Please recommend the best areas to move to in Trafford, Greater Manchester

[medsom]

Hi! My family and I are planning a move to Manchester next summer and are fairly decided that we would like to settle in Trafford, as we have a child who will be attending their first year at sixth form next September. She would like to attend either Sale, Urmston or maybe Stretford grammar school for sixth form.
When we move, we will initially rent a 2/3 bedroom house with a budget of £850. Is this a reasonable budget? We already know that Altrincham, Hale, Bowdon etc. are not realistic for us, but I hope you can advise me on some other areas!
We are just looking for a safe area with good connections into Manchester, preferably on the metro link.
We really liked the Firswood area and it seemed within our budget but I've received mixed feedback on it. Does anyone know anything about how safe/pleasant to live it is there?
Thank you for your help!

I lived in Trafford until I was about 25 (31 now) I'd say avoid stretford, sale has a good rep, urmston & flixton have nice bits too. Don't know firswood. The thing about Trafford is it quickly switches between nice & rough so it's hard to generalise. There's a lot of big council estates dotted about & It sometimes come down to the particular street your on so I would suggest you do a lot of research visiting any house you have your eye on at different times of day as Trafford & most of Manchester is a bit of a mixed bag I'm afraid x

I grew up in Sale. I think the nicest area is Brooklands....but some of Brooklands falls in Manchester city council, the Trafford part is what you want for the schools. Brooklands might be pricey though. You would get more for your money in sale moor or ashton upon mersey but not quite as nice. Went to Davyhulme park last weekend which is between Stretford and Urmston. Five minute drive from. Trafford centre...no metrolink but there may be a train station nearby. Anyway I thought the streets around the park looked quite nice. Probably the 'nice part' of Stretford is edge lane and kings road but not sure on prices. Otherwise Stretford is probably the least attractive of the areas you mention.

I grew up in Trafford, left at 18 and came back in my 30s and its completely different.

I think it's generally a good area (residentially) but amazing educationally and that is the draw. It is has lovely pockets and not so nice pockets (like anywhere else) but better than any other area I've ever lived in in my opinion.

You're right that you probably wouldnt get Hale, Bowdon, Altrincham for that budget but it would probably stretch perhaps to 2 bedrooms in the nicer parts of the area (outskirts of Altrincham, Timperley, Brooklands and probably Urmston and Sale too). In order of schools I'd say Sale, Urmston then Stretford. Do your homework re catchment areas (although not sure how entry to 6th form works,). I don't really know Firswood, sorry!

We lived in chorlton when I worked at trafford general, only 10 mins away and good links into didsbury / town

Chorlton isn't in Trafford which is an issue if your want Trafford schools.

Sale is quite sprawling and without inside knowledge not the easiest to know the best areas to live. However it is a generally nice area.

Flixton and Urmston are good. They are both compact area, easy to get around. No Metro but 10mins to town on the train. All of the schools are decent and there is a grammar school if you go down that route. The town centre is has been recently redeveloped and is coming along nicely. There is a nice modern library, a Sainsburys, some independent eateries, a Costa. It's got a nice buzz about it.

It is a decent family area. Nice parks. Near Trafford Centre. Lots of 1930s semis probably available at that price to rent.

Oh right didnt realise that about the schools - in that case I liked urmston it seemed quiet and leafy, has a sainsburys etc

I live in Trafford LEA and know of many children from various areas in Trafford who attend Sale Grammar Sixth Form. I also know of children from Manchester LEA who attend the sixth form there. The catchment area is more flexible for Sixth Form.

Have you looked at Timperley? There are a limited number of properties in your price range, but there are some. It is also close to Sale Grammar.

You might also want to consider Sir John Deane's College in Northwich. It runs a bus from Trafford (calls it the South Manchester bus), collects from Hale Barns, Sale, Timperley, Broadheath, Altrincham, Hale and Bowdon.

www.sjd.ac.uk/the-college/

You really need to drive round and get a feel for the different parts of Trafford. There are some great areas and some iffy areas.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-36088015.html

This one is reasonably close to Sale Grammar and the metro.

I live in Trafford, and went to Urmston grammar school. Urmston and Flixton are the best areas to live, nice and leafy with good transport etc

Thank you for all the responses. I had never really considered Flixton/Urmston because it seemed slightly far out, especially with the lack of the metrolink, but I had completely disregarded how quickly you can get into town on the train! So it is definitely a possibility now.
We also liked Timperley but would have to be quite lucky to find something nice for our budget I think.
I'm also not too sure about how sixth form catchment area goes but we did telephone a few schools who told us it was more important that she gets her predicted grades than to worry about how close we live, especially as traveling is so much easier for an older teenager. Of course I'd still rather aim to be within 4 miles distance of the school.
Thankyou @spanielcrackers as we didn't know that Sir John Deane's College accepted south Manchester students, so that's definitely opened another door.
So I would say Sale, Flixton, Urmston and maybe Timperley are at the top of our list now, thank you everybody!

Definately no to firswood and old Trafford, i grew up near there and would not recommend. Don't agree with some of the previous posts about stretford there are some really nice bits you just need to avoid some areas. The stretford/urmston border is nice and would be within your budget. Urmston is good too. Good luck!

As others have said, just be careful if you are looking at Stretford that the particular street comes within Trafford boundary. As soon as you cross into Chorlton you are outside of Trafford.