Is Rotherham an ok place to live? Or chesterfield?

[VivaLeBeaver]

We are still house hunting in the Sheffield area and can’t find anything we like for our 300k budget. (Three beds, detached).

So are thinking of widening the search area. Rotherham seems cheap. I’ve never been there in my life. Commuting into Sheffield by public transport seems ok and I read there’s a new tram line about to be set up from Rotherham. I ideally need to be somewhere where it’s easy to get into Sheffield by public transport as parking an issue at work.

Then started wondering about chesterfield as thought could get a train from there? But I read chesterfield is quite rough? As long as the area I live in is ok though guess not too bothered, won’t be planning nights out in local bars.

We’re both quite outdoorsy, so somewhere with good access to dog walks, cycle trails would be good. We love the Peak District and in an ideal world would live there but again out of budget. Don’t need to worry about schools/kids.

Some three bed detached houses within a mile of Barnsley station (three trains per hour into Sheffield, takes 20-30 mins):

Houses

Elsecar is lovely and feels very villagey, but there's only one train an hour into Sheffield, and I think Penistone may be the same.

I live between Barnsley and Sheffield and used to commute into Sheffield, but by car. If you end up considering something around here, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have :)

You can get this sort of house in Penistone for £269000

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69976922.html

Penistone is meant to have its own weather system I was warned before moving here. It's the highest market town in south yorkshire and meant to get snowy in winter. However council are good at gritting round here (& we've missed out on recent snow).

Some of those Barnsley houses look nice.

If you don’t mind a bit of a commute have you looked towards Worksop? There’s some nice villages on the train line - Shireoaks for example.

I used to work in Worksop. Never really struck me as somewhere I’d like to live. I appreciate places like Rotherham might not be much better but at least you’re closer to the Peak District as a sweetener. Worksop you’re still a long way from the Peak District. I know there’s nice countryside round Clumber, etc but it doesn’t compare.

Don’t know Shireoaks but again I think wrong side of Sheffield for me, no nice countryside.

I wouldn't live in Chesterfield, it is pretty rough.

Chesterfield is a lovely little town centre with a great market and the west of the town borders the Peak District, I would definitely chose Chesterfield over Rotherham!

I'd check the commute times and costs. Getting around sheffield can be a right nightmare (like any city these days) at busy times depending on where you need to be. The trains from Penistone/Swinton etc. are surprisingly (I think) expensive and I don't think there are any integrated tickets if you need bus/tram away from train station, so you could end up paying a small fortune just to commute. A well located house for work might end up being a better investment, as at least you won't be as stressed by traffic and you'll have something to show for your money. Also Sheff is a pretty cool city by city standards if you like the outdoors. But yeah, probably best to rent if you can for a while, better than committing to a place that you don't know.

Currently paying £16;50 a day train ticket. Don’t need a bus or tram Sheffield end. I think if we did end up moving to Penistone then I’d be more likely to drive to Meadowhall and get a tram. Work is quite flexible so could leave home at 7am and get into work hopefully before rush hour got too mad and leave earlier in the afternoon most days.

Any good gyms near any of these places? Currently at a David Lloyd.

Penistone is lovely. Went to school there. If i ever moved back 'home' i would love to live there.

I'm near Penistone and agree with everything BikeRunSki has said. Another option for driving/getting a tram is to drive to Middlewood and get a tram from there. We always use this method for hospital appointments.

The train goes on to Sheffield itself after Meadowhall so you wouldn't need to drive and get a tram. It would also be far quicker. The tram from Meadowhall into town takes ages. If you want to be based on the Penistone line you could look at Silkstone and Silkstone Common, and even Dodworth. All three have outstanding primary schools.

There is a Bannatyne's gym in Dodworth that is very good, and a community leisure centre in Penistone where exercise classes are run. The little cinema is brilliant. It doesn't get the new films straight away, but it is worth waiting a couple of weeks rather than trailing to Meadowhall and paying £££.

Something to bear in mind is that due to the number of new houses being built the catchment area of Penistone Grammar may reduce. The school is being extended over the next few years as there are simply not enough school places to match the growth in population. So if you have children and want them to go there I wouldn't buy a house too far out of catchment. It is the best secondary school in Barnsley by far.

