North Yorkshire forever home location!

[Objectrelations]

Hi mumsnet, I've posted about moving before and am planning on moving later this year to the North Yorkshire area. Work will be in York (or possibly Leeds). My son has ASD and needs decent public transport options for some independence as he gets older.

Can you recommend me somewhere for us to live?

We like:

Off road walks with a bit of variety from the house (or nearby);

Good bus or train links;

Within 30 mins of decent shops / culture for a mooch and to do and take part in stuff. Son loves having a go at theatre.

Ideally no more than an hour from the coast as currently live 500m from a beach and scared of being landlocked ...

Is there such a unicorn?

Northallerton or thirsk are good options. Both lovely market towns but have a train station which links directly to York; Leeds and even kingscross.

There are some lovely walks and you're on the doorstep of the dales and the moors.

Richmond is gorgeous too but transport links aren't great and further away from York/leeds

@cakeorwine @Floatinginvacherin that summer weather sounds perfectly ok to me. I'm happy with pleasant!

I live in Pocklington (moved from Haxby) it is a lovely place to live, great for dogs, almost every cafe/pub allows dogs in! Fantastic walks around the area, met do many lovely friends already. Can get to the coast in 45/50 minutes. York is 30 minutes in the car (out of rush hour) Transport is probably the only bad thing, buses are regular but no trains.

@Mytholmroyd @Ametora I think Wetherby and Boston Spa sound like nice places to visit but not to base ourselves. I think I saw somewhere they had applied for bathing water status for the river there for swimming.

@Walkerbean16 it does sound lovely - sadly needing to rely on public transport (and lifts from me) might be the dealbreaker for my son though.

Yep they are firmly on the list!

Yes I have a 16 year old at the college and he's always out in York, he has only missed the last bus a couple of times and then I have to get him an uber home (usually just under £20)

I wouldn't rule it out. I do think York sounds ideal for you though!

And if you find a do-er upper I own a building firm in York 😆

I'd also consider college transport if that is what your son is wanting to do, there is one bus there and one back and its £3.75 each way. If my son misses that he has to take two buses and its two different companies so can't get a day pass.

There is lots of choice @Objectrelations - generally there are no bad options in North Yorkshire really from small rural villages to market towns and cities. Lots of castles and forests and walking. Generally the further you go from Harrogate (probably the most expensive place) or the triangle between Harrogate-York-Leeds and (which is in West Yorkshire) and mainline stations the cheaper the housing.

I would think about your work/transport needs firstly and the length of commute you are happy to accept to narrow it down. If you need to commute into York or Leeds on the train being in walking distance of a station would probably make all the difference as bus frequency is generally poor.

Traffic is not anywhere near as bad as the M62 corridor - I do a 25 mile drive to work in half an hour now versus. 12 mile one into Leeds that would take me anything up to an hour and a half in rush hour - definitely don't miss that!

I’ve remembered I was going to tell you that Haxby has a lot of bungalows, many of which are family homes. More than a lot of places I think.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of Huntington?

Haxby has a big estate of homes - but not many bungalows.

Noted @Walkerbean16 for any building jobs!

Lol York villages with good transport links? Don't exist, you need to drive.

No, Haxby has quite a lot of bungalows, in the streets behind Ralph Butterfield off Usher Lane. Huntington does too of course.

Now this is perfect - a bungalow-o-meter to help me choose a location 😀

I haven't really explored behind Ralph Butterfield - more used to going West of York Road on the big estates there and also the "cut through" on Calf Close.

There’s a lot of housing back there - and of course potentially an awful lot more again if the planned development goes through.

Haxby would be a great investment purchase as prices will rocket if the station does happen. You’ll be a short direct journey to Leeds and York from there.

Richmond is a great place to live (although the town centre shopping is nowhere near as good as Northallerton), good walking and pubs and it has a lot of music and social events going on. The station is now a cinema/restaurant/artisan shops/dance school venue which is wonderful.

But it's not near the coast and it's an hour's drive into York centre on a good day/not in rush hour - a bus to Darlington (which is actually a good and reasonably frequent service - one of the few we have!) Is about half an hour, 10 minute walk to the train station and then half an hour on the train. So it's a minimum of 1.15 hours if connections line up. Might be a bit quicker to go via Northallerton.

I wouldn't want to do that every day but saying that I know people whose kids commute to the Heslington campus of the University.

Oh there is a bus from Richmond to York BUT it only runs on Sundays in the summer and it takes 3.5 hours! 😂

The station is now a cinema/restaurant/artisan shops/dance school venue which is wonderful

It's really nice there - have been a few times - Richmond is a lovely place to visit

It is! Such a great place to meet after a walk or swim. Good ice cream shop and the Angel Share bakery too. Oh and there is the Georgian Theatre Royal and a Castle!

Is there still the drunken fighting squaddies and the military police presence every weekend?

😂Errrmm they do come into the town but I haven't personally had any run ins with them or even seen them but then I am not there on a regular basis. My kids may say otherwise!

A few years ago my friend got stuck in the snow on the steep hill going up to the market place from the station and the road was blocked by a bus that had skidded across the road. A large group of soldiers were walking down the hill and they literally picked up her car and turned it round so she could go back down to the station where I was. So not all bad!