Where to buy a house near Chester?!

[lking679]

Hi all, I’m originally from the Wirral but have been in London 14 years!
Jobs are now incredibly flexible and my husband is wfh 100% (his office closed!) and I can go in to London office twice a month when I go back to work.

Thinking of moving the family back up north and selling London home.
I don’t really want to go back to the Wirral as I’ve got used to city life!
I was thinking Chester and it’s easy for trains to London but it doesn’t have the grammars the Wirral has.

where would you move? We’re a family of 5, kids are aged 5-2-newborn and would want a 4 bed house with maximum budget of about £625k. Amenities of a town/city near the peace of the countryside? 30-40 minute drive to Wirral would be fine. Don’t mind too much about primaries but it’s the outstanding secondaries that I’m after. All my kids are girls, can’t afford private!

Thanks

If you’re after selective schools, Altrincham and Sale are within the orbit of buzzy Manchester and maybe doable to Wirral in 40 minutes-I live in N Wales and the journey to visit my son in Manchester City Centre is just under 1 hour in non rush hour traffic. Liverpool has The Bluecoat-you could get something in Childwall for your budget-but no access to countryside. If you’re open to non selective schools, Christleton High School has a good reputation and is in a lovely village just outside Chester. Not sure how far the catchment reaches. Hoole in Chester would be a fabulous place to live-walk to the railway station but easy access to countryside-but not sure of school catchment there. Tbh though, the leafy Cheshire schools do seem fine-in our group, all of the kids have done well and are thriving in their early 20s and most attended state schools.

Thank you!
I think Sale and Altrincham a bit too far but thanks for the response! Think I need to go and explore a bit more but just a shame as leaving catchment of Kent grammar schools and doesn’t seem much around chester that’s similar unless you’re on The Wirral!

We live in Cuddington which is on a great, if slow train route. Knutsford and Stockton Heath are both lovely and have transport to local school such as the grange and cransley. There are a number of new builds going up on the outskirts of Chester near kings and queens what might be ideal too

Christleton , Hoole, Mollington worth a look 👍

Have you thought about Kingsley, Alvanley Frodsham area. You can get to Wirral in 40 mins. More house than for your money, helsby high is good school . But then most schools around chester are whether christleton , tarporley
we moved to cheshire rather than Wirral because they weren’t selective schools . And chester area rather than west lancashire because state schools generally better

Also, many students from Chester go on buses to the Wirral grammar schools but the schools are pretty good in Chester.

I live in south Liverpool near the Blue coat. I love living here but the BC is not your average grammar, as it were. Competition is huge.

We have lovely leafy roads here and great parks but we’re not in the countryside. If you lived on the Wirral you wouldn’t be far from Liverpool so could have the city amenities but access to the grammars and the countryside?