Moving to West Yorkshire

[Move2WY]

Hi. Posting here for traffic.

Please can you help me find a place to live. Needs to be 45 minutes drive max to Wakefield. But not Wakefield.

I have a 19 month old and another due in June so a town with playgroup and soft play is ideal.

We don't want to move to a city and worry a village is too isolating as we will not know anyone. We love Harrogate.

Will be renting to begin with and budget is up to 1k a month.

I have seen mirfield but unsure about high street. Anywhere out there similar to Harrogate? Thanks x

Line of multi million pound houses. Please, its one row on the way out of the village. Its hardly millionaire central.

Also I'm assuming that the OP doesn't have a million to spend and will be living in one of the more normal size houses. Moor top isn't very nice at all and low ackworth is in need of much improvement with its grim little terraced houses.

Every time I go home, they've built another 50 semis. It was nice when I first moved there as a child. Now its just a normal, middle of the road northern village. Sorry but it is.

I would seriously consider some parts of Leeds while your DH adjusts to life in the north. Roundhay or Chapel Allerton would be my first choices. Its a much further commute but would be more in line with what you are used to.

Thanks Maple rose, but his terrible London commute is one of our motivations to move so whilst Leeds is lovely a shorter commute is essential.

Does anyone know the Agbrigg area of Wakefield!?

There's a lovely village called Old Snydale, I'd say about 15 mins max from Wakefield and no motorway commute. Completely depends what you are looking for though! I'm pretty new to the area myself and thinking of moving so these replies are helping me know where to avoid!

the trans pennine trail runs right through Penistone and we are just half a mile away from the Tour De France route, so perfect for cyclists. It is a very small market town but has a close knit villagey feel

It would be madness to live in Roundhay or Chapel Allerton if you are commuting to Wakefield in rush hour. You would have to queue up to get past Leeds and then join the queue to the motorway.

There are huge problems with school places in north Leeds too.

WRT schools, my sons ptimary is undergoing extensive extensiion to double the intake in the next five years, it is a shame really as it is a small village school and it will spoil that villagey feel.

I live in outskirts of Wakefield which is ok. My son has just moved to Holmfirth for work and its absolutely beautiful over there. I want to move asap to be closer to him

Is Holmfieth good for families? I mean with things to do so I can get out of the house etc? It looks quite sleepy to me x

Move2WY Its a nice quaint town "centre" but of tourists IMO.

Holmfirth is very attractive - but yes, quite touristy.

Check out other villages in the area - Meltham, New Mill. All fairly quiet with their own village centres. There are playgyms etc but you are more out in the sticks.

It's a little out of the way if you want to get to a major motorway though.

The best way to find out is to book a few days in a hotel in the area and have a tour - weekday and weekend - and see what the general feeling is.

Parts of Wakefield itself are nice, especially on the outskirts. Where I live is far from the best area but by no means the worst. Upton and South Emsall are very run down in parts.

There's no way you'd get from even the outskirts of Sheffield to Wakefield in 45 minutes during rush hour.

Cawthorne, Heath, Middletown, New Miller Dam are nice but can be expensive.

Avoid Ossett, it's nice in places but very quiet with not much to do, especially at the weekend.

shovetheholly thats how I'm feeling at the moment. On paper it should work and be lovely and be got some great advice on here last year when we needed to move but something just isn't clicking. Its not even having moved from a big city because its been a long time since we lived in one of those.
We're hoping to buy at some point this year but I'm not really sure I want to, but I don't want to move the DC school either. Its really very difficult.

Good luck OP, I hope you find somewhere you love.

What about the Norwood Green, Wyke area? Or Brighouse? I don't know the areas but I haven't seen them mentioned in suggestions - or is there a reason for this LOL.

Holmfirth is great for families
Off the top of my head it has

A soft play centre with trampolines!
PAYG children's music/movement group at said soft play
Swimming Pool, with swimming lessons
2 playgrounds
Story time at the library twice a week
Lego club at the library on Saturdays
Tennis/fitness club, with holiday club
Playgroup at church on Tuesdays
Mums and toddlers NCT group on Mondays (no need to be an NCT member, very friendly, not cliquey)
Food festival
Film festival
French festival
Beer festival
French festival
Folk festival
Jazz festival
Many, many bands (most of who you'll have heard of) play at the Picturedrome most weekends and other days
2 primary schools (if you count Hade Edge up the top of the hills)
High School
Am Dram
As much yoga and accupunture as you could wish for
Knit and Natter group
Very active cycling club with kids section
Cottage hospital
Lidl
Tea dances
Vintage clothes shops
Selection of cafes - vintage, greasy spoon, ice cream parlour, Sid's from Last of the Summer Wine
Adult Education Centre
Lots of community sports stuff going on at the high school

I don't even live there. Just nearish by. These things are just what I know of. It's where I go for a night out, it's anything but sleepy!

Holmfirth Events

Holmfirth has a Lidl? Where? (Moved from near Hepworth 9 years ago!)

Hi re Agbrigg- if you are Sandal side of Agbrigg it's ok, if not then it's not very nice.

I work near J42 of M1 and I would say avoid any commute that involves a combination of M62 and M1, it's horrendous on a morning. I have a colleague who lives in Wetherby and drives in with about a 45 min commute, although that is to J42, not Wakey centre, and if there's any kind of holdup on the A1 it will be more than 45 mins-I love Wetherby though and would happily live there (if I could afford it!) I was going to suggest Horbury/Ossett, plenty of good schools but I don't know about playgroups.

Getting in to Wakefield from Doncaster Road at rush hour is a pain in the arse with traffic queueing all the way back to the RedBeck.
I second the suggestion further up of Upton, Badsworth or Ackworth. Close enough to Wakefield but not too rough. I live in the Hemsworth area and that's not so great! There is a small soft play place in the cafe at the waterpark and a bigger one at Burntwood. There are some lovely places to walk and a few English Heritage/National Trust places to visit nearby too.

Holmfirth Lidl is on Huddersfield Rd, almost the last shop in town, passed the swimming pool going towards thongsbridge. It opened about a year ago.

Previous post was for Teeny.

Thanks BikeRunSki, I remember the excitement when I heard we were getting a 'proper' supermarket. And the disappointment when it turned out to be the Co-op! Still a vast improvement on the dreadful Lodges tho.

Having a little bit of a chuckle at these optimistic travel times... I used to commute from Huddersfield to Wakefield and would have been ecstatic at a 40 minute commute. Try 90 minutes on a good day, and that's not in the worst peak traffic. It's very dependent on what time said commuter will be travelling? If they're a hospital Dr or similar type of hours then that'll widen your search area significantly, if their workplace is within walking distance of Wakefield train station then that too alters your search area dependent on the rail connections.

I'd be looking at garforth, methley, rothwell, etc to the north of Wakefield, and Skelmanthorpe, Denby Dale and surrounding to the south. Sandal is a lovely area of Wakfield actually.

Hope this of some help X

In laws live in Normanton, which seems quite nice for the most part and convenient location but quiet too. Hubby has family in Crigglestone too, now that's a nice area :-)

"the trans pennine trail runs right through Penistone"

It is a great cycle route. I have cycled up to Dunford Bridge and back a few times from where I live.

I agree with *Orangesox about some of the optimistic travel times. Clearly these posters have never seen the M62/M1 junction at rush hour. Living in the area I hear the travel news every day and I agree with the PP who suggested staying south of the M62, or if in the Leeds area, sticking to Rothwell/Oulton.