Also take a look at the non-estate parts of Bramhall, although it's probably every bit as overpriced as Poynton.
Poynton is generally nice but popular, with property prices perhaps yet to return to earth properly after stratospheric rises during the boom years (I think at one point Poynton had the fastest rising property prices in the UK!), therefore property in Poynton is usually overpriced with the exception of a few sellers desperate to sell up quickly, so there may be room for some hard negotiation.
Bear in mind that certain parts of Poynton do have a "housing estate" feel to them so check your prospective neighbours carefully before signing on the dotted line, and this advice also applies to Wilmslow (some people think that Wilmslow is overrated anyway). To me personally, Cheadle Hulme is OK but lacks character compared to some of the other areas mentioned, and certain parts are affected by aircraft noise which is something else to check if that sort of thing bothers you.
Marple is at least 12 miles from Macclesfield (and hilly in places), with the same also applying to Disley and surrounding areas. The Middlewood Way that runs between Marple and Macclesfield via Higher Poynton and Bollington can be used by cyclists but that gets very muddy in places after rainfall (especially north of Bollington).
Bollington would nearly tick all the boxes except crucially for that commute to Stalybridge, because you have perhaps already discovered that Poynton and Hazel Grove can be serious traffic bottlenecks even outside of the rush hour. (There may be "rat-run" shortcuts but these will need to be investigated carefully.)
Don't forget to use all of the tools available, including the Property-Bee Toolbar for Firefox, the property valuation guide at Zoopla, crime hotspots courtesy of www.police.uk, and also check upmystreet.com especially for the neighbourhood profiles, although information relating to things such as shopping may not be totally up to date.
Also I've found that Google Street View can sometimes be misleading, so it's certainly not a substitute for actually visiting an area for yourself at different times of the day and night.
Good luck!