Where to live in N/W yorks / north west

Pending the outcome of a job interview I’m looking at relocating to the north in the next few months. I used to Live in Leeds, headingley as a student and then briefly bought a place in Pudsey, but its been nearly 12 years since I left, and I’ve not spent a significant amount of time there since.

This time we have quite a wide area we are considering.

Basic requirements are:

-Good schools
-Walking distance to shops pubs cafes (ie not a village or hamlet where you have to drive everywhere).
-Family friendly area, ie playgrounds withing walking distance, has a high density of young families etc.
-Road cycling distance to a national park.
-Reasonable access to the Lakes.
-Reasonable access to an Airport, Station, and Motorways, not a massive factor as we will both be home workers but I will spend a fair bit of time traveling to the SE and Scotland. So probably not too far away from Leeds or Manchester

Places currently considering are Guisley (looks Ok but schools seem a bit crap) Addingham, Ilkley, Horsforth and Harrogate.

I don’t know anything really about where to look in the NW, but open to suggestions at this stage.

Ta
Dan

Ummm – Marple fits that. Edge of the peak district / cheshire plains, easy access to manchester, 90 minutes to the lakes.

No kids so can’t comment on schools but I know one STW user with young kids (under 18 months old) is looking to move back to Marple before the kids hit school age

I work in Guiseley and am from Burley In Wharfedale (between Ilkley and Otley). Guiseley is nice, loads of housing developments going up at the moment. Personally I recommend either Menston or Burley in Wharfedale. Has everything you need by the sounds of it.

Guiseley does have one decent school, the Catholic one, so if your in to god and all that might be worth a shout.

Baildon where I live is a nice place, but the local schools get below par results based on the catchement area (Salts) although Beckfoot is apparently good.

You need to check out Ilkley Grammar, last I heard was that kids who live in Ilkley are being shipped out as there are not enough places.

If your thinking Addingham, have you thought of the Aire Valley around Bingley or further up past Keighley towards Skipton, although I’m not sure what the schools are like up that way.

South Halifax (Skircoat Green/Savile Park):
-Good schools – check
-Walking distance to shops pubs cafes (ie not a village or hamlet where you have to drive everywhere) – check
-Family friendly area, ie playgrounds withing walking distance, has a high density of young families etc – check
-Road cycling distance to a national park – suppose you could cycle to the Peaks through Huddersfield – check
-Reasonable access to the Lakes – 90 mins via motorway or Skipton etc
-Reasonable access to an Airport, Station, and Motorways, not a massive factor as we will both be home workers but I will spend a fair bit of time traveling to the SE and Scotland. So probably not too far away from Leeds or Manchester – 5/10 mins to the M62, 30 mins to Leeds/Bradford airport, 40 to Manchester, 15 mins walk to Halifax station and then 30 mins into Leeds or Manchester

+ cheapish house prices (higher than the average around here but its a nice area) and awesome off-road riding.

As usual, I’ll recommend where I live.

Skipton – 40 mins train to Leeds, about 1hr 20 mins to Manchester (drive), 20 mins from Leeds Bradford Airport, just over an hour to the Lakes, Dales next door, two good grammar schools. Nice sized town, good shops.

Of the ones you suggested, Ilkley and Addingham are nice and very handy for Leeds but houses can be pricey, Harrogate is OK but again, the nice bits will cost you.

Ummm – Marple fits that. Edge of the peak district / cheshire plains, easy access to manchester, 90 minutes to the lakes.

No kids so can’t comment on schools but I know one STW user with young kids (under 18 months old) is looking to move back to Marple before the kids hit school age

Ditto.

Marple schools are good, although one is C of E which I appreciate for some parents is worse than a terrorist training camp.

I’d say the closest to a major junction that satisfies both Scotland and SE. That would be the M6. Which would make it south Manchester IMO.

Harrogate – right on the A59 Skipton Road that leads to the Dales

Some amazing-performing primary and secondary schools.

Lots of green space and a decent playground.

Nice evening scene – relaxed, not to loud, lots of nice bars and restaurants (to feed the conference trade).

Agree with above regarding costs though – a two bed terrace is around £200k, £350k for 4 bed detached.

But re your OP – Ilkley is even more expensive.

If you seriously think about Harrogate please feel free to email me directly – I can let you know which parts to avoid – posh as it is there are some parts that aren’t as nice (although the rougher parts are very civilised compared to most places 😉 )

Theres some very optimistic travel times being banded around above 😆

Harrogate isn’t close to a decent-sized airport/easish to the lakes and or south?!

Harrogate is 20 minutes from Leeds Bradford Airport without needing to go through either Leeds or Bradford and has free shuttle buses from the town centre.

It is easy to the Lakes – straight out on the A59 to Skipton then up. It’s a lovely route too.

And it’s 10/15 minutes from the A1 which now links directly to the M62 and M1. From my house it is 1hr 20mins to Manchester, 2hr 30min to Birmingham, 35 min to central Leeds or Bradford, 40 mins to central York.

I said a decent-sized airport 😉

Or there is Robin Hood or Teesside about an hour away or Manchester 1 hr 30 away.

