Forum menu
There are lots of nice places like Burley-in-Wharfedale - price wise it's definitely premium for the area. Ben Rhydding is similar, but there are cheaper, but still nice bits of Ilkley to be found.
If you want your money to go further, Otley or Skipton, the latter has a 40 minute direct train ride into Leeds. Further down Wharfedale has some OK bits- maybe Menston or the surrounding area.
Schooling. Ilkley and Skipton both good - Skipton has two grammars, one of which is very good. South Craven School in Cross Hills also has a very good reputation.
Further down the Aire Valley is not so good - Keighley, Bingley (OK in parts), Shipley. Saltaire is OK, but a bit of an island surrounded by less nice areas.
Wife said earlier she didn’t like Brum, I asked why that was and she said she thinks she went there once and didn;t like it… she’s not really giving this much thought yet, that’s fine, this is the start of what I’n sure will be a long thinking process!
Either will be what you make of them and depend which areas.
Seems as good a reason as any to narrow the search?
Leeds and Brum are where the current department is moving to, apparently along with others, and I could keep my current role and just move location…
Large parts of Government are set to do similar over the next few years.
Commuting in/out of Leeds is a ball ache; E-W rail services are stuck in the 1950’s.
Yep, Leeds Station is soul-destroyingly awful and that's after they've done the place up! Heavily congested and it imports delays from all over the north due to the way the tracks are aligned, it's a bottleneck. There's scheduled to be a lot of work on it over the next 15 years or so as part of Trans Pennine route upgrade and Northern Powerhouse Rail assuming of course that they get funding. It can only get better but be warned, it's not great.
I'd be looking Ilkley way I think, but I'd be VERY aware of flood risks around that area, I remember Burley flooding a few years back. A lot of big hills drain into a few rivers.
Further down the Aire Valley is not so good – Keighley, Bingley (OK in parts), Shipley. Saltaire is OK, but a bit of an island surrounded by less nice areas.
You forgot to mention Baildon, it’s very nice here once you get away from the river, most of the village is high enough not to ever worry about flooding. Commuting into Leeds is easy & safe on the Leeds/Liverpool canal, Baildon has a train station but you’d need to change at either Shipley or Guiseley.
By car it’s either A65 or A657, which in turn joins up with either the A65 at Kirkstall or the A647 at Armley Ridge. Both roads clog up horribly in rush hour. Major roadworks on the A657 where it crosses the A658 at Greengates for at least the next 9 months.
Otley doesn’t have a railway station but there are shuttle buses running from the town centre to the railway station at Menston
Brum is massive - I don’t miss the traffic nor driving standards. As suggested, the west parts are better for mtbing - I used to live in Longbridge which is being regenerated, and had door rides to Licky and Clent hills and beyond. Nice villages as Barnt Green. Closer in Harbourne is nice, lived there for a few years. Stay a few years until your kids develop the accent. If they do, move to Surrey. When that accent develops move to er, Plymouth and find yourself speaking Janner within 2 years 😆
The other slight attraction to Leeds is it's closer to my wife's family in Liverpool. A journey from South London is hell, Brum would be a better journey but Leeds/Liverpool is almost quick as it takes to cross London!
I feel positive, even excited, by the possibility of a move and at least with the internet and time I can research at leisure. Maybe I'll have to book a week's family holiday in the dales and start sewing more seeds with my wife.
Wharfedale is rubbish - don't do it.
Not really - lived here for over 20 years after moving from the flat lands in the south. Use the Ilkley line train to Leeds (pre-Covid) on a daily basis and it's better than driving the A65. Riding from the area to the city centre is excellent if you know where to look as well. Plenty of legit and cheeky off road options.
In terms of local riding and climbing then you are spoilt for choice. Surrounded by steep hills on all sides with both natural and hand built tracks. And if you like gritstone then 3 key areas (Caley/Ilkley/Almscliffe) all within view.
Sister in Law lives in Brum and it's a very different place/experience. I recall driving to the Lickey hills from their house and thinking 'is this it'...
In the before times, the train to Leeds was 20 mins and opened up more than enough variety of museums, activites, restaurants and night life to keep me happy.
Not found anywhere else (in the UK) i'd choose to move to yet....
It sounds quite appealing to me. I hope my department starts to answer some more questions about the move, as that might affect costs and salary hence impact choice of house and location. I also hope I can make it seem a viable option worth consideration for my wife. I feel quite excited, so actually I'm glad she is more reticent and stops me being too rash.
If I do end up near Leeds I'll have to dig out the ropes.... And I guess learn a bit of trad. It's been easy to just clip bolts down south.
The other slight attraction to Leeds is it’s closer to my wife’s family in Liverpool. A journey from South London is hell, Brum would be a better journey but Leeds/Liverpool is almost quick as it takes to cross London!
You obviously got the M62 on a good day!
Train is about 90 - 120 mins on that route.
Otley doesn’t have a railway station but there are shuttle buses running from the town centre to the railway station at Menston
It's utterly useless as it tends to arrive at the station just after the train you want has left and leave just before the train you're on arrives. I live in Otley and work in Bradford so just drive as I can avoid the peak times. Cycling in is ok in parts but it's hilly and the standard of driving is the worst I've experienced anywhere. If I was commuting to Leeds I'd use a beater bike and cycle the couple of miles along the valley to get the train at Burley as it's flatter and you'll get a seat.
Otley is a nice place to live, there's plenty of decent pubs and places to eat, probably as it's fairly hard to get out of on public transport. All of the other villages in the valley on the railway line suffer from the easy access to Leeds and the greater choice it brings.