Where to live near-ish to DERBY and COVENTRY. Advice on LICHFIELD or LEICESTER or any other suggestions?

[liz789]

I'm planning on moving in the next few months with my partner but don't know the Midlands. He works in Derby and we want ideally less then 30 minutes (though maybe a bit more for the right place) but his kids live with his ex in Coventry so want somewhere easy enough to pick them up.

(I'm a teacher so hopefully there will be work near enough to anywhere we decide.)

Ideally somewhere we can be long term and start a family. Family friendly, community feel, with nice cafes etc in walking distance, and train station nearby to make it easier to visit family.

We've ruled out Derby. Favourites at the moment are Lichfield or some parts of Leicester - though we don't know the areas much at all.

From what I've read the nicer parts of Leicester are south east - which would make his commute too long. Any other nice parts?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Lichfield is lovely, and would meet most of your requirements but depending where in Derby the commute would be a bit longer, DH used to work that way and he says he would allow at least 40 minutes.

Leicester also has some lovely areas, but I only really know the south east side, Kibworth / Market Harborough side.

There are lots of nice villages around Loughborough with good access to M1/A42(M)/M69/A50.

Do you want to be in a town or village?

Thank you. Town rather than village - or a village-y suburb of a city so it's easy to access stuff going on in.

From what I read on another thread there's not as much going on in Loughborough?

Nuneaton.It's a bit rough but cheap.

Local primary is outstanding

Loughborough is a decent-sized university town. Like lots of towns it has its nice bits, its naice bits and its crap bits.

Some nice roads around Western Park in Leicester and not far to M1/M69. Knighton and Stoneygate in Leicester nice - about 10 mins to motorways not in rush hour but can be 20-30 mins in morning / evening. Blaby / Narborough / Enderby are easy for motorways, outside Leicester itself but practically a suburb.

Or Barrow or Quorn are larger villages with good communities just outside Loughborough and some fantastic countryside such as Bradgate Park.

We are also trying to relocate the Leicester at the moment and have done a lot of research! Nice villages with good schools include Quorn, Woodhouse Eaves, Rothley, Kirby Muxloe, Newtown Linford - all are close to M1 and easy to get to M69. There is some beautiful countryside around there and it is very underrated in my opinion! There are also some nice villages to the south but still near the M1 towards Lutterworth, including Cosby and Gilmorton. Good luck!

Quorn would tick all your boxes to be honest, as it does ours. But everyone e seems to want to live there, so very expensive.

I'm Leicester and really love it. The villages mentioned by the last poster are great. If you want something closer to the city you can also look at Glenfield or Groby. Possibly Enderby or Narborough actually.

I live in the nice South Leicester bit but you are right, it is difficult for motorway commutes. My sister does this from our side of the city and it can add up to an hour onto her day in bad traffic.

Have you considered Beeston? So many nice affordable houses there and inbetween Leicester and Notts, I'd happily live there.

Train stations are a bit thin on the ground in the smaller places, but to be honest it's quick to drive and cheap to park at stations like Tamworth that are very well connected.

There is a bit of a shortage of Naice places between Derby and Cov - have you looked at Ashby de la Zouch or is it a bit small? Has good schools, all the cafe's etc, lots going on. I think Leicester/Lichfield are a bit out of the way of either - make your daily commute shorter and the motorway won't be so busy at weekends (friday nights may be a bit fraught though). Or I would agree Loughborough - it's a university town so there is going to be plenty happening and Leicester/Nottingham are in easy reach - like near enought for an evening out.

My first thought on reading the OP was Quorn or Sileby.

Check carefully if considering any village in the valley of the River Soar near Loughborough. Flooding in the valley is a major problem. Not so much houses being flooded but roads cut off several times a year. Syston, Quorn, Barrow-on-Soar, Mountsorrel and Sileby are all affected by flooded roads.

Syston, Sileby, and Barrow-on-Soar all have train stations so at least people there have a way out when the valley floods.

Watch out for HS2 phase 2. Link <a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20141027142236/assets.hs2.org.uk/sites/default/files/consultation_library/pdf/west%20midlands%20to%20leeds%20route%20section%20map.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here but it's very slow to download.

Given your need for Cov and derby I would stick to motorway proximity so m1/m6 or m1/m42
Former I would look at Lutterworth and surrounding villages- gilmorton, dunton Bassett , bitteswell etc
Latter- markfield, Newtown linford, wood house eaves
For closer proximity to city (leics) but still good links birstall offers a range of housing styles good school etc
Feel free to pm me

There are some lovely places on the outskirts of Derby with easy access to Coventry.
Chellaston is nice and there's Hilton/Hatton on the other side of the city....

Syston is lovely. Prices are creeping there!