am thinking about Chester now ...
 

Hi,we have looked at several other cities already and had great feedback and info on them ... now just thinking about Chester,it seems to be about the right size,near to larger cities,good schools,pretty etc ... can anyone offer experiences / advice on the area .. many thanks.

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

Never lived there but go often (Cheshire Oaks), its a nice town centre, your near North Wales and larger Cities like Liverpool and Manchester, the surrounding coutryside is lovely and Chester has a University, a nice river which is used a lot in the good weather buy tourists and Schools etc, sorry thats all I know.....good luck its hard...we are still renting as we still keep looking at different areas...I think it's harder in someways to have a choice lol....if you have children then I would like at schools, facililities, if you want a large City, Town and Village....North,South etc...and what important to YOUR family....:thumbup:

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

Looking at all the places you're considering makes me realise just how much I've moved around!
I was born and brought up in Cheshire and my parents don't live far from Chester now. It's a lovely city - very like the other places you're considering in terms of history, size etc, but it does have better road links to the rest of the country than Norwich and is hillier!
Our old neighbours from Northumberland live just over the boundary in Wrexham and their children go to school in Chester. They really enjoy living there.

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

We visited Norwich early March this year and we enjoyed the City the area was very flat but charming I can say though and we did consider a move that only having certain road links it takes you a while to get anywhere ie other Cities and Towns it was lovely to finally visit though.

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

I lived in Chester for 17 years before moving to the US 16 years ago. I love Chester and if we return to the UK we will probably go back to the Chester area. Sadly in the last 10 years or so the city centre has become quite run down.

It's located just off the M53/M56 which gives easy access into N Wales, Manchester, Manchester Airport (about 30 mins by road).

You are right about the size...it's a city but not too large. Parking is dreadful and expensive.

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

I grew up on the Wirral, in the posh bit, and I liked it there. Mind you I liked Norwich too.

More access to places you might want to go from Chester I guess (North Wales hills, Liverpool, Manchester etc), but less of that slow pace of life that Norwich offers. More expensive to buy into too, at a guess.

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

It did take me a while to get used to the lack of hills when I first moved there after having the Pennines visible from our house! I then got my 'fix' being able to see the Welsh hills from my parents' house. Now we live in Northumberland with hills in every direction!:D

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

We are also thinking about Chester, I like the city and it's well located for a few bigger cities too.

Jerseygirl, I'm interested to hear that it's become quite run down. We were there just over a year ago and didn't notice the empty shops etc in the city centre that you get in some UK towns but I don't know Chester well enough to know for sure. Is it the type of shops, vacancy levels or something else? (sorry, just read that back and it sounds like I'm arguing! I'm not, I'd really appreciate some more info as it is top of our list to go back to).

I found another thread on here from some time ago which talks about Chester but mainly towns/villages outside Chester. Sorry to hijack this thread but I wonder if anyone could comment on living within Chester itself (ideally inside the city walls, or just outside). We don't have kids (and will not in the future) and would be quite happy with an old terrace but not sure if the area is considered desirable or not? Some seem remarkably cheap which makes me wonder...

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

Even when we lived in Perth, W.A we liked to live in an area where we had a view of the Darling Ranges, now we lve in the Peak District so Hills everywhere, funny what your use to and sometimes don't know it.

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

I was in Chester a couple of months ago and did not find the high street run down but maybe there are areas I have yet to explore :eek: but the main high street looked good

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

I agree ... we lived in West Vancouver with Cypress & Grouse mountains behind us and in Christchurch with the snow capped Southern Alps in the distance ... need some varied landscape ...

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

We didn't live near hills in Perth, but we used to go at the weekend lots. I loved going out from Melbourne too - the hills around there are lovely.
You're right; sometimes you don't realise you're missing something until you see it again.:)

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

Maybe it's because I am comparing Chester now to how it used to be. Frodsham Street for instance...used to be a lovely little street filled with small shops...now it's mainly charity shops. Same with the entrance to Tesco....again there used to be several small shops...now it looks so trashy.

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

Thanks Jerseygirl, good to know.

Do you have any comments on the Handbridge or Broughton areas of Chester?

Re: am thinking about Chester now ...
 

Broughton is just over the border in N Wales. Sorry I don't know too much about it. Handbridge is a nice little area...right by the River Dee...you can walk into town from there.