We currently live in Birmingham. Mrs has seen a job in Leeds and thinking of whether to go for it. I would still need to commute to Birmingham at least a couple of days a week. We have been looking for a move, ideally to somewhere with better access to riding and perhaps in a smaller place than Birmingham.
York looks good for commute to Leeds and to get to Birmingham in a couple of hours by train BUT we only have a max of £250k to spend on a property and ideally want somewhere half decent with garden / garage etc. (no kids so don't need a large place), and TBH know nothing about the area or riding.
Any suggestions from locals as to where to look potentially. South of Leeds would be fine too if commute to Leeds is doable by train and south to Birmingham.
Many thanks in advance.
Sheffield?
Skipton mate. Good access to Leeds and beyond via train, good riding from your door, great riding nearby and you'll get a nice house for you budget. Regularly voted in the top 5 places to live.
York is a lovely city but riding is limited and it's expensive.
Might be worth Keeping an eye on Harrogate too. Traditionally very expensive but there's a huge amount of house building going on so older houses of the style you're after are struggling to sell. 3 bed semi with garden and garage should be possible for 250k.
Still Skipton though!
Just dont rely on the Harrogate train.
Where’s the job in Leeds? Sheffield is very commutable time Leeds and once Northern sort themselves out the train journey there should be pretty pleasant (compared to now). Central Birmingham is also an easy train journey away and £250k should get you something decent in somewhere like Meersbrook.
Another vote for Harrogate - it's a nice little town. There's a LOT of building work going on at the moment which is screwing the traffic a bit but it does mean a lot of new homes. Also, the Harrogate - Leeds train is one of the least reliable of all the Northern services and that's saying something! It will improve in fairly short order though.
It's easy access out to the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors and it's the other side of Leeds to the awful urban mess of motorways along that Leeds/Bradford/Huddersfield corridor.
Trains from Leeds to Birmingham are about 2hrs direct. Leeds station itself has had a lot of improvement works to it.
Harrogate lovely but not sure 250k will go far?
Sheffield a good shout - 70 mins to brum on train and 40 to Leeds on fast trains. Money will go further in Sheffield than Leeds or Harrogate.
Slightly depends on how close you want to be to a big station.
I'm in Crossgates
Area developing hugely, 5 mins from J46 of M1 and 5 miles from Leeds ctr.
Direct train to LDS centre take all of 7 mins
Jump on the bike and within 10 mins you're in the fields or on the canal.
Parents and brother live in Harrogate, nice town but not my cup of tea!
Good luck with the move
Used to live in Saltaire.
It's 20 minutes to Leeds on the train on the Aire Valley line; Shipley is close by with a stop on the Bradford line too so during the day you have 4 trains to Leeds an hour IIRC. Change at Leeds for main line services.
Saltaire village itself is quite pricey although the surrounding areas are less so. I reckon 250k would go reasonably far.
Countryside wise you can walk to open moorland in 20 mins, and you are well placed for plenty of good walking and riding.
I'd be living there still if we hadn't moved to be closer to family.
Anywhere north west Leeds is good for commute to the centre plus access to trails and the countryside. Kirkstall, Meanwood, Alwoodly, Horsforth, Moortown etc. Depends how you're commuting to Leeds, how much time you want to take, what kind of community you want to live in etc.
I live in Shipley with all amenities within walking distance. Saltaire or Shipley stations are within 10mins walk. Trains to Leeds every 15 or 20 minutes. Plenty of local riders and good off-road riding from the door.
To give some idea of house prices this one is within your budget https://www.onthemarket.com/details/8187890/
Many thanks for the ideas.
@tuboflard job is near the centre, within walking distance of the station.
Leeds is reasonably easy to get to from a load of places on the train. I commute in from the Calder Valley on the train most days and to be honest, the trains are shit and overcrowded but I get on far enough out to get a seat every day and make sure I get to the station early enough to get a seat on the way home so its 40 mins each way of chill out time.
