Great places to live with riding from the door?

Whaley Bridge, easy train to Manchester, lots of riding…..close to Disley and Macclesfield.

Dumfries and Galloway.(yes, almost all of it). Quiet when you are away from the A74/75 and Dumfries. There’s very few places that havent got good riding within 5 miles. We’re on one of the flatter parts,and hills are only 1 mile away. Off road riding 300 metres from the village centre. Cheap housing, no Highland surcharge for deliveries, close enough to large towns to get major purchases (rather than mail order).

last time I was in Sucre, Bolvia, there was a coup d’etat. Cannot recommend.

They blow over in no time.  It’s surrounded by deep valleys and endless tracks and singletrack. Nice locals, cheap eating, great weather, music, rivers to swim in and hills to climb.  It is a long way from the sea though… 

Cardiff.  As much riding from the door as your legs can handle.

Whaley Bridge, easy train to Manchester, lots of riding…..close to Disley and Macclesfield.

And the home of The Goyt, which is an excellent pub, and Casa Di Pizza (I can’t remember it’s new name), which is the best Italian food I’ve had outside Italy.

Bucknell, Bringewood, Hopton.

Although I bet like most areas, you’d think “oh, this one again” after a few years

Having grown up for some time in Head of Muir (40 years ago!), I’d suggest Dennyloanhead is ideal if you want a start point to cycle away from…and not return to for quite some time! 🤣
Suspect it has changed but not much without at least 15 minutes ride to get to…which might be good as a warm-up.
Good grief, I’m starting to think it might be good now!!!

So Sheffield locals then…if living in the actual city where is the amazing riding you can get to dead easy? I’ve ridden out to the peak up the valley from Endcliffe park and it took quite a while to get out into classic peaks tech/rocks territory (stanage)

Is there much good tech of note that I missed, or do I need to go up rivelin valley etc?

Obvs. Got wharny, greno, lady canning etc but they are all a little bit of a trek unless you are in the west)

Concur with Poynton / Disley / Macc having lived there in the past. Plenty to go at and not far from Peak District. 

moved to Marsden, W.Yorks a few years back. Little village, 30 mins to Leeds or Manchester on train ( when they run!!) but decent riding from the door and plenty to link into further afield. I can be off road within 5 mins of leaving the house. 

So far Sheffild is winning with 6 votes and Dennyloanhead in 2nd place with 1.5 votes.

Another vote for Sussex here – that must be 4 of us.
Just north of the Downs and on the E/W Sussex border me
Lots of options to get up on the Downs going east and west and down into Stanmer and up to Kingston
There’s also lots of roadie fun on the lanes up to the Ashdown and along the bottom of the Downs.

So much variety and hard to get bored.

West Yorkshire Ilkley.

Also in North Yorkshire, other side of the moors from Guisborough, and there is riding out the door all the way from Thirsk to Scarbados. Trail centre in Dalby if that floats your boat, plenty of bridleways across the moors, everything from forest roads right the way up to technical stuff far beyond my ability, and from local blasts to big days out.

Issue is what will you do to pay the rent/mortgage? Plenty of opportunity if you work for the NHS or in tourism, small amount of high tech engineering, although farming is a bit of a struggle at the moment. In fairness, we did see a certain amount of movement in when working remotely came into fashion as you could sell your flat in London and buy a pretty nice house round here and still hop a train in York and be in London in a couple of hours if you really couldn’t resist the urge.

20 mins to the woods from my house in Cardiff, by bike (it’s only about 3 miles but uphill). If you live in other parts of the city it could be even less. A bit further up in the Valleys you could live essentially IN a bike park.

Ditto what @molgrips said. I live in central Cardiff now, but used to live in Llanishen (North Cardiff), and it would take me fifteen minutes of leisurely warm-up riding to get into the hills and woods. I know there are other places in the UK that can boast similar, but I suspect Cardiff is hard to beat for the combination of cost-of-living, good city with good cultural outlets, and superb riding from the doorstep all rolled into one.

+1 more for Sussex. I’m at the far end of the Downs. Lucky enough to be able to ride out of my garden straight into the national park. The town (Eastbourne) is a bit lacking in the way that seaside towns often are, but it’s a great combination of coast and country.

Another bonus is access to Europe. Twice last year rode to Paris, again from the door. I’m still new enough to the whole cycle touring thing to get a real kick out of being able to do that.

