Manchester Mumsnetters?!

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Juno and I are moving to Manchester in about 5 weeks time (from London!). We're both from Manchester originally, but have both been in London for 12 years +. We'll be staying in Stockport for a few months and then hoping to buy somewhere in the South Manchester/Stockport area.

Just wondered if there are any Mumsnetters around the place 'up North' for meet ups?!

Did anyone meet anyone, anywhere in the end?!

hey mancunians-dh has a chance of a job in U of M-can't help but see it as a chance to escape our ever-grimmer London life-where should we live? could we live in cycling distance? have 2 dds age 5 and 2.5. I'm ready (sigh-reaching for Prozac) to become SAHM, though could probably get something gainful eventually later on.

I know that nowhere is perfect, but we are just tired of this city (London) after 15 years and with 2 new lives to consider...few (and dwindling) friends, no money left as so expensive, living in grotty scary estate at the limit of our budget despite both working, and no time as it takes so long to get around.

We wish we knew someone there to give us the true picture for families like us (Irish-American hybrid family, older parents, no family support, lovely friendly kids).

Hi! Happy to give you advice! I made the move from london about 8 years ago and love it up here now -- would not move back down there.... the Uni is a great place to work and is easily commutable by bike from lots of really nice places in Manchester...

I recommend south manchester lots of good places to live with good bars, restaurants and shops that are similar to places like Stokie, Camden etc look at Didsbury, Chorlton for a start -- both about 4-5 miles from Uni in city centre...

I find it a lot friendlier than London and so much cheaper there is a lot more range in property within a price range from the silly london style prices to something very reasonable ask away if you need any advice I have a 5 and 2 year old!!

Hey, that's great! I wouldn't have a clue, north, south never mind the actual names of districts. Strangely enough, I did live in Macclesfield nearby for a year but that was such a long time ago and I had no family then-I liked the friendliness but found it hard to find people with similar interests to mine. Work was all-consuming too, lots of problems hence the short stay.

Now of course the KIDS are the all-consuming factor, but we all especially like nature and the outdoors, which of course is nearer in a smaller city, and my own passion is gardening, well more the armchair sort now as I had a slipped disc and no time anyway. We are hoping to start to have a more adult life again soon now the baby stage is over, and the girls are starting to make friends their own ages, so if we move it should be soon I think.

We often go to visit dh's family in Dublin, which dd1 regards as paradise on earth, and it would be easier from there (I prefer boat to flying for eco reasons as much as anything).

sounds like manchester will be a good place to live for you as country side is so easy to get too round here peaks are about 30 mins away, the lakes an hour, north wales the same...

I am now just getting back into sorting out a life for me as kids are getting a bit older... funny you should say gardening as that is my next big plan and there are some great garden centres round here -- can not believe I even said that, never mind know it!!

Well let me know if you decide to move up and need some advice on locations etc -- i can give you advice on south manchester and north cheshire but no nothing about north manchester... the north/south divide seems to exist more here than it ever did in london!

Hi there. I know live in Eest Manchester and work in South Manchester so know a bit too and iwll help if I can!! Manchester's a good place to be though - loads going on and improving all the time. East Manchester has undergone a lot of renewal recently and lots of new houses are being built and the house prices are gradually going up so now might be a good time to buy depending on your budget.

It has definitely cheered me up thinking about starting afresh , we hoped that this semi in Nth London would be our "family home" (moved here Jan 2004) but we just aren't happy at all.

Are there any good gyms or swimming places in south or east Manchester? DH loves climbing too, anything like that (indoors for training, though he wants to go on outdoors ones too, but that is pretty rare around here!). What are fun things to do for 5 and 3 year-olds in the area? Any good parks? DD1 constantly draws pictures of parks i.e. swings slides, but we don't get to go often as too far away. Horse riding for 5 year old?

in the centre of manchester there is the acquatic centre a huge pool built for the commnwealth games... it has a very good kids play area as well... I am a member of a private gym so I don;t go to it often but it is good... as for parks, there are loads of nice ones... we have about 4 favourite ones al within 4-5 miles of our house and there are a couple of good ones within walking distance as well... my friends DH is into climbing there are a few walls in Stockport (not far away) and obviously loads of mountains in north wales which takes 1.5 hours to get to..

