moving to sheffield - any advice on family friendly areas.

[percy]

hello. its been a long time since i have been on mumsnet. we are moving to sheffield over the summer for dh's new job, and thought i'd use mumsnet as a resourse if you don't mind. we are looking primarily at nether green catchment area as we visited the school and loved the headmistress. but was also wondering about living in brincliffe or kenwood/ sharrow?? are either of these family areas with any sense of community? would be great to get your ideas as we don't know any families in sheffield.

bump

There was a thread about this recently - don't know if it's of any use to you:

see here

My bruv lives in Sheffield, but I doubt strongly that he know anything about family friendly areas

Nether Edge is nice, but I don't know that it would be the right catchment. That's next to Sharrow & Brincliffe

If you can afford Nether Green/Fulwood then they are great places to live!

would echo what purpleturtle says, nethergreen catchment good and family friendly. If you can't quite afford it, i knwo we couldn't then i would recommend Crookes, half of it feeds Westways primary and half of it feed lydgate, there is a search engine on the sheffield city website.

If you look on the previous thread then i put a link to an estate agents called merlin estates who are selling of cheaply a load of ex-uni houses. imagine they will need work but they are cheep, a new lot has just come onto the market on the join between an area called Broomhill (v nice, v expensive) and Crookes. they are the ones on Red Car Road if you have a look.

Where are you moving from, percy? Anyone from 'down south' usually finds Sheffield pretty friendly as a whole (with certain obvious exceptions!). is there anything other than schools that would help you choose?

ooh thanks guys. we are in a very fortunate position in that we sold our house in london for a ridiculous price last year after doing a massive renovation job and so could probably afford to spend a max of £450k. so, i am hoping we can pretty much take our pick of wherever we want to live????

we did really like nether green and i think this is our ideal option. however, we also found our dream house the other day on a visit, which was on thornsett road S11 (sharrow head near the marriott). i think i could get my son into clifford (fallen birth rate in current reception year).

BUT, basically, i have concerns about whether this is a very 'family' area, and whether i will have to use my car all the time. at the moment in london we walk to schools, shops, parks etc and i would hate to loose that luxury. what do you think about the area?

thanks for suggestion katzguk - don't think we could face another renovation project at the moment.

sorry purpleturtle - didn't see your message as i was faffing with my reply.
we are moving from crouch end in london. i have already noticed that everyone in sheffield is friendly - i am just a bit anal about having to get in my car to get to parks, local shops, toddler groups, schools etc. where i live at the moment you tend to bump into friends in the street and i am quite keen to recreate that.
so basically it is amenities that would help me choose, hence my concern about sharrow head. am i being misguided.

Hi. I live in Sheffield too - love it here. I currently live right in the centrre, but due to move to S10 (near Katzguk) very soon. We are moving to Crooks, S10, to be in the Lydgate catchment. We choose the area because of the school first, and also because it is so close to town, has loads of amenities, hass a great mix of people there (families, students, couples, old people) and the bus service is excellent by all accounts.

This link: Catchement areas is great when house hunting within specific catchment areas. Type in an address and it tells you which school catchment you'd be in (primary and secondary).

Most popular estate agents are Blundells and Saxton Mee . There are others though. This link here has a list of lots of local agents - all with web links.

I personally would prefer to live in S10 or S11 areas. Sharrow and Kenwood are not as nice as many other areas IMHO. But I know other people may feel differently anyway.

With your budget you have a great pick of houses - new and old. I am guessing, from what you have said so far, you'd prefer older.

What other facilities are you wanting?

hi hulababy

yes, from what i have seen of sheffield so far, i am very excited to move. thanks for the links - i have been using saxton mee, blundells and elr mostly so far.

i guess the facilities i want are... toddler groups (have a nearly 5, 2 year old and planning another), after school activities like cubs, football etc, a small park nearby, a shop to get some milk etc. as i keep banging on about, it would be great to get these things within a 15/20 minute walk.

not so bothered to be really close to town, but do want a reasonably mixed area as you mention. coming from quite a mixed area in london i am reluctant to move to any very solely white middle class enclave.

this house in sharrow vale is great but nearest park from my research is botanical gardens (25 minutes away when walking probably) plus not that nice a walk. and not sure where nearest nurseries and toddler groups are??? i think we are going to give it up (reluctantly).

we do prefer older houses, but would definately consider newer houses if in the right location. lifestyle above asthetics i guess is the decision i am making.

will look into crooks......

thanks ks
feeling faintly ridiculous and rather spoilt. i know we are very lucky to be in our position, and i should probably stop fretting

Botanical gardems are beautiful Encliffe park a little further up Ecclesall Road is great too - and has children's play stuff too.

There are lots of nurseries around the area.

I do really like the Ecclesall/Hunters Bar area. And there are some lovely houses up for sale around the Botanical Gardens area - friends were looking at the details for a lovely 5 bed one on Dover Road recently for about £385 I think it was.

LOL percy - don't worry. If you want houses a bit dearer - just move further to the South of the city (towards Derbyshoe edge) - the houses down there are above your high budget too! They are big houses generally, but well in excess of £500k, usually by a fair bit more. A few of DH's partners live up there and there houses are worth so much.

LOL KS - no, Dore is probably not the most multi-cultural place there is. And you'd definitely need a car.

so, i think what i am hearing is that i won't need to comprimise, so i shouldn't worry about turning the house down on thornsett road. also that the areas to concentrate on are botanical gardens, endcliffe park, nether green, fulwood, ranmoor.
i think graves park area is a bit too far out for me being a london girl and all.
what about brincliffe??? seems to be a nice park there (chelsea park and the tower park?). any comments on brincliffe??
thanks girls. pleased i am still being accepted despite my vast wealth and probable footballers wives lifestyle

I know lots and lots of families in Sheffield through church. I don't think I know anyone who lives in Brincliffe though (I tell a lie - I know one single lady). Fulwood is very popular, and because it was once a village, it has retained that community feel. A friend of mine runs the walking bus to Nether Green infants at the moment. With your budget, I think I would look at Fulwood and Nether Green, if NG is the school you're interested in. It's very popular, so the closer you live the better.

thanks again for advice. am in sheffield on friday having a look around at some houses. wish me luck.....

Good luck!
where are you looking?

oh actually reserve the luck for next week, not much looks like its coming on this week so we are waiting till next friday...