To move to Yorkshire from the south coast on my own?

If you don't move

You will always think, what if ?

I did do a long message, but it disappeared when I went to get you a link.

If I were you, I'd give this a little consideration...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144232577#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's a great option if you want to release money for your pension pot.

Try these areas

East Morton
Bingley
Oakworth
Oxenhope
Haworth
Riddlesden

They are solid locations, but don't command the same premium as the wharfedale / nidd zones.

It often feels SE or London centric to me as well. I think it depends on the type of thread you click on. I find that Higher Education and Stlye and Beauty threads often have a lot of Londoners/London biased posters on.

Interestingly I'm a southerner who moved to live near Otley (I don't live there any more now).

Why does it feel SE to you? Never has to me and I've been here eons. Just a question not a dig. Are you from the SE?

Interesting that MN feels very SE, but this thread has drawn out dozens of people living in W/N Yorks.

@MintyCedric Yes, I recognised you as soon as I saw your name! My dad is still going strong.
X84 to Otley followed by X52 to Harrogate. About an hour. But if the Harrogate connection is really important, the A2 airport flyer from Harrogate goes through Pool. But who knows what it'll be like in a few years time? Huby, not far from Pool, is on the slow line from Leeds to Harrogate.

@Lifeinlists You could say the same for Sheffield, right on the edge of the peak district with lots of villages and good transport links and plenty of shopping etc, and not that far from Manchester and other towns / cities.
It's not just north Yorks that have what the op is looking for.
Most of Yorkshire have what the op is looking for.

Nobody has recommended Dewsbury or Huddersfield because they aren’t very nice places to live.

saltaire is an interesting one. Pretty village surrounded by shithole.

the nice parts of north/west yorks are not particularly cheap

otley seems to fit your bill, very community oriented with lots going on. Sunday Times best place to live a few years back too

And when you are in Harrogate this summer - a favourite.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Cold-Bath-Deli-100076276539804/

And
https://laferiarestaurants.co.uk/

Both on the same high street and near to Valley Gardens.

@MintyCedric Obviously you are. I mean Harrogate ain’t exactly representative of most of Yorkshire.

Further out
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140133785#/?channel=RES_BUY

A bit closer
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/141088751#/?channel=RES_BUY

In Ripon
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144382328#/?channel=RES_BUY

Wow hope you do like it then.

Come to Ripon!
Most places with walking distance of the market place, many indies, cafes,pubs, wine bar and restuarants.
Lots going on in terms of live music, amateur dramatics, crafts, sports clubs etc. Lots of opportunities for volunteering, some great work with charities supporting disabled adults ( The Walled Garden, Jennyruth).

As you drive, you might want to think about being in a village outside of Ripon, definitely your money will go further. Depends on how rural you want to be.

I'm assuming you are a teacher?
I moved here post divorce, on my own with DC’s. There was a teacher training college here…many stayed on, it felt like every other person was a teacher, so very easy to make connections.

Harrogate is mainly schools within Mats. A couple of LA maintained remaining but a much higher proportion of academies than the rest of North Yorkshire.

This will/might affect your job seeking as not all advertise via the LA.

👋

Id say it is totally reasonable to want to move there.

Only caution/guidance I’d have but is that it’d be hard to move back given the cost difference if you realised living there was very different from weekending there.

The South Coast is also very beautiful and is much closer to vastly more amenities.

Back to the UK, I assume the poster means.

Lol so you aren’t going back

No - I’ve only spent one afternoon there before!

What about Dewsbury or Huddersfield ? Cheap houses, diversity, lots going on. Far better than stuffy middle class Harrogate. Why do the same places crop up on
MN ? They just end up being full of the same type of wealthy people who are the only folk that can afford to live there. Waiting for Hebden Bridge next.

Another one who's not read the full thread (but most of it). We are outside York in a village on the Harrogate rail line. We also have friends living in the Ilkley/Menston areas, and one of the big draws of where we all live is being on a reasonably good rail line, that connects into the main intercity network, but with the feeling of being in a market town/village. Local amenities are good, and there're strong links into nearby cities.

I suspect you'll defo notice the weather being a bit cooler, but other than that, i don't see many downsides to what you are proposing! good luck!

Otley has a brillaint agricultural show every May as well.

NRTFT but I think Otley or ilkley would suit you really well.
Don’t worry about a social network, you’ll only need to live in Yorkshire a week before you get a new one!

If you want culture Otley ilkley etc near leeds and Bradford are the way To go.
if you move to the smaller market towns you’ll get the kind of network where the rest of town knows what you’re doing before you do. But people do look out for each other .

I've always wanted to live in Whitby, settled for Whitstable (which I absolutely LOVE) but I still hanker after North Yorkshire for some reason

The OP does ask about some quite specific areas to be fair.

When you say moving back to York have you lived there before?