Where to live in Harrogate? Help!

[Whereinharrogate]

We would love to move to Harrogate but finding house prices a bit disheartening. Anyone know Harrogate or the surrounding area who can recommend where to look?

We'd like a 4 bed house with garden and ideally garage, hard top end budget £650,000. Near to good schools (primary and secondary) and walking distance to amenities. I guess the kind of area mn would describe as "naice". I would like those amenities to be central Harrogate but I think for a house of the size we would like we may need to look further out. Would consider living 2 or even 3 miles out of centre if there were things in that locality other than housing estates. E.g. would like pub, cafe, shop, maybe restaurant, park - things to do outside our front door. Don't really want to be in a village. Have looked at starbeck and wasn't keen.

Anyone got any recommendations?

Born & raised in Harrogate. I STRONGLY advise against it as the town is bursting at the seams!
All the primary AND secondary schools are 100% full - so much so that they've had to create waiting lists where there was none, which now have 100+ children on each of them.
The last NHS dentist now isn't! The GPs are all full with waiting lists and the hospital is inaccessible via car mom - Fri due to sheer volume of vehicles queued outside for spaces and down the street.
We've just had a gigantic influx of Londoners & families from the SE appear (hence the 18 new developments 🤦🏼‍♀️) yet zero new facilities have been created. Honestly it's hell. It currently takes 54 mins to travel across town during the week after 7am & before 8pm. It's 3 miles wide. FIFTY FOUR MINUTES!

When I say after 7am & before 8pm I mean anytime^^ between 7am - 8pm! Yep you read that one right. Hell on earth.
We (my entire family) are desperately trying to find a way to move to York or surrounding villages. Sick to death of this. It's become local knowledge that seeing any of the GPs at your surgery is impossible unless a serious emergency for which you would call an ambulance anyway! I haven't seen a Doc face to face since pre-Covid and I have Early Onset Parkinsons!!! As you can imagine, I have a very essential, regular prescription but yet every month there's a supply issue due to the pharmacies being oversubscribed.

Knaresborough is not too bad but still has the lack of dentists since the gigantic new development off Boroughbridge lane, has lead to Knaresborough's only NHS dentist becoming full. There is an Aldi & Lidl in, along with a retail park with Next, TK Maxx/Home Sense, Matalan, M&S Food, Boots & McDonalds.
Knaresborough town has a market day every Wednesday which is great (but don't bother trying to park!)

I have no idea whether house prices are any better in Knaresborough as I have never tried to buy there, but I would definitely consider it before Harrogate, personally. Just based on the town itself.
There's also Green Hammerton, the very small village of Ripley, then the city of Ripon (actually quite small but called a city because there's a beautiful cathedral!).

I'm pretty certain house prices in Ripon will be much better. It's a nice place. Lots of shops and it too has a market day (Thursday). Couple of supermarkets and an Aldi. The lucky buggers even have a Home Bargains!

Also look at Wetherby. Although I believe Wetherby is part of West Yorkshire/Leeds City Council. It's definitely not in Leeds though. Quite a ways from it in fact. Nice place.

I love a wander round Harrogate, but couldn't live there for all the reasons the previous poster has stated. It's slammed full but without the services and infrastructure to support it.

Where would you be moving from?

Ripon and Masham are lovely but not near the centre obviously

Thank you for thoughts. Not very encouraging but still better to hear them now than after a move. We're moving from south leeds. Was hoping for a better lifestyle and a good place to bring the kids up. Any thoughts on an alternative place?! Needs to be commutable to Leeds. Was hoping for a nicer community (less yobs on mopeds!) and better amenities. We have thought about areas like Horsforth, roundhay and Chapel allerton but harrogate just seemed on the face of it more appealing. We did consider York but I think the commute into Leeds for our jobs would be a bit much from there. Ripon and Ripley probably also a bit far?

Sorry also just seen you suggested another village and wetherby @Ikeepmybumcheekshidden thanks I will have a look at those

Horsforth does tick all the boxes and there are quite a few properties for sale at the moment.