House prices are cheaper in some areas. I'm from York and 250k will get you something ok but as someone has said, MTB from York is realistically a drive away vs Halifax where I live now, 250k will get you something decent (we paid 250k for our modern 4 bed detached with garage, decent gardens, really nice quiet area with trails literally at the end of the road although that was 4 years ago). Plus the riding on the doorstep from where I am on the southern edge of Halifax is immense. I now drive to go riding probably less than 5 times a year, everything else is from my door and I don't get bored of it.
Leeds is the easy bit - how long a commute are you prepared to do to Birmingham?
If you're prepared to put up with 2.5 hours to Brum, then Skipton. 250K will get you something decent, riding is great from the door, lovely town. 30 minutes into Leeds on the train. Lakes an hour away by car.
If closeness to Birmingham is the issue, then Sheffield area, I guess.
Harrogate is over priced and not great for riding. Train to Leeds is a pain.
Another vote for Shipley/Bingley area. Still that’s a long old commute to brum a couple of days a week
If I had to commute to Brum twice a week I'd be staying over and looking for a new job in Leeds.
If you are still considering York then the closer to the Station the pricier. But here's one with a 100% off road 20 min commute along the river:
Tang Hall and Acomb have some run down areas but new developments pop up all over and areas vary from street to street. You really have to come up and take a look.
Commute to brum would need to have some priority. I work at a uni in quite a specialist area and so whilst jobs may come up at some point in Leeds / Sheffield / York etc., in the short term there is no guarantee.
Sounds like Sheffield or surrounds?
In honesty I think Sheffield is a good bet, ticks all your boxes, great riding nearby, your money will go further than in Birmingham, the city has plenty to offer, it's great for transport links to Birmingham and Leeds.
Would the missus have to commute daily?
If so, stick close to Leeds and you should both end up with a decent work/life balance (if you are WFH three days).
Anywhere north west Leeds is good for commute to the centre plus access to trails and the countryside. Kirkstall, Meanwood, Alwoodly, Horsforth
This is where I was looking when I was gonna move to Leeds. Otley as well.
Do you have specific requirements for the kind of riding you wanna be near though?
Wakefield itself is a bit average but handily located on the map for the proposed train journeys with a mainline station (Westgate, it has a poor / crack-addicted cousin Kirkgate) that has tons of trains to Leeds and direct XC trains to Birmingham too. There's not much riding from the door but it's not far towards the northern end of the Peak. There are some decent villages around the town (it's actually a City) that should meet your budget and the station is accessible without the challenges of a major city commute.
EDIT Handy for M1 too which is infinitely more robust than the M62 when you have to drive somewhere. The M62 suffers frequent disruption.
Moving to Sheffield in this case is made - then you BOTH have a commute! I live near @Sarell, East Leeds (bit further out). Not much proper MTB but plenty to keep me occupied on gravel bike. Progressively more pleasant and rural as you had out towards Selby/York.
Crucially - very good, very quick access straight onto the M1 for driving to Birmingham. You could be 45-60 minutes extra getting to the M1 South from North Leeds. Cheaper houses, too.
All depends on your preferences.
We live one stop out on the Ilkley line. Nice area, easy access to the countryside. However, my advice is try and work something out for you both that is only one train ride each, if you can. If you start having to change trains regularly, you double your trouble especially if it includes Northern or Trans Pennine. So though I would advocate north west Leeds like many others, something like Sheffield or similar to the south might be a better idea.
And though you can work from home as Uni staff, you do want to keep going in as it makes a big difference to your work, collaborating with people. If your misses have to be in work 5 days a week though, the balance should be in her favour.
Others have a good point about both of you not wanting a lengthy commute each, though I guess that depends on what you’re used to or prepared to do. I used to work in London a lot and live in Sheffield but for some being more that 10 minutes from the front door is too much.
If your OH doesn’t mind the commute to Leeds I’d still look at Sheffield seriously. Great city and riding. £250k buys you something like this;
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-77815276.html
DISCLAIMER. I’m not an estate agent or connected in any way to this property.
