Moving to Cheshire - where's good, where not so much?

[usernolongerexists]

Hi! I wanted to pick the collective MN brain please.

I'll be moving from the South East to Cheshire over the coming months and wanted to ask for some advice about areas to pick and also areas to avoid please.

There are big differences in house prices across the county and I'm trying to balance having the right lifestyle and community on my doorstep against not extending my mortgage too much.

In a perfect world, I'd be moving somewhere like Hoole in Chester. But obviously properties there cost about £150-200K more than in say Crewe.

Areas looked at so far are Northwich (traffic but people were lovely), Rudheath (a little bit too rural), Hartford (very pretty but pricey), Hoole in Chester (which I loved), Middlewich (seems very nice but am aware that there isn't much on the doorstep and also traffic). I'll be heading up to look more closely at Nantwich and Crewe also.

I need to have good links to the motorway for Manchester/ Leeds and the south. My preference is always a character home, prefer not to go for an apartment or new build. No schools to consider. I mainly work from home now and so the local community is going to be important to stop me from getting too witchy. Also, I like parks and green space, it's nice to be able to pop to the local high street.

And while I shouldn't think this will be an issue, I'm not white and wouldn't want to be somewhere this might be a problem. My experience while looking around has generally been great so far.

Any help or pointers would be appreciated. Thank you!

@ladyinthecampervan

If you need access to Leeds & Manchester I’d say to avoid going as far East as Chester. The M56 is a nightmare at times. West Cheshire such as Lymm, Timperley, Knutsford or areas around Warrington (Grappenhall, Stockton Heath, Culcheth) might all be options.

Agree with this. I often have to drive to leeds just on th m62 and even leaving at birds fart from about Halifax onward the traffic is horrendous

If you need to regularly get to Manchester and leeds and have a decent budget I’d look at hebden bridge instead.

Another vote for Lymm and Knutsford. High Legh is also nice but a bit quieter. Both Lymm and Knutsford are beautiful leafy areas with lots of lovely places to eat, drink and shop within their villages, with great parks nearby like Dunham Massey and Tatton Park. If you fancied busier areas at times, Manchester and Liverpool City centres are 30-45 mins away.

The outskirts of Crewe are nice. Wistaston, williston etc. But centre isn't. Nantwich is lovely. Middlewich can be nice but again depends on area but traveler community there if that matters to you , sandbach is nice

Hey OP where did you choose in the end and how did it go? We are contemplating a similar move and the mind boggles at all the options! I'm angling towards Congleton or Northwich but is Crewe really as bad as people say?

i am considering moving to Cheshire and Northwich has caught my interest as it is bigger than most of the other smaller towns and not as expensive as Chester . Any thoughts on the area would be incredibly helpful please . Thanks .

crewe is the best place to live. You have all the shops Nantwich and Sandbach don’t have any shops in particular so why would you want to live there? It’s difficult .people in Crewe are friendly. also Chester is so busy there’s nowhere to park. I’ve lived there and it’s unfriendly Nantwich which is good for pubbing but not much else. Who needs all those little expensive shops and butcher when you’ve got supermarkets selling it half the price

I work in Knutsford OP there are loads of non-white people thanks to the big Barclays site. Altrincham and Hale are nice with the latter having quite a few periods properties!

This must be a joke right? Nantwich is lovely, I'd go there for a little day out, Crewe, only if I needed the rail station or there was a show on at the Lyceum.

It’s not a joke why would you say that? We have all the big stores here. What does Nantwich have?
I can just walk into most supermarkets from my detached house in the centre of town . Hardly any streets have double yellow lines there’s parking everywhere there’s no battle over parking.

There’s a Morrisons on my street and at the end of the street I have B&M Costa Coffee , Lidl and Wickes. I usually drive to these places because it’s easier to get stuff home. We have a Tesco and Dunelm, Near the town,then we have a major shopping park on the edge of town with all the main shops. we also have a giant Morrisons and a giant Aldi and a smaller Aldi in town. we have B&Q Screwfix and Toolstation among others. All the surrounding towns don’t have all this so you would be travelling all the time ,spending petrol and polluting the atmosphere if you care about that. Crewe has large parks with lakes and wonderful walks. It has a brand-new lifestyle centre with a gorgeous swimming pool and many gyms so what does Nantwich have that is better?

Crewe town centre is horrible. Nantwich is lovely. My daughter lived in Knutsford for a few months for work and she liked it there too.

Norwich has the most crime in the whole of Cheshire according to the Internet.