Can I be the first to tell you all where not to move to.
The Tweed Valley is terrible place to live.
Please don’t move here as it’s already full.

I hear Slough is brilliant. Maybe move there.

I loved Cardiff when I was at uni there – as above, it’s got easy access out of the city on the Taff Trail to get to the woods and valleys north of the city. Castell Coch was always good for a couple of hours of MTB.

Road riding, I’m less convinced now than when I was there – a lot of big roads been built especially down at the regenerated Cardiff Bay area although once out in the valleys it’s not too bad.

M4 and A470 make getting east/west and north up to Brecons very easy and (unlike anywhere in mid/north Wales), the rail links from Cardiff are plentiful.

Now, I’d choose Kendal. Lovely town, bypassed by most of the tourists who head straight to Windermere and Ambleside, close to motorway and West Coast main line, easy access to all of South Lakes for endless road, gravel and MTB.

Can I be the first to tell you all where not to move to.
The Tweed Valley is terrible place to live.
Please don’t move here as it’s already full.

Aye it’s shit here. The bus to Edinburgh doesn’t take bikes, the rising is shite and there is nothing to do except dream of moving to Sheffield.

Now, I’d choose Kendal.

Where are you finding MTB from the door?

So Sheffield locals then…if living in the actual city where is the amazing riding you can get to dead easy?

Seconded. I looked into moving there and my (albeit limited) research suggested best places to live were south west but the good MTB was north of the city.

Also in North Yorkshire, [  ]  plenty of bridleways across the moors.

Most often with a healthy dose of “Gerrroff moi laannd” signage and locked gates to go with it if my visit up there a while is anything to go by. 

Will nominate anywhere in Calderfornia. Lived in Heptonstall and the riding from the door was genuinely world class. 

I lived in Calderdale too – it was ace for riding with great transport links. Genuine riding from the door as well as the towns/villages are so small. Sheffield etc given its size does have great riding but theres a lot of it where you’re having to spend 15/20 minutes riding around suburbia to get out first. My last house in Copley was ride out my street, swing a right and 100m later you were off-road.

I’ve got to agree with Scotroutes on Aviemore as the ideal place. Although Aviemore is a bit busy I prefer the nearby villages, extra hermit points for that surely. Only thing is all the best riding is off-road so best to ditch your road bike.

So Sheffield locals then…if living in the actual city where is the amazing riding you can get to dead easy? I’ve ridden out to the peak up the valley from Endcliffe park and it took quite a while to get out into classic peaks tech/rocks territory (stanage)

I wouldn’t live in the city – somewhere in the suburbs

My mate lives in Totley – 10 mins pedal and you are at Blackamoor/Houndkirk/Lady Cannings etc. 10-15 mins the other way downhill into town on the bus/bike

Now, I’d choose Kendal.
Where are you finding MTB from the door?

For MTB riding from the door the nearby village of Staveley is probably better.

But it is about 1 km from my door to the byway over the the Scar which joins in to bridleways most of the way to Staveley.

I’m in Congleton. MTB from the door is okay, some nice local stuff. Road riding much better, flat stuff to the west, hills to the east. Not sure on the job opportunities though, but you’re not far from Manc et al.

always quite liked the thought of living in Macclesfield too.

Macc Forest is gash in the wet though, IMHO.

My top picks:

Birnam/Dunkeld

Tweed Valley (obvs)

Surrey Hills (if you can afford it)

Ballater

Next to the Nationwide in Swindon

I don’t think I could deal with living in the Hebden area, bit gloomy and cramped.

Amazing fireworks in the Botanical Gardens. The Guardian defined Sheffield as the real ale capital of the world. From Endcliffe Park all the way out to the Peak offroad. Not so good if you’re a football fan.

I know everyone always posts where they live on these threads but given the OP’s criteria I can’t think of anywhere better than the upper Calder Valley. Todmorden, Hebden or Mytholmroyd are very accessible to Manchester and Leeds for work, there’s hundreds of miles of trails from the door, a large established community of bikers, and there’s a huge amount going on with places like the Trades Club, Golden Lion etc pulling in bands and DJs which most big cities would be envious of. The only downside is it rains non-stop for 6 months of the year.

Newbury/West Berkshire – might surprise some, but there is excellent riding here. No technical off road, but huge amounts of XC and gravel riding in all directions. There is a superb network of bridleways and byways. A huge amount of rolling downland. The Ridgeway is close by too. If you’re into road riding then it’s excellent for that too.

