brits1

Is that not the same in most countries...."Suburbs and there are Suburbs"....Manchester has its bad parts like 99.9% of Cities.....if you get my drift.....

brits1

Woodford is a lovely area, not far from motorway links and still retains the country feel..Bramhall, High Lane, Adlington, Bowden, Hale, Hale Barns, Wilmslow, Marple Bridge, Mellor, Pott Shrigley, Higher Poynton, are all very nice areas without being a million miles from Manchester City Centre and for your budge in those areas you can rent a lovely property....just look on Right Move....good luck...and Manchester does have a lot going for it....I am biased .....NO....lol....NO.....

BristolUK

Wow. My property tax here (just under $2400) is only about 25% more for a detached house bigger and better in every way than my old 2 bed terraced one is currently rated for.

I think that compares very favourably even before you see it includes a $5m budget for snow removal

b2b

I'm a southerner yet my 3 years in Cheshire has convinced me it's a good place to relocate to in moving back to Britain. My mother made me laugh though, with the sweeping generalisation that there aren't jobs up north. I used to earn close to southern salaries for the same position and the commute was pleasant instead of being traumatic. Oh and schools are way better than places i've checked out in the sarf. I also need somewhere to roost while completing a post grad qualification so better living in a mud hut and eating bread 'n' dripping every night in between episodes of Corrie, than working 70 hour week to pay for flipping train ticket but then living in a palace while watching Upstairs Downstairs.

Jerseygirl

Although I was brought up in Sheffield...I married a Cheshire guy and lived in Chester for 16 years before we moved to the US. If we move back to the UK we will be heading to Tarporley.

Editha

We used to live not that far away, in North Staffordshire. It was possible to go shopping in Chester and Macclesfield. We moved there from London and really enjoyed the lifestyle. We liked the access to the Peak District, lots of National Trust places to visit, shopping in Manchester, the arts festival in Buxton, and well I could go on and on.

We've considered moving somewhere else, such as the West Country, for a change of scene, when we return. But, we've decided we'll almost certainly end up returning to the West Midlands, when we leave Canada.

Jerseygirl

I lived in Macclesfield for a few years...used to drive through Buxton sometimes on my way to Sheffield.

sallysimmons

Good breakdown - and some of my costs are worse. We're a self-employed couple so we have to pay our entire healthcare costs by ourselves. There is only one insurance option in the state of New York that will take a company as small as ours, hence our monthly bill of $1,400 for 2 people.

We live in an old house with all the usual problems that entails and the draughty windows combined with New York utility costs mean our bills average out at $650 per month.

And we had six cats over the years, 4 of whom got sick (and eventually died). I have no idea how much we ran up in bills over the years but it was a lot.

Oh and with that expensive healthcare plan, I still have to pay $50 every time I need 6 migraine pills, and I have been denied physical therapy for chronic tendonitis and can't afford to fund it myself at $250 an hour.

Yeah, America is dirt cheap

sallysimmons

I had targeted this area as a possibility when we returned along with some other nice semi-rural parts of the North. But then I discovered that there's no broadband in any of the places I wanted to live and have had to reconsider. I want all those things you mentioned, but the Internet is really important to me, both for business and also for pleasure (downloading movies, listening to music on Spottify, skyping friends etc) and I just can't handle download speeds of 1MB. It's really put a crimp in my plans.

Now I'm finding myself rooting for the Tories (a definite first!) in their attempts to move the UK into the modern age when it comes to technology.

chris955

Why ? I know lots of people in the UK and they dont pay HUGE energy bills. As for car running cots most people drive sensible cars with good economy.

Editha

I suggest looking again. Most of the places I've been looking at on Rightmove have BT broadband, even when they don't have mains gas. I'm looking in the rural Staffordshire Moorland area, ST10 preferably but also ST9 and ST8. I lived in a rural village in ST9 up to 06 when we moved to Canada. I think we got broadband in 04.

brits1

On our return to the U.K and "The North" I was surprised by how many Southerns actually lived and worked in the North West, it was certainly not like that when we left the UK 12 years previously. Our neighbours here are from "Down South" and there are quite a few that live in our neighbourhood as well,you only have to go into our local Coffee shops in our High Street to hear the mixed accents. I did ask the builder (he was from Hampshire) we used when we first arrived back ?how come so many Southerners have made the move North"...he said a few reasons,its cheaper,a bit slower (I did not take offence lol) and he said for him he liked the people and liked the countryside on your doorstep which was easy to get to. Being a Northerner myself we did think of heading South when we made the move back home mainly to try something different, the weather is a bit better, being near to the south coast and France etc...but all in all its swings and roundabouts lol...what you gain in one hand you lose in the other, so for now we are quite happy in the North and to travel and see the rest of the U.K (we are off to the English Riviera next week) .....good luck

brits1

A lovely area with lovely surrounding villages and great schools...My neice was Married at Peckforton Castle (her husbands family live in the area)....yes these places are the little hidden gems in Cheshire. I was in Chester a few weeks ago and also stopped in at Cheshire Oaks....my purse took a bashing lol...

brits1

There is Broadband in Buxton....our son is at Uni there and they have no problem...plus he has friends in Bakewell and other surrounding villages and they all have Broadband. I voted Liberal in Aus and I vote Conservative here in the U.K...I am from a working class background but that does not always mean you have to vote for Labour etc. You should be able to vote with who you think will do right by you and yours and getting the Country back on track is a bonus....

Jerseygirl

Peckforton Castle is a fabulous place for a wedding. We had dinner there last Christmas when we were in the UK. Pity about the fire.

Is the new M&S at Cheshire Oaks ready yet...their largest store after Marble Arch?