Hi All,

We (me, the better half and our 6 month old) have been looking to move house from the NW as I will shortly be moving to our Leeds office (J1 off the M621).

We had focussed on the Hebden Bridge area but have had a couple of purchases fall through and are now having to expand the search a little further.

So…..criteria would be:

West of Leeds (easier for us to visit relatives and vice versa)
Family friendly / community feel
Good biking / walking nearby
A nice pub / restaurant / shop or two within walking distance

Budget is £260k.

Guiseley?

[my default answer]South Halifax[/my default answer]

We’ve lived there for 12 years now and love it. We’re actually just in the process of moving south (when I say south, a mile further south!) and paying less than your budget for a 9 year old 4 bedroomed detached house with garage, decent gardens, off-road parking for 3 cars etc within the catchment area of good/outstanding schools, 10 mins off the M62 and fantastic (as good but less well publicised than Hebden etc) riding from your doorstep.

We’d love to live in Hebden but what we want (all the above) you’re looking at double the money in Hebden. Not really worth it when I can ride there in 25 minutes.

Other nice places – all the villages between Halifax and the M62 – Sowood, Greetland, Barkisland, West Vale, Holywell Green etc are nice. Ripponden too (Rishworth is a bit spread out with no centre and as a result is a bit “marry your sister”!).

Bit further South but worth considering;

Brighouse
Mirfield

^ Both of which have great riding from the door too.

Other side of the M62 is Huddersfield, great mix between town and country. (Huddersfield is to Halifax as London is to Slough). Lindley, Fixby and Birchencliffe are all nice (I’m in Lindley) and and a few minutes from Jn 24 of the M62. You’d be in work in less than 20 minutes without rush hour traffic, and quick back to NW for family visits.

Morley

Anywhere south of the M62/M621 and you will have a pretty horrible commute by car each day.

Bingley and surrounds. Only 20 mins by train from the centre of Leeds. Baildon Moor and Shipley Glen on the doorstep. Harden Moor, Ilkley Moor etc etc etc not very much further.

Bingley etc is great apart from the jct 1 of the M621 bit.

But you’d never drive into Leeds would you? Train all the time.

Lots to look into (could be a busy night of research and Right Move tonight!), cheers very much all, feel free to keep them coming……

BTW – I would need to drive into the office pretty regularly.

I would need to drive into the office pretty regularly.

how are your stress levels?

the ONLY downside having moved up here a year ago, is the roads infrastructure, and the numbers of folk trying to use it. I look at it as the price I pay for access to the amazing outdoor playground on my doorstep.

Driving from HB to Leeds on a regular basis would see you slitting your wrists in short order; long way from a motorway there and even once you get to the M62, eastbound traffic into Leeds is crap even when it’s good. Only you know how much that bothers you, but it would kill me. I live in Brighouse and cycle commute to Drighlington (so not too far from where you will work), and every day I pass over the 62 at Hartshead services to find it looking like a car park!

But you’d never drive into Leeds would you? Train all the time.

Of course you’d train it into Leeds. I do. But I wouldn’t get the train into Leeds from Bingley if I was working out near Elland Road.

We’d love to live in Hebden but what we want (all the above) you’re looking at double the money in Hebden. Not really worth it when I can ride there in 25 minutes.

A mere 5 mins further down the train line and you’re in Todmorden, which is much cheaper than Hebden, with better mountain biking 😉 It’s also closer to Manchester, which is much nicer than Leeds.

In the STW tradition of suggesting only what you do I can add the following:

Birkenshaw – lived there for 10 years – some great riding in Tong which is a short warm up spin away. One of the best things about living here is that you never have to go on the M62 between j26 and j27!

Hipperholme – now live here (14years) some really good riding in Calderdale, some local but you can use the canal to get to Sowerby and Hebden for much more cycling. Good schools etc.

The roads can be a bit tiresome, not going at peak times is a great option if you can manage your meetings etc.

Only you can decide on your balance between journey times and house prices, if somewhere is cheap / expensive there is a reason!

Birkenshaw or if your pockets are a bit deeper Gomersal are good shouts. Easy commute down the A58 into Leeds by car and popular with cyclist too. Drighlington also on the A58 is turning into a nice village community now and bit closer to Leeds. Tong Village in the same area is a bit exclusive and over rated in my opinion.
Where abouts from Jct 1 are you going to working?

Craig – I’ll be working at Gelderd Rd.

As Daveyboy said.

For getting somewhere nice to live, within that price range and great riding on your doorstep.

However, be warned that the M62 between Brighouse and Gomersall is a nightmare. Complete car park every morning and evening. I commute everyday into the centre of Leeds, but by motorbike. Its hell on the odd days i need to take the car.

Anything between Leeds and Brighouse you’ll find nice family area’s, but biking wise will be limited.

Bingley, Saltaire, Calverly good riding on your doorstep, but houses are more expensive and commuting will still be a nightmare.

I’ll be working at Gelderd Rd.

Do you know which side of Gelderd Road, inside or outside the ring road?

