Help trying to find where to live

[ams1990]

Hi all,

I recently got married and have started to think much more about the future, having a support network nearby for when we have kids. We're currently living in the north west in Warrington, which has been a great home for the last few years with great location and transport links . However we have no family here and feel we would struggle when having a baby.

We'd like to be closer to family in Walsall, whilst still being within an hour commute on the train to Manchester where our jobs are, should we need to return to the office at any point in the future.

So far we've looked at Stafford because of the great train links, however after seeing a few properties we've become disheartened by the town centre and general feel of the place. I'm not sure if we're just looking in the wrong places.

We have a maximum budget of 350k and preferably looking for a 4 bed property.

can anybody recommend any parts of Stafford or other locations worth considering?

Thanks in advance

Eccleshall is a nice small town/large village close to Stafford. But expensive. Great Bridgeford is a compromise, no shops, but not very far from Stafford or Eccleshall and handy for the M6 J14, there are a few houses that are 4-bed but not many and few come up for sale- people tend to stay there. Within Stafford, Wildwood is okay, Baswich maybe a bit more so, but they adjoin. I'd avoid anywhere on the flood plains either side of the town centre. Other villages, Derrington, on a great off-road cycle path to Stafford town centre, Haughton (which has some shops) also on that route . Ranton, posh, expensive, no shops. Seighford, has a pub, no shops, well thought of primary school, but not the sort of houses you're looking for IIRC.
You could try asking on the Stafford Forum. www.staffordforum.com

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately Eccleshall is the wrong side of stafford. I'm looking places below stafford town, as the travel time is less than 30 minutes to my parents in walsall.

I've seen some properties in Baswich and will look into the other areas.