Anyone familiar with Grappenhall Heys (outskirts of Stockton Heath/Appleton)?

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Have seen a house I really like here but not sure what it's like to live there. Does it feel quite remote?

no , not remote in the least...good but overcrowded roads.

Overcrowded - do you mean in Grappenhall Heys or Stockton Heath?

Stockton heath and warrington in general and the surrounding motorway network

Hi, yes I'm familiar with Stockton Heath and Appleton but less so with Grappenhall Heys. Not sure whether it's seen as an attractive place to live - house prices seem lower there - not sure why?

I live very close to GH. It is desirable although mainly (only?) new build housing from what I can tell. Countryside and nice walks nearby but very close to Stockton Heath for shops/night life and motorways for travel. We don't find roads or motorways overly busy.

The primary school is very good and is a feeder for Bridgewater High which is one of the best in Warrington.

Do you live near here?

Beautiful conservation area, near Stockton Heath- great shop/ restaurant place real village feel, good motorway links, good price compared to the other side of m56

Hi yes, we're looking for a modern house so Grappenhall Heys would appear to fit the bill. But we'e currently on a bus route with some local amenities - and Grappenhall Heys doesn't have these, although as you say, they're only a short drive away.

I think there is a bus through GH or at least the number 8 passes very near by and through to Stockton Heath. I wouldn't be put off by that.

I live nearby and have to buck the trend and say I dont like most of Grappenhall heys - the Poster who referred to overcrowded roads might have been referring to the narrow streets

Didn't mean to post as hadn't finished typing! Some of the roads are better and some of the houses better in terms of sPace. I find the area around the Primary school has narrow roads and some other bits are very overlooked though broughton close and croft gardens are better. In general I think the area has too few facilities and though this may eventually change, my understanding is that the local council are not allowing new development before 2015 So there isn't much hope of even a shop. Parts of Appleton would Prob suit you better as more facilities and generally easier to get about. GH school is good and has excellent reputation but so does Appleton thorn school and st Matthews is good too. Cobbs and broom fields separate infants and juniors on two sites and have about three classes for every year

Didn't mean to post as hadn't finished typing! Some of the roads are better and some of the houses better in terms of sPace. I find the area around the Primary school has narrow roads and some other bits are very overlooked though broughton close and croft gardens are better. In general I think the area has too few facilities and though this may eventually change, my understanding is that the local council are not allowing new development before 2015 So there isn't much hope of even a shop. Parts of Appleton would Prob suit you better as more facilities and generally easier to get about. GH school is good and has excellent reputation but so does Appleton thorn school and st Matthews is good too. Cobbs and broom fields separate infants and juniors on two sites and have about three classes for every year

Yes, I don't like the area around the Primary school - it feels like a Prison camp.
I like the Broughton close area though.

Tbh though, Appleton doesn't have many facilities and if you live in 'old Appleton' i.e. Firs Lane side, there's nothing over there at all.

yes, you're right about Old Appleton, but it somehow feels much closer to Stockton Heath - takes about 15 minutes to walk down there (longer back - uphill!!) and less remote than GH. Even nice houses in GH take much longer to sell, whereas nice houses in Old Appleton (the area you describe) are snapped up and the prices are much higher, which there must be a reason for - as far as I can tell, the reason is the houses have more character and they are closer to Stockton Heath - are you mindful of re-selling in the future or is this not a factor?

It sounds as though you've already made up your mind - and it's really a very nice area to live - but you did start the thread asking for opinions and still my opinion is that it's much more 'remote' feeling than some other areas would be if that sort of thing bothers you. You might like a 'new' house on Calderfield Close better - it's in Stockton Heath - there's usually one or two for sale there and they don't last long!

Thanks. No,I've not made up my mind. I've noticed too that they take longer to sell in GH and the house prices are lower - the same houses would be worth an extra £50 - £100k in Appleton. Resale/rental potential is a huge factor for us as we don't know what the future might bring!