Avoid Batley

A62 from Gildersome should be better than m621, but then you’d need to decide how you’re going to get to Gildersome

Leeds is full, stay away!

Skipton if the train commute works.

Do you know which side of Gelderd Road, inside or outside the ring road?

Up the hill from the Porsche garage.

I’d look at Pudsey/Farsley/Calverley – all nice places and not too bad to commute to where you want to be and there are some great trails on the doorstep.

Handy for the M62 for getting back over the other side.

Suggest using Google maps to find out fairly accurately what your journey time would be – do it at the time you’ll be travelling to get the most accurate results.

tbh any where decent area wise is going to be a nightmare to get to work.

I lived in Yeadon / Guiseley for the best part of 20 years, and a few years in Wyke and Bradford.

Used to drive to Gelderd road in the rush our quite a few times to get to the Leeds office and it was hell.

That was 15 yrs ago and I believe it’s only got worse!

Area wise, I’d look to all of the above although I think getting to Leeds from Bingley / Skipton will be awful by car as their is only really 2 or 3 main roads in.

Given the question, I’d be looking for Horsforth / Yeadon / Guilseley, but I would say that as that’s where I grew up and have the best memories 🙂

I used to live in Saltaire and car commute to Geldered Rd.

Horrible, absolutely horrible. Took about 1hr of que after que which ever way you go.

Also it’s too far out from the station to make that plausible.

East Leeds, Garforth, Wetherby etc will be easiest.

M1 from the south ques in the morning just south of the M62 junction in to Leeds.

M62 from the west is no fun at all.

IMO anything West or North of Horsforth would be a no unless you love being in a car.

Riding wise, both Brighouse & Bingley are good and share similarities with both having railways and canals, but Bingley is a long way from the motorway.
We’ve been in a Brighouse nearly 3 yrs and love the place, it’s a great place to bring up kids & there’s a strong riding scene.

Craig’s coming up with some sound suggestions IMO 🙂

Marsden or Slaithwaite might be worth mentioning.

M62 is always a nightmare at rush hour no matter how you cut it.

Huddersfield, or a bit further south or west, honely or Golcar.

I think anywhere either side of the A650 between East Ardsley (M1 J41) and the Bradford end of the Drighlington bypass, plus down the A58 as far as Hunsworth / Drub / Gomersal should be ok regarding the commute. Whatever you do, do not get any nearer to Bradford than the end of said bypass. Tong Village is nice but very little available, and is lumped for insurance purposes in with Tong Street, Tyersal, East Bowling and Holme Wood, all classed as inner city Bradford…
Leeds is nicer for living north of the river, but that would leave a nasty commute to Gelderd Road. Oh aye, there’s also a football stadium not too far from your office which can aggravate the traffic on match days.

Avoid using the motorways during rush hour, as said above there’s a good chance every day of them turning into car parks.

East Leeds, Garforth, Wetherby etc will be easiest

If you enjoy riding avoid these places

Up the hill from the Porsche garage.

You’re on the outside of the ring road then. As John Drummer said along the A650 from East Ardsley to Tong Village dropping down to Gomersal, Birkenshaw and East Brieley. Upper Batley is quite nice and totally separate to the shit hole of Batley. From these locations you have some nice riding and can be in the Peak District within 30-40 mins. Commuting to work down Gelderd Road from Gildersome roundabout (M62 junction 27) you won’t have to cross the ring road which during rush hour becomes a car park.
Not sure if you have kids but sme good schools in the area too along with local sports facilities, Showcase cinema and Escape indoor skiing 30 mins down the M62. Downside you aren’t far enough away from IKEA so be prepared to do the zombie walk around their maze.

Thanks for all the input everyone – I spent last night google mapping and showing the other half how far various places are from HB. We’re over in Yocksher for the weekend (Sat = riding HB / Toddy Lamplighter festival) so going to get booked in for some viewings on Sunday and visit a few of the areas mentioned.

Will keep you posted with developments and whether or not you have saved me from resorting to Kirstie and Phil 🙂

Here’s this morning’s view of the M62 – nothing unusual! Money well spent that smart motorway “upgrade” 🙁

Only another 18 months and the ‘smart’ motorway will be completed this end too.

Once we’ve moved i’ll be doing what I can to avoid driving in the rush hour commute but unfortunately I’ll be joining in some days. Still, it has to be an improvement over what i’ll be doing until we find a house over that way, St Helens to Leeds commuting starts December 7th 🙁

Depending on where you end up you can avoid the motorway to be honest. From Brighouse (for example) there’d be no need to touch the motorway to get to Gelderd Rd, places like Gomersal, Drub, Hunsworth, Birkenshaw are closer still but don’t necessarily have the same riding and other outdoor stuff as the Calder Valley.

I saw in that a few times last week Jason – was still better than the trains.

Another vote for Todmorden.

I moved to Walsden (just outside Tod) a couple of months back. Riding is literally on your doorstep, and good transport links.

Thin the train from Tod is about 50 min into Leeds, but I’m sure I heard somewhere that the track was being updated. The train in Manchester is 25mins!