Please could someone give us some advice. We are relocating to Shrewsbury as my husband has a new job in Dorrington which hopefully will start in the spring. We have two small children and a dog and would like some info about where would be a good place to set up our new home. Any tips would be gratefully received, including info about areas, estate agents etc.
We are looking forward to moving as Shrewsbury looks like such a great place to live but the prospect is daunting as we know nothing about the surrounding areas and have no local knowledge.
Many thanks

Firstly - buy the Shrewsbury Chronicle. It's a weekly newspaper which comes out on Thursdays. They have a huge property section (sometimes its larger than the rest of the paper!).

If your husband is going to drive down to Dorrington from where you live in Shrewsbury then you'll be wanting to live either in the south or west of the town (for good road links to the A49). Therefore try areas such as Bayston Hill, Meole Village (but not Meole Brace), Copthorne, Radbrook, Sutton Park, Reabrook, Sutton Farm, Belle Vue and the London Road area.

As for estate agents - there are loads of them. If you're going to pop into Shrewsbury when looking for houses, you'll find them all (yes, all) along the streets of Shoplatch, Bellstone and Barker Street (around the Market Hall). The nearest long stay car park is Frankwell or Raven Meadows.

And as for walking the dog - not going to be a problem anywhere in Shrewsbury. Plenty of green space and the countryside.

I personally would not want to live in Dorrington or Bayston Hill as when the children get older you will be constantly in demand as a taxi service!

Belle Vue is nice and walkable to town though the primary school is rather large and has practically all female staff (not a good situation IMO)
It is not too bad a school though.

I would not consider anything without a garage or off road parking and would avoid the busier roads if you can.

Thank you both, the info is a start! Looking forward to visiting.

If you are thinking about living near Dorrington itself, you might want to check out which schools are currently earmarked for closure given that you have two young children. Dorrington school is on the list, so whilst Dorrington is a nice village with quite a bit of new housing your children would end up going on a bus to school (down a very busy trunk road) even if they had only just turned 5! The school in Condover (village near Dorrington) is badly oversubscribed, and they are planning to merge the very successful and friendly smaller primary school in Bayston Hill with the larger, less successful school in that village.

The schools in Shrewsbury itself aren't affected, apart from one infant school merging with the primary school its children transfer to anyway.

A very large generalisation, as there are nice areas in the north, but south of the river in Shrewsbury is on the whole nicer to live in (although the houses are more expensive). It will also be far more convenient for your husband as crossing the town or going around it at peak times can be a nightmare! I agree with the suggestions others have made - try Sutton Park, Sutton Farm, Radbrook, Meole Village (eg Meole Rise, Washford Park, St Peters Park) and Bayston Hill. Of these Sutton Farm and Bayston Hill will be best for a quick journey to Dorrington. Belle Vue isn't great if you need a car, as your husband will, as the houses tend to be older and many don't have off street parking but Longden Coleham is nearby and those houses do tend to have parking.

Hi,

We have recently moved to Shropshire and ended up buying a house in Sutton Farm. It is a really nice area, quiet, clean etc etc. We have three children and we can easily walk into town or the countryside from here. We are also on the hunt for a nice bike each as cycling is good here too.
The Holy Cross Junior school is very nice indeed but is one of the earmarked merger schools. This means it will merge with Springfield Infants (which I haven't visited) but they share the same site anyway so I think it will be the case of 1 head instead of 2. You can easily get onto the A49 to Dorrinigton form here (this was important to us too) but the estate is very roomy whereas Bicton Heath is more closed in as it was built a bit later.
We were tempted by a house in Bayston Hill but the area has some 'gloomy' parts, not nasty or bad but Sutton Farm 'felt' brighter, there are a real mix in prices there. The areas which tempted us more had older style properties which didn't suit our family size, Belle Vue had period but small houses and poor parking too (i.e. middling 3 bed semi to a 4 beed detached big garden in Sutton farm).

We very, very nearly exchanged on a house in Meole Brace until we found out at the 11th hour that it had been underpinned, so watch out there. Radbrook, I have been told, suffers similar problems.

HTH,
Schizoidgal.

p.s. The Old Post Office in Dorrington is a hole and is not as it is described, if you are thinking of buying in Dorrington itself.

A lot of children (including me!) go straight from Springfield to Holy Cross and as you say they do share the same site already.

As for cycling - from Shrewsbury it's nearly always a case of "breaking out" of the bypass to get into the countryside (ie finding a nice route that doesn't involve a dangerous crossing of the A5 or A49). From your side of town, Wenlock Road (the road to Bridgnorth) crosses over the A5, so that should be fine. Others places around the bypass include the underpass on the old canal route between Uffington and Pimley Manor, and Longden Road, which simply goes over the A5 without a junction.