Where in Midlands could i move to that is MTB friendly

+1 for Ledbury, nice town, small but plenty going on and easily accessible, by car (close to M50), as well as good direct (ie without changes) train services to Brum, and also to London–a friend of mine lived in Ledbury for many years and was very happy there, lovely country roundabouts too 🙂

Shrewsbury without a doubt. We also mountain bike a fair bit in South Shropshire but it wouldnt tempt me away from Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury has everything really, fantastic town, good transport links, all year round riding and you can head in all directions for a great variety of mountain biking in Wales and Shropshire. 🙂

“Mortimer Forest and Bringewood”

They are the same.

Mortimer Forest is the Forestry Commission’s made up admin name for Bringewood. Used to be used for all their holdings in North Herefordshire and SW Shropshire (Hopton etc) but seems to have settled on poor old Bringewood, Haye Park etc.

Our culture may be a Petri dish*, but getting renamed is a bit colonial especially as the Mortimers were right ******

* I am old enough to remember Ludlow being as rough as …….

I have to agree with Mboy about Bewdley.

Wyre forest on your doorstep and Bewdley itself isn’t too bad at all.

That being said Z1ppy who has commented above lives in Kinver and Im always amazed at how many MTB routes he shows me when we ride that way. So much stuff on the doorstep.

Shrewsbury is nearer to Eastridge, Stiperstones, Wrekin and the Mynd,

All of which are pretty easily rideable from home if that’s your thing! At least that’s what I used to do when I lived there.

There are plenty of towns and villages surrounding Cannock Chase all within riding distance or right on the trails and have great train links to Brum. However your job would need to involve purchasing a big pick up truck and you would need to be bright red, bald and have bad tattoos, preferably up to and including your throat.

I live in Wollaston near Stourbridge and to be honest I don’t think I would move anywhere else.Six pubs,three Indian restaurants,two Chinese takeaways an Aldi and countryside/trails a five min cycle away.

15 min cycle to mainline a station suits me sir!

“Mortimer Forest and Bringewood”

They are the same.

Mortimer Forest is the Forestry Commission’s made up admin name for Bringewood.

They’ve always been separate and distinct areas/sides of the forest to us.
Bringewood is really its own hill and has the Pearce downhill tracks etc, runs down more on the Ludlow side.
Mortimer forest is separated by Killhorse Lane and is a different hill.
I mean, they’re close to each other, but separate to most people.

I live in Wollaston near Stourbridge and to be honest I don’t think I would move anywhere else.Six pubs,three Indian restaurants,two Chinese takeaways an Aldi and countryside/trails a five min cycle away.

…and a bike shop!

I am puzzled by Killhorse Lane.   Sounds like some distinction is being made between Maryknoll, Sunny Gutter and Haye Park with the bit of Bringewood with all the downhill.  Killhorse Lane is the road up the scarp slope between Elton and The Goggin/Orleton.  There is a fair bit of the forest over the road there but is more broken up. As a child, Killhorse Lane terrified me, and was always an ordeal to get up when out on the BSO – I tended to go through Sunny Gutter coming out where the Vinnalls car park is now.  Loved the run down the Goggin though, there was a section of concrete road there which was very fast. Crashed hard once.

I did once see an online map with Killhorse Lane being wrongly placed on the Whitcliffe Road – did you mean that one?

Funny this – I can remember before “Mortimer Forest” was commonly used, then it was everything, Croft, Bringewood, Bucknell, Hopton, Wigmore Rolls, Shobdon.  Then it shrank to just the Ludlow Anticline, and now is just Haye Park and Maryknoll?

I’d agree Shrewsbury is a nice town, but I don’t think it’s really an MTB place to live. There’s some riding at Haughmond Hill which is sort of Shrewsbury but everything else is putting your bike in the car

Also no nice handy train stations on the outskirts you would have to drive in to the centre of town

I’m in Oswestry , 2 trains from Gobowen every hour to Birmingham but it takes 1.5hrs and a change

Shrewsbury and Oswestry have amazing road bike riding , not the best from the door mtb

Gloucestershire is very much in the South West; both geographically and for BBC purposes

The A420, which describes a roughly straight line between London and Bristol, passes through Chippenham, and further along, through South Gloucestershire. The most southerly part of the Cotswolds is along there as well, dropping down to Bath. I’ve always understood the Midlands to start around Worcester and Stratford-upon-Avon, a little way above where the north Cotswolds ends, around Broadway and Morton-in-Marsh. Birmingham is most definitely in the Midlands!

Shrewsbury, Shrowsbury, Shoosbury or Salop.

I live in Hednesford, it’s great for working in Birmingham and riding from your door.

Cannock chase is definitely mtb friendly, but not exactly epic, but there is plenty of riding. I can easily get a good ride in for an hour with 4 minutes of tarmac time if that. I only ever ride to the trails.

Train to Birmingham if pretty reliable, certainly better than it was 10 years ago and is very cheap per mile compared to the Stafford line you’d get from penkridge. Return is just over £12 per day. Season tickets are much cheaper. Birmingham is also cycle able if you’re that way inclined, I did it for 5 years on and off until I got my motorbike. 20 miles each way, not too hilly depending on whether you live at the top of the hill in Hednesford or the bottom. Too is nearer the chase.

Hednesford itself is just ok, it’s got some nice parts, some not so nice parts but it’s affordable has a couple of good pubs, the chase is the biggest draw for me.

the other best part about Cannock is that it’s easy to get to other places from. I often think about moving somewhere else, but the ease of being in the middle of the country near the M5, M6 and M42 is great.

house price is well below the national average although it’s catching up. Not long ago you could get a 4 bed detached for less than £200k. Now about £300-350 but you’ll get much more for leamington money.

Just throwing this out there, but Macc is one hour direct to Birmingham New St. Beautiful area for walking and riding although it’s a different landscape to midlands woodland. Does actually have some trees, which is rare for the Peak. Riding is more suited to a mileage merchant, tbh, to get the best from the area (but if that is you it would be outstanding). Superbly placed for road riding as you can roll with the Cheshire set or hit the hills.

Nice town, likely one of the more expensive Northern places for housing (the Macc lads were satire) but big enough for options.

I am tbe northern side of Derby. North starts at Manchester/Yorkshire.

The North starts at Crewe