Commuting knutsford area to London advice

[lking679]

Hi all,

thinking of moving back to North west, specifically Cheshire from London. Knutsford looked nice but just thinking things through.

I wanted some advice on the commute though. Likely I’d need to commute into central London twice a month. Are there any commuting ‘hacks’ on the quickest and economical way to do it? I assume it would be driving or training to Crewe or Manchester and then west coast mainline but not sure if I’m missing something? (Assuming west coast mainline isn’t the wreck it is currently!)

Thanks

I think Knutsford is close to Runcorn? The train goes from there to Euston and takes just over 2 hours I think. Could be a bit longer but less than 3 hours.

Yes think it’s about the same distance as Crewe but obviously going back on yourself (train goes runcorn to crewe then on to London).
Think there are a few ways of doing it, heard people drive to Stockport…
Google maps suggests driving to Chelford, train Chelford to Crewe and on to London!
so was wondering what the commuters do from there!

Warrington bank Quay.

You also have the slower and cheaper London North Western train from Crewe to London.

You could train from Knutsford to Stockport as quickly as you can train from Chelford to Crewe plus you wouldn’t have the drive to Chelford.

Or you could just move to Chelford. Only passed through on a train but it seems nice and quiet

Does it have to be Knutsford? If you went to (say) Wilmslow or Alderley Edge you could pick up a direct train.

Or Macclesfield

My friend regularly gets the train from Runcorn to London. He lives in south Liverpool. It's fast and efficient.

Direct trains from Wilmslow and Stockport into Euston, just under 2 hours. Parking is easy, though not cheap, at Stockport, not sure about Wilmslow. Many of the services also stop at Macclesfield and Crewe. No need to drive into Manchester, just make sure you have a seat booked as it fills up along the way. I don’t know the Liverpool line but it looks like there are plenty of options. Price wise you will save a lot if you can book advance tickets and / or avoid peak times. Avoiding peak times is a challenge on the Manchester line. It’s leaving after 935 from Manchester and leaving Euston before 3 or after 7 I think.

I used to do Liverpool to Euston so know the train quite well that side. Knutsford has a good secondary school and we have girls in primary at the moment. I also wanted to be close to a town and train into Manchester for the girls when they’re older. I’m from the Wirral and want to be less than an hour away from family there.
knutsford seemed to offer a nice slice of Cheshire, good secondary and theoretically within an hour of the Wirral!

Nantwich also on the shortlist but high school wasn’t as good on paper as Knutsford!

Sandbach is an accident blackspot on the M6 and when it's closed the A50 through Knutsford turns into a car park. You can do Knutsford to Crewe in under 20 mins on a good day through the lanes, but not reliable, and you can get stuck behind tractors. The road to Macclesfield is bad for this.
Also, you need to be on the right side of the traffic, as the lights at the top of Adams Hill/Toft Rd are rather a bottleneck. Mobberley might be a better bet.
Knutsford High used to be used as a sink school for pupils excluded/encouraged to leave Altrincham grammar. They are banned from Booths and Martins on a regular basis. You would have very little chance of getting into Altrincham grammar, as about 30 years ago they built a huge estate on what had been a market garden.

One of the primaries has had at least 2 bad ofsted reports in the last 20 years.

Wilmslow might be a better bet.

As you might Guess, I lived there for 14 years.

Oh thanks good to know newtb.
I don’t mind about the grammar, in theory it’d be great but I have been through the grammar system myself and feel there are pro’s and con’s! We’re close to Kent grammars but knutsford performs similar to the good high schools in our town.

I’m also thinking of doing the move to knutsford and need to commute to London once a month.

I think I’ve settled on driving to wilmslow or Stockport and picking up the train there. (I also need to get to Manchester occasionally but will just take the awful Knutsford train).

We’ve also kept Wilmslow on the list as although it’s not as pretty as Knutsford, it has much better links and the school is a bit better (or so I’ve heard).

@newtb how recent is your experience of the school? On paper it seems high performing - one of the best in Cheshire based on results.

(I can't add anything to this, but it brought back memories; I was born and grew up in Knutsford - those lights at the top of Adams Hill haunted me when I was learning to drive... I avoided them for years after I passed my driving test)

Pupils from Knutsford High used to get banned for shoplifting. I had one unpleasant experience telling off a group of lads on a seat at Booths for shouting 'fuck' and one of them offered to show me he knew what it meant. I rang the school, was promised a call back, but it never came.

The crappy school was a primary and had one bad report in the early 90s and then another 10 years later, just after the head had taken early retirement.

Dd initially went to an independent one, but left due to bullying. Their head has since changed and the new one, the former deputy, is good. However I would think she'll be retiring soon.
Dd then went to the crappy for 2 years. The new head seemed to be mostly interested in going to visit a school with the same name in Kenya. Not sure if she's still there, but would imagine she's moved on.

I left 16 years ago, so not up to date on local gossip, but the Guardian may have some info.

@newtb I don’t live in a particularly rough area of London. Still had teenager attack and stab another on the high street recently! (Luckily not fatal).
If the area has been out of catchment for Grammars wonder if the school has improved as kids that might have gone to grammar head there. Certainly for a non grammar performs well enough.

Needs a lot more thought and budgeting! But commute was something I wanted the inside scoop on!

Under half an hour's drive from Knutsford to Macclesfield station. We live near New Mills and it's easier to get to Macc than Stockport for the London train.

What about Altrincham? Can get the train for a 15 minute journey to Stockport to get the London train.

In general, the fewer changes/connections the better.

And realistically you’re going to encounter knife crime and drug issues everywhere. It’s not like blades don’t exist outside London. I grew up in Knutsford, and many of the teenagers carried knives. And this was back in the 90s.

I know this area quite well (lived there for years and family are still there) and I’d still suggest Wilmslow, one of the Stockport subs, or even Didsbury/Chorlton over Knutsford.

Yeah the point about the knife was you get antisocial behaviour anywhere to be honest whether it’s kids on the bus or knife crime. Really isn’t a place safe from it apart from maybe very wealthy areas!

we’ll be travelling up soon to Cheshire but one of the draws was a more rural sort of area so edge of knutsford appealed over Altrincham. But you get the best feel of places when you’re physically there so we’ll spend more time on the area first!

Holmes Chapel is nice and has a mini sainsbos and a train station.

Have you done this now @lking679 ? How did it go? I’m moving soon and looking into the same.