Location help please - Lancashire & West Yorkshire

[Pyjamas90]

DH has a new job which means more remote working, he'll only be in a few times a month. I'm almost fully remote.

We're looking at a few locations but are not fully sure of the areas, ideally within 1 hour of Preston, we want somewhere more rural (ish) and not too overlooked. We like older houses and cottages but are focused more on location and garden.

We've seen a nice houses online in Pilling, Poulton le flyde, Carnforth, Keighley, Edenfields and Bacup. I don't know any of the areas too well, does anyone have any suggestions of areas or big no-go areas please?

Before you decide on anywhere in the Fylde, make sure that you are not going to be affected by the work connecting the offshore windfarm to Penwortham (outside Preston). These are major works and will take many years to complete. Several huge substations are planned which will produce on-going noise issues in some villages

Wrea Green.
Lytham (not Lytham St Anne’s).
Great Eccleston.
Garstang.
Catterall.
Inskip.

I'd not heard about that... there's some sort of big electricity facility outside penwortham, is that where they're connecting to?

Poulton-Le-Fylde is lovely, small, lively town. It was rated in a top place to live list. Nice restaurants, a Booths! lovely feel and it has a train station to pop off. Well worth a visit.

These are all good options too!

Quite a lot of the places mentioned are getting a rash of new build houses, which on the one hand is depressing the price of older stock but on the other may make the OPs search for rural-ish and not overlooked harder (there's quite a few properties round here which were just that till recently and now are abutted by huge estates).

There may be places that'd suit the OP in the Forest of Bowland if she'd like to be more out in the sticks. We used to know someone who had a house near the bottom of Beacon Fell, and others who lived in places like Chipping.

The OP seems to be looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, I'd think they may need to find somewhere to rent near Preston, then register with estate agents and be willing to wait for the right property to come up, meanwhile doing a lot of exploration of the lanes and villages.

South Ribble - Hutton, Longton, New Longton, Higher Penwortham.

Agreed @Sunnnybunny72 also maybe whitestake, much Hoole, Bretherton and Croston too. Oh and Mawdsley.

Garstang and Scorton are both beautiful places to live!

I'd agree with this. The OP's search area is huge, and they don't sound familiar with any of the areas. Renting and exploring the various towns/villages will be most likely to help them identify which suits them.

There has been very little publicity. The route is from Squires Gate, and then through a lot of rural Fylde. The trenches are as wide as a motorway, and there will be sub stations on the route.

Having had a lovely walk in Silverdale today, I'm going back to one of the OPs initial thoughts - Carnforth, and the area up from there. I don't know what it's like to live in but it's a really lovely area, close to Lancaster which is a nice small city, easy to get down to Preston on the motorway but there's also a train line with stations at carnforth, silverdale and Arnside.

Poulton is lovely with lots to do in the local area, outstanding schools, beach nearby and a good nightlife. Easy 18 min train ride to Preston. Preesall more rural but also a pain to get to/ from.

Keighley’s pretty run down tbh. The surrounding area has some lovely places though; we live v close and our go to town is bingley, Skipton or ilkley. Not a big shopper though!
if you’re looking for an hour to Preston then you probably need east access to m65, which is also LOADS more reliable and pleasant than the m62 which is a nightmare to be avoided.

that might mean looking at the corridor between Skipton and clitheroe. Which I think are more pricey but have grammar school system. Happy to chat dm if you’re looking more closely at the bjngley/Skipton corridor

If you've got kids and they're bright then in the catchment of clitheroe or lancaster grammars may be a good move. The latter for the girls school (unless it's changed since DD went there) is shifted rather north of the town so it doesn't include garstang but does include carnforth.

Great Eccleston or Elswick?

@IDoLikeToBeByTheSea what’s up with St Anne’s? Prices seem to be high enough to indicate a nice area.

Oh nothing wrong with St Anne’s generally. But OP wanted somewhere more rural and not too overlooked and St Anne’s is more built up compared to a lot of Lytham

The smaller towns in the Preston>Colne strip can be nice if you choose well, cheaper than many of the areas mentioned, and not too far from the M-way if yu choose wisely.
Colne itself is a problem due to needing a bypass for about 40 years- where the m-way stops the road can be very congested beyond it. I'd avoid the centres of the bigger towns if you can afford to. But the countryside is great. Villages are, of course, more expensive and tend not to have shops and other facilities.

In terms of Keighley, people don't consider how large the Keighley district is. There are truly lovely villages around the town, with very friendly people, charming architecture (cottages, barns etc) and stunning scenery.

Back in the days of its Victorian wealth people bathed in it's success, thus it's some 40 square-mile catchment enclosed a lot of areas. As an example, villages bordering Skipton have Keighley on their address, despite being in North Yorkshire, whilst Keighley is mostly in West Yorkshire. Lothersdale is one example.

Yes, the town centre has sadly seen better days, which is a shame, but the surrounding villages do make up for it. We moan and moan to have our beautiful architecture preserved but Bradford Council don't seem to be interested... We do try, but what can you do?

I am able to live anywhere due to remote working from London, but I always gravitate home to my village a few miles out of Keighley centre due to family connections but also the genuinely friendly bunch of people here. I always say I am from Keighley, and when people ask where abouts in the town I am always entertained by the change in tone in conversation when they say "oh its lovely there". Why someone should be treated differently based on where they are from or chose to live, I have no idea. But small minds exist everywhere (yes, even in Chelsea!).

Other parts of Yorkshire are more prosperous, but they can be quite snobby (not everyone, of course) but taking Ilkley and Harrogate as examples of more prosperous towns, not all areas in both places are picture perfect ... But they have lovely town centres. Keighley is the opposite really.

Places to recommend in Keighley?

Central Keighley - Utley and Spring Gardens were very wealthy back in the day, and still retain lovely architecture. Cliffe Castle is an example of how things used to be. Whilst the area has changed in terms of demographics, you could still have a decent time living there.

Outskirts - villages such as Oakworth, Laycock, Goose Eye are a few miles out and comprise conservation areas so remain green - they are basically farming villages. Further out, places like Cononley on the way to Skipton are recommendable. Being next to Skipton but in Keighley means the same country vibe but cheaper property prices (although not cheap).

Don't discount Keighley - you get a bit of everything here and it adds to its eclectic, open vibe. I know teachers, lawyers, doctors, judges etc that live in the Keighley district. What do they have in common - they are friendly with no hang ups about themselves. And they say they are from / live in Keighley! Not near Keighley, but Keighley. We are a proud lot!

I hope this helps! I'm happy to help should you have any more questions.

Good luck with your move - I hope it's a happy one.

Isn't Lothersdale close to at least one of the possible Colne bypass/M65 extension routes? Though I'd think it was easily the least likely one. And even if they pick the most likely it's not likely to be built in the next couple of decades at the earliest- it's been desperately needed for 40 years to my certain knowledge and has never got within a sniff of getting anywhere.

Yes there was talk of it being that way. Quote hilly terrain for a bypass though!