OK so here's the deal

My wife, 2 kids and I are going to move in the next 18 months. We currently live in east Kent which is a nice, if overcrowded and somewhat uninspiring part of the country. My two little lads are both under 3 and we want to get sorted and settled somewhere before they are at primary school age.

Next week we are off on our hols which has turned into something of a reconaisance mission for our big move. We are essentially doing a tour of the likely places to move to and I'll be taking a suit/tie/proper shoes/bunch of CV's to take advantage of any job type situation that arises – you know how opportunity knocks 🙂

We cureently own our house and will be able to sell really easily and be able to transfer our mortgage across with little trouble.

What I need from the forum is some suggestions of good destinations, below is a list of areas we are visiting and a list of things that we need to have access to. I've asked about specific areas in the past and have had some really useful info so hopefully I'll get some good suggestions this time, thanks in advance

things we need:

riding on the doorstep – doesn't have to be awesome but some moorland/woodland stuff I can ride without having to drive to would be great.

rail/bus links to one major city – again don't mind a longish journey but nothing so remote that I have to drive. Is there somewhere with nice bike paths that let me get into a city but live in the sticks? I dunno you tell me. I work in policy/management systems advice with an HSE bias.

proper countryside – doesn't have to be mountains, mountains, mountains but one of the things that has prompted us to move is the claustraphobic nature of the SE. My missus is from Cumbria and you can imagine how she feels about Kent!

Obviously we want decent schools for the kids etc etc but are of the opinion that we can work around this to some extent.

places we are already looking at

Lakeland
South Shropshire
Staffordshire
Dorset

Any and all opinions are welcome as are experiences of similar moves.

Thanks all

Keep Salisbury Plain in mind. Plenty of riding, plenty of train links, plenty of good local towns as well.

Other end of Wiltshire's worth a look as well, around Marborough/Swindon. Good hills, good countryside, good links.

South Worcestershire/North Gloucestershire

If you can find it on a map (and there's many that cant) it's a wonderful county*. Very friendly people – no chippy northerners or cockneys or possessive Welshmen or Cornwallers – proper English countryside, rolling hills, lazy rivers, beautiful farmland – M4, M40, M5 all run close enough through. Direct rail to Paddington (1.5hrs) and Birmingham New Street (1 hr).

An hour or so from the Black Mountains, not much longer for Afan, about 3 hrs to Coed.

I was brought up round here and after university went straight to London. I lasted 7 years before I missed it too much. This area is about as far away as you need to go to get away from "Londoners" and what theyve done to the home counties and oxfordshire.

* I think it should be its own county – its distinct from south gloucestershire (Stroud and Laurie Lee country) and north Worcestershire (brum)

Anywhere nr Leeds or Manchester will give you access to great riding from the door, with good links to big cities.

north staffs or south derbyshire. A50 corridor? good access to excellent riding, M1, M6 and rail links to birmingham and notts

or even north derbyshire. Glossop/Chapel sort of area

cool thanks Stoner, I had a feeling that you'd be along 🙂

will add it to the list, I'm from Oxfordshire and I hate seeing what parts of my homeland have become in less that 20 years.

South Staffs is good.

Trains into Bham,

If in Lichfield/Tamworth also very quick trains to London

Riding Cannock Chase, hopwas woods etc

Peak district driveable

Lichfield is the nicest place but also the most expensive but your'll probably still get a place cheaper than Kent

Also where ever you are your'll with in a mile of the station.

Tamworth not so nice but MUCH quicker trains to Brum and more trains to London

There is countryside but not basically a farming area but peaks not to far away also driving isnt a complete nightmare like it is in the south east

Around the Harrogate area.

Great for Leeds and York (and mainline trains). Close to the A1, M1 and M62.

Close to Stainburn, Dalby Forest, the Yorkshire Dales and North Yorks Moors…

I love it 🙂

his wife is from Cumbria, i doubt very much Yorkshire is an option

Towns I recommend are:

Upton upon Severn
Tewkesbury
Pershore
Evesham
Malvern
Worcester
Cheltenham
Ledbury (yeah, over the border 🙂 )

Hmm not sure I particularly agree with the north staff /A50 corridor comment.

