Sheffield/Derbyshire living recommendations!!

[ally56]

Hi everyone,
Myself, fiancé and 13 month old are due to move to Derbyshire/Sheffield at the end of the summer. We currently live down south in Hampshire, and we wanted some opinions on where to live. We love the peaks, but also loved Matlock but then saw a thread that said it has a big drug problem?
We don’t know anyone who lives there so have no one to ask. Ideally we would like somewhere more countrysidey, little villages etc. We aren’t city people, and want our son to grow up in the countryside. Does anyone have any recommendations? Is Matlock a nice place to live?
TIA x

@Cyclistmumgrandma do you mind me asking whereabouts? X

Has Ringinglow got mains gas yet?

We burnt every piece of wood we could lay our hands on in the winter when we lived there!

How long is your DH prepared to commute? A lot of these suggestions (Belper, Matlock, Crich, Wirksworth, Hope) are a bit of a hike from Doncaster. A good hour +. Check google maps at the times he'd be travelling.

I think £400k is a bit on the low side for some of these suggestions, especially the suburbs of Sheffield, eg Dore, Fulwood or Greystones, or some of the more pretty villages in the Peaks. I would agree that Chesterfield and Doncaster would give you more for your money.

agree that a lot of suggested areas are out of your budget. Also it’s a heck of a way to Doncaster from some of these places too. I didn’t realise how far until recently and it’s well over an hour from places like Fulwood, dore, lodgemoor etc.

Tbf a lot of the suggestions of Belper etc came before the op mentioned Doncaster. That’s why I and others have flagged Chesterfield area. Agree also budget is low for nicer parts if Sheffield

You can get a nice house in Chesterfield for a fraction of most decent places in Sheffield.

Have a look at Dronfield. It's between Sheffield and Chesterfield and handy for M1/M18 for Doncaster trips. It also has a train station.

It sounds obvious, but if you're considering one of the smaller towns or villages be aware that driving anywhere on country roads takes much longer. In the Peaks, even major roads are often single carriageway and pass through smaller towns/villages between main towns so at busy times a 40min journey won't get you far. Plus any roadworks/accidents/tractors etc can cause very long delays. Plus, in some areas the roads are very difficult, and sometimes closed, in snow (which happens every winter).

Agree with this. I just googled Hathersage to Doncaster and it says less than an hour but that sounds hopelessly optimistic to me. If I ever need to drive in the Peaks I just double the normal time taken tbh.

Yes, that's very good advice. It always takes longer than the online estimates.

We're in the Staffordshire Moorlands so possibly a bit too far spouts for you.

Hi op, hope I can be of help!
If it’s a small village that you want, ie couple of parks and few pubs, plus village shop, but within driving distance to swimming lessons then I’d really recommend the hope valley! It’s afew different village, some more touristy than others, the quieter villages in the hope valley are Hope, Edale, bradwell, Bamford, grindleford and Eyam (all lovely for walking/hiking if you enjoy that) Hathersage, and Castleton are slightly busier, Hathersage has an outdoor pool, and I think a gym? few more shops, cafe and pubs. Castleton is full of tourists (lots of gift shops) caverns, cafes and pubs, it has beautiful Christmas lights and is lovely to visit, but would be busy to live and parking is tricky!
The hope valley is about half an hour from Sheffield and half an hour from Buxton (small market town)
Bakewell is bigger, and closer to Matlock, again quite busy with tourists but a beautiful small town, traditional, also a market town!
Tideswell is a larger village and is between the hope valley and Buxton, again lovely scenery and nice community feel, few shops and pubs, friendly place to live.
Each village I’ve mentioned tends to have its own village school, and they are all great schools. The high schools in the area are hope valley college (in hope) and lady manners (bigger of the two high schools and covers Bakewell catchment area)
so depends what you want really, all the places I’ve mentioned are within a short drive of a town! I live there it’s a beautiful area. If you drive you’ll be fine, but public transport can be tricky if travelling early or late at night etc.
Good luck on your search!

Another vote for Hope Valley, I’m not sure £400k would get you 4 bedrooms but it’s worth a look as it’s mostly stunning and as @Misspacorabanne has said, it’s not far from Sheffield/Chesterfield/Buxton.

If you’re an outdoorsy family then you’d love it as the choice of beautiful scenic walks are endless.

