Help needed re. lovely places to live with great schools commutable to Leeds!

[JoBella]

Hello, My DH has been offered a job in Leeds and I don't know where to start! I'm a southern softy and its all pretty daunting. We are ideally looking for something rural, beautiful, with great state schools or a good prep failing that, co-ed preferably. Or, city centre - but really we are after a big garden so probably not? Any suggestions would be gratefully received! Thank you! (First time post on MN so forgive me if this is all wrong!).

We are from down south too and live in Wakefield but work in Leeds. Gardens are tiny up here.

Woodlesford in Leeds is nice.

Are you looking at primary or secondary schools?

Hello, thanks for your reply. We are looking at primary. Will have a look at Woodlesford. Not good on the tiny gardens front!

I doubt you will find any schools in the centre of Leeds that fit what you are looking for. The Harrogate secondary schools mostly seem to have a good reputation, so I imagine Harrogate has some good primaries too, although I have no personal experience. Harrogate is a nice town with a train line into the centre of Leeds. Might be an idea to specify how rural you are looking for, eg are you thinking of a village or right out in the countryside, or is a town/suburb of Leeds with easy access to nice countryside OK? Is your DH's job in the centre of Leeds?

Horsforth is lovely with good schools and a train line into Leeds.

I'm in Horsforth and I really like it - good schools (primary and secondary), very close to countryside to walk out into. Garden size varies, we've got a pretty big one but the neighbours' ones are relatively small. If you are wanting something a bit more rural then Otley is a lovely market town with decent schools.