House prices are fairly high, but it’s a nice town, and although it’s busy, it is quiet in the rural areas and on trails just a few miles from town. Very good employment opportunities close, or in nearby Reading. Unemployment rate of just 2.6%.  Excellent rail and road links. Part of doing mostly riding from the door is to change your riding expectations and bikes to match what you have on your doorstep, which is something i’ve consciously done. But the option to travel by car or train with the bike is still there.

All these folks wanting to live in Macclesfield.
Mrsstu grew up round there and couldn’t wait to get away.
It’s a funny old world.

I know everyone always posts where they live on these threads

I don’t live in Sheffield, or the outskirts

Can be in the city centre in 45mins though driving and to the good riding 30mins driving from home

All these folks wanting to live in Macclesfield.

Yeah, wouldn’t really be on my list either

The only other place that had genuinely good riding from the door was a place I rented for a bit in Kingston Blount* nr Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire, on the edge of the Chilterns. It might not be the ultimate in tech riding, for but for sheer scale of properly gloriously endless woody singletrack it’s up there amongst the very best in the country. It’s like riding through a Mint Sauce cartoon.

*An actual village and not as I suspected; an elderly and befuddled, but still respected Shakespearean actor who did years in rep and never once got to play The Dane.

everyone always posts where they live on these threads

Ha, I wished I lived in one of those spots. That’s the whole point innit?

Surrey Hills (if you can afford it)

Nothing to see here. Move along.

I didn’t post on this yesterday as I’m basically overflowing with negative energy and I didn’t want to be a massive buzzkill.

I live south east of Sheffield. Walking distance from the city centre which is ideal for work and we have parks and stuff for junior which is nice.

Plus sides- Pump tracks and jumps everywhere which we use most weekends. Wharny and Greno are mint but they’re at least 30 minutes drive north. The Peak is obviously the Peak. The Ladybower Inn for example is a 30 minute drive west. I can and have ridden out to Lady Cannings and Blackamoor but it’s a long, miserable slog on the road with the scooter drivers and boy racers swarming all over the place. I can drive to Lady Cannings in 15 minutes and have a much safer ride on a bigger, off-road loop. I’ve ridden to Wharny and back once but it took all day and I probably wouldn’t repeat it.

On a sunny day, when it’s warm and there’s a big session popping off somewhere, it’s a mint place to be.

Downsides- Since we’ve lived here we’ve been the victim of thefts, burglaries and we’ve had 2 cars written off due to maniac drivers, one of which had no licence and cloned plates. The roads are a dangerous mess, the traffic is diabolical, it takes forever to get anywhere. There’s constant nocturnal activity with scrotes wandering around all night and cars which have been remapped to sound like machine gun fire. There’s just so many edgy dickheads who dedicate their time to making everyone else’s lives miserable. It’s probably comparable to most UK city centres really but it’s grinding me down at the minute.

The nicer parts of the city are forever out of reach to us. Congratulations to anyone who can just hop onto the Porter Brook trail or Rivelin valley and pedal out but we’ll never live on that side of town.

We’ve currently got one eye on Newcastle. Not for the riding but so we can be closer to family and have childcare options which would make our lives much easier. We could also buy a decent house in a less scruffy and hectic location. Then I’d go back to driving to Chopwell and Hamsterley most weekends and have a much shorter trip to the Tweed Valley.

Whatever happens- Death before gravel bikes.

Another vote for Sheffield from me. West Sheffield has great direct access to some good local riding spots and can also get to the Hope Valley pretty quickly too. House prices are fairly steep but look in places like Totley Rise, Bradway instead of Dore and you should be able to find some reasonably priced houses. I’m in Totley itself and happy to share any more info on DM if you need.

North Cardiff, Newport, Swansea – lived in all of them, plenty of jobs around in the main city, and depending on where you are, you can ride to some pretty good trails in just a few minutes.

My local trails in North Cardiff are literally 500meters down the road then it’s all offroad and there’s a huge network of trails – everything from bumbling along bridleways to huge jump lines and steep gnarly tech.

Added bonus if you are going to drive – there’s loads of trail centres around here too.

Might also add Betws-y-Coed/Llanwrst and I suppose Machynlleth to my list.

Pontypridd or Risca might not be on most people’s wish lists, but would have a lot to offer MTBers.

Whatever happens- Death before gravel bikes.

“endless gravel riding” is estate agent spin for “there is no MTB”