Not sure about horse riding as we don;t do that yet but I have seen a couple of schools near motorway I could find out names for you...

There is the usual indoor play places, some urban farms... we don't struggle for things to do!!

will look up aquatic centre, I am so ignorant of places outside London now, it's very insular in a strange way. are there good private gyms with pools then as well?

What about schools? that's why we moved here, but the nearby secondary of course has plunged as soon as we got here. The primary is good still thank heavens, but for how long? teacher turnover is amazing.

I am a member of holmes place which I think is good.. if I go!! To be honest, in terms of facilities, restaurant, bars, shops, theatre, opera, museums etc, everything you can think of in London is now up here -- maybe not in terms of numbers but you can eat all the types of food, spend 1000 quid on a skirt in Harvery Nicks if you so choose etc... It was not like that when I first moved up but the last 5 years have seen a huge change in facilities etc...

Schools like anywhere depends where you are and some are good, some excellent some crap... staff turnover is lower than London, I guess cos teachers can actually buy houses up here... Where we live, within 2 miles there are 4 state primary schools, all good and 3 very good secondary schools and then there are some very good few paying ones, including Manchester High for girls which I think was in the top 5 for a-level passes this year...

Even if we never did anything at all in Manchester, it wouldn't be a worse life I think. I used to think that London was unbeatable for things to do, but now I have kids my horizons are totally limited by the problems of getting around and the lack of time and money, either for me or them. I bought a timeout book on kid's london, planning to take some time off with dd1 on her school holidays- 99% of things were just too far away with the constraints of rush hours and dd2 to be ferried to and from nursery. Same problem after school. There's no way we are able to spend hours at the weekend sitting in traffic or on the tube anymore, for a 2 hour max visit to some attraction no matter how marvelous-the price paid in exhaustion is unaffordable with the horrendous grind of our daily life to go straight back to. Leisure time is instead spent frantically trying to tire the kids out locally and cheaply so we can get a bit of rest-in order to continue being miserable! Then nanny, who we couldn't afford anyway, quit, throwing daily life back into turmoil, and job got extra hassley at the same time, I took the time off anyway feeling bloodyminded-but why do I have to feel that way to take 4 days out annual leave, of a whole year, to spend with my daughter?

Anyway the most memorable things are rarely the "Big (commercial) outings"-the kite in the park was the best thing of the last 3 months.

When we first came to London, sometime in the late Jurassic, I chose a flat near a lovely park for our first home of weeded (sorry wedded) bliss. After a year of traipsing for miles through the drizzle then sitting on the tube for hours, I saw the light-no point living near a park, if you're too knackered to go there after a week getting to work and carrying 10 tons of shopping 6 miles. Did I REALLY learn the lesson? Of COURSE not. So now we live actually IN the mega metropolis, at great cost to our new little family, to be near some fabulous attractions-that we never use.

Does anyone have any comment about U of M as a workplace ? (or as a community I guess, a feeling totally lacking for me at the U of L).

Hi Majorstress and othe manchester mums!
In case it helps, I moved to Manchester about a year and half ago and am pretty happy. I think it is a very good mixture of big city activity and small town feeling (depending where you choose to live).
I also have many friends working at the UNi and they are all pretty happy. Which dept is your DH going into? CAt me if you prefer with the info. Depending on the dept. I might know more specifics.

He hasn't applied for the job yet, only found out last night, it would be some adminy-thing. I don't care about him I'm thinking of me! It's more wondering about the general feeling about the place (uni and town/city) at this stage, than specific personalities (but I would be looking in science research eventually). Guessing the future, could we be happier (well that wouldn't be hard right now! [wry-face emoticon]

So people seem pretty positive-where are the areas to avoid in terms of crime?

Is there any good public transport that girls could use when a bit older, that should influence where to settle (if it came to that).

Lua what area has the town atmosphere in your opinion, and where the more urban, please?

Well,the city center is obviously a major urban area to live. have some childless friend that live in fancy and modern lofts in there and love it!
On the other extreme, have friends living in chechire and glossop (at the edge of the peak district) and comuting by bus or train. I would sya the majority of my friends that work in the uni live in south Manchester which is a good in between. If you like to have a nice center where you can walk to a have a nice coffe or a wonderful polish bakery, I would recommend Chorlton and surroundings, or Didsbury. They are more to the urban side of the continuum, 15 min away from bus to the city center. I would say Chorlton is a bit more family oriented, and a bit more alternative than didsbury.
On the more suburban side of teh grey area, there is Sale and Cheadle that are also very nice. A bit further away from the city and really nice and green is Altrincham (but quite expensive).