Just for a bit of balance I lived in Hillsbrough, Sheffield for 2 years and really didn’t like it.
Much preferred north Bradford, the available riding was so much better.
I really don’t get both of you having big commutes though. Leeds to Brum will be hard, Sheffield to Brum will be hard. Sheffield to Leeds will be hard
Agree with above. Although there are ace places to live all around Leeds, many with great riding, I'd be prioritising nice house + your wife having as short a commute as possible over riding. As Snotrag says, out east Leeds has some nice spots plus the trains into Leeds are regular and fast. Garforth > Leeds is 10/15 minutes plus theres a car park at Garforth station and plenty of lovely places to live within a short drive of there. Plus its within WYPTE so trains are cheap.
North Leeds is expensive in comparison and unless you're near a station, don't plan on getting anywhere fast via car or bus.
Calderdale really is great but the commute by train, as I mentioned above, is hellish. Fingers crossed a change of jobs is on the horizon for me which means only going into Leeds once or twice a week and working from home the rest of the time.
With £250k to spend I'd be looking Aire valley - Shipley, Saltaire, Baildon, maybe Farsley. Still under-priced relative to Guisley/Horseforth etc, with access to country and good riding from the door, and 15 mins on the train to Leeds. Skipton is obviously too far.
It would also get you into Otley (nice but no train), Burley, Ilkely, but in a smaller terrace probably with limited outside space, or a small semi, probably. Pricier but nicier in my middleaged view, though you may need to make sure your rangerover is in thus season's colour (after many years I'm reaching the edge of my comfort zone).
Probably add Bingley to the list above^. 20 mins to leeds centre on the train and a 1/2 decent town, MTB probably the best in the valley and I'd assume you could get a semi with garage for £250k.
I live in Horsforth and its a good place to be but is quite expensive for what you get. I would look at Rodley or Farsley for a bit better value for money and if you're planning to bike in these also have easy access to the Leeds/Liverpool canal which is a great way to get into the city.
I'm biased because I live there, but Baildon ticks a lot of boxes. Good riding on the doorstep, sensible house prices (you could buy mine!) and a 25 minute walk to shipley station.
Skipton as others have said is nice, but the train to leeds is a bit long and ££
Keighley although the centre can be rough, surrounding villages are lovely. Basically anywehre along the train line from Leeds to Skipton for me.
I do london a lot with work on the train, and brum half a dozen times a year. Once you get to leeds there are loads of trains and the aire valley line from Shipley can have up to 6 trains an hour to leeds
The wharfe valley to Ilkely is also lovely, but pricier
North of Leeds would be madness imo if you need to get to Brum twice a week - the journey in is a pain. Your money will go further if you go south too.
Don’t forget central Pennines area (Huddersfield!) which has access to great riding and is slowly getting better for trains...
The ops question was 5 months ago. Pre covid. I think WFH Have changed the office work for ever and our work life balance.
I think in the future they will look back at this time and refer to how it changed our lives just like the industrial revolution etc. (please don't bring the Brexit debate to this thread too!)
I can't see us returning to how it used to be.
This will change the housing market with people moving out of cities to get bigger houses with outdoor living space.
Just my ten pence. It would be interesting to find out what @nicknameless did and if covid has changed anything for him?
We are still in Brum. The mrs didn't like the job in the end so didn't take it - call her fickle.
We are still looking at a move and as noted above the COVID situation has enhanced our motivation to do so away from Birmingham. We are in a watch and wait pattern at the moment as a few things are uncertain - so a move may be on the cards next year but it may just be slightly further away from brum (currently thinking somewhere M50 corridor with easier access to FOD / Wales etc).
Working patterns are indeed going to be fascinating going forward. I have been working at home for close on 5 months now and will only have some time back in the office (possibly only 1 day a week) from mid september onwards. At the same time the mrs has been furloughed. Strange times all around. I will not be returning to the office 5 days a week in the future whatever the circumstance - there is just no need and whilst home working has many disadvantages it is also good in other respects. I am not talking about working from the trails either lol!!!