Lichfield or ??? Moving from SW London

[AzBucks]

Hello Mumsnet Community! (First poster here).

We (my wife, 6year old son and 6week old son) are considering moving out of SW London to Lichfield in Staffordshire......bigger house, potentially a better lifestyle for us all etc etc.

A good UK commute is important for me (typically 3days at home and 2 travelling) and my wife will need to travel to London once or twice a week for work.

From what we've seen Lichfield looks awesome and seems to be ticking every box apart from not being near family, who are in Bristol and London.

My wife (born and raised in SW London) wants us to be in walking distance to things going on and doesn't want to soley rely on having to drive.

Any opinions on Lichfield would be welcome? Seems to be some great cafes, restaurants, schools and things to do for kids.

Also happy to hear of any other areas you think we should be considering?

We've ruled out Birmingham due to long school waiting lists for good state schools for our 6year old and oversubscribed / full private schools.

Budget is around £600k and we are after a 4 / 5 bed within a mile of a train station and things going on!! Plan A is for kids to go to good state schools but we are also open to small independent schools too.

Any comments more would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Lichfield is generally great place to live. Good schools, King Edwards and Friary in particular and fee paying Cathedral school though I think some music scholarships are available. There is a boys Grammer school in Sutton Coldfield , Bishop Vesey and a Girls one too. Plenty of Independent shops (sadly lost Debenhams but council looking to make it into indoor artisan market and start up shops) plenty of cafes and regular markets including farmers one. Some pubs have live music and Guildhall restarting gigs and other cultural stuff happens in St Mary's hub too. There are also literature and various music festivals including the free Fuse festival in Beacon Park. Plenty of houses in your price range. Good areas are Boley Park and newer developments such as Darwin Park,with pools ducks and swans, by Waitrose. About 15 min walk to station. Lots of new house being built too,some say too many as could do with another doctors really. Theatre good and shows films too though supposed to be building new cinema for years. Nearby Tamworth has cinema and Snowdome plus large retail shops with free parking. Sutton Coldfield reasonable for shops too plus beautiful Sutton Park and Cannock Chase nearby. Lots of green spaces and great craft centre at Curborough with fab cheese gin and ale barnFood festivals are good and annual Bower carnival and fair is very busy. Only downside we have found is not that much for teens unless into dance, theatre or sport, but Birmingham easy to get to on the train.

Forgot to say several very good primary schools though the best can be difficult to get into so best to check catchment carefully when looking at houses.

Thank you so much pepsirolla! What a great endorsement for Lichfield.

Any other comments welcome.

Also anywhere else we should be considering?

Thanks all!

Have you looked at SW Bham/Worcester(ish)? Some areas are not too far from the cross city line in the opposite direction to Litchfield and it’s closer for the M5 to Bristol

It’s a lovely place to live. Enough going on to keep you busy and a great place to bring up kids.
Avoid all the new builds. They are overpriced, cheaply made, tiny and with postage stamp gardens.

I would also endorse @pepsirolla's comments on Lichfield.
It's great for being able to walk everywhere, lovely to have a stroll down to minster pool or Stowe pool where the kids love to feed the ducks.
Lovely independent cafés. Lots of events starting back up, the food festival is the business 😋

P.s there's plenty in your budget for Lichfield. We're fairly city centre based rather than boley park way, but prices are fairly level throughout the city

Lovely cathedral city with a growing 'foodie' reputation - gained its first Michelin star restaurant recently.

We lived in Lichfield for several years, but moved abroad last year. We like Lichfield a lot, though, and still own our house there. It’s a great place for kids, with Beacon Park, Stowe Pool and lots of festivals. I taught at The Friary and King Eddie’s and also know the head teacher at Netherstowe. I’ve got generally good thoughts about all the secondaries.

The first house we owned was on Darwin Park, near Waitrose, and I loved having good access to lots of outdoor space and being able to walk into town. The house we currently own is in Streethay, which isn’t as great for walking, but is very well located for Lichfield Trent Valley, which has the fast train to London. Train station parking is a huge issue, so it’s useful to be so close. My children attended the new primary in Streethay and had a great experience there.

Wow. Thanks everyone, this is really helpful and encouraging!

Where in SW Birmingham / Worcestershire would you recommend @WorriedMillie?

We looked at Worcester but the train times to London and other big cities were too long for us to consider unfortunately.

Thanks everyone, this has been a great first Mumsnet experience!!

@Foldinthecheese, was the new primary school Scotch Orchard Primary School?

Is there anything near the Streethay area? Any shops, things to do for kids? Close to Trent Valley will be important for us.

We are in Lichfield again next weekend to familiarise ourselves with different residential areas.

Thanks

The new primary is Streethay Primary. Lovely school with nursery provision for 2-3 year olds.

