Hello all.

My first post after finding this forum yesterday, looks like I'll be spending quite a lot of time around here! I'm a professional Geek so where else to turn for advice but cyberspace

Anyway...

Please educate me as to areas. Scurrilous opinions most welcome as I need to know where to look at & where to avoid - but please remember not to offend your neighbours!

MrsTheGeek has had a good day this week - and been offered a job she really, really, really wanted at St Catherine's Hospital in Birkenhead.

Commuting will be fine for a while (we're currently in Crosby) but the plan is to move over to The Wirral next year before our daughter gets too entrenched in school (currently in reception so I'm not too worried about moving her at this stage, don't want to do it again though)

For various boring reasons we'll be renting out our current place & renting wherever we live on the Wirral.

BUT... For all the times that we've visited New Brighton, Lever Art Gallery and hundreds of tea shops, we don't really know the Wirral very well in terms of good/bad/indifferent areas.

So - could I ask for your honest feedback on any areas that occur to you - good or bad!

FWIW, we want to be about 20-30 mins commute from the hospital. I can work from home or a small office so that's no problem - so long as I have broadband I'm good to go. Looking for a 2-3 bed with a bit of character & not in a heavily built up or scumsville area. About £600pcm.

So your opinions please!

Hello The. Geek. Having lived in Wallasey all my life I can say there are good parts and bad,I recently moved to New Brighton and love it there. There are many quiet roads if it's peace and quiet you are after . Good luck in your search and welcome to Wiki. Dilly

Hi,
I would definitely look at Neston if I were you, its a great area with a great community spirit, a good example being the Christmas lantern parade that is happening on Friday 5th dec. There is a weekly market on a Friday and the farmers market has just restarted on the first Saturday of the month. We have an Aldi and a Sainsbury's as well as some smaller local shops and if you are into cycling or walking we have the Wirral way on our doorstep. We also have a sports centre and a youth and community centre and a great high school which has currently put in for planning permission to be totally rebuilt. We have had a few problems with the buses lately due to tory cuts to the subsidies but there is still a regular 487 service that goes right past st.catherines for your wife and there are some lovely old sandstone cottages around for a home with a bit of character. I've attached a link to our local internet news site for some more information
http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Cheshire/Neston/CH64

Thanks guys - really appreciate the info.

I don't think you can go wrong anywhere on the West side, Neston, Parkgate, Heswall, Frankby, Gresby, Pensby, right up to Hoylake.

New Brighton can first appear as being busy and brash, but take a turn down a little side street and there's a great quiet community of small rows of terraces.

There was a lovely child's hand drawn poster in the window of one terraced house which said they were selling cakes and their toys to help raise funds for the dogs home in Manchester that burnt down. It brought tears to my eyes then and does now recollecting it.

Further inland, Oxton is pretty good, there's lots to rent in the area - big converted Victorian houses, nice village atmosphere and close to the park.

I agree about the West side. On the East, I'd consider Port Sunlight.

I think a more accurate way to do this is to type the name of a town into somewhere like facebook, and see how many groups and pages there are for that area and read them, you will get a more accurate feel by what you read from the people ie if there is a crime problem, or not, because people from areas say the wealtheir ones will poo poo less wealthier ones with no substance other than snobbery and people from poorer ones will poo poo wealtheir ones again with no real substance other than a chip on their shoulders.

Definitely Port Sunlight if you can find anything in your price range, especially if you're after character, but also with lovely open spaces, countryside on your doorstep and excellent road/rail/bus links as well, and only 5 minutes from St Cath's. In the same sort of area, Bebington, Bromborough and Eastham are all nice. And if you're happy going a little further, you could even venture into Cheshire (Hooton, Childer Thornton, Little and Great Sutton) - I'm in Great Sutton and it takes me around 20 mins to drive to St Cath's each day. HOWEVER - you might find you need to increase your price range to get what you're looking for in any of the "nicer" areas

And congratulations to MrsTheGeek on getting her dream job!

Irby, Heswall, Pensby, Thingwall, areas. Everywhere is so easily accessible

Right by Irby primary school on Glenwood Drive. Was always a good little school. Thingwall Primary also has a good reputation. There are plenty of modern houses as well as older properties in that area too, so you could maybe find your permanent home in the Irby area.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-49094186.html[spoiler][/spoiler]

We retired here to Moreton (Millhouse Lane area ) 7 years ago and absolutely love it. Quiet neighbourhood and really good neighbours, we can walk or bike down the lanes to Meols and the promenade, yet easily access New Brighton, Birkenhead and Liverpool via excellent train service. Gt Meols school is rated excellent and both Grandchildren have been v happy there. Wouldn't think of living anywhere else. Quite a few houses too rent around here too and traffic not too bad if you avoid Moreton Cross. Plenty of supermarkets near including Aldi & Lidl. You wouldn't go wrong here.

