Tell me about South Manchester/North Cheshire. Where to live?

[cushioncover]

DH's job is relocating to Manchester. We've just had the house valued and we'll be moving in the next few months.
I've heard south of the city is best for areas and schools (true?) DH has been told that Cheadle is a good area and also wilmslow. Any views, recommendations appreciated. Need 4beds and good primary school for the lads.

As long as they still sell £4.99 bottles of red! Mind you, as I said, I don't think we'd get the size house we need for our budget in Alderley. Lovely as it seems.

LM, I'm on the surrey/berkshire border and most people around here think they'll be mugged if they venture north of watford.

Oh thanks,DDT

I still wouldn't discount Cheadle as an option. When I win teh lottery I'm living here

Message withdrawn

Me too. You see, someone earlier on the thread mentioned hale and lots of the houses there were similar but we could only manage a semi with a small garden on our budget.

Not that we can afford that beautiful cheadle house either! We wont discount the area though. Coming up to explore in a couple of weeks.

Yes, good idea - keep an open mind and all that.

mmj - without divulging too much, have feeling you are local to me...

Oo oo oo, am cagey about revealing. Suffice to say I am "aware" of eth town you have just defended

i thought that bit round was officialy Cheadle Hulme? i am sure the road sign(place name thingy) is after the schools hill turn off

Oh no, Bruntwood is in Cheadle

i stand corrected that teeny tiny part of cheadle is nice

no i don't like the village. i know what you are thinking about it being villagey, just have never had a nice experience there people wise. this was a while ago though but i hold a grudge against villages

Hi. Just scanned this thread. I left Manchester 4 years ago but we lived between Wilmslow and Altrincham, near Hale Barns (In a tide house on the farm where dh worked so not posh) and I liked Wilmslow over Altrincham, but that could just be me. Hale itself has a reasonable parade of shops but nothing big. I was a student in Didsbury but don't let that colour your judgement, it's a lot further 'in' than the rest of the places suggested so far. Can't comment on Cheadle/Cheadle Hulme.
With regards Trafford schools - there are some very good primary schools (I used to work in one) they have 2 types of school - ones that have 1 class per year and go from rec-yr6 and ones that have 2 classes per year and go from res-yr2 then yr3-yr6. The secondary schools vary massively, there are the grammar schools that have been mentioned and several non-grammar ones but, iirc, several of them applied for special status - there is a technical college and an arts one for certain.

Sorry if this repeats anything already said and, as I said, I left a few years ago so things may have changed - feel free to contradict me

Message withdrawn

Used to live in Hazel Grove and I would say it isn't great as far as shopping goes. I do love the new Sainsburys though!
Cheadle Hulme has some really nice bits and the main road is a bit quieter than HG. Poynton and Bramhall are nice though, I'd go for those!

i just looked at HG website. i never knew it existed so bear in mind that it may not give a balanced view of the towns!

Message withdrawn

Hi everyone!
I've just revied this thread to say thanks for all the input last month. We've just spent a few days up there and have decided on Wilmslow.
It seemed like the right mix for us with good schools, shops and green space.
Traffic was heavy in rush hour but Cheadle, Bramhall, Poynton and HG all seemed the same.

When we went to Cheadle, I was surprised because it got such a bad press from you ladies but I really liked it. We looked at a lovely house behind the church in the centre oif the village but being Victorian, the garden was just too small. DH also felt it was a bit too urban.

Bramhall and Poynton both nice but all the houses we viewed seemed to be on busy roads. One roundabout in Bramhall was complete gridlock on the morning we went and we ended up late for the viewing.

Alderley was very posh. I thought our budget was good until we went there. We liked it but we couldn't afford it.

Anyway, we've put in an offer and are waiting for the call. Thanks for everyone's input, it really helped focus our search. I'm hoping everyone is as helpful and sociable when we get there.

Cheshire here we come!