I may have a possibility of getting free from the SE and been based from home.

To do with in laws and keeping the Mrs happy I would like to be within a couple of hours drive to both Newcastle and Manchester.

York – Harrogate area seemed an obvious solution,however, from looking on right move, the property prices are on par with the South East! I was quite shocked.

Any suggestions for a more reasonable area around North Yorkshire or other suggestions?

Which way would you drive it?

North Lakes. 2 Hrs to each

Do you want to be urban, rural or somewhere in between?

How about Skipton? Good for riding.

Ripon. Gorgeous.

What about the M6 corridor between the Lakes and the Pennines? You can get to MCR down the M6/M61 (very direct route) or Newcastle via Penrith and Hexham. Anywhere up there would be nice, especially between Lancaster and Kendal, an area that most people overlook as they whizz past on their way to The Lakes.

Melbourne, I think you’ll find that’s about as equidistant as you’ll get percentage wise!

Ilkley, direct access to moorland, right next door to the National Park
1:20 to Manchester, 2 to Newcastle. 20 mins into central leeds.

Propery prices do reflect all the benefits though, but should be doable if you are coming from SE?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am looking for something rural/village or small market town.

Good access to biking, walking etc.

Ripon. Gorgeous.

Agreed. Ripon is lovely. Bloody expensive though!

I would be looking at generating some “profit” on the move to cover stamp duty and other costs. So I need to be going somewhere with costs significantly lower than West Kent. Ripon and Harrogate looks about the same as where I am now.

To do with in laws and keeping the Mrs happy I would like to be within a couple of hours drive to both Newcastle and Manchester.

On a good day Newcastle is not much more than a couple of hours from Manchester so just live in Manchester or thereabouts as it’s much better than Newcastle 🙂

I always fancied Barnard Castle. Much closer to Newcastle, of course, but the drive to Manchester is a straightforward dawdle down the M6. Google Maps is saying two hours.

EDIT: I suspect, according to your criteria, this will be similar to Ripon. Sorry.

Otley (or, as above, Skipton) sounds like the answer to me. Great town and much cheaper than those around it.

Edit: But the Eden Valley would also be a great choice.

To back up my earlier used to live in Cockermouth 2hrs 20 to Manchester (used to head to Warrington for work nearly weekly), 1hr 50 to Newcastle (folks were in Northumberland and we used to head over for European game nights at Newcastle a while back). Riding on real mountains out the door great people, great place no yorkshire chip/shoulder either 😉 and the M6 or A69 is much better than the A1 or M62 for travelling on.

North Leeds.

You can do Manchester outside rush hours in about 1hr 20-30 from Skipton via Colne, M65, A56 etc.

Skipton to Newcastle is 2hrs via Ripon.

On that basis I’d pick somewhere in my patch, if not Skipton perhaps Ilkley or Otley, Pateley Bridge if you want to be a bit more out in the sticks – maybe even Settle?

Barnard Castle?

3 whole streets and a massive pharma plant.

nice.

And a castle, and a rather nice school. And nice countryside. So yeah, nice.

Which one is most important – Newcastle or Manchester? Will you actually be going to both on an equal basis?

Barnard Castle? You forgot Deerbolt in the list of attractions of a small town in the middle of nowhere!

Settle! Superb spot for biking, hiking and running. Not mega expensive either

York – Harrogate area seemed an obvious solution,however, from looking on right move, the property prices are on par with the South East! I was quite shocked.

Pricing shocker for a Southerner 🙂

You really need to look at the roads, far better to live in the North West you’ve M-Way to Manchester and rural roads to Newcastle. Living in the Leeds area etc means very busy roads in both directions and expensive houses etc

Living in the Leeds area etc means very busy roads in both directions and expensive houses etc

The A1 north of Leeds isn’t really that bad though, is it? I’d rather that than the A69 to be honest.

If you’re looking for value for money you might be looking in the wrong direction

I would go for the Barnard Castle/A66 corridor

How about round the Clitheroe area.