I live in rock ferry and think its great don't get me wrong it has its down sides but you can find some really nice houses and there are lots of lovely people.my dad lives in Hampden road right opposite the hospital and the houses are great .

Might be easier if you suggested a few places you were looking at and we could comment--also on schools.

This one is in walking distance to St Caths. Looks really nice inside but bear in mind edge of town and sandwiched between 2 busy roads and high density housing. Parking may be tight and no mention of a garden.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-33018984.html

The one granny has highlighted (seems best on rightmove for location/money)is in a good area and backs onto countryside and may have a small gate at bottom of garden over a small stream to a footpath .It should have broadband very soon as they were installing it in the pavement only a week ago. Can second the school as friend teaches there and I have done school crossing patrol for it when they had one and the kids seemed happy.

I agree with Granny, Arrowe Park just on your doorstep, easy access to the motorway. Asda Sainsburys Tescos and loads of local shops close by. Take your pick for beaches and North Wales only 30ish mins away.

A decisive factor is to consider whether you wear Birkenstock sandals with socks?

Welcome to Wiki.

Oh I'm sure I'll be back with more detailed questions as we start to narrow things down - the great thing (but also a PITA) is that we've got a pretty blank sheet of paper at this point so just wanted to open it up & see what comments came back.

The advice on this thread has been fantastic (don't stop now though, all info gratefully received!), gives us some clues on where to look & start consolidating our thoughts.

Not yet but give it time!

Parking isn't a deal breaker but would be nice, a lower density area is I think what we'd be looking for but as it's going to be a couple of months at least before everything lines up, it's just good to be getting a feel for the areas, traffic etc.

...and thanks again for taking the trouble to take a look.

Thanks Granny. Saw that one when trawling Rightmove & Zoopla. Not huge kerb appeal but love the conservatory, garden & location so think that would definately be on the shortlist if around when we're ready to roll.

Aha- West Wirral would be your best bet. Good luck geeky family x

I relocated here just over four years ago, used Wiki to make my choice on where to live, made friends on here, found reliable trades people on here, started my business here.

Now based in New Brighton, I am know a local and wouldn't change a thing, great people, great pubs, great community, made loads of friends.

To be fair, even the not so great areas still have great people and community still happens.

Welcome!

K

Upton/Moreton are hard to beat. Coast,North Wirral coastal park Merseyrail good schools excellent transport. Low crime.Every supermarket within 10 minutes drive.Wide range of properties.
Reach St Caths in 10/15 minutes.
Having said that I cannot think of anywhere on Wirral that I would not live. It is a beautiful place.

I was always more biased towards the Bebington and Bromborough areas until I moved back to the Wirral last year. Now I live in Prenton/Oxton border and I much prefer it, I wouldn't move out of this area now, it's so close to everything.

There are so many areas on the Wirral that are lovely, you'll find it hard to go wrong no matter where you choose to live.

Everyone being a little polite about Wirral. Suggest you take a drive around it late at night to get a feel and have a walk around in day. A good way to judge an area is the amount of dog mess on the pavements and junk lying around. Feel sorry for some of the pensioners who have lived in an area which was probably ok when they were younger but now blighted with trouble. Also decent folk who because of circumstances have to live in areas where not so decent folk are housed. Maybe contact the police and see if they do a map of Wirral showing high crime areas. Or maybe insurance companies have a map of post codes with higher premiums.

http://www.police.uk/

Great site Cobby thanks for posting.

Very true. We've no rose coloured glasses on, we've both lived in nice & not-so-nice areas over the years and I know that no area is ever 100% perfect

But I'll tell ya what, on our wanders around so far, the overall cleanliness & lack of dog muck stands out all over the Wirral.

You may well think otherwise but compared to the Peoples' Independant Republic of Waterloo, it looks fantastic! (And we're in a supposed 'nice' conservation area)

I'm sure Wirral Council are far from perfect but just try Sefton for a new definition of hopeless

Or tactful! We all know which are the holes of the borough!