a move to Grantham - Best area in Grantham to buy a house?

[Zaka]

Hello everyone,
We are planning to move to Grantham, Lincolnshire in summer. Currently looking for a house to buy. I know nothing about Grantham.
I would appreciate information from anyone who lives there or knows about the area. Where is the best place to buy a house in view of raising young kids 11 and 8yrs. Son has got admission in kings grammar school.

Thank you!

Don't live there myself but my parents do, and I'd say Manthorpe. Historically it's considered the posh area and it's close to the Kings School.

Best place generally and for the Kings school is Manthorpe estate, Manthorpe village or even the main rd. You can get a main rd mansion for 400k and be amile or less from the kings school.Also very close to the country side from manthorpe.5 mns from belton house.

Thank you very much for your messages ladies.

We've been viewing houses in Manthorpe for last couple of months, unfortunately no good options available to buy. We are looking for a 4 bedroom house. Just found a suitable house on Lodge Way to buy. Lodge way is situated on the Manthorpe road. Does Lodge Way come in Manthorpe area? is it a good area to live in?

Will be grateful for advice.
TIA

Lodge Way is off Manthorpe Road and IIRC would be fine.

It's not Manthorpe village, that's further along, but it'll be more convenient to have things in the town in walking distance (which Lodge Way is, Manthorpe village a Mike or so further out).

Lodge Way is nice. And very close to Kings School. Have you checked if any of the Junior schools have space? Think it would either be The National or Cliffedale on Manthorpe Estate as catchment but not 100% sure

Thanks!
junior schools are National school, the little Gonerby and Cliffedale school. haven't checked for a space yet. I would personally prefer the national school due to convenience for me with pick and drop. as its on the same direction as the Kings school.

Do you have to live in Grantham itself ? If not look at some of the villages just outside like Denton, Harlaxton, or the other side towards Sleaford. Grantham itself isn't a very exciting town with next to nothing in the way of shops. We live in a small village about 16 miles away but daughter goes to school in Grantham. Tend to go to Nottingham or Lincoln for shopping.

There is a house available in Langford gardens as well. Loved that little area, its beautiful! and the houses are quite new, a bit pricey though. We are also considering that house. Heard a colleague saying the area is not safe due to flooding as there is a river/stream nearby.

we have to live in Grantham due to convenience, me and husband will start our jobs in Grantham hospital plus son will go to kings school. Living in manthorpe or somewhere near would be very convenient for all of us

Well in that case def Manthorpe Est end will be best, never seen any flooding in Grantham apart from when Water mains burst. There is a excellent tennis club in the centre of Grantham and a rugby club the other side from Grantham to you, a fantastic athletics club and water polo team as well.

Grantham did have a small amount of flooding, one year back in the 1970s but it didn't get very far, and the extra embankments (eg in Wyndham Park) were built in response. It's hard to see there'd be a problem now, unless you had a house actually on the bank somewhere.

It might also be worth your looking at the bits of Belton Lane and Harrowby Lane within short walking distance of Manthorpe Road.

You've probably already started to read this, but on the off chance not, here's the local paper www.granthamjournal.co.uk

Thanks a million for your help everyone! Hope it will work for us. would be coming with more questions soon ladies

Hello! We are also looking to move near Grantham. We're looking at a property in the hamlet of Bitchfield. It seems ok but hard to tell - is it a nice area? Where are the decent primary schools in the area?

Any help appreciated as I don't know any of the villages at all.

Thanks

Laura

Hi Zaka - can you tell me how you went about getting a secondary school place and sitting the right tests if you're not in the area please?

We're at the very early stages of pondering whether to move up too, and would need a secondary school place for my daughter in Sept 17, but we're currently in an area that doesn't do the 11+ or any form of entrance test.

Have you managed to get a place at primary school for your other child now? Was it difficult? If we do make the move, we will need places for 2 at primary, as well as the secondary place.

Thanks.

Cantsleepwontsleep with regards to the 11plus, if you are out of area, i believe you need to ring the school you are interested in, then i think you have to come up to the school on 2 Saturdays in Sept this year, results are given out by middle of October so you can then put your preferences in. There are loads of primary schools and like all areas have good and bad ones, i guess it depends on what you are looking for in the way of primary? Do you want small village school as plenty of those.

loismith81 have only driven through Bitchfield when going from Bourne to Grantham, seems a lovely hamlet, but bear in mind the nearest corner shop for essentials/papers is either going to be Corby Glen or Grantham itself which will be a pain if you have forgotten to buy milk for example.

