NW people - any good tips for Wirral house hunt?

[WouldLoveANiceHouse]

NC'ed so as not to out myself geographically!

We're hoping to buy a house on the Wirral in the next 12 months.

Would dearly love to hear any tips from Wirral residents or regular visitors, past or present.

We only need 3 bedrooms (a 4 bed would be lovely, but definitely not 'necessary'), and we don't need a big garden. Am hoping our rather unimpressive budget will therefore manage something decent!

Budget is £130k-£145k. Perhaps could look at £150k and see if owners are feeling flexible.

Any thoughts on good locations or actual properties you've spied would be great. We have a one year old so obviously thinking of schools and we don't know anything about that.

In terms of neighbourhood am just looking for something pleasant and leafy-ish with a decent café or two. That's not much to ask, I hope!

In terms of house, I love a character house, but I realise with our budget we can't afford to be too picky. No offence to those that own one, but my heart sinks at pebbledash and there seems to be a lot of it around!

We've visited and a lot of areas seem a bit 'run down'. Where should we be looking?

It's lovely but Greendale wouldn't be my first choice of roads - it's quite busy, right by the railway and I think parking can be an issue (think there's a restriction at one end and people park all down the other end to use the station)

OP, I love that Port Sunlight house! There was a home decorating competition programme on in the last year where about 4 interior designers did one of those houses up, I think on BBC2 if you can find it. Not sure about transport links, etc from there, but I bet it's quiet and safe.

I grew up on the Wirral, but moved away over 30 years ago! If I was moving there now, I would look at West Kirby because of the beach and transport links. Plus schools.

DM still lives in Heswall - an Edwardian 3 bedroomed house which apparently would be valued at about £300K according to Zoopla!

Ahh, this thread has made me so happy!

I wouldn't recommend the one out of your budget Would, as it's right next to the factory, looks very close to the Gladstone Theatre.

I would heartily recommend you go to look at Port Sunlight if it's a serious contender. It has a special place in my heart .

Pros include that it's on the Liverpool - Chester line so easy to commute to either (trains every 15 mins), it has a nice pub (The Bridge), good primary school, lovely garden centre and café , nice tea room (Tudor Rose), a few cafes and restaurants (Zuger's is great and there is a family-run Italian restaurant, along with a few other eating places). Also lots of heritage and character. It's only about 15 minutes' walk to the grammar schools. Bebington and Bromborough are close enough by so that you can shop easily for groceries (Co-Op and Asda) and there is the big retail park in Bromborough should you need clothes, cinema etc.

I also have to recommend Edge butchers in New Ferry, who are great.

The con for me would be the surrounding areas (New Ferry, Rockferry, Tranmere). The contrast is pretty stark. I would also worry that the village is a bit quiet... insular? But go and have a look!

And how could I forget to mention the fabulous Lady Lever Art Gallery with it's frequent children's craft days, collection of fine artefacts and lovely little cafe! And the fountain outside which is prefect for paddling in on a hot day . You also have the Gladstone Theatre and the Port Sunlight Museum for a bit of culture. I've figured out where the out-of-budget house is. It's on the corner of the row of shops opposite the station/by the factory, which has a Natwest, accountants and the tea room. The Lever Club is opposite, so you get the pensioners playing bowls on the green on sunny evenings!

Okay - totally impractical (not enough bedrooms) but how cute are the doors and beams on this one? www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31921428.html

Though would living in 'Duke of York' cottages permanently remind you of Prince Andrew?

Hope the pensioners would let me have a go at the boules Z. I always thought it looked very relaxing!

NeedANew the Wirral Grammars in Bebington take kids from all over the place, including Neston, Chester and sometimes even further.

They do, Squidgy, but don't local children have priority? My daughter went there and we're not local and were told that could work against us if there were a lot of local girls that year.

Maybe the grammars aren't as over-subscribed as you might think - my friends DS's were all capable of passing the 11+ but all chose to go to the local comp instead. And they have all done exceedingly well.

The appeals board did mess up this year though - they let in a load of kids on appeal (some wanting to be moved from Caldy) so class sizes in year 7 are rather bigger than they should be. Not the schools' faults but they have to deal with it...