new scott primary school is 0.4 miles from the house. I looked in google maps the house is on the boarder of boldmere!

Have you been able to visit the area and the house?

I will today 🤞🏻

That's good 👍. Are you coming from far?
If you can, go to Boldmere high street and then drive out towards Elizabeth road. Also take the drive to schools closest to the house.
I would also explore Wylde green, Sutton park and Sutton town centre of you don't know the area well.
Although technically Elizabeth rd does make it in to the Sutton Vesey ward (by one road) most people would consider the area over Chester rd to be Kingstanding.
See what you think anyway!

Thanks alot for your help!

Hi there is another house near Raddicap heath road ... do you know about the area?

I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/54498099

Hi Mariam, that house is in the Falcon Lodge area of Sutton Coldfield and Is right on the edge of Sutton Coldfield, so it is close to the fields and countryside. Falcon Lodge is a much cheaper area of Sutton. The area didn't have a great reputation, but I don't really know what it's like now. It is a short drive in to Sutton centre. The local primary school would probably be New Hall or Hollyfield and there are two secondary schools opposite each other close by.
How much can you stretch to for the house?

I see .. max I can pay is 230,000 for a three semi detached house.

I hunk you're going to struggle to get the house you want in Sutton for that budget. Does it have to be Sutton? Lichfield is very nice (nicer in my opinion) and a little cheaper.

You could try Walmley area which may be a little more reasonable.

Are you moving for work and will you be working in Birmingham Centre?