Knutsford - to move or not to move?

[WhereTheSidewalkEnds]

We live in South Warrington, DH doesn't particularly like where we are, he thinks its too small and I would like to live in walking distance of something, shops, parks etc (we live between two farms at the moment).

We both really like Knutsford, it would be nearer for family and still easy to get to work and it seems quite family friendly.

Having said that, we don't know anyone in Knutsford to find out what it's really like to live there.

Schools are a concern but I have posted something in Education about that.

So, is anyone here from Knutsford? Can you give me the pros and cons of living there?

Are you very very rich?

Knutsford is a lovely town with pockets of massive wealth. Pretty, picturesque, lovely duck pond etc etc, hugely expensive restaurants and shops etc.

(I have never lived there, but the guy I went out with for 4 years did. His house had been the Swiss Ambassadors summer residence, complete with pool. Sigh.)

hi Fruitloop, thank for the reply - sorry for the delay, friends popped round.

No, we both have good jobs but I am having a career break until our children start primary school (the second one isn't here yet - still in the planning stage!). Do you think you need to be very rich to live there? I don't want to feel out of place.

Wow, his house sounds beatiful. I suspect we're more likely to end up in a terrace than a house with a pool.

Anyone else know Knutsford?

I live in south Manchester and my son goes to Knutsford High and I'd highly recommend it. We would like to move there, it is very nice but is very expensive so we'd have to live in a much smaller house than we do now.

Thanks sugarplumfairy, oh that's interesting about the high school. DH and I took DD to the park in Knutsford a few months ago when we first thought of moving and a mum there told me to only move if we could get DD into Altrincham Grammar (er, she's 2!).

So that's been a concern so it's good to hear that you recommend the high school.

Would you like to move to be nearer to the school or to you think knutsford would bea nice place to live generally? I am worried that we might not fit in - no idea how to tell.

I don't live in Knutsford but work here and have colleagues who live locally.

Have you looked at property prices? I have (DH and I have considered moving here from Bollington where we are now), and to be honest wasn't that shocked. I think there are houses where you can get quite a lot for your money, compared to other parts of this area of Cheshire, and then there are of course some very lovely and very expensive ones! FWIW, I think DH and I could get something slightly bigger here than what we could afford in (less obviously affluent) Bollington. So I guess this would be an initial question, as I don't know the area you live currently so not sure if you would be able to down-size/up-size or move 'sideways' house wise.

It is a lovely place, good community feel, local activities etc. Brownies/Cubs/sports clubs etc. for the kids. From my experience here and my colleagues who live here, I don't think 'fitting in' would necessarily be an issue. Sure there is an 'it crowd' of young-ish loaded people who swank around the bars a bit, but there are also lots of families and 'normal' people who aren't here for that. You could say the same about lots of places in this area of Cheshire, I don't think Knutsford is particularly 'up itself' in that respect! It's certainly nothing like Alderley Edge.

There are nice restaurants, some expensive, some not, almost all seem to welcome everybody, and lots of child-friendly places to go at.

Quite nice history to the place, and Tatton Park is lovely.

Close to the motorway and airport for access if that's a plus for you.

Cons I would say are:

• Booths is incredibly expensive with a limited range of products and the new mini Sainsburys and Waitrose are not 'proper' sized supermarkets so if you want to do your weekly shop in Knutsford you will need a bank loan for that alone! There are though lots of lovely local shops - butchers, fish shop etc. so you can get great food here, but if you're on a budget, bank on spending a lot of time on the road to Altrincham.
• In fact bank on spending a lot of time going to Altrincham for quite a lot of things. You can't buy what I would call normal useful things here - clothes (apart from tres boutiquey ones), CDs/DVDs, Hardware/DIY stuff, etc. There are lovely shops but they're mainly gift type shops and boutiques, not really practical ones. Altrincham is only 20 minutes though and has everything.
• The train doesn't really go anywhere useful, so if either of you have regular trips to London etc. for work then you will need to drive to Stockport.
• It can feel a bit remote if you e.g. have a night out in Manchester and want a taxi home people look at you like you have said you live in outer Mongolia.

But I like it here, and would consider moving here, the only reason we didn't consider it more closely is because we found out we were pg and decided to stay nearer to family who have generously offered to help with childcare. Otherwise we might well be house-hunting round here about now!

D

Wow! Thanks for such a fabulous post Delia

That's brilliant. Yes, we are hoping to buy a bigger house but it won't be as big a house as we could get here (Appleton). I don't mind that so much because there is more in Knutsford. I think your post may have made up my mind.

Do you know anything about the schools? Are there any parts of Knutsford to avoid?

I don't know about the schools specifically, apart from the fact that none of my 3 colleagues here seem to be unduly worried about getting their kids into x or y school. Two of them themselves went to grammar schools and/or private schools, but seem perfectly happy sending their kids to local schools, so I don't think there are any major issues.

In terms of areas to avoid, again, I don't live here so am not really sure, the only thing I have observed is because there is quite a lot of through traffic to and from the motorway, I wouldn't want to live on a main road here, as they are much busier than the town itself would merit. I don't mean that the traffic spoils the place, more that for a small town, the 3-4 main roads are busier than you would expect. The side roads and actual town centre is not that busy though so it's not something that would put me off.

There seems to be a lot of property including family type homes all around the area so I think you'll have loads of choice. I think this is why property here is better value than where I live, as although our village is less 'affluent', there is a tight limit on property available as it's set in a valley and there is no room to build any more, whereas in Knutsford although there is more money around, there is also plenty of property for sale.

D

I don't live there but have friends who do and I'm about 20 minutes away, I was there yesterday too :-). I would second what the other poster has said - you will find that you can get quite a bit for your money - certainly its more expensive than some of its neighbours, but less expensive than other villages. I think the town centre is lovely and my friends are more than happy there with family / sport / community feel. It doesn't come under Trafford for schooling which is a potential negative - Trafford is rated better for schools (private and the state grammar schools) but as high schools go, I think Knutsford is well thought of. I think it has a specialism for Drama. It does get busy traffic wise, I know my friend lives on the outskirts and she gave up trying to do the school run in the car even though it was less than a mile, but I don't think that detracts from it being a lovely place to live. I don't know Warrington so can't compare, but I think it would be a lovely place to live. We vert nearly moved there, I think I preferred the actual town centre and surroundings to where we are now, but we wanted to be in Trafford for the schools.

I lived in Knutsford 8 years ago and we may be moving back soon if things go to plan

Its a lovely town, and I honestly dont think you will feel out of place there, there are houses for all types and prices.

Yes, you have the Toft road area wher you will need mega mega bucks to live, but equally there are terraced houses and a large council estate. As I say , all sorts.

My children actually went to the Grange which is an independent school with an excellent record, so unfortunately cant really advise on any other options, except to say the friends I had who used the state schools were very happy.

The major disadvantage in my opinion is the airplanes. However that seems to have little effect on house prices !!