I would say that we don't get as much snow as people think. We missed out this time round and just had a dusting.

I would certainly go for chesterfield over Rotherham. There are some nice bits of Rotherham but the transport links to those are not great. Chesterfield is not rough, like anywhere is has some rougher areas but at top level it far outstrips Rotherham!

As for Sheffield I agree the s10 area is stunning. Penistone is lovely but potentially a bit remote for commuting. The m1 is notorious at that end for jams and accidents especially around Meadowhall, as are the main routes into the city. Since ikea has been built the traffic around Meadowhall is awful.

If you are looking for rural but good road links or train then have you considered Holmesfield - it is between Sheffield and Dronfield, very pretty, school is good, pubs are nice and a short drive into Dore for train direct to city centre and 2 mins from the peak district.

Owler Bar has a lovely pub called The Peacock and the Longshaw Estate is beautiful to walk around and there are lots of nice walks around that area.

I don't know Chesterfield really but I would avoid Rotherham itself - it has really gone downhill over the years. I would suggest, with your budget, that you look at the area between Sheffield and Rotherham, specifically the area near junction 31 of the M1 (Aston, Swallownest, Aughton) - there are quite a few new housing estates and you'd get a lot of house for your money. It also has very good transport links in terms of bus services to Sheffield and road access to the M1 and A1 (latter is about half an hour away).

I'll be honest: if I had a choice, I'd choose south-west Sheffield, but you would get more house for your money out there - it's not the most exciting area but it's safe, and lots of family houses at good prices, easy access to countryside (both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire), etc.

The Beauchief house is typical of that area - I think you'd get a 3-bed semi for under £300k but not a detached house. Around junction 31, I think you would get a four bed detached for that sort of money. So it's the usual compromise between location and house size.

Have a look at Meersbrook, Heeley and Woodseats.

And do not under any circumstances move to Barnsley or Penistone. Awful places.

Dronfield is nice and good for transport links. Chesterfield definitely much nicer than Rotherham!

I was just going to suggest Dronfield too. My parents live there and I always think it's lovely when I visit. Easy to get to Meadowhall, Centretainment and the Arena within 30 mins, decent housing, nice schools, low crime and a nice sense of community.

Chesterfield centre is a nice market town, certainly nicer than Rotherham. No idea what it's like living there though, I think some of the areas have a reputation for being very deprived. But Rotherham would also have this issue.

There is an integrated travel pass. The travel South Yorkshire pass gets you on trams trains and buses on Sheffield Barnsley Rotherham and Doncaster

Though this pass would not work in Chesterfield

Rotherham and Barnsley are both awful. I grew up in a village that has been mentioned on this thread that's in between the two and you couldn't pay me to live there again. There are some nice villages that come under Rotherham or Barnsley but you won't have an easy commute by public transport.

Penistone is perpetually windy, even in summer. And I've found the locals aren't as friendly as some of the other villages nearby. Have you considered Stocksbridge or as someone else said, Oughtibridge? Both near countryside, and have good transport links.
We looked at renting in Penistone or nearby a few years back, but I didn't drive at the time, and commuting into Sheffield centre would have been a nightmare.

I've done that commute fiona and you made the right call. It takes nearly an hour to go 15 miles on trains that are seriously cold and knackered and that smell of wet dog all the time.

Far from being friendly, many locals are just plain weird; there are a LOT of social problems. I lived on a road with

• a guy who tottered down to the British Legion every day to get hammered
• a guy who had never been anywhere except Penistone and Barnsley
• an interfering WI type
• the family from hell: ignorant, violent, abusive, racist, used the garden as a rubbish tip, shot cats

Round the corner was a shop run by a paedophile. It stinks of coal smoke in the winter, and it's never warm. Honestly, please, please don't move there, it's awful.

(Oh, and my counsellor, who has worked in Barnsley, says that she's never, ever dealt with so many cases of child abuse in her life as she did there.)

Look at Walkley or Stannington - good transport links into the centre (though not the tran, admittedly), but on the right side of the city for the Peaks - you can be at Redmires, Rivelin or Stannage for a stunning walk in minutes.

Not massively oversupplied with detached houses, but they do exist.