Nice villages in Cheshire? Maybe Lancashire??

[FrankieChesca]

My DH is working near Manchester Airport so we are having to up sticks again!
I have 2 DC, one 5 at school and one 3 at Pre school both boys. We live in a lovely village near Winchester , have loads of friends here so I'm really looking for something similar up there.
The school that DS1 goes to is a small village primary of around 170 pupils which we can walk to. I am planning a reccy at the end of September, maybe somewhere like Lower Whitley?? Don't want anything too snobby though!!
As The airport is south of Manchester, am I right in thinking Lancashire would be too much of a commute?? Thanks in advance for your help!!

Regarding Wrexham.

I used to commute between South Warrington (M56 jct 10) and Wrexham for 2 years. I used to leave at 8.10 and arrive at 9.05 on a good run. My place of work was right by the A483 main road into Wrexham.

There are some nice villages around there but closer to Chester that would shave a bit off your commute - but you still have to hit the traffic into Manchester airport and that can be really hit and miss. DH does that drive at 7.30 every day and it takes him 40 minutes from South Warrington, which remember is 55 minutes from Wrexham.

I think the commute from Wrexham would be a realistic 1.5 hours.

Good advice on here. What looks do-able on a map isn't always do-able in practice. We have really good motorway networks here but still the drive can be tricky.

Look at some other places on the A49. Utkinton is lovely, for example, and so is bunbury - but you're still 30 minutes from the M56.

Nantwich and Crewe look doable but it would be tough. the m6 is always slow from 19-17 and often has problems there. you would struggle getting to Nantwich in an hour to be honest. Lymm is nice if you want leafy villiage.

Wrexham to Manchester Airport in an hour....if everyone is watching the Olympics opening ceremony...and it's school holidays...and you travel outside peak. My guess at 'normal' during rush hour (which is a fair window by the way) would be 1hr 20-30 ish each way. Seriously don't consider moving that far without staying over in a B&B for a week and doing the commute a few times - painful but worth it.

If you were looking that far then I suspect you'd like Farndon, Malpas and Tattenhall (bit closer that one). Lovely villages.

Lymm (to me) is more suburban sprawl with villagey centre than a village really. Nice enough but big.

It gets a lot cheaper down towards Crewe for a reason. Crewe is not considered a desirable place to live. If you can accept Crewe for what it is then it is fantastically positioned for travelling around the country by road/rail. Nantwich is lovely and would cost far more if it didn't adjoin Crewe. Part of the reason it's cheaper is that it's a fair hike to a large centre (i.e. Chester, Manchester or Birmingham).

Holmes Chapel is nice (& Goostrey, Peovers etc) if you lookthat far south. Holmes Chapel has two very well regarded primaries, a very well regarded secondary, train into Manchester (~45 mins), train to Crewe to change to the mainline, great bakers, few pubs, v handy for the M6. In fact the M6 is the only downside - the centre of Holmes Chapel gets a lot of road traffic to/from the M6.

Personally if working at Man Airport every day then I'd consider Holmes Chapel slightly too far. But it is about an hour in rush hour traffic which you said is ok. Goostrey would give you a smaller village with holme chapel round the corner and it's own train station.

Bunbury, Utkinton etc are very nice but again, possibly a little far to be guaranteed of making it within an hour every day.

Crewe is only 17 miles from Knutsford, so it can be done in about 25 minutes BUT it can take over 2 hours. The M6 is particularly bad around Sandbach, and when there is an accident or bad breakdown - often around 1 a week, the traffic turns the A50 from Warrington to Crewe into a car park.

I'd say south of Holmes Chapel is too far. You don't want to go west of Frodsham. And Delamare is a bit far to the south west. You don't want to go further than Macc the other way. You could go north of the Manchester Ship Canal, but if you are looking for villages there aren't that many in that direction that are nice. They do exist but Cheshire (traditional rather than these new silly counties) is really where to look.

The problem really is that although road links are good the M6 and M56 in the area are a nightmare and one of the biggest black spots in the country.

Thanks everyone for your comments. The idea of DH staying in a b&b for a week is a great one. He is an early riser, and normally leaves for work around 6, but he says that the office is empty by 5(!), so he will be leaving then which would be rush hour. I did wonder about shops etc, I hate shopping at the best of times and the thought of having to travel too far will mean I end up wearing Sainsburys clothes forever more!!

Hi,

We are also in the process of relocating from East Yorkshire to Cheshire. I have a daughter at uni and my son is just finishing his a levels. Would you recommend congleton /sandbach for teenagers. I, m worried about him meeting people. My husband will be working in Alderley edge.

We are hoping to meet new people thru clubs and a good local pub. Any advice

I grew up in Nantwich and it has lots of great things about it, including the high school Brine Leas.

But, it is easily an hour to Manchester airport, and the m6 is awful around junction 17/18.

How about Mawdesley? A featureless, unfriendly, snobbish commuter enclave for aging Tories, snotty aging commuters and far right wing retirees in the most flattest, featureless part of Lancashire. It's like some place out of Midsummer Murders, dumped on to some isolated, desolated drained bog land in the most depressing and inbred area of Lancashire.

Be warned though. If you don't own at least 10 Range Rovers, don't live in a ugly, nouveau riche mansion, don't keep horses and are not the product of centuries of inbreeding then you will not be welcome. Saying that no one is welcome in Mawdesley. The only people you will see are snobs behind the wheel of one of their Range Rovers.

This is not a joke. Practically everyone in the tiny, snobby, dormitory enclave of Mawdesley has the same surname as the place. Yes that is right. Nearly everyone in a tiny place, no one normal has heard of, let alone visited has the same surname as the place they live. That gives you an idea of the staggering level of inbreeding in the enclave.

To be honest I think you'd have to be part of a "special breed" to tolerate living somewhere so grindingly dull on every level as Mawdesley.

I have a problem that's driving me mad!! I cumurrently live in Wilmslow, renting at the moment but owned house for the last 30 years here up until last year. Decided to sell last house as hated everything about it! Two youngest daughters will both finish Wilmslow high school summer 17. Youngest has learning problems so has an echp through Cheshire east. Wilmslow can't provide sixth form so she will have to go to a college. Don't like Macclesfield college for her. Like Reaseheath near Nantwich. Husband based in Birkenhead but not every day. Have children in leek (with grandchildren I look after twice a week), hale, hazel grove. Will buy end of this year or beginning of next. Have no idea where to go!! Wilmslow too expensive. Hate Macclesfield. Can anyone recommend anywhere?? Village preferably but easy reach of my children.

Congleton? Half an hour to Reeseheath, half an hour to Leek and Hazel Grove.

I'm not sure about congestion. Do like rural

I meant congeleton !

I moved to a small village called Hapton, just outside Burnley.
It's located right on the M65 and 10 minutes to M66.
100k for a beautiful 2 bedroomed, back garden and front drive, countryside, easy access to anywhere you want to be.
35 minutes drive to Manchester City centre and 40 minutes to Manchester airport.
It's a no brainer especially for young families who want a fresh and safe environment.
There's also many opportunities for work here and also has a train station linked to Manchester, Leeds & Bradford