Warwickshire: Stratford upon Avon, Leamington Spa or Warwick?

[sgmom2020]

Hi All,

We're currently living in Cambridge and are looking to move somewhere closer to the midlands to be nearer to family. We're not tied down by anything such as work, my husband works from home and I'm a SAHM. We would like to be near to grammar schools so that's narrowed us down to Warwickshire. That being said, our children are only 2yo and 6 months, but we want to settle in a nice area and don't want to do a huge move after they start school. DD will be starting nursery in Jan '24 so ideally we'd love to move this year. In addition, I'm from Singapore and used to city life, I don't mind towns and larger villages if there are things for me to do with my children/shops in the area, but can't do anything too rural!

Our budget is £500k-£550k ideally and looking at 3-4 bedders. There seems to be a fair amount of choice on rightmove but just need to narrow down on location. Any insight on these areas or surrounding villages will be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

We have literally just moved to Stratford-upon-Avon as we have always loved the town. Warwick and Leamington are also nice - I think Leamington is more popular with students, we didn't feel it was for us. I like that Stratford has a lot going on. Many tourists, if that might put you off, but to me I like that there is a bit of a buzz about the place. Excellent grammar schools too!

Pricewise I don't think there is much of a difference between the three towns and for your budget you should definitely get a good 3-4 bed house!
I believe there are plenty of nice villages around too, but personally I wanted somewhere I wouldn't be too reliant on the car, we can and do walk into town.

Check the grammar school admission information before banking on it. There's a priority area for KES but the admission levels are driven up by the area they have people sitting the 11+ from. Not a major issue as the other schools are good too.

Leamington is a funny town - the character has changed massively since all the housing estates started going up around it and personally I don't like it very much any more. Traffic everywhere and it feels much less characterful overall.

Warwick has a lot of tourists but personally I like it. It's probably the most similar to Cambridge of the three.

Stratford is a lovely town but, again, tourists and traffic. If you're going there I'd head towards the Waitrose side and pick somewhere you can walk in. Surrounding villages you won't get much for your money by going up the a46 so you'd be better of focusing on being in town so at least you don't have to sit in traffic and there are lots of bike lanes.

Have you considered alcester way? There's a fab grammar over there and the main downside is it's a ballache to get to anywhere which doesn't matter if you just wfh.

It's a lovely area, I would recommend it.

Where are your relatives? How close do you need to be to them?

Leamington, Stratford and Warwick are all nice enough but I personally couldn’t live in them. I’m not a fan of the midlands.

Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester, Oxford, Bristol are all very different to each other but are more my cup of tea.

I grew up just outside of Stratford. My personal preference of the three would be Leamington. I think with children you are best placed in one of those 3 towns, otherwise be prepared to ferry the kids around when they’re teenagers! The public transport from the surrounding towns/villages has always been unreliable and/or non-existent. One village used to have a bus to stratford once a week and I was regularly late to college because the bus used to just not turn up.
I’ve now hopped across the border in to Worcestershire, house prices in that part of Warwickshire are/were sky high and we didn’t feel that the houses or the area were worth the money.

FroggsHiccups My I ask why you wouldnt live there. We re thinking of moiving there so just curious x

Hello, where did you choose?

We still haven’t decided.

still haven’t had time to look around

how about yourself? My son is 7 we’d like somehere where there’s lots of chidren as he’s an only x

Why couldn’t you live in them ?

I hate bham but I think Warwickshire is very different to Bham. Am I right? Xx

Stratford-upon-Avon is very different from Birmingham! Iknow several mums at our local school who moved here from B'ham and they love it.
My children are 7 and 9 and we always find plenty to do in the area.

Thank you so much. Which area of Stratford upon avon would you say is nice for a professional family where there’s more children and has a low crime rate ?

We are both consultants and have a 7 yr old. Just want him to be able to play with kids outside the house or in the garden like back in the day without having to drive somehere and without having to make an appointment with a friend lol

m we are older parents in our late 40s

Shottery is lovely and not far to get into town, not many properties come on the market in that area.
South of the river and Tiddington are nice, but getting across the bridge can be bad during peak times so I wouldn't like to move there if you needed to commute to North of the river daily.
Above areas are pricier, so all down to your budget!
We moved to a nice road in Bishopton, lots of families here and not too far into town. Not the posh part of town but suited us best out of all the options we looked at.
You'd best visit the different areas to get a feel for them.

Thank you x