I’m under the impression that there will be some shops and a cafe built next to the school. The new estate also has several playgrounds dotted around. There’s a bigger playground that I believe is being given a bit of a makeover, and we also enjoyed walking through the fields down to the canal. You can walk to the city centre from Streethay, or take a short train ride. You’ve also got good access to the A38, so it’s a quick drive to Barton Marina or Rosliston Forestry Centre.

Our house backs on to the new estate, which I found useful because we got the benefits of playgrounds, the school, open green spaces and lots of young families without the downsides of living in a new build.

Thanks @Foldinthecheese that all sounds great.

You've also given us some extra areas to explore next week, with the Marina and Forestry centre. Exciting times.

You'll need to drive if you goto Streethay unless you live on the front then you can walk to the train station at least. But the estate there doesnt have the best reputation which is why we are leaving. Best estate is the Waitrose one IMHO. Which gives OK commute to both train stations and nice mix of houses.

I previously lived in Lichfield. Gorgeous area, park is great for kids. Loads of lovely restaurants and pubs. I'm currently in Stafford which is a similar vibe but slightly less upmarket! Would highly recommend Lichfield.

Another vote for Lichfield @AzBucks ! Did you decide to go for it?

Hi @sunja . Great timing to ask!

We have accepted an offer on our place in London and had an offer accepted on a lovely house in Lichfield this week!

We are super excited, short walk into both the city and Trent Valley Station, on Brownfields Road.

Thank you so much everyone on this thread for the advice and encouragement!

Our next steps are to choose a school, we are going to do a taster session at the Cathedral school, as we think our 6year old will benefit from a smaller class size.

Football training / club for my 6year old.

We also need to find a kids / adults tennis club and some good mother baby groups / locations for my wife to join whilst she's on maternity.

Thank you guys!

@AzBucks congratulations! That's amazing! There are great tennis lessons in Beacon Park here: beaconparktennis.org/coaching/

Also, David Lloyds is amazing, has a few tennis courts, a swimming pool and also a crèche/kids club.

I hope you love it! It's an amazing place to live

@AzBucks almost welcome to Lichfield!

I have two small ones so can help on that front. If she joins the Facebook group Lichfield 2020 Babies & Beyond, it's an absolute gold mine of info on stay and play sessions. Also NCT Lichfield and Tamworth is great, with buggy walking groups etc. Water babies has a local group, the library runs bounce and rhyme for free, lots of play sessions at various churches etc. Plus we have no shortage of play parks.

@sunja and @NearlyHeadlessNick thank you so much for the helpful information. Does anyone know / or can recommend any football classes for children of 6 years old in Lichfield?

Also any recommendations for anything dance / performing arts related?

Cheers!!

@AzBucks not football I'm afraid 🤔 although having said that there's always loads of football matches in beacon park on Sundays, but I'm not sure of the club they're affiliated to or the age ranges.

Dance - I totally recommend elite academy of performing arts. both my smalls go and although they're in the younger classes, the school are always posting successes on Facebook - competitions, exams, auditions, all sorts. One of my smalls is a boy and they're really seeming to nurture him.

@AzBucks I just came across this thread as the first hit on my Google search and it is uncanny how identical our situation is!

First of all, greetings all 😊 I have been a long time consumer of mumsnet and have many times in the past been very thankful to this community. DH and I haven’t been renting in southwest London since 5 years now and are looking to buy now. Our budget of around 450K will get us next to nothing where we are. DH lived and worked in Lichfield for a few years around 12 years back and has happy memories of his time there. So we thought we should definitely consider Lichfield rather than pick an unknown commuter town.

@AzBucks Much like yourself we have two little girls - 6 & 3 - and DH will need to commute from London 1-2 days a week. I’ll most likely try to find something locally. I see you have successfully made your move so mainly I wanted to check on the commute into London and back. I know there is a fast train from Trent valley but is it reliable? And also what does it cost? DH doesn’t have a fixed schedule and often gets called in to the office with very little notice so he will mostly be having to buy tickets on the day. I did a quick check on Trainline and it gave me prices that are all over - ranging from around £30 to over £200. Would you be able to give us some idea please on the commute?

I am bursting with questions but I’ll leave it at this for now!

I would be looking at places along the M5 if you want to be closer to family. Cheltenham and Gloucester seem like nice places. There is also Droitwich and Bromsgrove.
Stafford is a nice town in the Midlands with good train links north and south.
But Lichfield does seem to be a lovely city from the reviews on here.

Lichfield is lovely but if you want to be nearer Bristol side for M5 look at Bromsgrove or Hagley or Worcester. Alternatively also worth a loon Leamingro Spa/Warwick for fast train links.

That should say Leamington!