Cheadle guidebook

Delicatessen
Cheadle may seem like a place of contradictions: on one hand there are motorways, an international airport and megastore installations; on the other, it has quiet parks and babbling brooks, funky boutiques and esoteric delicatessens, and a definite village ambience.

But the parish balances all this with aplomb, and the solid, high class housing stock helps to back up the varied amenities.

Cheadle centre
Cheadle is an obviously affluent area, with the locals' salaries coming in at around one-fifth above the national average.

Unemployment is low at 1.9 per cent and the area’s stability is reflected in the housing make-up: owner-occupancy is 83 per cent as opposed to a social renting sector of just nine per cent.

Less obvious is the ageing populace in the district, with a quarter of residents aged 60 or over.

The housing market has been buoyant here, and the average property price is 11 per cent above the national average.  House-lovers take a clear predominance over those wanting a flat – the latter make up just ten per cent of local property stock.

The semi-detached takes gold position with 47 per cent of properties, detached houses come in next with 31 per cent, followed by terraces with eleven per cent.

The area can be conveniently split into five distinct parishes: Cheadle; Cheadle Hulme; Gatley; Heald Green; and Cheadle Heath.  Below is a look at what each has to offer.

Cheadle mansion
In A Nutshell: This is the centrepiece of the area. Cheadle Village, as the row of shops styles itself, is based around the ancient village centre now marked out by the White Hart pub and the venerable parish church.

In 1959, Kingsway (the A34) was extended to the west of Cheadle to give Mancunian traffic a way to bypass the village, although time has caught up and the centre can become traffic-congested.

Property: Property sizes vary greatly as you move north to south through the parish. North of the high street there are many apartment block complexes, all post-war, and many very recent builds.

Immediately south of the high street are bay-windowed terraces and cottages. Some of the cottages are impossibly pretty, with heavy wooden front door overhangs and an obvious community pride to match.

It’s in the southern third of Cheadle, running up to Bruntwood Park, where the real money flaunts itself. This is serious mansion territory; a riot of housing styles reflecting the taste and finances of their respective inhabitants.

Everything is on a grand scale: gardens, garages, hardstanding, doorways - and asking prices.

Extra Information: The district’s schools, Lady Barn, Bethesda and Lower Kingsway, are appropriately large and groaning under all manner of outdoor facilities.

Cheadle Hulme houses
In A Nutshell: There is a pleasantly wide array of housing styles here. Anyone wanting an idyllic, calm existence of the area's main amenities could do a lot worse than Cheadle Hulme centre.

Property: There are some delightful cottages and small-scale apartment developments around the centre of Hulme, all resplendent in their quiet little streets.

As you close in on the village centre the housing ages to the inter-war era, and Cheadle's sole concentration of bungalows is evident as well as some unique-looking 1930s detached box houses.

South of the Hulme is a 1950s blend of private and ex-council houses around Gillbent Road, to the east you have the 1970s Marlborough Estate, and  to the west is a landscape of post-war ex-council properties.

If you are looking for size over everything else, then north Hulme is your port of call.  Ornate Edwardian villas close to the centre make way for some vast inter-war creations as you head further north. This is the Hulme's answer to southern Cheadle, with many gardens of field-size proportions.

Extra Information: Westernmost Hulme has three primary schools, a sign of the local demographic; central and eastern Hulme have a further two primary schools and two secondary schools.

In A Nutsell:

Property: Praise is due to whatever process enabled Gatley to keep its old village centre during a 1930s building rush that could have easily overwhelmed the place.

Apart from some modern apartment blocks on its northern edge, a few retirement flats by the Gatley Green, some detached properties on its eastern border with Cheadle and some old village cottages in the centre, the overwhelming flavour here is the staple inter-war semi-detached.

Extra Information: One primary and one secondary school combined with the quietitude (Gatley lies well away from Ringway flightpaths) make it a hit with families.

Heald Green detached house
In A Nutshell: The initial reaction to a visit to Heald Green is one of space. This is an affluent, sprawling area, although whatever village life it once had is hard to see in the uninspiring parade of shops that face the train station.

Property: A first-rate housing stock, the many and varied styles of largely inter-war homes are nicely offset by Edwardian villas close to the station and the central conservation area on the way east to Cheadle Hulme.

This is a very leafy district, quiet but for the aircraft, with big gardens, big driveways and big garages; if the old Cheadles are beyond your pocket, this is the place to come.

Extra Information: Two primary schools, one to the west and one to the east, are complemented by a secondary school on the east side of Heald Green.

Cheadle Heath semi-detached cottages
In A Nutshell: Seemingly stretched out between Cheadle and Stockport is Cheadle Heath. This may be the least affluent of the parishes but its big advantage is excellent access to the shopping nirvana of Stockport.

Property: The southern belt has good quality ex-council semis in a quiet zone away from the main roads.

Late Victorian and Edwardian properties predominate as you close in on the main road (A560). These tend to be either semi-detached cottages to the north of the road or tall flat-fronted terraces, some with yellow-brick facades, to the south.

Extra Information: The Heath’s shops are also situated on the main A560 thoroughfare, as are several of the monolithic superstores redolent of many town centres today.

