Hebden Bridge is the only place I’ve found to be both pretentious and utterly grim at the same time. Well, the two do go hand in hand I suppose. Lancaster is much nicer, I reckon.

I live in Stourbridge. I spent 2 years living near and visiting ‘the valley’ hated it, very depressing

Didn’t you live in Rochdale though?
Very, very different.

I used to particulary enjoy the abuse from the drunks (/druggies) in the park. I lived there for a while and wasn’t sad to leave.

Some interesting reading…
http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/forum/2010/098.html
http://hebdenbridge.co.uk/news/2010/070.html
http://www.markpiggott.com/lostboys.htm

A town at one with itself then 😉

Well, some of the locals are paddling in a very shallow gene pool, if that’s what you mean 🙂

Yes but as mentioned visited the valley a lot

No worries, not for everyone I suppose.

I go through phases – sometimes, like now, with the ickle lambs and the sunshine, I can’t imagine anywhere nicer.

Can’t stand the bloody place in the middle of winter though.

I moved to Hebden Bridge 5 months ago, and commute to Leeds everyday by car. Over the Moors it takes me around 45 minutes which is perfect. Parking here is a hassle, as are the hordes of tourists but there are plenty of other benefits in the town i.e the riding. yea its not Cumbria, but the singletrack here is second to none. I love the fact that i can get home from work and Im always within a mile from home and have amazing trails without going on a mission in the car!

Not found any of the rough pubs that people have mentioned, or actually come across that many lesbians if im honest… just hippies, drunks and stoners!..none of which I have issues with;)

The houses are pretty damp too lol

oh, and with Orange just down the road and Hope a few miles away too, getting work done on my Alpine has been super easy! 🙂

for info the M62 is not a transport link it’s a car park

The Bingley to Shipley stretch of the Aire Valley is a great place to live. Salatire is pricy but cheaper housing abounds around Shipley with Bingley, being a little closer to the Dales/further from Bradford, more expensive. Good riding (road and off-road) from the door. Rail travel into Leeds is a doddle and Bradford is a bike commute away. Driving not too bad either to Leeds or Bradford.

Brant may well tell you that Bingley is the birthplace of British mountainbiking. Or he may not.

+1 as stumpyjohn says.

Rossendale away from the valley floor is a great place to live, I’m 11 years in and don’t regret it at all.

for info the M62 is not a transport link it’s a car park

It depends how you drive, whether you flow or like to sit nose to tail in the fast lane.

grum – he’s a bit more advice for you. We moved to Halifax from York about 9 years ago now and were expecting to stay here a few years and move back. Not a chance. Quickly grew to love the whole area (Brighouse, Halifax, Hebden etc) and all that it offers. Good transport links (both train and road), sensible house prices, loads to do (especially now with a little ‘un) and one of the most important things for me – no shortage of excellent riding either from the doorstep or a short drive away.

A word on Hebden… when we moved to Halifax (actually, to Elland just outside Halifax next to the M62), we quickly found that Hebden was our aim. We really wanted to live there for the riding and the culture (wandering into town on a Sunday for coffee and cake etc). But… after 2 years in Elland we moved into Halifax to the Savile Park area and now, after 7 years we don’t want to move away, not even to Hebden. Its got most things Hebden has (except maybe the lesbians) and more. Better transport links, better range of houses to choose from (and unlike Hebden, you don’t have to spend upwards of £300k to get something with off-road parking and a decent garden thats not a sh*thole).

For commuting, Leeds is 30/40 mins on the train and roughly the same by car on the M62 (I’d personally avoid at rush hour). Manchester is pretty much the same by train but if anything, quicker to drive to than Leeds. I used to commute from Leeds to Knutsford and on a good run it was an hour dead for a 60 mile drive so into Manchester or to a station for the tram you’d be looking at 30 mins.

People say Hebden riding is the best. Whatever. In the last year I’ve ridden Hebden about 4 times. Why bother riding 30 mins down the valley when you’ve got the relatively undiscovered stuff around South Halifax, towards Brighouse and out to the M62. Just because its not in the magazines all the time doesn’t mean its rubbish 😉

If you need persuading, drop me a line and we’ll go riding.
Dave

DBW – the area near the playing fields/Hospital? A really NICE area.