Lived in Harrogate a long time and love it (though the traffic is bad, terrible in fact along A59 through town). Based on your stated requirements you're probably want to be looking in the Southern & Western sides of town.

Parts of Starbeck are ok, parts not so much, same with Bilton and Jennyfields (Bilton has especially bad traffic which would put me off; if you look at Jennyfields you'll want to be further out towards the western end) .

Boroughbridge is probably the next best accessible place to Leeds that has more than just a village shop. It's a lot, lot smaller though.

I really like Ripon. It reminds me of Canterbury a bit, and has a good buzz about it.

I've only been there two or three times though. However, it a) gets sinkholes (iirc 87 at the last official count a few years ago) and also b) parts of it flood. The town centre is quite a bit higher than the river, so idk how much it is affected.

Why not move to North Leeds? It's much nicer than the South. There are some bits that feel like a village including Horsforth, Bramhope and Shadwell or, closer to town Chapel Allerton, Roundhay and Headingley.

Why not move to North Leeds? It's much nicer than the South. There are some bits that feel like a village including Horsforth, Bramhope and Shadwell or, closer to town Chapel Allerton, Roundhay and Headingley.

I'm near Harrogate.
Cold Bath Road is nice, but a very busy road. Lots of independent shops, a very busy primary school on it, and 2 secondaries at the top. 5 min walk into town.
Harlow area is ok, Harlow oval, etc.
Pannal Ash area nice, bit boring, no shops, bit far away from town, limited bus, right side of town to commute to Leeds.
The Saints area is nice, next to 2 religious secondary schools, St Aidens and St John Fishers. The nearest primaries to there would be Oatlands or Willow Tree.
Definitely avoid Starbeck.
Jennyfields has some nice bits and some not, same as Bilton.
We definitely have issues with yobs on mopeds, drugs, theft, maybe not as much as everywhere else but it's noticeable.
Consider Pannal? nice village, on the train and bus route, 10 mins into town if no traffic.
Rossett Green area might actually be good, nice, near Leeds Road shops, good bus, easy journey into Leeds.
In general in Harrogate, traffic is horrendous, roads can't cope with the traffic, the town centre is dying, but I like it, I do think it's a good place to raise kids.
Any other questions feel free to PM me.

Otley. Nice town, not difficult to get to Leeds and if you go north of the river you will be just about in Harrogate.

For commuting to Leeds, the Skipton train is significantly more reliable than the Harrogate one. And Skipton is surrounded by 'naice' villages.

'Just about in Harrogate'... apart from the 10 mile journey in between?!

Is Otley nice? It was always nice to shop in but definitely more rough around the edges than Harrogate/Horsforth.

Ignore this - Boroughbridge and Ripon are definitely not your next best commutable towns to Leeds from North Yorks!

Ilkley/Burley/Otley area is very nice. Addingham also, but a bit quieter and fewer amenities. Skipton and surrounding villages are also very nice. Personally I'm not keen on Wetherby due to poor public transport options.

Tadcaster (good schools) or Wetherby are options too.

Yes, all the thing’s already mentioned. We moved about 10 yrs ago and the new builds have mushroomed in that time, with no noticeable increase in services.

I’ve heard very good things about Selby?

It's certainly more down to earth than Ilkley, but generally nice, and the OP will be able to pick the best bits with her budget.

People I work with (well paid professionals) joke that Otley is a lot better than Ilkley "because it"s not full of dickheads driving range rovers".

No. My back garden is Harrogate. Some of the estates north of the river are Harrogate.

I love Otley. Dd lived there for five years before finding the right house in Harrogate, and I grew to love the place. Spend some time in Otley. It's 20 mins drive from Harrogate, for me, and I drive slowly.

York to Leeds is like half an hour on train, it’s not that bad.
what about Garforth, Sherburn in Elmet, Knaresborough…

North Otley might be Harrogate for the purpose of working out who empties your bins, but it's not Harrogate by the definition most people would understand. (Which is fine, I've never seen what the big deal is about Harrogate tbh!)

By the same token, Ilkley is in Bradford. But people don't confuse the two, do they? There's a whole moor in between.