Where to live (south of?) Leeds

[ClockSpanner]

We are considering a move due to work.. know nothing about the area whatsoever really. Random comments I've had from people in real life are that there's nowhere nice south of Leeds and north of Sheffield and Doncaster which I'm sure isn't true. Been told north Leeds is nicer and I guess I am seeing that reflected in the prices of houses but I would prefer to be south if possible rather than further north due to getting back to other family. Been told that as a southerner I will struggle to fit in.. which worries me a lot as now it's been said, though DH is from Leeds. Am I worrying for nothing or might that be true in some places?
Looking for village to small town sized I guess without being too far from bigger places/amenities. Good schools are important. Pre primary aged children at the moment but I know it will come around quickly.

Anything anyone can share to help is much appreciated thank you!

Check out Ackworth

@laburnam Thank you. On paper (google!) that does sort of seem what we would be looking for. How come you would recommend it?

I am a southerner who has lived about halfway between Leeds and Sheffield for the last 20 years!! Quite happily too. Lovely countryside, easy access to cities, Outstanding schools. No one has ever been unfriendly to me at all! I clearly don’t have a Yorkshire accept, but that brings joking pity rather than anything else. And we’re home to Dr Who!

Check out HD8, villages around Denby Dale. Draw a triangle between Huddersfield, Barnsley and Wakefield, and it’s the countryside in there. At the beginning of the Jodie Whittaker “Who Do You Think You Are” tonight, they drive around the area if you want to see it!

For work, I work between Leeds (40 mins to south of city centre), Barnsley (20 mins) and Doncaster (an hour). DH works in Wakefield (20-30 mins) and previously Sheffield (an hour on the train from Denby Dale).

The only thing we really need is the sea. We’re about as landlocked as you can get.

Horbury is a nice place to live with a young family.

Ignore people who say you will struggle because you are from the south, I moved to West Yorkshire from Berkshire 20 years ago and had no issues at all! My siblings also moved up to the area too.

Thank you @BikeRunSki and @Thesearmsofmine its nice to hear you are both happy where you are and I will look at the places you have mentioned. DH will be in working in south Leeds and Barnsley so another reason to be this side not north of the city as I have also been told traffic can be bad getting from one side to the other. I do worry about the accent even though thats probably silly of me.. worried I will stick out! I'll be a SAHM if we go so I would really want to make friends.

I have family that live in the midlands that are relocating there. They have done a lot of research and decided this would suit their needs. Good schools, amenities, friendly and good links to Leeds. Also house prices reasonable, they were priced out of North Leeds and Harrogate

If your DH is going to be working in Barnsley avoid north Leeds. The motorway links are currently rubbish although they are building a new road to kin north Leeds to the M1

Depending how far out of Leeds you want to be Horbury, Sandal, Durkar in wakefield are nice. Closer to Barnsley than Leeds you also have Newmiller Dam, Woolley and Staincross.

If you're wanting more Leeds area with good links to motorway try Garforth, swillington, Rothwell, Morley.

I'm not too far from BikeRunSki (waves), but over the county border in South Yorkshire. It is rural where we are, but only half an hour to Leeds and half an hour to Sheffield (in normal, non rush hour traffic), and 20 minutes to Wakefield. Postal code areas S35, S36 and S75 are worth looking at. We are less than 15 minutes to the M1, which was a must for us as we have family to the north and to the south of us.

The primary schools where we live are mostly outstanding, with some good, The secondary schools that we are in catchment for are also good. The local comprehensive usually has > 75% GCSE passes including maths and English. Admittedly some of that is due to the demographic of the area. One of the best 6th form colleges in England is also accessible.

Oh and Methley is a village south of Leeds. Stanley, Outwood and Wrenthorle on the edge of wakefield are ok. Don't worry about your accent Leeds is 3/4th biggest city in the UK. Not everyone who lives here was born here!

@ClockSpanner - you’re right, crossing Leeds is not a journey to be undertaken lightly! If your DH is working in S Leeds and Barnsley, then you could do a lot worse than the HD8 villages, or Sandal/Durkar on the Wakefield side of the M1.

You say you are a SAHM, so I guess schools are a consideration? State or private? (Loads of orivare schools in Wakefield, but a great 3 tier first/middle/high system in HD8 area).

Town or country?
Do you drive?

Ackworth is a lovely (huge) village.

Thank you everyone. I will be googling all of these places mentioned today! Im so much more familiar with north Leeds so all of your advice is amazing.

@BikeRunSki I will be a SAHM if we go.. I currently work but I wouldn't if we make the move. Both DH and I drive so that hopefully helps us to get to different places. State schools as with 3 children private will be out of reach for us!

