Semi-rural areas to live near Coventry?

[Lou9878]

Hello,

My husband recently got a job near Coventry, we're not from the area and we have no idea what areas are nice or not, I was wondering if had any suggestions about anywhere to start looking?

We've got a budget of about 500k, and we are hoping to find a 3/4 bed detached house somewhere.

We're hoping to find a nice area commutable to Coventry with a decent primary school nearby. We'd love to be near some woods or countryside walks as we live in our wellies and are used to a semi-rural life.

It a looks a bit built-up around that area, but fingers crossed we can find something!

Thank you.

There are lots of nice places, Kenilworth, Meriden, Berkswell, Balsall Common. Although Coventry is a city, there are a lot of green spaces very nearby.

If you want a brutally honest opinion on any places that you're looking at, feel free to PM me, moving to a new area can be tricky when you don't know the area.
Good luck!

There are lots of lovely villages near Stratford, Warwick and Leamington that would be easy to travel to Coventry from. Wellesbourne is a large village which has a good primary school, lots of houses have been built recently and lots of nice countryside round about. There is Barford which has a very good primary school too and close to the A46. Moreton Morrell is more rural and also has a good primary school. Hampton Lucy is another lovely village which is smaller and also has a good primary school. I don’t know the villages closest to Coventry but the commute from these villages is only half an hour or so depending on traffic.

Amazing, thank you so much!

We had started looking at Kenilworth but there's not much for sale and I think it'll push our budget a bit far.

Will take a look at those, really good to hear that the commute to Coventry isn't so bad!

Don't forget about HS2.

Which side of Coventry? If he up by the Ricoh or in the North, I wouldn't be looking at South Warwickshire. The roads to circle Coventry (ring road or a45) are not good during rush hour.

If it is north, look at places around Draycote Water and down to Southam area villages (not particularly Southam itself though). On the other side, places like Balsall Common and the villages heading towards Solihull are nice.

Avoid Hinkley and Nuneaton.

HS2 is a good point, it runs through a lot of the places we were looking at actually!

DH needs access to Leamington too, so we're hoping to be on the south side.

We started driving around Warwick, Leamington, Southam, Bishop's Itchington and parts of Rugby, but the whole area is so huge we don't know where to start, and where to avoid.

Thank you so much everyone!

Kineton is a lovely village with great motorway links. It's been 25 years since I been near the schools though

Check the roads and make sure you're near the right one. Houses tend to be much pricier near the a46 as it's so handy for getting anywhere but it's probably worth it. I think leek or hill wootton have a new school that's meant to be ok, also handy for both Leamington and Coventry. As much as anything can be handy for Leamington which is so congested it's untrue.

Oh, and cubbington could be a good shout, the bit with all the scottish road names might fit the bill.

I've always liked Hampton in Arden, Catherine de Barnes and parts of Meriden

You're lucky, it's a fabulous part of the world with fantastic towns and villages but very accessible. There's so much countryside between Coventry and Leamington, you don't need to worry.

Aside from a primary school, are there other facilities you want? A shop? A pub?

There's also a huge variation in the size of the villages. You can argue the toss as to how you define town/village/hamlet, but coming from one that's at the hamlet end of the scale, I personally find places like Kineton and Wellesbourne more like small towns. Absolutely nothing wrong with it, but it depends what you picture in your mind when you think of a village, for example.

And after all that I forgot the question at the of my rambling last sentence... so would you prefer small village/big village/ town type of location?

Very small villages, maybe try barnacle, ansty .. both perhaps 15 mins to Coventry. Very close to motorway for any commutes. But no walkable schools, no shops.
Kenilworth is lovely but getting very pricey as you have found.
I’d also consider Binley Woods, Stratton-on-Dunsmore and Ryton-on-Dunsmore. Larger villages, more going on. Coventry and surrounding area is great in that it’s the centre and very good for travelling to all parts of the uk!

Oh I see you mention rugby .. I haven’t been into rugby itself for many years but that would be very doable for travel to leamington. Lots of new estates popping up there too.

Amazing, thank you all! It's really nice to have a list of places to look at. We're so overwhelmed about where to start!

@FoxtrotSkarloey I think we would prefer a small village or big village really. We are quiet people and we have dogs, we like our own space and tend to prefer entertaining at home.

We are very boring but appreciate simple things!

Things like a small Co-Op or fishmonger or butcher nearby would be nice, and post office nearby would be handy as we have to drive a fair way to ours at the moment.

A train station nearby would be amazing which is why we were looking at Kenilworth, but we were wondering if that's too towny for us.

We did drive through Wellesbourne and I think that felt okay to us, but like you said, that was on the busier end of the scale for us, I don't think we'd want to go much more than that really.

@MartyDoc Brilliant, than you for that. We were getting downhearted as a lot of people online say to avoid Rugby and Coventry outskirts, but we quite liked parts of them.

People look down upon where we are at the moment though and we love it, so maybe it's just a taste thing!

I live between Warwick and Stratford.

For Leamington and Coventry access I agree Cubbington is lovely but do be aware of where HS2 is going.

PM me though, I think I have the perfect place for you, and it's where I live!

It’s so personal isn’t it. I’d def map a route out of everything suggested and have a drive if you can.
I personally like Ansty/ Barnacle as they are very small and you can walk canals/ fields from your house which is more difficult in some of the larger places. But you’d have a little drive to a post office. Ten mins to huge showcase/restaurants and big shop tho.
Same with dunsmore. Kenilworth obvs a town 🤔
Let us know! Hope it goes well.

Look at the villages of Brinklow and Dunchurch.. both on Rugby outskirts

Fillongley is in Coventry, but very rural.

Fillongley is a lovely village, good primary school. Not sure which catchment it falls under for secondary? Heart of England school?

It would take you less than 30 minutes (and in many cases 15 max) to get into Rugby or Leamington stations from the surrounding villages so don't discount them in you prefer rural.

As with many places, parts and Coventry and Rugby are lovely and some less desirable. As a whole, Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth are nicer though. They are are urban though.

@Longandwinding

Look at the villages of Brinklow and Dunchurch.. both on Rugby outskirts

They look like a great location, thank you!

@MartyDoc

It’s so personal isn’t it. I’d def map a route out of everything suggested and have a drive if you can. I personally like Ansty/ Barnacle as they are very small and you can walk canals/ fields from your house which is more difficult in some of the larger places. But you’d have a little drive to a post office. Ten mins to huge showcase/restaurants and big shop tho. Same with dunsmore. Kenilworth obvs a town 🤔 Let us know! Hope it goes well.

Nice! We saw a place in Ansty a while back we liked the look of, that's all very good to know.

I'm glad that there seems to be a lot of choice, excited to drive back to the area with a more focused route.

Thank you!