North Yorkshire vs West Sussex

[Twopoodlesarebetterthanone]

I'm planning on relocating from Jersey next year. Budget for a house to be mortgage free is 425k for a 3 bed (or 2 bed with extra reception). One of my sons needs post 16 SEN provision so am looking at Chichester college, York College or possibly Eastleigh College.

I'm looking for a place to settle permanently with my son that has a safe and friendly community feel for us both with good off lead dog walks and trail running and biking from the door and nearby culture relatively accessible.

Given these options where would you choose?

North Yorkshire- more house for your budget and better trail running.

How far is your DC willing to travel to get to college? You need to get a fair way out of York to get to decent trail-running/cycling/dog-walking. Even the Yorkshire Wolds or Howardian Hills, the nearest interesting landscape, are 30 mins by car/bus and it's a good hour to either the North Yorkshire Moors or edge of the Dales.

I would think that most parts of North Yorks would get you a better value-for-money house than in West Sussex.

My son went to Chichester College, and he was very well supported with his SEN. However, I don't think that your budget will get you very far in or near Chichester.

@Jorvik1978 He could do a half hour bus journey as long as it is uncomplicated (he has asd).

North Yorkshire, no question about it. Far nicer place, more house for your money, and great trail running. You can't trail run in West Sussex, not really. I've tried!

@MargotDeWitt I have seen some houses on rightmove in mid lavant and mid urst in budget.

@trailrunner85 ah ok from your user name looks like you know there things!! I thought he south downs would be good trail running.

I've done endurance horse riding (so sort of like trail running!! I'm also a trail runner...) in both the South Downs and North Yorkshire and both have excellent trails available but there is greater variety in North Yorkshire. You'll also get more house for your money. Your budget will get you what you want easily in York or in one of the smaller towns nearby. Malton or Easingwold for example are within 30ish mins on the bus (might be a bit longer) and are well placed for access to fun outside space!

Seems like it is unanimous for North Yorkshire anyway so far. My gut feeling agrees it is the better option in many respects.

Problem is I'm a bit scared of what I imagine might be the cold / lack of sun being from Jersey and having never lived further north. Hence my hesitation. Also further from the sea

I live in West Sussex and love Yorkshire although I’m more familiar with West Yorks and definitely not a runner.

I’m not sure you will get that much more for your money in Yorkshire…it very much depends on the sort of house and location you want.

The advantage of Sussex is you’ve got both sea and countryside within very easy reach. Yorkshire is a massive county and you could be a good hour’s drive from the beaches, lovely as many of them are.

Culturally I would say Yorkshire itself has the edge although if course Sussex is nearer London.

DD is at a branch of the Chichester College Group and we’ve had no issues with them.

I was a support worker for a teen with asd that went to Chichester college and they were excellent, however there’s very little to do here. I’ve not been to Yorkshire so I can’t really compare but I have to travel to either Southampton or Brighton, occasionally Portsmouth if I want to do anything fun!

@Jorvik1978 ooh endurance riding that sounds super good. I love riding but it it too expensive in Jersey and off road riding is very limited. I leased a part bred arab when I was a teen who would have been great for endurance I think.

York is only an hour away from some of the most beautiful beaches - Bridlington, Scarborough, Fraisthorpe, Whitby, Robins Hood Bay.

And the weather in York region is a bit of a weird microclimate, in a good way - certainly less wet than the other side of the Pennines 😁

@CarpeDiemCarpeDontem

My son and I went to an open day last autumn and they seemed really lovely there.

Would he cope with a train journey? You could live in Harrogate or Knaresborough which has a train into York. Or somewhere on the many York College bus routes.

@JustLikeAStatue
His special interest is trains he loves them it would be his dream to travel to college on a train. We don't have trains in Jersey!

Are Harrogate/Knaresborough nice? And is there off road running there for me?

York is home to the National Railway Museum... #justsaying #teamyorkshire

Harrogate/Knaresborough are lovely. 25 mins from Knaresborough to York on the train then a 15 min bus ride to the college. They are both on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales and do feature some lovely trail running/cycling.

Yes, lovely, much better for off road running than to the east imo.

I’ve just had a quick look and there are lots of houses in Chichester in that price bracket. Good transport links from surrounding villages into Chichester, good train links, to London, Brighton, Southampton, Portsmouth, the South Downs on the doorstep and the sea nearby.

I've lived in Harrogate, North Yorkshire all my life and I absolutely ADORE the city of York! It's a fascinating, medieval city with the most amazing history & charm. A totally different city than any other I've been to.
York is also very close to the east coast, Whitby etc. A happy place to live overall.
Hoping to move there eventually

Less rainfall and warmer climate too.

York college has 15 bus routes (shown on their website on the travel and transport section). My DS1 (19) is on the Pathways course there, he is loving it. He has Downs and copes with the college bus and settled really well last September.

The coastal image is North Landing near Flamborough about an hour away from York.
The second image is the market town of Knaresborough around 20 min drive from York. So there’s plenty of nice places around York to see

We know both well. I would say they are both lovely, but quite different. The south downs are rolling hills and pebble beaches (except the witterings area!) with gentle slopes and nothing particularly "rugged". Yorkshire is much more wild! moors and lots of hills, clifftops and sandy / rocky beaches. Do you want to be within easy reach of London, or nearer to lots of countryside for active sports? Chichester is good for access to the south and west - eg dorset / devon / cornwall, York is great for getting to scotland / lake district?
It very much depends which you value the most I think. House price wise, although the south east is generally more expensive, York itself is not that different in terms of house prices, but the types of properties available are very different.