Schools in Ashbourne are the best in the area these days. Nice small villages in the catchment are pricey though. Children from Henry Prince in Mayfield (in Staffs, but we wouldn’t hold it against you) get a guaranteed place at the Grammar school – actually a comprehensive but a very good one. House costs in Mayfield are much lower than Ashbourne. Local riding is distinctly average but the good stufff is close by.

I work at the obvious employer and live in Beeston on the west side of Nottingham.  I can make it to the closest site in Derby in less than 20 minutes and to the main site in 25, so don’t rule Nottingham out unless you really want Peak District type hilly riding immediately from the doorstep, in which case the Amber Valley is the best bet.

It has excellent transport links and you can be at Sherwood Pines, Cannock Chase or the heart of the Peak District in an hour, give or take 10 minutes.  The bike commute to Derby is easy with several safe (decent cycle lanes etc) options on/off road.

Some more good info.

Thanks all.

It appears the same places keep getting mentioned. So definitely a good place to start. We will be coming from an area with relatively high house prices so I suppose that’s a good thing in relation to the house prices in the better areas.

Where I am in Scotland will be a big hit in terms of quality/quantity of riding if I move, but such are the sacrifice I will have to make.

Don’t be too down on the quality/quantity of riding. It will be different riding for sure, but there is plenty of it with the whole of the Derbyshire Dales and Peak district on your doorstep, so top notch riding for sure, and with lack of trail centres in the area you’ve often got the place to yourself without all the Audi’s with Orange Five’s cluttering up the roads and car parks. There is always Cannock for that –  though it seems to be more T5’s and Santa Cruz’s these days.

There are definitely worse places in the UK to live, that’s for sure.

Chellaston

you could walk/cycle to work across Sinfin moor (or if your at Raynesway site that’s easy too)

good schools

lots of new housing getting built which is a bit shit but means cost isn’t that high compared to other similar areas

easy enough to get round the city traffic without going into the centre to get to Black Rocks etc, straight onto M1 or A50/A38 for peaks or cannock etc, close to airport for holidays but far enough away noise isn’t really an issue

on edge of city, nice bridleways and canal paths lead to singletrack playgrounds around Ticknall or ride to Morley Woods or Bramcote

lots of nice little villages just further south but prices do go up a lot – Ticknall, Repton, Melbourne etc

shardlow, Aston, Weston all nice too and more of a village feel

I currently commute from Staffs into Derby central, takes about 50 mins but im in before traffic gets mad. Anywhere between is pretty good, A50 is a fast road M6 TO M1 and A38 is pretty good generally, again, time specific. Central to loads of riding, Peak, Wales, etc… decent ale as well unlike Scotland

“shardlow, Aston, Weston all nice too and more of a village feel”

the MIL lives in Aston, nice village, and there are some big developments planned in that area that will probably see Aston-on-Trent link up with neighbouring Weston-on-Trent. There are some nice properties in Weston that back onto the canal so nice for a sort of waterfront property feel. But to the more pricey end of the spectrum.

I am in Little Eaton good routes from the door over to ambergate etc and only 45 mins over to dark peak etc in the car. I don’t work for the obvious employer but it would not be a bad commute from here by bike and avoid the traffic along the river path.