Does anyone live in Matlock or Chesterfield?

[hearmywomanlyroar]

What are they like? Was doing a random search on Rightmove for places to live (criteria: within 40 miles of Manchester) and could get a serious upgrade on our current house in a Manchester suburb. Would the journey to Manchester be doable 1-2 days a week if working from home the rest of the time? And are there good schools? DC1 would be starting primary soon and DC2 is nursery age.

I’m from there. It is a really lovely place to grow up and a lot of my friends are still in Matlock raising kids. Schools are pretty good. Couldn’t comment on the journey to Manchester though. I think you’d probably get more for your money in Chesterfield but if it was me moving back I would want to be in Matlock rather than Chesterfield.

Its a nice spot for a visit anyway if you popped over for a weekend to get a feel!

I did this commute twice a week a few years ago although more nearer to Oldham.
Do able twice a week at the time for me id say (no children) I wouldn't now with children.. The journey over the tops is unpredictable and 30% of the time took in excess of 2hrs 15 mins

Matlock is lovely, I have friends who live in Crich which is lovely too

I drive to Chesterfield often to see family, whilst its not to bad at the weekend driving at peak times will be hell, you either hit traffice in Chesterfield or Manchester, or both if unlucky!

Not sure what a week day drive to Matlock is like but as its a single lane I imagine that could also be tricky.

But, if its only 2 days a week then you might decide its worth to grin and bear it for a nicer house, area etc for the times your not at work and for family life

Both lovely places. I sometimes think Matlock folk overestimate how lovely compared to the nice areas of Chesterfield though which are also very pleasant, with stunning views and easy access to the countryside. Lovely primaries in both areas but the Matlock secondary school is mediocre I think, as is Bakewell nearby. Wirksworth has a good secondary and there are a couple of strong ones in Chesterfield. Matlock traffic can be horrid! I only know one person who commutes to Manchestwr and to be honest they find it tough.

Thanks all. I don't much fancy a 2h15 drive to be honest but trouble is I can't find anywhere even vaguely comparable in terms of the houses and surroundings within easy commute of Manchester. We'd been looking at the Manchester side of the Peak District (New Mills, Buxton etc) but the houses just seem far nicer Matlock way. I wondered about driving to Grindleford and then picking up the slow train to Manchester from there. Would probably take longer but at least I could read or work on the train rather than be stuck behind the wheel. Google maps says the drive to 26 minutes, is that about accurate/is it an ok drive?

I have family in Matlock and apparently the high school leaves much to be desired and the town itself has quite the drug problem amongst teens now.
it’s preferable to Chesterfield though.

@hearmywomanlyroar further to my post above about my commute previously. I did have a colleague who did just that, parked up at grindleford and it seemed to work ok for him, again though no kids or commitments

Ah that's not great...

Ok that's good to hear it's a tried and tested route

Why? There are some quite affluent parts of Chesterfield (Somersall, Walton, Old Brampton etc) and outstanding secondary schools. Even some of the schools that are no longer outstanding (eg Brookfield) still have results well above national average.

There are teens doing drugs in every town in the country, surely.....

Moved to Matlock two years ago, OP, with two young kids, and we love it.

Not Manchester, but I commute to London once a week and don't find it a problem.

Happy to give more info if this is helpful.

Oo yes please! Do you mind me asking where you moved from? Have you all settled in well and felt like it was a welcoming place? Anything you wish you'd known before you made the move?

Have you looked at the edge of Sheffield - Dore, Totley, Owler Bar? Great schools and you can get into Manchester easily by train from Dore station.

@resuwen I haven't but thanks for the suggestion - will have a look

You may aswell look at some of the rural Sheffield suburbs and get the fast train to Manchester

Any in particular you'd recommend @Zippy1510 ?

The drive for work to manchester from the peaks really isn’t advisable. It really can take hours. If you can get the train, that might work, but don’t rely on driving, the roads are bad!

I’d recommend actually visiting the places, you say there aren’t nice houses in High Lane, Disley, Poynton….but there really is. More likely they are selling much faster on Right Move as the area is hot for manchester commuters

Depends on your budget but generally Sheffield is still much cheaper than Manchester (I lived in Manchester for 13 years and now Sheffield for 6). The areas south west of the city are generally nicer/ closer to the Peak District but they are therefore more expensive than areas to the north. S11, S7 and S10 I would say are your nicer very central areas/ to quickly get to the train station. Dore/Totley would be ideal because the Manchester train stops there. If you want more rural/be in the countryside hathersage is lovely but relatively expensive and also has a train station and is on the slow line to manchester. Loxley, stannington, walkley, bradfield are also nice more rural and more affordable.

Amazing, thanks @Zippy1510 - lots of places to look up.

We moved from London (part of the London exodus during Covid - nothing original about us 😁). We needed to upsize and also took the opportunity to get out of the city.

Barely any regrets at all (the main one relates to a family member we 'left behind' who's kind of cut us off now, as they will 'never forgive' us, but that's not about Matlock, and a thread of its own).

We looked at a number of local areas including other small towns like Wingerworth, Wirksworth, Ashover, etc, etc. I'm glad we ended up in Matlock because I didn't want to go too remote or rural. It feels like a great combination of a lively and bustling town, with train station, PLUS the Peak District on our doorstep. We love having a more outdoorsy lifestyle. We also find ourselves occasionally in Chesterfield and Sheffield if we want big town or city things, and we're happy with having them close by.

In terms of 'things we wished we'd known', I don't think there is anything. I do wish it was more diverse here, but we did know that beforehand and made the move anyway. It's not ideal, but we do what we can at home to instill the values we care about to our children.

The main primary school (All Saints) seems really good, and we're very happy with it. There are others too, but I can only comment on that one. I know the local secondary isn't seen as the best, but it doesn't overly concern me. I have friends with children thriving there, plus friends whose children go to the Bakewell secondary which is rated higher. (Appreciate I might change my views on this when mine are secondary-aged, but we're several years off that at the moment).

Happy to chat more if you have other questions.