Where to live near Crewe, Macclesfield or Wilmslow station?

[northsouthmaybe]

DH and I work in different cities (me Manchester, him London). Both mostly WFH but need to get into the office 1/week. 2 primary age DC. Currently live in period semi in South Manchester- keen for a bigger garden, detached and more rural feel but anywhere leafier/detached near us goes for upwards of £1m whereas our budget is around £800k.

Hoping for advice or suggestions of good places to look - needs to be within easy-ish drive of a mainline station to London (Crewe/Macclesfield/Wilmslow) for DH commute and ideally no more than 1h by car/train from Manchester for mine.

Other criteria: good schools, large village or small town, decent enough public transport (even if that's buses rather than trains) for when DC are older, easy access to countryside walks/woodland, sense of community. Oh and if it can be incredibly picturesque there that would be a bonus!

Would love to hear any thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Congy is full of crackheads these days and there’s nothing for teens to do.

This is Cheshire we are talking about. There is nothing for teens to do pretty much anywhere, that's why they head into Manchester.

@Comefromaway @starringinyourbaddreams This is one thing that gives me pause about our plans to go further out/seek that rural idyll- will DC hate us once they hit teenage years for taking them away from the city? I guess good transport links are the answer so might have to cross off Leek.

Interesting what you say about Congleton - is it well know for having a drug problem??

Thanks @EveningSpread that's super helpful and gives me a good focus for Rightmove browsing!

Sounds lovely @ImASlowHorse! I think we need to work out if we're townies or country mice. I always think I want the countryside but also do regularly visit our local deli, coffee shop, library etc so maybe somewhere with a bit of something going on would suit us better...

Nantwich would tick pretty much all of your boxes @northsouthmaybe.

I grew up in the part of Crewe closest to Nantwich (Wistaston/Willaston area) which is actually lovely, feels very safe, some stunning and quite affordable houses, and only a 5 min drive into Nantwich. Plus very close to Crewe station. Crewe might not be the most beautiful place but you can’t deny the great transport links 😂

Nantwich is a lovely little market town though with decent schools, buses, nice community feel and lots of nice walks nearby. You could get a gorgeous 4 bed detached anywhere around £400-600k. Getting closer to Crewe (Wistaston, Willaston area) your budget would stretch even further.

I wouldn't say Congleton has a particular drug problem but then I am from Stoke originally and have also lived in Birmingham!

I don't know Nantwich very well but everyone says it is lovely.

Nantwich is nice! I live rurally but not too far from there.

Bollington is a nice community.

There's a couple of bits of Nantwich to steer clear of. Nothing too dreadful but you'd still not want to live there.

Knutsford then but it's expensive.

True but even those places aren’t as bad as say Crewe 🙈

Yeah, Crewe is horrendous. Barthomley and Englesea Brook on the outskirts of Crewe are nice but there's no village there as such.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Crewe over the years as one of the DC did an activity there. It became a running joke about how much time we spent in a place we didn't really like. That said, for all its faults, and I wouldn't choose to live there, as a PP said there's no doubt the transport links (road as well as rail) are great; it has decent out of town shopping; good supermarkets; nice new-ish leisure and library and Queen's park is quite nice too. So some of the rural bits around it might not be a bad bet. You'd get loads for your money too

Bollington? No idea about schools mind

Bollington would be in the Tytherington High School catchment which is a good school. Not quite as sought after as Falibroome but I used to run summer schools there and I liked it.

Primary Schools there are a few in that area, Bollington Cross or Bollington St Johns, I had kids coming to my activity from both. There is also Dean Valley but I don;t know anything about that one.

Bollington has a nice little arts centre and of course there is White Nancy!

What about Chester?

Chester is the other end of the county and about 40 miles from Manchester, and on the train to or from London you get a long wait for a connecting train at Crewe.

My daughter did the Chester to Manchester route on the train and my husband did the Stoke to Chester route. Don't. Just don't. The trains to Manchester take an age and the trains to London as PP said, there is usually a long wait/change at Crewe. Plus the motorway snarls up from Lymm onwards.

I moved to Sandbach a year ago, and quite like it. I regularly commute to both London and Manchester and it's very easy 8 minutes into Crewe and then high-speed trains.

In terms of the motorway, that was a big concern for us. However, if you're living near the station, it's the opposite side of town to the motorway, so far away from the noise and pollution. I wouldn't live close to a motorway.

Schools are good, there's a decent choice for pubs and restaurants, small shops, Waitrose and Aldi, leisure centre etc, as well as a lovely park and library. It's not the most exciting place for teens, but my assumption is that if my son wants more excitement in his mid-late teens, he'll head into Manchester.

Your budget is very healthy (in fact within a mile of the station there's only one property that would be too expensive for you). However, that does highlight the fact that you absolutely can afford 'nicer' like Holmes Chapel.

The villages between Crewe and Newcastle are nice but I'd not want to live that close to Stoke.
Biddulph and Congleton get bad weather.
From the places listed in the OP, I'd pick Wilmslow.

We’re currently selling our house on near the leisure centre! It’s a lovely area (we’re just moving closer to my parents).

home 💕💕💕

Bollington is such a wonderful place to grow up (I know because I did!) but it is more expensive than Macclesfield. It’s worth it in my opinion though!

@Comefromaway just so you know, Tythy dropped the 'High' quite some time ago!

Alsager, Congleton, Nantwich are all lovely and you'd get something pretty glorious for that budget.

(Trots off to Rightmove to have a look) 😂