I’m sick and tired of stupidly expensive commuter belt living. Opportunity for DH to work from home 4days. Where can we get much more space for our money but still be close to good schools?

[Lookingforspace]

We live in Snooty Mc Snootville yummy mummy suburban paradise apparently. I’ve grown to hate it. It depresses the hell out of me and we simply can’t afford it. House is worth a stupid amount (I feel) but it needs work and it’s too small for us. We can’t afford anything bigger.

DH has been offered a role primarily based at home. It’s been on the cards for 2yrs but only just been confirmed. We long for space; proper space both inside and out. Trouble is schools. We have 3 children, two of whom are already at seniors (Y7&8) They are at grammar school, Y7 DD at a very highly selective one.

Where can we go and can get what we want for maximum budget of 750k? I was thinking Lincolnshire as cheaper but still a grammar system but I don’t know.

Oh forget leamington and Warwick, both full of coffee shops

Just outside Lancaster, in catchment for the grammar schools

Oh sorry - didn’t see farmhouse/beam comment!

Whereabouts in Cheshire are you? My mate lived in Wilslow and hated it. Moved to Prestbury and is much happier. I would be disinclined to move my kids from good schools if they were happy.

Wilmslow

You'd be elected in Glasgow with that ££££ and on the fast train to the big smoke in 4 hours.

@Lookingforspace how about Maidstone or the Medway towns (and surrounding villages). Sooo different from RTW (in a good way)

South of Bristol? North Somerset area has some excellent state schools... Churchill Academy, Blackwell School, or further south The Blue in Wells or Kings of Wessex in Cheddar. Beautiful area to live, just 2.5 hours from London, reasonable train routes direct to Paddington. The beauty of the South West is that it has a kind of insouciant coolness (with nearby cities and towns of Bristol, Bath, Frome, Wells) but much less of the knobbishness of the NW or the SE. Warmer than the north but more rain than the SE ☹️.
If your kids are clever they will thrive in many of the local comprehensives. House prices are cheaper than SE, not mega cheap though but you could find somewhere with land for 750k fairly easily if you’re prepared to compromise on location / house style.

*backwell School

Here you go - this is the type of thing you could stretch to in Worcestershire, in catchment if very well regarded high school. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65077324.html

Could I get the space and the very high achieving excellent state schools? When we were in Edinburgh before, it seemed almost everyone around us paid for school.

You could probably get the space and have the money to pay for school, with a 750 budget.

Or something in Linlithgow catchment

Just move to Lymm or Mobberley or somewhere out a bit. Why the need for such upheaval?

What about Worcestershire. Could buy a lot for that.
There is this that needs a little updating but has beautiful land and countryside on your doorstep whilst still being in a town and not too far from Birmingham.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54143013.html

Yes, Tinkly, I worry about moving the older two. We’re in Hale but Wilmslow is similar I guess. Prestbury really isn’t me. Again, too posh and a bit curtain twitchery. It tends to be where the wealthy grandparents of all the local kids live.

Troopers, elected? Is that a Glasgow term? I’ll have a look.

I’ll also have a look at other bits of Kent. Thanks, catinboots.

I’ll also look SW, thanks FO.

Hilariously, I came in here to suggest Trafford but see that you're already living there!

Sorry to hear you don't like it - I love it after living in London for 12 years. Horses for courses, I suppose.

(Could you just move North, into Timperley or Stretford?).

I wouldn't move children from schools they were hppy in unless it was absolutely necessary. Leaving schools and friends is horrible. Is there not just a village further out from you that you could shift to?

I guess the first thing you need to be certain of is if you are happy to not have selective education? Do you/your dc value that? Cos it will be hard enough shifting them in year 7 and 8 anyway. If they have put effort in to get into their schools its pretty tough cos youd like a nice garden. Which is going to be of marginal use or interest to them.
Why not rent dh an office nearby?

Lincolnshire probably not much good as although some (not all) of the county is a grammar system they’re oversubscribed. As your kids would be applying for an in year place there’s unlikely to be spaces. You could ring round and ask but there’s normall a lengthy waiting list. Dd passed the 11plus and has been on the waiting list for 6 years after missing out on a place by 0.3 of a mile.

I believe most of the grammars are the same. Though Skegness is sometimes undersubscribed......but the town is a shithole.

You could try the Sleaford or Grantham grammars I guess, again not really places I’d want to live. Lincoln itself is nice but not a grammar area. One fantastic comp, one very good one....again oversubscribed. Worth a try I guess. Other schools are dire.

Zampa, do you not find it a bit yummy mummy? My youngest is at a local state primary and its full of it. This place also full of people happy to pay for a prep effectively in a house that seems only to exist to ensure grammar entry. DD at AGGS and did no tutoring or prep other than a couple of past papers in the week before. People here are obsessed with schools and cars and houses.

I’m not sure Kent is any more affordable than Cheshire...if I were you I wouldn’t uproot my kids at that age. There must be somewhere more local to you that is slightly cheaper than Hale. What about Cheadle Hulme?

Are your children happy at school? Personally, I'd not move them if they are.

I would buy somewhere less expensive but still commutable to school if that was possible.

Also Bramhall looks extremely affordable.

AJPTaylor, happy to opt for high achieving comp. DD in particular needs pushing as she’s near the top in her highly selective grammar.

Thanks for the Lincs info, MNscum!