Moving to North Yorkshire, can anyone help?!

[coopekid]

Considering a move to North Yorkshire from South East to be closer to family and enticed by more affordable housing options for us as a young family with 2 pre-school age DC. So far looked at the market towns of Malton/ Pickering/ Thirsk. Preferences are:

-No more than 30mins drive to family in Kirbymoorside
-Good schools
-Good public transport and easy access to York (preferably a mainline train station)
-Amenities and things to do for DC (e.g playgrounds/ parks/ libraries/ children’s centres/ baby + toddler groups/ leisure centres etc)

We don’t know the areas so keen to get advice and recommendations on the above.

I don't live in any but none are too far away from anything. They're all lovely and good luck! We live East Yorkshire but are up there a lot. We plan to retire up that way.

Malton’s your best bet then with transport

I would add looking at nearest hospitals to your list. Lived near Thirsk for a while, but nearest hospital for A&E and maternity was Northallerton. 40 minutes on country roads.

Lovely place though, as was Northallerton. Very easy to drive to York. Not bad access to the coast either.

I live on the south side of york and one of the things that puts me off moving to the north side around pickering etc is lack of connectivity to things. You're quite a drive from anything and public transport isnt fabulous. York is about it.

Try Easingwold - better school than the others

There was an almost identical thread on these exact places a couple of days ago, also in chat I think. Probably worth having a quick search...there were lots of responses. I live a bit further up so can't give specific advice but it's a lovely area.

Not sure how far Northallerton is from Kirbymoorside but I would go there as it's nice, got really good rail links, on the edge of the moors.

What about looking at villages on the north side of York? Strensall or Haxby are also 30ish minutes drive to Kirbymoorside (similar to Thirsk. You’d then have access to the York area schools which are generally fab, and good bus links or a short drive into York and everything it offers for young families which is a lot.

Is family in Kirbymoorside people you will want to visit very frequently or who might be doing regular childcare? If not then I’d definitely look at the above.

Thirsk/Pickering/Malton and surrounding countryside are beautiful but comparatively small and isolated. May not please teenagers in ten years time.

How much is your budget ?

Echoing other posters, I'd be looking around the outskirts of york personally. I live just outside Pickering , and whilst it's lovely, public transport is dire. Malton is the nearest train station, and buses run very infrequently from Pickering. Can't really comment on amenities in thirsk as I haven't lived there since I was a child. There is a railway station but it's not mainline.

@YourSnugHazelTraybake you can get trains direct from Thirsk to London and Manchester theses days.