I live in Derby. But from a biking perspective I would probably prefer to live somewhere between Ambergate and Cromford the riding in that valley is brilliant (I hardly ever bother going to the Peaks proper as it is just hardly worth it)

The other place would be to live somewhere near Hathersage as you can either head to Hope and Edale in the West, Ladybower in the North Totley to the east or Grindleford and the edges to the South.

I’ve live or worked in all the places you’ve mentioned.

Sheffield south (s11 post code) and around crosspool are fantastic. The city is great, ecclesall Road is really nice, good pubs etc. I’m a big fan. Unfortunately for work reasons I don’t live there anymore but would move back in a heartbeat for culture, things to do, proximity to peaks for MTb and road bike. Bike scene is very popular in Sheffield

Chesterfield, belper are ok…but behind the times in my opinion but you’ll live like a king with 320k. Property is pretty cheap and it’s close to some nice areas in the peak. I agree with the above on small town mentality in some quarters.

Derby – you’ll get a abromovich style property for 320k. Villages around derby are really nice though.

Similar to you,northerner moving bCk from the south, I moved from Wimbledon village to west Bridgford in Nottingham, Victorian property galore….but prices have risen lots in recent years so 320k won’t get you anything close to the scale of derby, chesterfield .

Id go for Sheffield if had a choice.

Sheffield does have great riding – prices hard to predict in S10/S11 though – we put an offer on place on at 340. We offered 365 and were outbid by an offer of 380.

Prices not always an indication of selling price!

I live in a village near Derby. The problem with the villages surrounding Derby is most of them are earmarked for massive expansion – and I’m talking about the modern soul-less housing estates. I live on one myself built around a small village. It’s handy for the kids and nice enough while they’re young so I don’t turn into a kid chauffeur, but I’d love to live off an estate once the kids are older. Unfortunately I live the wrong side of Derby for MTB’ing. I think Wirksworth is a hidden gem and been slightly overshadowed by the growth of Belper, but if that is too out of the way for you then another hidden gem I think is Coxbench. Spitting distance from some of the best country pubs I’ve ever been in, loads of decent mountain biking and road biking from the doorstep and house prices not too pricey and not on the horrendous A6.

You could look out Ashbourne way too.

*wonders if wobbliscot is a neighbour…..*

Wot , nobody said Crookes yet! A good compromise, not as spendy as Crosspool or Fulwood but very handy for Peak and city centre Shpping centre has nice independent shops as well as the usual suspects. Still some nice houses not bought by rich Londoners for their offspring to go to Uni. Your pot should go a long way.
We have lived there a long time and have never found a good enough reason to leave

I’ll look that up, thanks for the info 🙂

The problem with the villages surrounding Derby is most of them are earmarked for massive expansion

Yeah. I did wonder. that doesn’t bother me as such as I won’t be living on one, but I’d check before I offered on a house…

I don’t know if I’d get Mrs R as far north as Sheffield. I’d go there in a heartbeat though. Time will tell we’re going to visit soon

[Quote]
relocator – Member 

Sheffield fantastic and great riding but 175k won’t get you very fa

You’ve misread me. Our current house in Sheffield would Be worth about that much. But as we’re in the Home Counties it’s worth double that! Minus what’s left of our mortgage, then plus a redundancy payment gives us up to £325k to play with, which appears to be approaching mansion level in Sheffield  
I just want a 3 bed detached with a garden that’s best measures in parts of an acre and a double garage/workshop/outbuildings[/QUOTE]

You’ll struggle to get a massive garden in belper unless you compromise on an old run down place.

I’m in Matlock, prices are pretty high. I couldn’t find anything with a decent size garden.

Parent in laws have just moved to belper last month, paid exactly £325k and rear garden measures 40×40 feet.

Left-field suggestion. How about somewhere like Edale (very rural) or Hathersage on the Hope Valley rail line that runs between Manchester and Sheffield?

Edale is lovely.
But I wouldn’t want to live there.
We still have to work and there’s virtually zero jobs either of us would want without driving miles and miles.
And that’s a BIG part of it. We originally looked at Shropshire, Worcestershire etc but whilst it’s beautiful there’s bugger all there. I don’t want to be driving to work, I want to cycle. MrsR would rather walk I reckon.
Same for shopping. Right now we can cycle to any major supermarket and we’d miss that.
I freely admit that where we live now, whilst not the most glamorous area, is superbly well served with any amenity you’d ever want. We can honestly get to Canada faster than we can get to Scotland right now.
We’re never going to replicate that, and we used to say we’d like to live in the county, but actually now having a real option to move out of the south east we’ve had pleanty of conversations and we don’t want to be in a smalll village in the middle of nowhere.
I’ll lay my cards on the line, but if Otley, near Leeds, was further south, we wouldn’t be looking anywhere else.
Nice small town, all the shops you need, easy distance from a city (for work and play) for MrsR and a good bike shop in town for me.
The South-Western towns/’burbs of Sheffield look spot on to me, as does Chesterfield and Derby.
We need to go to them all and see, so we’ve booked 3 days off to go and look

In recommending what you’ve got fashion, Matlock. Awesome riding, climbing, throw a boat in the river if you’re into that. Decent pubs and a few good restaurants. I lived just outside Maidstone, then all over with work, came to Matlock climbing for the weekend, got rained-off, went to the estate agents, job done. Wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m genuinely loathed to put my bike on the car there’s that much around here.

What Jameswilliams said up there. Sheffield’s ace.

I’m from Chesterfield but haven’t lived there since after Uni (Im 42 now). I wouldn’t rush back, but I guess a lot of that is because I live in Edinburgh centre, and why would I leave that? Chesterfield town centre has declined a lot in my lifetime (although admittedly not as poorly as many other places). If I was to got back to that area, it would be the West side. When I visit my folks, I always take either road, CX or MTB bike because there is plenty to go at being right on the edge of the Peaks.

Greenhill or Bradway for the win!