Help - where in Derbyshire?

[flowerpot66]

My husband has been offered a new job, but it will mean moving to Derbyshire, where we don't have any family/friends/local knowledge.

To anyone who knows Derby/Derbyshire, can you share what it's like for families? Are there any areas in particular we should consider? Our kids are 6 and 9.

Thanks so much!

I'm ex-Derby, was born and lived there. It's a big county, south has the city and north the Peak District, lots of nice towns and countryside in between.
So what are your preferences?

It’s a big place, do you want to live in the middle of nowhere, small village, a town or the city. I would say Derbyshire has a bit of everything (a part from coastline). You need to be a bit more specific about what you’re looking for. Happy to help though. Also a budget would be good.

where is the new job? This is important as there are hills and some commutes will be more difficult than others 😀

Yes, Derbyshire is huge!
Do you need to be close to Derby itself?
North/south of the county? They are really quite different. Derby(shire) born & bred and still live here so happy to help.

Thanks so much - this is already very helpful! We'd be moving from Essex (the London border region) so one of my worries is that we'd end up fairly remote and isolated compared to what we're all used to.

Husband would need to travel all over the county for work, so we would need somewhere fairly well connected by road/train but we don't need to be in Derby specifically. The main thing is that there would be good schools nearby, plenty for the kids to do, hopefully a nice sense of community and not too remote!

Duffield is a nice village in the centre of the county with good primary/secondary schools and a train station. It has several nice pubs, cafes & restaurants. Several community events through the year such as the carnival & scarecrow festival. The A6 runs through the village and is one of the main roads through the county so would offer good access for your husband's job.
Only a 15 minute drive into Derby or Belper. Easy to get into the peaks for a day out.
House prices are well above the average for the county though. May not matter too much if you're moving up from the south.

Belper is lovely market town a few miles further north. Again close to the A6 and has a station. Various arts/culture type activities, an independent cinema, sports centre etc.

Lots to do in Derbyshire - I'm sure you'll love it!

Bakewell is nice

Thank you to everyone who has replied, I just wanted to say thank you. You've made me feel a lot better about the move. We've started to look at Duffield and Belper, both seem like really nice communities.

There was this recent thread about Belper-I know the area well so any questions, just ask!
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/5049846-whats-belper-derbyshire-like?reply=134537975