Clitheroe? Shhh! There’s nothing in the Ribble Valley and Bowland area, it’s all miles away from the M6, terrible access to The Dales and The Lakes and ugly countryside with horrible villages, awful craft breweries, congested country roads full of homicidal drivers…. nothing to see, drive on to the Lakes.

If you want value, there are lots of nice villages close to the A1 and/or the M62 where you’re not paying city prices. Some former mine villages are still quite ropey, but others are very pretty. Carlton, Snaith, Wentbridge, Hickleton, Womersley, Selby? If you want plain cheap, come to South Yorkshire.

Somewhere inside the ‘golden triangle’ (harrogate, york, wetherby)?

York is a nice city, probably pricey though.

Anywhere nice (whether it be in the Beautiful south or grim north) is going to be pricey, obvs.

Manchester is well placed for biking , and for access to the rest of the country.

Its the “Bettys triangle” now, keep up!

Lancaster. Decent market town (sorry City – it’s got a Cathedral you know) and 1 hour by road or rail from Manchester and 2 hours to Newcastle via M6, A69 – dead quiet route traffic wise. Half hour to hour from Lakes and Dales and Forest of Bowland on the doorstep.

Far more important to be in a town with a Booths, the best grocers in Britain:

http://www.booths.co.uk/stores/

+1 for a Booths, best range of bottle ales at any supermarket!

Booths is a rip off and not even that good. Poor mans M&S.

I live in Skipton and think it’s ace. Prices are better then Harrogate/York/Ilkley etc as well. Quite a lot of house building going on so that could be good or bad.

If you want cheaper still then just cross the boarder in to Lancashire as prices fall off a cliff. Barnoldswick where Hope come from is cheap and near plenty of decent trails.

Penrith or Kendal

Booths is a rip off and not even that good. Poor mans M&S.

Controversial

Knaresborough is a cheaper Harrogate and lovely, Harrogate’s the one for bikes in that area though.

Clitheroe is really lovely too, even if it is in the wrong county, and also has good bikes.

Using google maps and a tape measure, equidistant between the two seems to be somewhere around Aysgarth in the Yorkshire Dales…

A pretty cool place to live I reckon, on the Tour Depart stage one route, and with the use of a helicopter, a pretty straightforward journey to either Manchester or Newcastle of roughly equal duration.

No Booths, but it appears to have a tea shop, a waterfall, and is just 7 miles away from the throbbing metropolis of Leyburn , which has everything you could possibly want including a lingerie shop. You can also buy your own teashop for just £50,000 – what could possibly go wrong?

Booths is a rip off and not even that good. Poor mans M&S.

Nah.

In descending order of priority:

1. Shop in my village (the only amenity other than the pub)
2. Booths
3= Waitrose/M&S
4. The others

(Realises he has given direct insight into grocery shopping habits. No wonder I’m fat. And poor.)

Oh, and Manchester is an ace place to live. Expensive on the south side and there be monsters north and east. Less said about the west (Warrington) the better.

Lots of motorways. Filled with lots of cars, usually stationary.

Melbourne, I think you’ll find that’s about as equidistant as you’ll get percentage wise!

Isn’t it a bit, well, flat round there?

Not far from Beverley, which is meant to be nice.

Ilkley… 20 mins into central leeds.

if you have a helicopter. Or IF you can get on the train

it does have a Booths though. Otley has a Waitrose. Both do a good range of bottled ales, although Booths range is larger

One thing to think about though, if you opt for anywhere round Otley/Ilkley/North Leeds, getting to the motorways for Manchester is a total PITA.
Once you get anywhere near Skipton, though, Manchester is easier by M65 & A56/M66

south of Leeds/Bradford, the M62 is much easier to get to for Manchester. Unfortunately, here be dragons… although the eastern side of Wakefield is ok. well it never did me any harm

Lots of nice villages around/above Halifax and Huddersfield if you want easy M62 access