OK, in case you haven't figured it out from my Ashes posts, I'm an Aussie (don't hold it against me, I do have a British passport as well 🙂 ). Been over here 4 years now, all that time my wife and I have lived in London; great city, lots to see and do, but at the end of the day I'm more of an outdoors boy, so I haven't really gelled with the place. My wife is the breadwinner though and seeing as she's had a good job here that's what's kept us in London for so long.

Now though, she's getting tired of her job (now working way too hard and no suggestions of promotion etc), so she's starting to look for a new employer. Seems like a good opportunity to look further afield then London, so I'm trying to figure out areas that'll be good for us both.

Ideally what I'd love is:
– easy access to the countryside (like jump on my bike and be out in the hills straight away if possible)
– affordable rental, would really like to have a place with a garage instead of a tiny 1 bed flat!

ideally what she'd love is:
– at least some of the arts/culture of London
– decent shopping
– good & affordable links to London for weekends away

Mrs P is currently employed as a Marketing Manager with a Finance software solutions provider. I'm currently in the Travel industry, but pretty bored with it and looking for something new to do. At the end of the day it's her employment that's important though, she's the breadwinner not me 😆

So, where would be good? All suggestions and advice welcome from the STW massive 8)

I did this after being in London 95 – 03. I moved to Leeds which I think would have everything for both of you – lots of cultural/city things but awesome riding within an hour or so by car as well as local riding too.

Apart from the (extremely) long journey to London I'd vote for Edinburgh. Hills and culture both in attendance.
I'm smack in the middle of Manchester and the Peak District (I can ride to both easily), and while the Peak Park is lovely and Manchester has its moments, it's not exactly bursting with culture.

Immigrants go home!!! Dey took ur jaaabs!!!!!!!

Or alternatively Edinburgh maybe? Glasgow has good rail links to London and not too far from mountains.

It's been said before, but Edinburgh pretty much has everything you're looking for, including a large Financial IT base.

It's a city and therefore has all of the "culture" bases covered. It's small enough to cycle across, has a small range of hills on its doorstep and is within easy driving distance of the 7 Stanes locations and as much highland scenery as you can eat.

Airport and regular train service to London if you still need to go there.

The one thing that might hurt you is property rental cost – but then I've no idea what you call affordable. Oh – and shopping is probably better in Glasgow.

Edinburgh has certainly been at the forefront of my thoughts… I think we'll drive up there next weekend to have a look around actually.

Manchester and Leeds are in the mix as well. I remember one of the mags did an article a while ago about the best city to live in (taking riding into account), can anyone remember what the winner was?

cheers for the advice chaps 🙂

Surprised no-one has mentioned Bristol yet either.

Any major city north of Birmingham.

psychie, each to their own and lord knows I have no room to talk after being in Auckland, NZ and then coming back to the very UK town I left (not my choice, much like you I'm the poorer of the two) but if there was anyway I could have avoided it, I wouldn't have come back to anywhere on the fringes of Manchester. Apart from Eastlands, it's pretty rubbish. Not quite as bad as (D)Auckland but still not great.
The only place that I have been to and would definitley avoid spending a longer time in than I absolutely had to is Sheffield.

San Fran Bristo-l.

I'd take a look at Bristol – culture is covered, good weather and riding, near the sea, Exmoor and Dartmoor, financial industry and less than two hours on the train to London. That;s where I'd go if I wasn't tied to being in London

you *could* move just out of London, to Guildford or Dorking or even somewhere like Epsom. Loads of riding round there plus you can commute to London (even cycle). No mountains and housings still expensive, but better weather and if you've got a network of friends in london you can still keep in touch with them.

My vote up north would be for Leeds, mainly because i know the area. Lots of proper big routes out in the Dales/Moors, not too far from the Peak District, plus theres some less 'extreme' stuff for when he weathers terrible in the middle of winter. Can be difficult getting out because of the traffic though. Same anywhere near a city i guess??