Not as good trains to Bham away and from the motorway network

Also away from trains down to London unless you drive first.

On the plus side is close to the peaks.

Also as one person is from the lakes and one from oxford shire I would imagine they want to be near M6(toll)/M40/M42

his wife is from Cumbria, i doubt very much Yorkshire is an option

My husband is from cumbria, we live quite happily in Yorkshire, although he does complain that it's too far south.

doesn't say he needs to get to London does it!

I'd imagine if they've been living in Kent then London is the last place they'd want to go.

mrsf – but it's, you know, the wrong side of the pennines!

his wife is from Cumbria, i doubt very much Yorkshire is an option

When I mentioned the Y word there was a sharp intake of breath 😀

Shipley, west yorks. Proper hills. Half hour drive to the yorkshire dales. Trains to Leeds bradford & beyond

Moors & woods literally on the doorstep. Leeds 10 miles away on canal towpath. Best curries in the world in Bradford, only 5 miles away. Cheaper house prices than Leeds

60 miles to Kendal. M62, M1 & A1 not far away

true but where are you suggesting in north staffs ?

The only train stations near the A50 is uttoxeter not very good for getting to Bham.

Unless you mean east staffs ie Burton.

I know. Shocking isn't it!

Actually, don't come to Yorkshire. There's nothing for you here.

😉

Garstang in Lancashire. Bang on M6 so handy for Lakes, and not as expensive or full of trippers as Lakes. Handy for Dales/Peak/Pennines. Good rail & road connections to Preston/Manchester.

And it's not in Yorkshire.

As far as being near london, its not something that either of us are bothered about. I see my job progressing in any major city and although it would be nice to be within an hour or two of nodnol it's not essential.

I think that for me the mid west options in staffs/shropshire/worcester/gloucestershire are looking the most attractive and we'll certainly be winding through the area later this month.

My wife really would like to move up to Cumbria but there seems to be a dearth of jobs and really high house prices which is a shame but perhaps understandable.

thanks all, some very useful comments so far, keep them coming!

edit – for some reason the mention of curry has changed everything, i may leave her and move to bradford 😀

All you Yorkshire types (or should that be Tykes)… Any one tried the Zolshar on the High Street in Knaresborough? It is, without question, the best curry around and I have eaten in loads of places in Leeds and Bradford over the years.

all i'll say is Rossendale

Given the choice then I'd agree with Stoner.

Spent 4 years in Worcestershire and we are desperate to move back there from Surrey.

Definitely go with something south of Worcester round Evesham/Pershore way.

Glossop/Hayfield/New Mills/Marple on the edge of the Peak. Big enough to have proper shops etc and good rail links into Manchester (and onwards to London, Lakes, Wales), decent enough trains over the Sheffield and the East Cost Mainline.

Excellent riding on the doorstep, not all of which is massively hilly.

Or how about Knutsford on the edge of Cheshire.

What do you do by the way?

We looked at buying a property in Malvern two years ago or so

It was built on a steep slope 3 stories high, with a small but again very steep garden, which backed onto the hill itself, it needed loads of work, but had great views out towards Wales.

On investigating the garden I noticed well worn tyre tracks from the shed, across the lawn to the middle of a garden fence panel?

Looking closely the fence panel, it was hinged, and led straight onto the hill itself!

I was sold on the spot!

My Mrs refused to go into the garden, muttering I don't see you enough as it is and you new about this didn't you!

Sadly the Mrs got her way and we are now a good 8 miles or so from said hill, well at least I can still dream about it 😉

I like Derbyshire. Personally I live in Belper – decent riding nearby, plus great road riding and trains to Derby & Nottingham.

If you want really big cities, then the outskirts of Manchester / Sheffield might be a better bet.

I personally wouldn't consider Staffordshire unless I really wanted to work in Birmingham – there are plenty of big cities near really nice countryside to explore before you move that way.

Joe

What do you do by the way?

