Moving to the midlands

[Mummyof3dd]

husband has job in the city of Birmingham, I've never been To the midlands. We currently live in a small town. We have 3 children under 10 and looking for area with period property, good primary and secondary schools, friendly neighborhood, and no more than 50 min max commute. Any suggestions welcome please

It depends on your budget. Lichfield is 20-25 minutes on the train into Birmingham but driving could easily take you more than an hour. Schools are good and there's plenty of period properties but it's one of the most expensive places to live in the Midlands.

Sutton Coldfield is expensive again with lots of period properties. There are grammar schools (Sutton Girls and King Edwards Boys School) as well as reasonable state schools. Birmingham is 15 minutes on the train.

If you want small market town then Rugeley is very cheap for property but the schools are diabolical. You can get places at the Stafford and Lichfield schools though to get round that. It's in the middle of the countryside with country park, mountain biking, go ape, horse riding all in immediate area but it's just under an hour on the train to Birmingham and the train runs at full capacity every day.

Solihull?

Stratford Upon Avon is lovely but the commute may be too long?

I grew up in the midlands, it has lots to recommend it. Some of the warwickshire and staffordshire countryside is the best in the UK!

Some nice places in Worcestershire. Bromsgrove is a 25 min train commute from Birmingham.

Take the train south - barnt green, alvechurch and bromsgrove are all very nice.

Barnt green, alvechurch, Bromsgrove. With the new fast train line trains are 20 mins and very regular.
Solihull is where I'm from which is lovely too.

Stourbridge? Market town, right on the edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Very easy and quick to get trains to Birmingham. Trains to London too. Good schools, Merry Hill shopping centre about three miles away, countryside on the doorstep...
Nearby villages worth considering are Hagley and Kinver.
Also second the recommendations for Bromsgrove, Alvechurch and Barnt Green.

We live in Sutton Coldfield and I love it. There are lovely parks, shops, facilities and schools. Houses are quite expensive, but it's worth it for the schools etc. It's is also close to Lichfield and easy journey in to Birmingham city centre.

Burton on Trent may be possible. There are plenty of lovely villages in the area, a regular train service. Barton under Needwood is in between Burton and Lichfield amd is lacking in a train station but has plenty of period properties, an outstanding secondary school and easy access to the A38.

Stratford upon Avon is 50 mins on the train to Birmingham, and has very good schools

Second Stourbridge. Good schools. Lots on the doorstep but not too close to the city. 30 minutes to Brum on the train.

Anywhere in South Warwickshire, Stratford upon Avon is lovely. Alcester is a few miles out of Stratford and has very good schools, you would have to go to Redditch to catch the train but it's only 40 mins to Birmingham. House's are pricy in Warwickshire though compared to Worcestershire.

That's all very helpful, thank you. Anyone have any opinion on living in the Malverns?

Great Malvern is lovely for a sedate lifestyle - a lot of older/retired people live there. It has two stations and direct trains to Birmingham and London. It has a theatre/cinema, a swimming pool, the hills - lovely for walking - and some shops. The surrounding countryside is gorgeous. The state secondary schools don't have a great reputation though.

Worcester is bigger (although small for a city) with a wide choice of areas to live in and a better range of secondary schools. Decent shops, with a lot of improvement/regeneration work going on in parts of it. Train to Birmingham can take up to an hour if you get a stopper. The drive is straightforward, up the M5, but obviously commuting time depends on traffic: friends who work in Brum have had some horrendous jurneys!

The thing about Worcester and Malvern is that both feel as if they are outside the Midlands conurbation while still being handy for Birmingham, iyswim. You don't feel as if you live within that urban sprawl - where we live we are within the Cotswolds within about fifteen minutes.

Thanks, how do the secondary schools in Worcester compare?