Schools are good up here, shopping is not, there isn't much in way of things for teenagers to do either without being a personal taxi for them.

Hi CSWS,
Please check your inbox.
My son has got a place in Kings school. We applied from chesterfield. He sat his exam last year September and offered a place this March. But for KGGS, one has to be in the catchment area to ensure a place but I reckon the exam can be taken from anywhere. You'll need to check with school about the admission process.
Hope this helps
Zak

Thank you Zaka for your post and your message .

We've already missed the deadline for notifying that we'd want to sit the entrance exam, which seems crazily early, but hopefully they would still allow a late application.

I think we'd then have to move this summer rather than next, which will require a bit more thinking, and possibly difficult as our current house is niche (v rural) so not necessarily easy to sell. Plus I am on 3 months notice at work. But where there's a will there's a way!

I'm more than happy with village schools butmumineedit. We're going to look at Barrowby, Grantham generally, and slightly further west Aslockton/Whatton/Bingham this weekend, to see whether we like the look.

Interested in your comment re not much for teenagers though. What do they do? I'm a taxi service now, but was hoping not to be a constant one for 15 more years! Where would one need to taxi them to for entertainment? Where's the nearest nightclub or cinema? Are they in Grantham?

Yes they will still allow late applications as our village school enters all the children and then if they decide not to do it no problem. Grantham has a small cinema and nightclub, trains run to Notts but last train back at 9 and buses only to Lincoln again last one at 7. Could also look at Ropsley, Long Bennington and Allington, these villages all have contract buses to the main schools in Grantham.

I'll add Long Bennington to the list for this weekend.
Allington was on my list, but has just ruled itself out due to broadband speed (

Also look at Denton, Croxton Kerrial and Harlaxton they are going towards Melton Mowbray , then other side of Grantham, there is Hough on Hill, Barkston and Belton that's going towards Sleaford . Then near Ropsley there is Little Humby, Lenton and Ingoldsby. All nice hamlets/ villages

Do you know Bottesford at all? I like that it's mid way between the Grantham schools and Toot Hill, so would give us some secondary options, and it seems to have a few more amenities than some of the other villages. It's definitely gone on the list to look at this weekend. There's a new housing development there so we might see if the show home is open on Sunday.

Bottesford is v nice , on trainline to Notts. Def much bigger village . Toot hill excellent school, My Dd goes to Walton. Girls in Grantham which is a v good girls only school and has loads of pupils that commute in so again a good back up plan if 11plus doesn't work out .

Visited Bottesford today and loved it.
Am a bit confused about how schooling works up here though. I spoke to a lady at the leisure centre next to toot Hill and she referred to 'catchment schools' and said that Bottesford's catchment school is Belvoir, so we'd have to 'apply' to Toot Hill.

Where we live currently you have to apply for 4 schools, and (where oversubscribed, which they all are) places are allocated to those for whom it is their nearest school, starting with the closest children, and then if places are left, to children for whom it's not their nearest school, again starting with the closest.
How does it differ here please?

Yes up here senior schools are in catchment area apart from grammar schools to an extent. Anyway go on local council website you put your postcode in and it tells you the schools in your catchment area, although there is nothing to stop you putting a school that isn't jn catchment area as your first choice and then catchment area as 2nd and 3rd choice. Have to say it's very rare that you don't get your first choice . We applied for out of area for my Dd and got it . The only downside is that if they go to school outside of catchment you have to pay transport costs yourself , even if it is a school bus and not public transport.

How lovely to hear that it's rare not to get your first choice up there. Here I know that we will not be awarded any of our 4 choices for dd (even though we are in the priority area for them and they are our nearest in county schools).

Anyway, we are rather smitten with Barrowby, where we spent Sunday morning. We also viewed a super house there with the most incredible kitchen!

Then we ventured further west again, and found that we also liked the look of Cropwell Bishop. It sounds like the school there is quite undersubscribed, so I imagine that we might be able to get places if we wanted to, and it is a feeder school for Toot Hill, which is good.

Dd really doesn't want to leave her (most fabulous) primary until she has finished year 6. I wonder if we threw in Toot Hill as one of our school choices from down here whether we would get a place or not. Will aim to come up and do a tour of the school and see what we think. Though that won't help us with the problems we have with our youngest, which was the trigger for thinking I'd give up work and move up north in the first place!

I really have no idea what we should do. Such a lot to think about!

I think that I will contact Barrowby primary and see whether we stand any chance at all of getting places if we did decide to come up. It sounds from its Ofsted and from its own website so much like their primary down here.