Stay in Yorkshire or move to Lancashire (Preston area)?

[Isabella83]

I'm currently living in (South) Yorkshire with 7 year old DD and my partner. DD's dad lives in Preston and, as we have little family here, there's nothing really tying us to this area. If we moved over there, then DD would be closer to her dad which would be helpful in terms of less travelling, and also school runs etc.

I have little experience or knowledge of the Preston area, and I'm worried that it would be a bad move. We rent at the moment, but ideally I'd like to buy within the next few years.

Is Preston better for raising a child, or would you stay in Yorkshire?

I wouldn't recommend Chorley itself, even though it would likely be cheap for rent. There are nice villages surrounding Chorley, west of the M6 and east of the M61.

Grimsargh, Goosnargh, and Longridge to the east of Preston are more green, but it might depend on whether you drive as I'm not sure about public transport around there.

West Yorkshire, west of Leeds
Still the right side of the Pennines but much closer to Preston

I agree with a PP, to Preston itself no, but just outside yes absolutely. Penwortham high used to be a decent school (hopefully still is) and if you're looking at villages in that direction Hutton/Longton/Much Hoole are all nice. I'm from Hesketh Bank/Tarleton area which is a bit more towards Southport and I'd happily move back there. We moved North to be in the countryside, but being honest there were far nicer walks where we moved from without having to write off the summer months because of the huge numbers of tourists that flock here.