Health & Safety Advice/policy development etc. I need a big city thats reachable on a daily basis to peddle my wares and generally act as the fun police etc 🙂

Stoner – Member

Towns I recommend are:

Upton upon Severn
Tewkesbury
Pershore
Evesham
Malvern
Worcester
Cheltenham
Ledbury (yeah, over the border )

Upton upon Severn & Tewkesbury are great towns but might be worth looking at how high the property is above the river level 😉

Thinking about it, some area's of Evesham, Pershore and Worcester also suffered badly in the floods a few years back too 😉

How about the Southwest? There's a few towns bordering Dartmoor that are well within reach of Exeter and/or Plymouth – or somewhere a bit further north on the M5 corridor for (rail) access to Bristol & riding in Exemoor & the Quantocks. It'll be warmer than the North too 😉

like all the above, though some are getting a bit close to the high density areas, I like the sea (should be smiley with sunglasses in here!), so that would also need to be in my list of requirements (poss. Dorset, Devon), but the seasons down here are bland and we keep having wet summers 😐 ..

I can recommend Marple Bridge south-east of Manchester. Got everything you mentioned including good schools. (2 hours on the train to London) and obviously loads of trains to Manchester! Look at my website if you want to get a feel for the riding around here (all from the doorstep!) You could always come here for your holiday, we still have vacancies in August!

Upton upon Severn & Tewkesbury are great towns but might be worth looking at how high the property is above the river level

Thinking about it, some area's of Evesham, Pershore and Worcester also suffered badly in the floods a few years back too

Parts of those towns flood – new parts built with the encouragement of idiot government agencies and local planning officers pushed for development targets. The towns have been around for 500 years – with most of the buildings not being swamped.

If Malvern gets flooded though, we're all in the poo 🙂

Ski – where are you then?

outlying areas of exeter, though i suspect like any 'what bike' thread, then 'my bike' may be substituted for 'where i live' 🙂
1. a 'cycling city'
2. dartmoor, quantocks for riding + good local trails ( haldon, woodbury ) within easy riding distance.
3. the sea not far off either.
4. the city has a 'town' feel to it, but due to the uni is quite lively.

thread closed.

Agree with Handsomedog.
We're in Marple.
Riding from the doorstep,
Really good schools,
friendly people,
2 railway stations, with direct links in to Manchester or Sheffield,
Semi-rural but with all the amenities.
Good mtbing community on the edge of the Peaks, so not as busy as Peaks proper.
House prices o.k.

Cumbria has bits that are expensive, and bits that aren't. Anything in the National Park is silly money (well, usually – did find a couple of interesting ones when we were looking a few months back…). Kendal is a bit more reasonable, then you get the South Lakes but not in the National Park bit that is probably the best bet (Grange, Cartmel, Ulverston) which are good on price, and nice places to be. After that you are into Barrow and the Wild West which isn't so good (well, again… with exceptions here and there… St Bees is very nice for example, but a long way from anywhere!)

Other options in the county would be the Pennines (Penrith and into Alston, Kirkby Stephen, Appleby etc), or north to Cockermouth and the area around there.

Just moved to Ulverston from Stirling at the start of the year, and moved into our own house a couple of weeks back. Great place to live, need to sort out doing some riding again soon though 😉

Stafford is a nice but dull town, but I guess all towns are a bit dull.

Fast trains to London, right on the M6, Good trains to Brum, but ridiculously early last train back on Sat nights. Good schools and all other services and you can ride your bike to the Chase, where there are groups doing rides around the cheeky stuff most evenings.

Some very good LBSs too.

Well if that's what you do for a living then West Sheffield should be on your list – the HSE testing place is just down the road (near Buxton) and you've got easy access to the Peaks.

why not come to Dumfries/Lockerbie/Annan/Carlisle area.

Suits the Cumbrian link.

Nearby rail links to Glasgow/Edin and all the southern cities.

For riding you are but an hour and a bit from 7Stanes, Lakes, Howgills, Kielder and have map will find trail in the Borders

http://www.magnoxnorthsites.com/about-us/our-sites/chapelcross