As mancmum said. there are options for all tastes!

Just re read your question, and decide I misinterpreted the first time around....

If you mean which area has a nicer feeling of community,in the sense of a small town, I would say that it depends what makes a town for you... Sorry I know I'm not being helpful. But south Manchester, still looks pretty urban, but I know all my neighbors and feel like I'm in a really nice community, IYSWIM. If you like more the country look,than Cheadle and Altrincham would be moe to your taste.
I supposed it also depends how faraway are you willing to go. I have a friend that has a wonderful old farmahouse in Hebden bridge, which is a very nice town. She comes to work by train in the U of M, and takes her 50 min for the whole trip - not bad by London standards

I love Manchester although we live in Greater Manchester. If you've heard of Bolton Wanderes, we're near their stadium. My husband works in the city and commutes every day using the train. It takes about thirty minutes from where we live and it's just long enough for him to read his paper. Where I am there's green fields and little estates of houses where kids play. The school's are really good to. I couldn't imagine living in the city and there are a few parts of Manchester that wouldn't be better than where you are now. Good luck.

Hi, i use the holmes place gym, which is good in Didsbury. I'd recommend there. Also i use to have horse riding lessons at a place called Ashton Farm, just off the M60. They gave a lot of lessons for children and the horses all well looked after etc. Could look them up for you if you'd like.

tbh is really does depend where u live...i have lived in cheadle hulme and now live in Hazel Grove and there are rougher parts whereever u go.

Have a look at league tables for ideas for schools maybe that will influence ur desicion (sp?) again there are good and bad schools.

There are a couple of main bus routes ((mainly 192, 42,157) regular trains(when they run) and cycle lanes too so ur hubbie wouldn't get squished when he cycles!

Also depends on your budget....£200k would get ui a decent hpouse in Hazel Grove but wpould get u 4/5 terraces in Salford.
heres some estate agents for u to look at

reeds rains
right move
edwardmellor
harveyscott

Need any more??lol

Thanks all...musing...there's a nice Holmes place near here, I wonder if I could join and transfer membership if needed. oh not really, Dream on-I made a bargain with myself LAST year that I would frequent the local grotty council centre, to prove I could, before joining another "fancy" one, David Lloyd got about £50 a swim out of me the last few months before we moved house. I have been about twice in the whole year-once the pool was freezing, very offputting.
I'm almost afraid to look at estate agents, knowing dh he will come home and it will all be off again. It will definitely be a strain to keep an even keel while he does all his busy job AND applies for a new one-has to give several months notice here.

pjsmum -- I use Holmes place at Didsbury too!!

Sounds like you have had loads of good advice here... hope it makes your decision easier...

hi MS, welcome to manchester, its the place to be. i live in worsley (former home of david beckham, home of ryan giggs, tyrone from coronation street). its roughly situated half way between manchester + bolton. good schools, 2 gyms, council run swimming baths (with gym) train station.

BTW, lots MNers from down south organising meet up, how about us manc mums doing our own??

DH hasn't backed out of applying yet, but wants me to guarantee that moving there will make me and us all much happier...a tall order to ask of a town and rather unfair-surely that sort of thing must come with within (said with zen-like calm-NOT ). The main advantages are; a chance to get it right this time with the immediate neighborhood; the possibility of better schools; some time freed from commuting; less stressful commmuting; a chance to make some friends for us all as I will commit to be SAHM for at least 2 yrs until dd2 goes to school. (Have been at home part time for 2 weeks now, torture in some ways but DID already make more playdates, connections, etc with other mums at school gate). The only drawback so far he could think of is, it is one way...there would be more options for an academic/admin person if he didn't like what he ended up doing in London.

you manc mums sound superfit! Doesn't ANYONE not like it much, not feel at home, find it dull or wet much of the time? I've never attended a meetup, maybe could sneak off for a whole day and pretend to be one of the Mancunmum-erati, might have to wear a disguise as am rather shy .