I’m not sure the OP really wants a village like Hathersage (pretty tho it is) if they mention Matlock which is deffo a town. @ally56 is Matlock the kind of size of place? Or do you want a place with some houses, a small primary school perhaps, a shop and a pub?

I think Hope Valley to Donny with any kind of regularity at rush hour would be a pain too - it must be 40 miles. My 25-mile commute takes 45mins at 8am and it’s all on big main roads.

Ashby de la zouch? It's Leicestershire but right next to the motorway. Lovely town with more of a village feel to it. Nice houses, leisure centre, shops. Easy access for Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham.

Oh and the schools are fantastic.

I agree the Walton end of chesterfield is really nice and right next to lovely countryside and Brookfield school has always been considered a good secondary.
Holymoorside is a lovely village and a short drive to amenities.
Chesterfield is still good value for money imo.

We have only been able to briefly visit, and liked Matlock, but this was only a fleeting visit and we are well aware we are not equipped with the knowledge of the area to make a decision based off being somewhere for half a day, hence why we have turned to lovely people like yourselves to inform!
My partners job will involve him rotating around, as it has done the last 2 years and why we are moving from Hampshire to Sheffield/derbyshire. He is used to travelling 1hr+ to get to work. We are ultimately looking for somewhere fairly quiet, near/in the countryside, safe, child/young family friendly with good primary schools.
We had seen previous posts online saying places like Dronfield and chesterfield were not very safe, but then other places saying Dronfield is one of the safest places to live!
As I said, we are not equipped with the knowledge to know these areas well enough to say whether they meet our desired criteria, so you have all been incredibly informative and helpful!
Where would you say to avoid? Safety is one of our biggest concerns and info online seems to be conflicting! :)

What do you mean by safe and safety I wonder?

I live on the edge of Derby and feel more than happy to walk about my area at night. Is that the kind of safety you mean? Tbh I don't think anywhere in the areas we are talking about is as such very unsafe. These are villages and small-medium towns (well Chesterfield is a pretty big town) not gritty inner-city areas.

For sure there is crime but I wouldn't be overly concerned about the crime and safety aspect of living in Chesterfield or Matlock or the Hope Valley tbh.

I think you maybe need to interrogate whether you actually want to live in a village (some of the villages mentioned on this thread are very small - Hathersage has a population of 2,000, Hope about 800 and Edale fewer than 400) with all that that means – having to drive everywhere, no public transport, being a taxi service as the kids grow up, kids having a bus journey to secondary school. I grew up in a village so I guess that colours my view. I just know that for my DC being able to walk to primary and secondary, Scouts and Guides, football training, weekend job, drama club, was a real bonus – as was getting the bus into town when they were older.

Do you live in a small village now? Even if you do, I doubt if a Hampshire village will be as isolated as one in the Peaks. Lovely in many ways but not in others imho.

Outskirts of Chesterfield (Walton, Holymoorside) would definitely be my choice over Matlock. Better amenities, countryside within just as easy access, better schools, much less traffic. I'm really quite perplexed about what you've heard about crime in Chesterfield, especially if you'd be looking in the more affluent areas mentioned on this thread. Having said that, I don't think Matlock has a drugs problem either! I teach in the area and am aware of county lines issues as you head Buxton way but I don't think Matlock has any issues that would impact your life there.

“Chesterfield is the most dangerous major townin Derbyshire, and is the 33rd most dangerous overall out of Derbyshire's 267 towns, villages, and cities.” https://crimerate.co.uk/derbyshire/chesterfield

@Pesk17from websites such as these. Again, we do not know the area nor anyone who lives there and therefore have had to rely on resources such as this to give a picture of the area. This is why I have come here to ask of people’s lived experiences, which has been helpful.

@claryyes live in a small village in the new forest. Very helpful to hear your lived experience, thanks :)

Tbf Chesterfield is pretty much the only major town in Derbyshire so that’s not very meaningful imho. Other towns would be Belper, Ripley, Matlock, all fairly small.

It's not astonishing that crime is higher in a bigger place. And 33rd most dangerous place in Derbys? I really think that’s not an issue. Honestly.

Thanks :)

I’m interested tbh that there are 32 places in Derbys more dangerous than Chesterfield. In terms of numbers, the 33rd place is Whaley Bridge, a small town of 6k ppl. Most places below it I would call villages or very small towns. A few crimes in a place with a population of 5k or less would really skew the stats. I think this should not be a big concern op.