Property for sale in Cheshire

The local area guide to living in Cheshire

Cheshire is a beautiful rural county in the North West of England that shares borders with seven other counties: Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Merseyside, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England and the Welsh counties of Flintshire and Wrexham. Its characteristic timbre and red sandstone buildings are set against a beautiful backdrop of forested green hills and gentle mountains.

Home to scores of sports celebrities including Freddie Flintoff and Alex Ferguson, as well as Wayne & Coleen Rooney, many perceive Cheshire to be something of a ‘WAG’s paradise,’ but this is a rather inaccurate reflection of the county at large. While Cheshire’s charming and often affluent villages do attract wealthy residents and many footballers from nearby Manchester and Liverpool, the county is also a rural escape for general lovers of the peaceful Northern countryside.

At the heart of the county is the historic city of Chester, a beautiful city that attracts a great many tourists each year to its ancient Cathedral, quaint history-laden streets, large local zoo, and racecourse. Tourism is in fact high across the county due to its allure as a lovely Northern paradise, and the industry is significant within the area’s economy. The economy is also supported by the industries of agriculture, chemicals, food and drink and ICT.

Information about the local residents

Cheshire is split into four districts: Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Warrington and Halton. A little over a million residents live in Cheshire and the overwhelming majority identify as white British (over 94%). Most of Cheshire’s population is split fairly evenly between the Cheshire East and Cheshire West districts, accounting for 700,000 of the population, and just over 200,000 are in Warrington and over 125,000 in Halton. Key towns, including Warrington, Chester and Macclesfield, house most of the population.

Nearby schools

There are a great number of primary and secondary schools across the county, with each of the districts acting as an independent local education authority. Across Cheshire, there are 14 primary schools with an Ofsted rating of ‘Outstanding’.

Secondary schools in most of the districts perform slightly better than the national average, though Halton performs just below the national average.

Independent schools in the county include the Queens School in Chester, a reputable school that is 56th in the national league tables of the best independent schools.

Three universities have campuses in Cheshire: The Crewe Campus of Manchester Met University, The Chester Campus of the University of Law and Chester University in Chester.

Getting around

Despite being relatively rural, Cheshire is very accessible. Easy access to the M6 connects Cheshire to Birmingham and allows access to the M1, along which London can be reached in about three hours. Additionally, local bus services are generally efficient and reliable.

Longer distance travel is easy due to Cheshire’s access to the national rail network, as a number of stations have direct services to major cities. From Chester, London Euston is reached in just over 2 hours. Direct journeys from Chester to Birmingham take around 1 hour 45 minutes, Manchester is reached in just over an hour and Liverpool in 45 minutes.

For international travel, both Manchester Airport and Liverpool John Lennon Airport are within reach of the residents of Cheshire.

Local shops

The City of Chester has excellent shopping in the city centre. Grosvenor Shopping Centre is home to many high street retailers, and the streets nearby are lined with quaint independent shops and boutiques. Chester is not exclusive within Cheshire’s shopping experience, however, with similar centres plentiful among the towns of Stockport, Macclesfield, Warrington and Crewe.

Ellesmere Port’s designer outlet, Cheshire Oaks, is one of Cheshire’s most well-known shopping spots, with over one hundred retailers such as Antler, Diesel, Calvin Klein and Bench. The facility also offers many bars, shops, restaurants and cafes.

Chester Zoo is a huge tourist attraction for both domestic and international visitors alike. Chester Racecourse is also very popular. Outside of Chester, Tatton Park, Jodrell Bank, Quarry Bank Mill Museum and Delamere Forest are other tourism honeypots.