I don't know what your budget is but if you are considering broughton close and that sort of price then I would look at the properties for sale at the 575k mark on both Hatfield gardens and fox hills close in Appleton. Personally I'd prefer the one on Hatfield because it's close to a little playground and there's tonnes of open space for kids, though fox hills is perfectly nice too. Quite by chance I have been inside the house on Hatfield gardens and it's really really lovely and has a great garden which doesn't seem to feature much in the property spec on right move. No harm looking, I think you'd feel less isolated there than you would in GH.

And no I'm not the owner or even a friend of the owner, I just know lots of the properties in this area!

Hi, yes that's around our budget. There are a couple on Hatfield - which one have you been in?

There's one at 560k that's been on the market for ages- not that one - there's one that's slightly more expensive - I think it's 575k and that's the one I have been in. It's at the end of a row so no through traffic and it's been beautifully maintained. I would have bought it if had come to the market this time last year but it didn't so we bought another renovation instead. It came to the market about 3 weeks ago and I though 'doh'!!

And of course thats your other option, buy a house at knock down that needs renovating if you have the stomach for it. We bought a 1961 house (hence Mumsnet moniker) and completely stripped it out. The house cost 345k, we spent 170k making a total of 515k and 12 months later it's worth about 600k. We have no intention of moving but it made sense financially and it's a new house to all intents and purposes with the advantage of being on a large plot with no overlooking. I'm struggling to think of anything similar in the market at present but when we bought this there was another two round the corner we could have chosen from so they do come up and more are likely in the new year

No, we haven't the stomach for a renovation - been there done that and have no intention of going there again! It has to be modern this time round.

I'll have a look at the Hatfield Gardens ones - I prefer the look of the £560k one tbh but as you say, it's been up for a while now.

Not at all remote and close to motorways BUT souless and as for beautiful err .... No!

Stockton Heath is as rough as hell in the evenings and on a good day it takes about 20mins to drive through it, a lot more if the swing bridge is up.

There are much, much nicer areas of cheshire, with much nicer schools and certainly better sixth forms.

Serin, which areas of Cheshire would you say are better? I think the Stockton Heath/Appleton area is really nice, with great schools. Agree that traffic can be a problem in Stockton Heath but lots of popular places are the same.

Okay, Nantwich is lovely and a better distance from Warrington! (like 20 odd miles away!)

Hale, Tarporley, Knutsford, Kelsall, Delamere and Hartford are all much nicer and have far less traffic problems, better schools and nice communities with things going on!.

Malpas and Wybunbury are also sweet.

All depends what you are looking for, we are more rural types!

I agree with Serin about Nantwich, Tarporley etc. However, Hale is hardly 'rural', suffers airport noise and a high number of poncey wankers, sadly.

Knutsford is great but I always noticed when I had children in pushchairs that nobody let me pass on the narrow pavements and thought that Knutsford was up its own arse thereafter (and the high school has a poor reputation).

Wybunbury is indeed very sweet. Twee almost.

South Warrington is not 'twee' or 'sweet' but some of the areas Serin describes are superficially 'sweet' whilst full of smug Wankers (don't get me started on Lymm!). Stockton Heath is lively at night - I wouldn't say 'rough' but equally wouldn't want to live there. The area has the advantage of excellent motorway links, which is crucial for some people (including us). If I had a choice and didn't need to be near a motorway I'd probably live in Nantwich or Tarporley. And I'll retire to Poole!

Yes, we're not really into rural living.

We've looked around pretty much the whole of the area and I like South Warrington as it's not as 'poncey' as some of the other areas mentioned like Lymm and Hale and it has great schools. Knutsford has terrible aircraft noise.

Tarporley and Nantwich do seem nice but are ruled out because of the commute.

Interesting that you've mentioned Hartford as there are one or two houses there that I like the look of. But I'm in that area quite a lot and I thought it seemed a bit rougher than the Stockton Heath/Appleton area and without the restaurants/facilities. Any comments on Hartford please?