Buying in St Helens / Warrington area

missbw

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on the best places to look for a house in the St Helens / Warrington area. My partner and I are looking to buy but neither of us are overly familiar with these areas.

I primarily work from home but need to be close to major motorways as I often have to travel around the UK. My partner will be working in the Speke area of Liverpool and does not wish to live within the area that he works. We need to be close enough for him to get to work but far enough away from the area so that he isn't spending time in that area out of working hours.

For these reasons, we were considering Warrington or St Helens as possibilities. We have a budget of up to 200k to spend and would need at least a 3 bedroom house. We do not currently have children but will be considering starting a family soon. We would like to live in a nice area, close enough to shops, places to eat, nice walks etc.

I wondered whether anyone could suggest any areas that may fit our requirements? We keep finding houses that look very nice but without knowing much about the areas it is proving to be a difficult task.

Some advice that we have been given is to avoid the Latchford, Orford & Longford areas of Warrington. We're told that Stockton Heath, Thelwall, Grappenhall areas are nice.

Some houses that we like the look of have come up around the Old Hall/Great Sankey area. Does anyone have any advice on these?

For St Helens, there's an estate in Bold- I keep seeing it referred to as 'The Pastures' that could be a possibility.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts on these areas or other possibilities.

Please let me know if you think any more info would be useful in order to give a response.

Thanks!!

ACG

I dont really know Warrington that well but one of my old bosses used to live in Grappenhall and it would not be like him to live in a dodgy area so i can only assume that it must be nice around there.

Lionel_Thinkbag

Hunts Cross and Woolton are alright, quite leafy - though Woolton is more expensive. A few woods and parks within walking distance too. Though on a map it does look quite close to Speke they have their own shops so you wouldn't have to go into Speke outside of working hours, but you still might find it too close for comfort.

My husbands family lived in the area and I've always thought it was nice, never experienced any trouble in the 10 years I spent visiting there.

EDIT: Other than that, yes Stockton Heath, Grappenhall - I've not spent time there myself but have heard good things about them.

Paully232000

You should also look at areas like appleton, appleton thorn, daresbury, preston brook and around there giving you easy access to the M56, and being close enough to the runcorn bridge across to Speke.
This bridge is busy at the moment, but when they build the second bridge across the mersey in a few years, may ease congestion although you will have to pay for each crossing if the news is correct.

pop37

Old Hall/Westbrook/Great Sankey are good area with easy access to the motorway and good schools too. Area are mainly quiet, make sure you buy with enough parking as some area have issues with parking.

Ink_Queen

I would try to avoid having to cross Runcorn Bridge every day as it can regularly take upto 1 hour to cross at busy times.

I would also look at places like Widnes, Penketh and Great Sankey. What type / age of house are you looking for and what sort of amenities are you needing in the immediate area?

sophieschoice

Warrington town centre is a pig to get out of. There are some nice areas surrounding St. Helens. Rainford, Eccleston and Billinge off the top of my head. I'd also look a bit further afield like Ashton in Makerfield which is handy for the M6. Newton le Willows also has some pretty areas. I wouldn't live in Widnes though, or Leigh. Perhaps be more helpful if you list exactly what you need?
Oh, and the Bold estate is the old power station. It's not really close to anywhere!

Jo_King

What about Rainhill? I live there currently. It's right next to the M62 and the St Helens expressway. It's a 'real' village - with a butcher, baker, Co-op, Post Office, several decent pubs, very good schools and a railway station. Bits of Widnes are also nice, though I don't know the area so well...

Jo_King

What about Rainhill? I live there currently. It's right next to the M62 and the St Helens expressway. It's a 'real' village - with a butcher, baker, Co-op, Post Office, several decent pubs, very good schools and a railway station. Bits of Widnes are also nice, though I don't know the area so well...

missbw

Thanks so much for your help everyone!!

As far as age of house is concerned, we're not too fussy. We're not looking for a big project so as long as it is liveable and only needs to be decorated to our taste then we'd consider older and newer houses.

We currently live in Liverpool City Centre and so are very used to having shops, restaurants, entertainment etc on our doorstep. I guess we don't want to go from that to being in the middle of nowhere- so maybe the Bold estate wouldn't be the best choice!!

We'd like to be a short drive from a major supermarket and maybe some kind of retail park with shops/Cinema/places to eat would be good. I often need to get trains for work, so being close to a station would be great.

Thanks again for all your help

LandyAndy

I lived in the Cinnamon Brow area of Warrington for about 16 years up to 2005. There is quite a wide range of modern property. The roads on the outside of Enfield Park Road tend to have the larger and nicer houses in them. Access to motorways is excellent. There is a train station five/ten minutes drive away at Birchwood, where there is also a substantial shopping mall with a large ASDA and lots of parking. The primary school is convenient in the centre of the area. Its about 15 minutes drive to a major retail park with Ikea, Toys R Us etc. There used to be several decent pubs within a walk/short drive (can't vouch for that now)


If I was moving back to Warrington I would definitely look to live there again.


Personally, I'm not so keen on the areas south of the Mersey. they seem to command a premium that isn't justified.