Yep Hora – got a very York-like feel to the area which is kinda nice but it has hills which York was severely lacking in! Can’t beat riding down the street, blast through the singletrack in the park and then down into Skircoat Green to ride the Cemetary Trail. Perfect way to start all rides!

I think, unless you were born/raised in the area you should avoid Hebden. There are sooo many nice areas around there. Basing it around ‘one hobby’ isn’t enough IMO.

Thanks again everyone, some very useful food for thought. The missus is pretty set on Hebden as her best friend lives there – I do like it but it seems a bit daft to end up in a not as nice house in order to live there if there are similarly nice areas around.

DBW – thanks for that, will have a look at Halifax too, and I might take you up on the offer of a ride some time.

The trouble is I think we want what lots of people want – would like nice views and countryside feel but not too far from town amenities etc. Somewhere up on’t moors above Hebden/Tod/Halifax might well fit the bill though.

Couple more questions. 🙂

Any ‘play’/DH type stuff anywhere around there?
What’s Littleborough like? Rochdale itself seemed not too nice from my limited experience.

Ta!

The missus is pretty set on Hebden

…that’s decided then! 🙄

a bit late in to this but as a calder valley lad, I grew up in Mytholmroyd. A couple of miles from Hebden towards halifax. It has it’s own railway station which I think is pretty unusual for a village the size it is. This is the main line to Leeds and Manchester so good for commuting. It’s also the start of the longest, uninterrupted road climb in the UK, to the top of Cragg Vale*. Get to here and the riding is great. It does not have the facilities and culture of hebden but, tbh, I don’t think anywhere local does. You won’t really find a “watered down” Hebden anywhere local. If that’s what your after then it really is going to be hebden as your choice. Personally, I don’t mind the place for a visit but I don’t think I would want to live there. When I set up home for myself, I realised the house pricing was insane but that was because folk with money were moving in for the scene. I ended up in the top side of Sowerby Bridge, a gentle free wheel from DBW’s area! It’s fine, no culture to report but some nice pubs, good restaurants, a great curry house (Syhiba!!), a train station and a new leisure centre. Not my first choice of places to live but in budget and there is no point having all those cafes on the door step if you cant afford to go in them! The Ryburne valley is hetting popular, Rishworth and Ripponden areas. Ripponden is trying to get a village feel to it and seems quite smart. Thats a possible. Certainly a lot more house for your money than Hebden. DBW lines in a posh part of Halifax btw, also quite pricey!!!!

*subject to being told otherwise.

Any ‘play’/DH type stuff anywhere around there?

Err, there was….and from what I hear there may be again.
Best ask nicely in Blazing Saddles or the STW office.

What’s Littleborough like?

Hmm, best to go and have a look for yourself, really.
IMO, it’s more like a suburb of Rochdale – you could be anywhere really.

Doesn’t have the valley ‘atmosphere’, inhabitants have usual number of fingers and lack the ability to breath underwater.
Nice tattoo parlour.

Littleborough is quite nice, is a commercial ‘hot-spot’ though with prices a fair bit higher than the surrounding immediate areas.
Great access to some great trails and good train connections to Leeds and Manchester. The main road through the village is horrible at rush hour though, can be very congested for a couple of hours at a time.

Close to the motorway M62 junction at Milnrow though if you take Wildhouse Lane.

One big thing though, For whatever reason very few older houses in ‘Boro have a garden although there are a couple of new estates that have small gardens with the houses.

Get a B&B in Hebden for a long weekend. Then decide.

“Heptonstall, now THAT’S a climb”

I used to incorporate that in to a nice road ride route, the only ride that feels slightly alpine in character.

Baildon -> Bingley -> St Ives -> Oxenhope -> Hebden -> Heptonstall -> Widdop Res -> Coldwell Res -> Colne ish -> Crosshills -> Bingley -> Struggle up to Baildon. About 50 miles, but steep climbing in most of it.

Will have to do it again soon with GPS to see how much climbing is actually in it!

Thanks for the further responses, really helpful. rockhopper70, I see what you mean about there not really being a ‘Hebden lite’ anywhere nearby. Thanks for the views on Littleborough, just saw a couple of houses there that looked alright.

