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.

We live in Alsager and really like it. It's very small and the high street is basically a few pubs and charity shops. There is a small (ish) Asda but no petrol station or any chain shops and it's about a 10-12 minute drive to Crewe station.

It does have a very nice village, community-feel and in the summer there's all sorts of organised events, a fair, a gin festival etc.

Another alternative is the nearby village of Haslington. It's technically in Crewe but you'd never know it. Strong community feel and has a nice community spirit too.

Thanks for the reply. I don't know Nantwich at all but your description of it sounds great. Are there lots of young families living there? Where we are at the moment there are lots of DINKYs so cool bars, cafes etc which seemed great when we moved there but get almost no time to visit them nowadays so more focused on family friendly places. Although if there was a decent coffee shop I definitely wouldn't complain!

Thanks for the info re motorway. Good to know you can avoid the noise. Aldi + Waitrose = winning combination! Interesting what you say about Holmes Chapel being nicer - is that the reputation or do you personally think it's nicer? I really ought to get out to see all these places - so many good suggestions!

Thanks for the reply - I'll look up both Alsager and Haslington 👍

For those who've said Knutsford, are the planes not a problem?

Depends on your perspective. I love plane spotting, so it doesn't bother me at all. They come right over the village centre, so if you're particularly bothered by them, you'd just pick your street carefully. There's plenty of areas of Knutsford that aren't an issue.

No - you can barely hear them indoors and they're quiet enough to be just background noise.
I lived in Knutsford and then Timperley 2 years before I realised that it was even on the flight path. And I'm reasonably noise sensitive! Where I live now in East Manchester also on the flight path, I don't notice it.

Also OP having re-read your posts, I'm guessing you're currently in Altrincham/Didsbury/Chorlton or similar.
You really to consider what 'decent public transport' means. Also buzzy shops/delis/whatever.

IME public transport in the 'Cheshire' bit of the places mentioned are quite unreliable. I used to live in Altrincham/Timperley, also Macclesfield, needing to commute to Knutsford - I also lived in the latter for a good while.
In any case, trains these days are horrendous with strikes. But some lines, like Knutsford's have always been unreliable, even pre-Covid. One train an hour (half that on Sundays). It can also be really hard to get a taxi, I was stranded many a time in the dark, no bus, 30 min wait for a taxi. There's only one company (Passenger Cars) that operates regularly there anyway.
Bus from Macc to Knuts, it was always a lottery whether it even turned up. The trains from Macc to Manchester (and to London) were quite good but there was no plan B when they got cancelled. You could drive to Sale and do the park + ride, but at that point might as well go all the way to Manchester.

It's OK if you can drop off somewhere like Altrincham (with more reliable buses and trams), but don't even consider it otherwise.

Regarding food, towns like Holmes Chapel have a thriving high street, but most places are quite 'same-y'. Gastropubs, Italian, the odd Indian/Chinese. It's not as diverse as Altrincham with all of the above but also Spanish, Lebanese, Thai, different types of bars (the Belgian Bar is a favourite of mine. Also Riddles -shame it closed).

Personally I find the Stockport suburbs (Marple, the Heatons, etc) better for both nightlife/food and transport , compared to Cheshire. There's also a halfway decent (by NorthWest standards) bus network between places, so while it might take you longer than driving, you can usually get to places.

I don’t live there anymore but still visit quite often. I would say Nantwich has a nice mix of ‘trendier’ bars but also plenty of family friendly cafes/restaurants and there are a few nice family friendly things to do nearby. There are also regular markets in town and a food festival every September (from memory!)

What about poynton? closer to manchester has a train station and is rural. It has lovely walks, canal and has an aldi and waitrose. Schools are also great

I don't live in Knutsford itself, but every time I go there the planes bother me! It's not as bad as other areas mentioned (Cheadle and Heald Green) but definitely noticeable.

I grew up under the flight path but actually find it worse in knutsford than when visiting my parents! SIL is renting in Knutsford currently and looking to buy elsewhere because of the noise.

I'd also recommend Nantwich and drive to Crewe station. Quickest journey to Euston from Crewe is 1hr 36mins. It's also only 40 minutes to Manchester for you. Very close to M6. It's very well connected.

Nantwich is lovely, always something going on for families and David Lloyd are building on of their new clubs there if you like your sport.

Surprised that anyone thinks parking at crewe station is tricky. There are loads of car parks that always have spaces.