Worcester area - where to live?

[Waspie]

I'm looking to relocate to the Worcester area but I don't know it very well. I've been looking online either at central Worcester (for Kings or Worcester Grammar) or more outlying areas to the south/west such as Malvern and Ledbury. Ideally south of Birmingham and west of the M5.

I know that there are good schools (both state and private) in this part of the world as I've read threads on here and in the education area about Worcs. schools and I'd like to be close to one!

My budget is around £400k for 3/4 bedrooms and I'd like a good sized private garden, off street parking and near to good schools.

Any suggestions on where I should fix my search area? TIA

Thanks MrsCog, looks like I'll get it between Aug and Nov, that's great

Waspie, the primary school DD goes to takes a number of children in Yr5 who come out of the 3 tier into 2. I find it strange that one county can have 2 different systems, but it doesn't seem to cause too many issues.

Its odd isn't it LtEve - in my town we have 3 tier (yrR-yr4, yr5-yr7, yr8-yr13), but also a catholic primary (yrR-yr6). If you want to send child to catholic high, then its 8 miles away with no dedicated bus (I think) - so apparently a lot move into middle school.
Then the other side of the river they are still 3 tier but yrR-yr5, yr6- yr9 and so on.

I can see the benefit for the village children as they get to go to first school locally, get the hang of the bus thing to a not massively shocking sized middle school with some specialist teachers, then are going on the longer journey to high school at an age that they can get the scheduled bus if needs be to go to clubs.

I'm in Battenhall and we love it. Thinking out your hubby and his rural request and your dog.....in Battenhall/barbourne, you are never far from a park or lots of walking opportunities so 'the countryside' is not essential. Also, regarding traffic and congestion, yes, the city gets busy at commuter time but my god, it is nothing compared with big cities such as Brum, Manchester etc so you can't complain really. I would seriously decide on vicinity to work and choose your school then work round that. I agree that you need to be the 'right' side of the river and bear in mind that if you choose a village or Malver or Droitwich, you are always going to have to drive in to town whereas if you're in town you can just walk everywhere (you can see my bias for where I live!)

I think you are right Secretsout at the moment I'm looking in a huge area that I don't know and getting rather bogged down and going in circles. I think that I'll have a clearer picture after our weekend in Worcs. and I can visit the areas that people have recommended and see what feels right. We can check out the parks and the canal walks and the "green spaces" for dog and child in the city and hopefully I can convince DP that a city centre location would be good for us. Otherwise I have the fall back of the villages like Clairns and Droitwich on the outskirts.

I do feel far better prepared to begin our search now though and I thank you all for helping me and contributing

Malvern is a fabulous place to live, easily commutable to Worcester by car, train or bus.
I left Malvern years ago but had to come back, it's just the best and most beautiful place ever biased.
Good luck with your search.

Some of the villages will likely be part of Worcester within 10 years anyway, e.g. Kempsey.
Enjoy your visit.

Thank you PunkrockerGirl and cheminotte

DP would still like to consider Malvern so I can see us spending a lot of time in Worcestershire this summer