Went to see some friends and looked at a house in Hebden yesterday though, might put an offer in! Fortune favours the bold 🙂

I saw some lads on DH bikes actually, and they said there are a few spots nearby, with one they are hoping to make official with a members thing.

if you ve looked at house littleborough has everything twee hebby bridge old cootages/ terraces 50/60 villas and hundreds of new build in the last 10 years. MTL and PBW both run through village loads of legit bridle way on the moors * which are on 3 sides and in the valley toward tod and hbby bridge
only caveat is up west rochdale.. its a first class dive and only 4 miles away

good for rug munchers
good for local weirdos of the highest order
good for steep off camber off the beaten track stuff 😉

The DH thing will be the one near Portsmouth probably which was (apparently) built and then ripped down when the landowner found it but the builders are (apparently) working with the landowner now.

Also Midgeley Woods above Mytholmroyd, DH tracks in Elland Woods near Halifax etc etc.

PS – Ryburne Valley is very nice. Only down side is that its a ride/bus to Sowerby Bridge for the train for my commute. Went to Sowerby Bridge leisure centre today for the first time and its a great facility to have. Think the one in Tod is as good though…

possibly biased but I prefer sowerby bridge to tod. Tod somehow seems stuck without an identity, Yorks or Lancs, with no real centre, perhaps because it is on such a busy road. It does have the good pool and park too.

Coincidentally, I was out in Hebden on Friday night.
Eastern Spice curry house just on from Blazing Saddles is an eye opener. Terrible decor but surprisingly nice food. Not as good as syhiba tho….

Thanks again folks.

We are going to look at some houses this week. Having been to see my friends again – I think we would really like to be in/near Hebden, even though it’s stupidly expensive. It just seems to have a nice atmosphere about the place (full of smug middle class people like us 😉 ). Mytholmroyd could be alright too – my mate warned me against Sowerby Bridge though!

Really like the idea of some handy DH/play stuff, there’s nowt like that round here – saw a video of Elland woods which looked pretty cool as well.

Bit on Hebden Bridge on yesterday’s Thinking Allowed, looking at HB in light of “Shed Your Tears and Walk Away”

Looks grim.

Heptonstall, now THAT’S a climb

Its well documented that I can’t climb but even I can slowly spin up there without stopping. Almost everytime I’ve watched a domestic happening in that row of terraced houses on the right (the one where someone has written ‘fvck’ on the bedroom window). The last time the woman of the house shut the door in the face of a Policewoman who almost kicked it off its hinges! 😆

I watched a bit of the doc, doesn’t really tally with my or my friends’ experience of Hebden.

Mytholmroyd is looking good at the mo, bit cheaper than Hebden. Any good riding straight from there? Especially on the Cragg Vale side? Looks like loads of paths but not so many BWs. I guess it’s near enough to Hebden to link up routes anyway.

my mate warned me against Sowerby Bridge though!

❓

I’d prefer Sowerby as a place to live (rather than visit)…nice pool / leisure centre and ‘normal’ shops but then we are all different.

my mate warned me against Sowerby Bridge though!

😯

what……

I don’t think it’s that bad here. I’m in the “cough” posh part “cough” though… 🙄

I think with hebden you need to be aware that it is a bleedin’ nightmare at holidays with tourists. I suspect that very soon you would get stalled with not been able to park or move when you want to be all bohemian and wander with a frappe latte or WHY? “bleedin tourists sod off!”

Also, and I don’t know if this is relevant to you, the junior school in hebden received a poor ofsted report with an improvment notice. On the other hand, well our kids school, got “outstanding”. Very happy with it and eldest daughter secured a place at the Grammar School in Halifax.

So not so bad in Sowerby Bridge after all?? Get the right area and it’s fine.

They teach in a primary school in Sowerby Bridge and hate it big time!! I don’t have kids and no immediate plans to so schools are not too much of a worry at the mo.

Been over there today and I didn’t really like the look of Sowerby Bridge tbh, though I’m sure there are nice bits – I’m maybe just too much of a middle class ponce. Each to their own. 🙂

The house I am currently looking at is a bit out of the centre of Mytholmroyd so maybe not so bad for tourists etc.

Crikey, that’s not a very glowing endorsement of the place then!

Mytholmroyd is good, 22 years there, man and boy. I would live there but it’s a bit too close to the family still there.