@Ginfordinner those schools sound great. Wondering if its a bit further south than we were imagining but the commute times dont seem bad.

@SallyCinnamon3009 he may be in Barnsley around once a month so not much but confirming the traffic is bad is helpful. DH currently goes from Alwoodly to wherever the office is.. want to say near Stourton?! cant remember without googling! and he says it takes over 30mins to go about 7miles because of crossing the city centre.

One thing I sort of noticed with my limited geographical knowledge of the area is that a lot of these recommended places seem more M1 side than A1.. is there anywhere A1 side that would be recommended? It's the easiest route south to my family but it's not a deal breaker of course.

Scrap my last statement. Plenty of the suggestions look close enough to the A1 now I'm looking at a map properly

I’m a Londoner who has lived in/near Leeds for the last 15 years. I used to live in the Woodlesford/Oulton/Rothwell area and would give those a look. They are close to M62 (and from there the A1) and the M1.
I never felt like I didn’t fit in.

I'm a southerner living in Leeds. Been here 20 years now and I've never, not once, been made to feel unwelcome because of my accent. On the contrary - people are so much friendlier here than in southern places I've lived. I'm in west Leeds so can't help with suggestions, but wanted to chime in with my experience!

I moved to Leeds from South London in 1980. I wasn't made to feel unwelcome, but I got the impression from the people I worked with of "why would you move here from London?" They also thought it odd that I would commute 10 miles to get to work. They were nice, but a little parochial. This was in Hunslet.

Another vote for HD8 area

The M1 is about 15 mins drive away so easy to access to travel North to Leeds or South to visit family

You can get direct to Sheffield from Denby Dale via train, for Leeds you need to change at Huddersfield

Lovely area to live and good state schools

The commute (via car) to Leeds can be unpredictable during rush hour though so if your DH would need to go to Leeds every day it might not be the best choice.

The commute (via car) to Leeds can be unpredictable during rush hour though so if your DH would need to go to Leeds every day it might not be the best choice.

Since the M1 was made “smart” between Wakefield and Leeds 8 ish years ago, I’ve found my commute (at 8am) is pretty consistently 45-55 mins. There are accidents that delay the journey, but no more than there are train delays if going by train.

If you look at places nearer the M1 than the A1, there is an easy link road at junction 36, it takes about 25 minutes. Can get a bit busy at peak hours but they are currently widening the roads near the bottleneck roundabouts to put slip roads in which should ease matters tremendously.

I think a lot depends on how far your DH wants to commute. If he's happy driving 45 minutes or so then HD8, Ackworth etc would be great.

If he wants to keep the commute down then Woodlesford/Oulton is decent, and could walk/cycle to work. (The schools used to be good, but just looked and now it seems they're not so much, if you go by Ofsted anyway). Garforth might be worth a look too, as it is very good for transport links and I think the schools are decent.

Hmm I imagine he would prefer to be under 40mins and that would probably be helpful in terms of him getting home at a decent time to help with the children. I love the rural/village idea but I also know I want enough to occupy myself and the children nearby so rural may not be best in terms of getting out to places. Primary schools may be the deciding factor though.. I also don't want to disregard secondary but the nature of my husbands job means I'm not sure we will be anywhere longer than 5 years but I want to choose where we go with the idea that we could stay there for much longer and it would still be right for us when our children are teens etc. I don't know.. so hard to make life changing decisions! It is nap time here so I am on rightmove distracting myself from the realities with looking at beautiful houses in the places you have all mentioned!

Seriously @clockspanner, what you have just described is HD8. The villages are not tiny and isolated, there is rarely more than a couple of miles between them, and loads going on - we have lived here for 20 years, and our DC are 9 and 12. Before lockdown, they did Cubs/Scouts, swimming lessons, swimming club (my village has a public pool), football, rugby, archery (ok, that's about a 25 min drive), tennis club in the summer. This didn't leave time for the riding, cycling club runs/races (they both used to compete), martial arts, choir, ballet, acro and gymnastics, Saturday music school and CDT club on offer. Ther i literally never normally a dull moment, It's a great place to raise children. Every year, at least one child joins one of my DC's school class to move into out Outstanding 3 tier school system.

I know am biased, but we really do tick your boxes.

That does sound amazing @BikeRunSki Any particular village names you would recommend? Also does seem we can afford a bit more that way/ Wakefield compared to Garforth and so on nearer to Leeds.

Have you looked at tadcaster/sherburn in Elmet/ south Milford and the surrounding villages?
They're all lovely, close links to motorways, Leeds and York??

I’ll PM you @ClockSpanner