Hello – I am new to the forum, so be gentle!!

My partner (+ bump), 3 yo daughter and myself need to move from Ilkley, I have just moved back after living and working in Oxford for 9 years to save some money and that is just not working out where we are, as it is really expensive and not really what I was looking for. Although I was born as bred around this area.

I have always loved the calder valley and main options in this area are Mytholmroyd and also Todmorden. I have looked on some of the Mountain biking forums and to be fair there is a fair bit of negativity towards Tod. We have visited numerous times and have chatted to local people down there and there seems to be alot of positive stuff, but we also wanted to get some info from a those that live around that area.

Basically, we want to live somewhere that we can bring our kids up and save towards a house. Both of these places seem fit that bill. I work in Bradford at the hospital and need to be on a train line.

Many thanks in advance.

Tod isn’t too bad, it’s Bacup you need to avoid.

From a POV of complete ignorance I would guess that Tod is cheaper than Hebden.

I too work in Bradford but live in Halifax. Sub 15 minutes on the train. Mytholmroyd I think only has 1 stopping train per hour. Worth considering. Tod I think has 2 stopping trains per hour. Halifax, 4 per hour.

Anyway, Tod or Mytholmroyd. I think both have a lot of good points. Mytholmroyd is walking distance (a very pleasant walk) of Hebden which as you’ll most likely know is a lovely place. Tod is a lot bigger than Mytholmroyd and as far as I can understand (from reading the local rag website) has the usual trouble associated with a town with a few crap pubs + 6 fingered drinkers. Mytholmroyd by comparison is much quieter.

Riding wise, both offer LOADS of great opportunities. Endless in fact.

Not sure on the school situation but with a 3 year old and another on the way, it needs to be looked into.

And now I’m going to throw a curve ball (and my usual response to these pretty regular questions about living in the Calder Valley… what about Halifax? South Halifax (on the edge of the Calder Valley) around Copley/Skircoat Green/Savile Park are excellent areas to live. You’ve got all the plus points of living in a large’ish town (like B&Q, numerous supermarkets, an increasingly better town centre, good travel links etc) but in the areas mentioned above, good schools (both primary and secondary/grammar), good selection of houses for decent prices and as good a riding as Mytholmroyd and Tod on the doorstep.

Worth considering? I’d prefer to be where I am in (in the area above) than Tod or Mytholmroyd…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/uk_house_prices/html/houses.stm

‘Royd FTW. It’s further from Rochdale.

There’s nothing to Mytholmroyd – no centre as such, and no reason ever to visit it. Tod is nicer and more characterful if you ask me, although I can’t comment on general atmosphere/locals/security etc . Tons of riding whichever you choose.

My missus is from Walsden (effectively part of Tod) and we’ve thought seriously on a couple of occasions about moving back. There’s a lot to recommend. There’s a good community of artistic and musical people, the junior schools are pretty good and there are the grammar schools in Halifax. The negatives have been covered off above and are worth factoring in. If you do move to Tod, don’t buy on the West side of the valley, in winter you’ll never see the sun! If I didn’t have to think about commuting to Manchester every day, I’d probably take the advice of Daveyboy above and look at South Halifax. If you want your kids to have a decent education you’ll be looking for them to go to one of the grammar schools and it’ll save you (and them) loads of hassle to be in the right place from the start

Thanks guys – all really useful. Tod seemed nice. But something is stopping me from fully committing. Will definitely consider south Halifax.

We really want somewhere with a bit of ‘community’ so we can stay. I have to say that if you don’t earn loads of money and are part of the clique you will never fit in in Ilkley which is a shame as I grew up here!!

i lived in hebden for 15 years, but now live near halifax, in a place called warley. any of these places would do, mytholmroyd, sowerby bridge, nice parts of halifax, all have great riding. hebden has changed a lot in recent years, wouldn’t even consider tod, i’d go for somewhere near sowerby bridge, the weather is markedly better than hebden or tod, great pub. good luck

Todmorden is a lot easier to write, spell, . . .

tod morden, in german is death murder 😈

Todmorden doesn’t sound like an ointment.

Tod is tidy

This comming from a rossendaleian is high prase indeed

Having just moved to Tod, and not knowing Mytholmroyd very well yet, I’d say that my time in Tod has been good, very well connected by rail and bus. Todmorden does have it’s rough parts, and is generally not too affluent an area (that doesn’t mean to say it’s shabby or chavvy at all) but I’m happy here. There’s a few schools for the kids, and a few nice bars for you.

is a dh track in tod somewere. the guys at ride-on apprently use it a lot

I know this is of no help whatsoever, but BRI is nowhere near either of the stations, or the M606, or any major road leading to Halifax/Leeds/E Lancs.

Andy

I love living in Tod (well, Walsden). Most places are nice as long as you go up off the valley bottom just a little bit. It’s easy to cycle round here – I cycle to Hebden daily, quite often off road. There’s a good mix of people – yes there are those who’ve never really been out of the valley but there are enough people from different walks of life to make for decent socialising and some great friends. If you land here, give us a shout!

is a dh track in tod somewere. the guys at ride-on apprently use it a lot

yes