Best places to live West Yorkshire

[Maybenexttime08]

Hi all,

Having lived in the south for the last 15 years, we’ve decided to relocate to West Yorkshire.

With 2 boys age 10 and 7 I would love some advice on best places (commutable to Leeds or Manchester) to live - good schools, friendly people, affordable!

Any info would be mega helpful!!

Another vote for the Calder Valley, though I'd avoid the valley bottoms and live higher up. It's a orgeous area if you like outdoorsy stuff and your budget would get you a great house.

If secondary schools are a concern there are two state grammars in Halifax (I don't know anything else about them other than that they exist!).

Whilst North Leeds and out towards Harrogate are lovely, your budget would go much further in the Calder Valley, Huddersfield villages or Lancashire.

@spacefighter oi! I live in Garforth! I consider it quite upmarket from where we used to live!

This way (East) Tadcaster and Wetherby are nice. We have two train stations on the line to York and Leeds.

Doncaster is grim, don't move there.

Tadcaster Grammar is a good school. Other nice villages are Aberford, Bramham, Towton, Saxton.

A bit more North Leeds, Thorner and Shadwell are nice.

Lots in hd8 and the majority of the schools here are ofsted outstanding

Harrogate Grammar (no longer selective) is a good school. Ripon Grammar (is selective) is consistently voted the top state school in the north of England. Ripon also has an academy which has incredible progress 8 scores (is also outstanding).

North Yorkshire generally has fantastic secondary schools which is why I moved from my family home of LS17.

The state schools in Ilkley and surrounding villages are excellent. Ilkley Grammar ( a comp despite the name), St Marys Menston, and Prince Henry's Otley are all very good secondary schools.

If you want grammar schools- Skipton is worth a look- Ermysted's and Skipton Girls. Houses are cheaper in Skipton than in Ilkley and it is consistently rated as one of the best places to live in the UK.

What do you need for jobs? South west of Leeds gets you into commuting distance of lots of places. North side of Leeds is nicer (IMO) but much more limited for commuting options.

Another vote for South Huddersfield (Denby Dale, Shepley, Shelley, Cumberworth etc), it feels quite rural but you are near the M1 and linked up to the rail network

The commute in to Leeds up the M1 is very unpredictable during peek rush hour though so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you would need to commute in to Leeds every day

Saddleworth is lovely with a good secondary school (building is not nice but the teaching is very good)

Harrogate - gorgeous and you can get the train into Leeds or York easily.

Otherwise Wetherby, Bramham, Boston Spa are all lovely but about 30-40min drive from the centre of Leeds

You won't get much for your money in Saddleworth and there may be no school soon.

What's Halifax like?

Also seen this property that has good schools - anyone know the area?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71961287.html

Thanks again everyone - this is such a help!

House is lovely. It's a Bradford postcode.

There are nice places in Halifax as well as not so nice. I moved into the area.
A lot of people I work with live in Huddersfield holmfirth way and that's suppose to be very nice

Halifax is a bit grim tbh. Aim for North Leeds for the nice areas - a lot of small towns to the south or east of Leeds are awful.

There's also Collingham, Aberford

I live very close to Denby Dale and work in Leeds and Doncaster. DD comes under Huddersfield - it is one of those lovely outlying villages and towns mentioned upthread, but only 15 mins drive from the M1. There are some pretty grim parts of Huddersfield (eg Brakenhall, Fartown) and some also extremely nice areas (eg Lindley).

The DD area has a 3 tier first/middle/high school system, of which all schools are largely Good or Outstanding. People commute from here to both Leeds and Manchester. My dc are 7 and 10 and there is shed loads going on for them. Postcode to search is HD8.

Holmfirth and Penistone (just over border in S Yorks) might suit you. Both market towns with lots of families and decent schools.

I would probably not move to most parts of Doncaster, but some areas are better than others. Lots of flood risk though.

If you know it will be Leeds then Ilkley sounds like your best mix of countryside, schools, commuting. If you're not sure between Leeds and Manchester then the nicer parts around Huddersfield I'd say.

Halifax has nice and not so nice bits but that house is actually closer to Bradford ( not so nice)
It’s between Skipton which is Lovely and Keighley which is certainly not
I grew up in Halifax and have family there but I prefer Huddersfield.
Transport links are better, I can drive to Leeds in 25 minutes and Manchester in 35 ( not rush hour obvs)

HD8. Hidden gem

I'd go HD9. We're Meltham which is lovely and rural but equidistant from Leeds and Manc. Half an hour over the hill to Manchester. Can go to either Holmfirth or Honley High

If you want brilliant secondary schools, the area around Harrogate is fantastic. A high number of secondaries, most of which are Ofsted 'outstanding' (not the be all and end all but indicative). Good for a Leeds commute but not as good for Manchester.

The area also feels quite rural (lots of more rural surrounding villages) but Harrogate itself is a great town and very easy to get to Leeds and York.

Total agree with butty.

Hd8 is the best 😀😀

Have a look at Altofts. Small village close to Wakefield. Great transport links. Some lovely farm house properties near the canal. Quite a few schools to choose from, all commuteable.

Altofts is not realky that handy for Manchester though.