Village life appeal? – if so Marsden, West Yorks!
Village rail station and A62 road link, half way twixt Leeds and Manchester…
Good pubs and eateries oh and riding from the front door………!

that's an interesting suggestion MM… village life appeals to me, but maybe not my partner, though if the connections to elsewhere are good, she might be convinced 🙂 What's the commute like into Leeds or Manchester (or is it not feasible)?

Buy my 3 bed Edwardian villa (4 miles north of Manchester) with huge underground bike store.

bet it isn't cheap is it? 😆 Does it really have a bike store? or did you mean storage?

£195k. You could sell bikes out of it if you like, but I just keep mine in it. 😉

If she is in IT then what about working from home?

Marsden is a lovely little place, as are all the Saddlworth villages nearby, drive commuting into Manchester would be a pain, not sure how long the train takes. Manchester has an excellent integrated transport network with the trams so no bother once in the city itself.
Do you want to be able to access good riding without driving?

Do you want to be able to access good riding without driving?

Ideally yes… but her employment is the important thing. She doesn't do software development or anything like that, she's in the marketing team.

MrsMM commutes to Bolton every day – by train its a job for changing at M'cr, by road it's o'er the hill to the M60…. she usually takes the train, time to read a book (or knit….. 🙂 ) etc as opposed to sitting on the M60 orbital car park….

M'cr city centre is half an hour on the train, have several friends that do that commute.
Leeds by rain is circa 40 mins – you have to change at Huddersfield.
Saddleworth villages are also lovely – I used to live there – and closer to Manchester – however, 'room for room' property is cheaper this side of the border…. if that matters.

Marsden riding – door to dirt in 5 mins on the bike…..

marsdenman – Member

Village life appeal? – if so Marsden, West Yorks!
Village rail station and A62 road link, half way twixt Leeds and Manchester…
Good pubs and eateries oh and riding from the front door………!

and the famous Marsden Social club… 🙂

psychle – Member

Edinburgh has certainly been at the forefront of my thoughts… I think we'll drive up there next weekend to have a look around actually.

If you want any questions answered before you get here, suggestions of where to look around, where to find riding possibilities etc, by all means PM me, or just ask around on here. There's a surprising number of Burgers on STW.

marsdenman – Member
Village life appeal? – if so Marsden, West Yorks!
Village rail station and A62 road link, half way twixt Leeds and Manchester…
Good pubs and eateries oh and riding from the front door………!

and the famous Marsden Social club…

LOL – which one……. so many drinking holes to chose from – last count was circa 25 if you count all the clubs!

Somewhere near Manchester or Glasgow would have my vote if you want to be near to city life. Edinburgh is a bit too snooty for me, though it does look quite pretty.

LOL – which one……. so many drinking holes to chose from – last count was circa 25 if you count all the clubs!

I don't know – it's in a terraced street and the friends we have that hail from Marsden refer to it as 'the social'. Last time I was there was for the jazz festival, but have been to a few events in the upstairs room…

I don't know – it's in a terraced street and the friends we have that hail from Marsden refer to it as 'the social'. Last time I was there was for the jazz festival, but have been to a few events in the upstairs room…

Sounds like the Socialist Club on t'main road – good spot for music!

Jazz Festival is upon is again in 6 weeks 😀

tommytowtruck – Member
Edinburgh is a bit too snooty for me, though it does look quite pretty.

What does that even mean?

Another vote for Bristol – lots of finance companies and software development companies for the missus. And the shopping is pretty good with the Mall and the new Cabot's Circus (includes a Harvey Nicks), as well as the quirkier independent shops of Clifton and Gloucester Road.

Riding from just the other side of the Suspension Bridge in Leigh Woods, Ashton Court, 50 Acre etc. and a easy drives to the Mendips, Quantocks, Forest of Dean and South Wales trail centres. Some great road riding in the area as well. Loads of bike shops to spend time / money in.

Also pretty good on the arts/cultural scene, as well as easy links by M4 or train to that London place.