Fusspot.

I hope Huddersfield get thrashed now 😉

20 minutes from Skipton to Leeds Bratford airport. What, in a helicopter?

Rivington

I hope Huddersfield get thrashed now

Thats a given.

I’d prefer to live near to the M6 as it has the option of going either way with little ease (bar the pile-up-kids that seem to live on the M6 towards the Lakes).

20 minutes from Skipton to Leeds Bratford airport. What, in a helicopter?

Google Maps say 35 minutes – not too bad really – guess you go up the A59 then turn off onto the Otley Road and on to Pool Bank?

I have never been on the M6 without being involved in a traffic jam for some reason or another. It is a hateful road.

Everyone must be quoting travel times at 1 am in the morning….

Leeds/Bradford/Aire Valley/Huddersfield/Halifax has appauling traffic.

MF’s Harrowgate to Leeds Bratford airport is possible in 20 mins if you can get any where near the legal road speed limit.. which never happens these days!

Likewise as you approach Junctions 24 onwards on the M62 – its crashtastic MF!

I live on the M62 🙁

Worst place for traffic is York.

Even if the ’62 is snarled up, you’re still moving at 40mph which is 39mph faster than the average speed around York.

Isn’t Skipton the heroin capital of the north or something? A hateful little place is my opinion of it although the few times I’ve been, it has been about -15 with a galeforce wind so possibly didn’t see its best side.

Worst place for traffic is York.

Agreed. I remember my dad saying many years ago that the bypass was daft – that it should be a dual carriageway all the way around. How true he was – the queues are silly sometimes.

“Isn’t Skipton the heroin capital of the north or something? “

Not sure about that, but Harrowgate has a real drug problem, probably a mixture of the poor who all live in the rough deprived areas of Harrowgate, and have a ready rich market of ruperts who like their recreational drugs, which in turn feeds the poors heroin addictions. Harrowgates a lovely place mind.

Skipton doesn’t seem to have much of a visible heroin problem, certainly much less so than Harrogate or York, though there seems to be plenty of coke about these days.

It’s certainly possible to get from Skipton to Leeds/Bradford airport in 20 mins but only if the roads are dead and you’re prepared to speed. 40 minutes is more realistic. Manchester airport is only about an hour and a half away.

If you’d consider living across the border then Ramsbottom would be worth considering.

I’m with Fanylion with regards to Harrogate.

I currently live in Chapel Allerton in Leeds and was over in Harrogate at the weekend and it’s on another level compared to even the nice parts of Leeds.

I lost my car key there once in Valley Park, and unlike Leeds where whoever found it would have walked up and down the street clicking away until they found my car and made off, in Harrogate the bloke formed a possee and walked around the park asking if anyone had lost them, eventually reuniting me with them.

It also has per square mile the highest content of Class A yummy mummies I’ve encountered 😀

Isn’t Skipton the heroin capital of the north or something?

That’s an Aire Valley urban myth IMO, I work in the centre of Skipton in the drinks trade and we have no issues at all. We hardly ever have thefts or obvious druggies, the odd occasions have been outsiders (Keighley-ites). About the worst thing I have to endure is farmers covered in cow shite.

I said a decent-sized airport

give me LBA over MAN any day. Much more civilised. and 15 minutes from my front door too.
Wetherby & its outlying villages might also be worth considering – it’s right on the A1, not too far from LBA, or Leeds, Harrogate or York for shopping. Not too far from the eastern/northern Dales via the A1 either

Is it time for the Yorkshire Airlines gag?

“If it isnt in Yorkshire it isnt worth visiting”

Harrogate is high on the list. Probably top at the moment. Hope I get the job. M_F will prob mail you in a bit too.

Dan.. you deserter.. The North ? are you mad? Full of thieving junkies and terrible schools.

And cheaper bigger houses!

Sure – happy to help if I can.

Another vote for Wetherby – close to the A1M and about 30-40 mins from the airport.

Also consider Otley which is very close to Leeds / Bradford airport and cheaper than Ilkley or Harrogate. Its even got a Waitrose and a Sainsbury’s now.

Horsforth would also be a good alternative – close to the airport, on Leeds ring road with access to the M62, M1 etc., on a train line, and on good road routes to the Dales etc.

Ulverston, south Cumbria, five mins to lakes,nice laid back little town, on the bigger side kendal, will fit your requirements, rent a place in either for a week and see what you all think!!

How would the locals view you though? From what I understand in Cumbria they see ‘newcomers’ as abit of contentious issue/shunned?

From what I understand in Cumbria they see ‘newcomers’ as abit of contentious issue/shunned?

Hah – you should try Cornwall – my brother moved there 2 years ago and the ‘locals’ still treat him like dirt – getting all sorts of comments in supermarkets and the like for being a ‘grockle’ (or whatever it is they call them). This despite his clearly *working* there, in his work uniform, in his company van, with all his work kit, repairing a till.

Its probably because he isn’t sleeping one of a local womans group of male lovers. Apparently they are all at it in secret down there…

Generalisation? I read a news article once about how bad it was in Cornwall….