Cheadle pub
Road: The area's northern border is pretty much formed by the junction of the Manchester ring road (M60) and the western and Welsh motorway (M56).

Splitting the area in two is the north-south dual carriageway Kingsway (A34), which connects Manchester and Cheshire, linking up with the Manchester Airport road along the way.

The A560 lies to the south and links Cheadle and Stockport. 

Rail: Gatley and Heald Green are on a line from Manchester Piccadilly to the Airport or further afield to Crewe.

Cheadle Hulme is on a line that runs from Piccadilly and splits after the Hulme to either head south to Stoke or south-west to Crewe.

Air: Manchester International Airport is easily accessible by road, or by train from Heald Green and Gatley stations (journey time approx. 10 minutes).

Cheadle Greengrocer
You don't come to this part of the world to hunt down hypermarkets and take home your monthly shopping in plastic bags.

Instead, this is a place to saunter around and find the quirky, the original and the independent that have disappeared from so many of our high streets, and for this there are three options.

Gatley is a delightful place to wander, with the likes of cake shops, ironmongers, delicatessens and modern eateries offset by some old traditional and quiet pubs in which to refresh your weary inner shopper.

Cheadle Village is undoubtedly the largest of the three. Older traders like watchmakers and greengrocers rub shoulders with delicatessens and cafe bars, all held under the benevolent eye of the ancient parish church, while some huge pubs hint of an earlier stagecoach period.

Cheadle Hulme has a pretty scene based around Chads Theatre, the Tiny Tots Nursery, Cheadle Hulme Library and the Waterhouses Food Market.

The recently restored Oak Meadow Park has wide pavements which encourage a Continental air, while the larger chains are located in a discreet park on the main road’s western end.

Food-wise, there is a choice of British, Chinese, Italian and Indian cuisines in Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme.

Similar places can be found in Gatley, with the addition of a seafood outlet, and Heald Green weighs in with a Turkish restaurant as well.

Gatley furniture shop

There is a strong community vibe which is perhaps most evident in the network of village halls and community centres around the place.

Heald Green village hall (Outwood Road) offers such diverse pastimes as dog training, medal collecting, quilting, Arabic dancing and, as they say, many more.

Cheadle village hall (Brook Road) goes even further with the likes of shooting, dog training, judo, model cars, martial arts and all manner of children's clubs.

Gatley Hill House community centre (Church Road) hosts all types of dance (from Israeli to Flamenco) alongside the likes of tai chi, keep fit, and if you stretch to that sort of thing, clairvoyance.

Gatley also boasts its own annual music festival which showcases every form of music under the sun, and is a non-profit affair to boost the coffers of local charities.

Fans of the stage should make their way to Cheadle Hulme, home of the impressively large Chads (Cheadle Hulme Amateur Dramatic Society) Theatre.

The award-winning company have been bringing all manner of dramas to the locals since 1921, and their theatre, built in 1983, stands testimony to their success.

Bruntwood Park
Cheadle Lacrosse Club have been plying their trade since 1879 and currently turn out eight sides. They can be found on the junction of Kingsway and Gatley Road.

Cheadle Town Football Club is the most travelled non-professional side in the country, having visited thirty nations including, unique for any British side, Cuba. They play at Park Road in Cheadle.

Cheadle Nomads have nine children's teams alongside the adults and they play at Norbreck Avenue.

Cheadle Cricket Club, based at the Kingsway Sports Centre, offer a similar age range and turn out teams from the under nines to the over 40s.

Cheadle Hulme Cricket Club, based in Grove Lane, also have children's teams accompanying the adults, and they share their grounds with Manchester Rugby Club.

Mention should also be made of the Ryecroft Park Sports Club in Cheadle Hulme, an organisation able to offer bowling, tennis and snooker.

Micker Brook, Brookfields Park
Bruntwood Park lies between all five parishes.  Pastimes include a huge children's area, archery ranges, picnic areas, an 18-hole pitch and putt course, orienteering, an aviary and the popular Vinery Restaurant, based in the converted Victorian conservatory of Bruntwood Hall.

On the Cheadle side of Bruntwood is Brookfields Park, a very leafy affair based around Micker Brook, while Cheadle Park has a playground a bowling greens.

Cheadle also has Abney Hall, a park based around an impressive mansion of 1847. Agatha Christie wrote two novels here and previous visitors included Prince Albert, Gladstone and Disraeli, Edward VII and E.M. Forster.

It is now open to all and offers fishing, a Scout and Guide campsite, football, a conservation area and a waterfall.

Oak Meadow, in the centre of Cheadle Hulme, is a pretty spot recently brought up to scratch by the council, with new signs, benches, railings and resurfaced paths.

Performing a similar function for Gatley is the spruced-up Gatley Green in the old heart of the village.

Gatley also has a Recreation Ground with bowling greens, a skate park, basketball and a five-a-side area. Its neighbour to the south is the sprawling Scholes Park.

Residents of Cheadle Heath can find respite from the madding crowd in the sizeable Walnut Tree Playground and Gorsey Bank Park, both on the north side of Stockport Road.