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?

The fast trains from York to London take 1hr 45.

I live in York - it is lovely.

It is worth noting though that your hours of daylight will be quite different to that in Jersey.

On 1st Jan York is 8:23 - 15:52 whilst Jersey is 8:03 to 16:20.

And then at the other end…..

On 21st June York is 4:32 to 21:40 whilst Jersey is 5:03 to 21:17.

Gosh - what a difficult decision. Two of my favourite areas of the U.K.!

Im from the NE originally but lived in York for a while. I absolutely love North Yorkshire - the countryside is absolutely stunning, but I agree you do have to get quite a bit out of York to get to it.

The downs are also very lovely though, but in a different way. Gentler but still gorgeous.

I do think you should think seriously about the weather. I’ve lived in the south for many years now and it is noticeably warmer with more proper summer. I think I’d miss that a lot if I moved back up north. Also agree with a pp that although you get the longer days in summer in the north, again you do notice that the winters are darker.

Good luck to you and your son ( from another SEN parent - school is such a difficult area to get right isn’t it).

Hmm hadn't thought of that - longer summer days but shorter winter ones - amazing the distance makes that much difference!!

@Littlemice it is such a hard decision. Family are in Jersey and London but as has been pointed out York is well served by trains.

My son has been super fortunate with his support in Jersey but is very reliant on 'good scaffolding' so that and his social opportunities and work chances are a really important factor. He may well end up living with me longer term or at least very close by I would think. Other son would be fine either way both great places to be based.

It is the temperatures and type of summer that might swing it - although I do love the idea of the space and wildness of North Yorkshire. I like off road biking but not in sub 5 degrees I just get too cold. Running not such an issue as you generate your own heat but it is lovely in the summer just having the house door open and feeling the warmth and the sun and eating in the garden late.

It's so hard to tell what the reality of living in either place would be like. I have a year to decide as my current main job finishes then and my son will finish a course then so good time to do it.

Thanks for everyone's kind input on here by the way it's really nice to be heard rather than it all just going round in my head!

I think I just need to visit York and the surrounds again - went a Christmas but it was foggy and/or dark when I was driving around.

The other factor (totally outing now!) is that I work in counselling as well as Environmental policy and I want to do a Msc in Psychotherapy once I move. I can do that in London at loads of places but there are local options in N Yorkshire that I am thinking will present an opportunity for me to meet people and make friends locally.

@Twopoodlesarebetterthanone hello, we’ve already chatted on this one! I promised some Rightmove stuff and then never delivered so will get on to that (not that you can’t look for yourself obviously).

Re weather Jersey/Yorkshire I would say that while it is obviously not as warm in Yorkshire, in the Vale of York it is significantly less windy and rainy than Jersey. I would say the winter is far more bearable (and obviously lots more to do) than Jersey. It’s also not as cold as other bits of Yorkshire. So you balance out the summer with the winter.

I don’t know how Chichester compares although obviously it’ll be warmer on the whole being that bit further south.

I would definitely though look to the outskirts of York or slightly further out for better access to good hills, in which case you will get slightly colder weather - snow more likely etc. Still not the wind and rain of Jersey.

Lived in York (Bishopthorpe) for 5 year. Was lovely, but moved back to SE due to job opportunities. I loved it. We would move back but to the outskirts, not to the Vale of York itself because it is very flat. Very. All the beautiful landscapes you see are Yorkshire. Not York. Love York and all it offers. Just the flat! We run/cycle way more that we did when we lived there and when we do talk of moving back we have agreed we would need somewhere you could leave your front door and the landscape is there....we didn't get that from Bishopthorpe. The riverside walks were fab, it is very pretty, very convenient...but no hills.

Also, if you like sitting outside in the evenings during teh summer...bring a cardigan. It is just a few degrees colder/just a bit chillier. This doesn't bother me/DH as much.

I am from West Sussex originally and I would say 100% better quality of life and community in North Yorkshire. I often go there to visit my cousin who is married to a Yorkshire man.

@NoMoneyForEducation where would you live if you went back?

@Leftoverssandwich thanks, that would be nice 🙂
Yeah it is ruddy windy here and the rainfall is about 950- 1000mm on average compared
to York's 635!!!

I love living in North Yorkshire. I'm a five/ten minute drive from several sandy beaches and a ten minute walk from woodland and open countryside. Mumsnet seems to believe 'The North' is still in the dark ages culturally and I for one am happy for them to believe it because homes are still affordable in most places.

I think you need a visit for as long as possible first. Around Malton might suit your needs. A short train journey into York, affordable housing, beautiful countryside and it's quickly becoming known for its food and independent shops.