Lot's of bike theft in Bristol (from sheds/garages etc?) Seem to see a lot of threads on this? The place does sound nice though…

Newcastle or out lying area I think there's a small financing software company you wife might of heard, Sage?

Lots of culture, cracking shopping and miles upon miles of countryside.

Just wanted to throw Aberdeen into the mix – loads of employment opps and even better – real, big ****-off mountains on the doorstep. Beautiful scenery as soon as you get out of the city and into Royal Deeside.

There's an airport for getting dahn Saff too.

As for culture – well, you'd certainly do better in Edinburgh, but there's plenty happening in the Deen too – burgeoning live music scene, plenty galleries and so on.*

*Speaking as an exiled Scot, now living near Durham.

Manchester has a lot going for it, easy access from the surrounding area to Peaks, Lakes, Dales.
Cardiff is a great city, loads going on there but also a huge amount of riding right on the doorstep from Afan and Cwmcarn trail centres to an incredible network of trails in the woods north of there (see the Route Guide in ST Issue 47…) Easy to get to London as well either by train or on the M4 plus you're close to Bristol and the M5 north or south. Nice city, small enough to navigate easily, big enough to have everything you could need and with lots of parks and green spaces.

Another vote for Bristol. My wife and I moved here from London 7 years ago and it was a great decision. Great city (the plus points of a big city without the negatives of London ) but with good mtbing and road riding a few mins away. You can also quickly get to Wales etc if you want the trail centres.

Definitely worth checking out from your original post.

Bike theft – yeah, not great but certainly no worse than London and not as widespread as you might think from the threads on here. Definitely not a real reason not to move here.

Ideally what I'd love is:
– easy access to the countryside (like jump on my bike and be out in the hills straight away if possible)
– affordable rental, would really like to have a place with a garage instead of a tiny 1 bed flat!

ideally what she'd love is:
– at least some of the arts/culture of London
– decent shopping
– good & affordable links to London for weekends away

Sheffield (west side).

– Ride out into Peak District
– from suburbs of either terraces or semis with garages
– but still close to town
– Crucible and Lyceum theatres, galleries, independent cinema, loads of live music, plenty of students so lots of nightlife
– City centre perhaps not the best for shopping due to proximity of Meadowhell, but at least you get the choice of both
– Plus Manchester, L**ds and Nottingham also easy to get to
– London is 2 hours away on train

Dunno what Barca is on about, don't think he's been here.

Bristol and Edinburgh are also good, maybe Leeds at a push (never liked the place much myself). Manchester is much bigger with more of a big city feel, which means you get to live both miles away from the centre and also miles from the countryside – though when you do eventually escape the Peaks aren't far.

Sheffield or Glasgow (Edinburgh one month of the year aside doesnt have as much arts/theatre etc as Glasgow.

Don't forget that the climate in Edinburgh is going to be a bit different to London – if that's a concern to you
Certainly a couple of degrees cooler & wetter & a hell of a lot windier

"Dunno what Barca is on about, don't think he's been here."

You think wrong.

I know lots of people that have moved to the West Country (Bristol/Bath) from London and loved it here. I'm sure you'll have made lots of friends that you'll be leaving behind in London – coming to Bristol doesn't have to mean losing touch completely. I'd say it's our friends in London (though not lived there myself, but have lots of mates who do) that we find easiest to stay in touch with. And they all love coming to Bristol for the weekend too as it's only a short hop once they find their way outside the M25.

Also, if you ever decided to say, ****, lets go back, you won't find too much of a house-price shock between Bristol and London, less so between Bath and London.

Edinburgh or Glasgow sound like a no brainer.

How about my home town of Stirling? Both Edinburgh and Glasgow within easy reach and the Highlands on your doorstep.

In England I'd recommend Chester. Stayed there for 20 years and loved it. Lovely historic city and Liverpool and Manchester not far away. N. Wales 20 mins away for loads of MTBing.