I think it would depend on what we needed when we moved (commute wise etc). We have family in York and also further afield in West Yorkshire (stunning but can be bleak, albeit beautifully bleak, weather wise). If we were to go back it would probably be for retirement -so would have a degree of flexibility...to find the house near the hills, work out the commute to civilisation for leisure and then decide.
Not discounting North Yorkshire...as long as it is further out. But just not York itself, however lovely the city is.

WIth the Sixth Form college/your son's commute you may have to compromise on the hills! But I think students travel in from furhter a fields (Wetherby and the like). It may be worth checking out West Yorkshire more then N Yorks.

@ArmchairAnarchist2 am definitely going to check out Malton when we go at Easter. Looks like a great balance of easy access to great outdoors and great culture in York also very accessible. Bonus there are trains and also not far to North Yorks railway. Looks affordable too with my budget.

How would your DC manage transition to quite a different climate and landscape from Jersey in North Yorkshire?

Only other thing I would add is that this summer the heatwave left the SE burnt to a frazzle with beaches and fields literally on fire. I went to a wedding in Lancashire in August and was struck by the freshness and greenery as we had 40 degrees down south. As a red head who doesn’t cope with heat I did think I wouldn’t be able to tolerate summers like this at 85 … and would need to consider moving to Scotland as climate change progresses.

Might be more comfortable on the coast though around Chichester.

@Twopoodlesarebetterthanone if you’re Malton way you’re close ish to Dalby forest which is great for off-road biking, hiking, running etc (altho it can get closed when it’s cold due to ice)

York hit 40 degrees last summer too. I travel to London for work from North Yorks, the heat in the city is oppressive, no fresh air and the concrete/tubes make it feel much worse - but it would be wrong to suggest that we don't get the heat in Yorkshire.

I live in West Sussex, not far from Chi.

There’s lots of positives to living here, think I agree with everything so far other than the support at CCG. My DD was at one of the colleges and the pastoral / additional needs support was awful so we pulled her out and she’s elsewhere now. Could be different with an EHCP though.

I didn’t grow up here and I’m longing to go home now after 25 years, despite losing the sea and the downs. I find it incredibly claustrophobic -there’s houses upon houses being built without the infrastructure behind it; there’s issues with dentists, GP surgeries, schools not to mention the bloody A27 which is just getting worse year on year.

The Witterings are beautiful beaches but since lockdown just getting there is problematic… one road in, one road out and the W Wittering estate is bookings only for the car park at the nice beach which books up really quickly, so a spontaneous day out there isn’t always possible. We’ve had problems with water quality where we are thanks to Southern Water’s ineptitude and poorly managed waste waters.

There’s going to be a huge development of housing south of Chichester involving the A29 being moved. Who knows what impact that’s going to have on the already struggling St Richard’s hospital.

We visited York for a few days last year and it was so nice just to be in open space again. I guess it’s rose tinted glasses and not being on the daily grind of school run / commute but I felt like I could breathe again there…

@BabbleBee thanks for that, I had heard there was a lot of building going on and about the A27. Also the lack of infrastructure.
Spot your DD had poor support glad she is sorted now. I assume my some would get an ECHP we have a similar thing here but they are not automatically recognised so he would need to be assessed.

As for booking parking to go to the beach and queuing to get in and out hell would freeze over etc before I could ever
bring myself to do that! Kills it completely
if you can't just go on a whim.

As for booking parking to go to the beach and queuing to get in and out hell would freeze over etc before I could ever
bring myself to do that! Kills it completely
if you can't just go on a whim.

That’s one beach with a privately owned car park. You can always park (for free) a bit further away and walk a bit more instead if you want to walk round West Wittering / East Head. You still need to allow for the traffic in an out, but as someone that used to live in North Devon that’s the same for many popular beach areas.

There are new homes planned over the next 15 years - don’t forget that it’s the Government that sets targets for house building - so worth checking out the Local Plan wherever you think about moving.

Agree about the issues with struggling services (although we have found St Richards excellent), and definitely about Southern Water and it’s sewage discharges - although perhaps our MP Gillian Keegan could actually support her constituents rather than voting to allow it to continue.

@Twopoodlesarebetterthanone if you’re looking at EHCP assessment and if this could play any part in your decision making then I’d say have a look at forums to get a feel for how they’re managed locally. WSCC is the only experience I’ve had and they’re not great…. Long waits for EP assessment (over 30 weeks I believe) and then longer for draft plans. DD had an emergency annual review in December 2021 and I still don’t have a finalised EHCP.

The Jersey Record of Need is fairly similar in content to the EHCP, so as long as the local authority recognises that, you may find they are happy not to start from scratch.

West Sussex every time if it was my choice- the daylight reason as mentioned earlier in the thread.

Hope OP whatever you choose it works out well for you and your family.

Just an update on this thread I've just had an offer accepted on a house in one of the York Villages!! #teamyorkshire