Moving to Yorkshire

[CityToCountryMouse]

My partner and I are relocating from Merseyside to Yorkshire. Our absolute max budget would be £500,000 for a 4 bedroom house. My partner will be working two days a week from an office in Leeds and from home the rest of the time and I work from home. This will be our first joint home together and the home we look to start our family in so being in close proximity to a good primary school would be important and being able to commute to Leeds too. We’d also like somewhere that is close enough to go into York on the weekends. And we’d need to be able to get to Liverpool and Wrexham with ease for going back to see family. Our ideal place would be a more countryside setting, with nice walks / cycle routes and with all the main amenities you’d need (pharmacy, butchers, bakers, local shop) so we wouldn’t have to travel into a bigger place too often. Any recommendations? So far we’re thinking places like Boroughbridge and Easingwold? But we are still doing our research and I’d really value others advice / recommendations etc. Thanks in advance if you’re able to help

we are still doing our research and I’d really value others advice / recommendations etc

I would recommend @CityToCountryMouse you start by posting in the right section of Mumsnet. This is "AIBU", a forum with a question in its title, which is where people ask if they are unreasonable regarding an issue.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/property

Are you planning a train or car commute into Leeds?

Have a look at Wilberfoss, fantastic village.
Butchers, pub, village shop, community centre, great nursery and primary school.
20 mins into York
40 mins into Leeds (depending on time of day) - DH used to do the commute

OP ask for the thread to be moved to the appropriate topic.

Sorry @JacquesHarlow . Confession - this is my first ever mumsnet post so I’m very much in learner mode! Will I be able to edit the post so I can change where it sits, and if so, is there a section I’d be best moving it to? Thanks also for flagging

No it's fine here I'm just being a pain.

@SwanOfThoseThings Train would be preferable as parking in Leeds can be quite expensive per day. For example there’s a QPark close to the office but that’d be £20 for the day! 😮Plus we share one car currently

@Christwosheds and @JacquesHarlow I have reported my original post in the hopes that someone much smarter and wiser than me can help me with moving it to the right area. Finger crossed someone can help and thanks both for letting me know 🙏

Have a look Selby district way - Selby itself gets bit of a bad rep but it’s really not that bad and some of the villages around are lovely and you’ll get way more for your money plus rail connections from Selby to Leeds are very good. North and west of Selby best places to start

Have a look at Saltaire/ Shipley just outside of Bradford. It's a UNESCO village built for the mill workers in the 1800s. Loads of great pubs, local shops, cafes, an art gallery and a brewery. I work in Leeds and it's 15 minutes on the train onto Leeds and about 45 mins from York, and an easy drive to Merseyside as it's close to the M62. Also very close to North Yorkshire, so beautiful country side on your doorstep. The Saltaire village houses are getting a bit pricey as they're grade 2 listed now, but you could definitely get a nice 1930s semi like we have, or a new build for 3-400k! Also Bingley, Baildon, Ilkley and Guiseley are worth a look. Although a bit more expensive.

I didn’t think Boroughbridge or Easingwold had stations, personally that would put me off if I had to drive to York or Knaresborough to get the train to Leeds.
Parking at York station is very expensive.

I think the countryside is better on the western side of Leeds - there are lots of attractive villages and small towns on the edge of fabulous views and countryside walks. And proximity to Leeds would cut commuting costs.

Personally I would consider Otley and it’s surroundings - no station in the town itself but 5 minute drive to Menston (also worth a look itself) which has a big car park, then less than 20 minutes to Leeds. Everything you might need in the town. Straightforward to get to both York (about 40 minutes in the car) and the M62 without having to go round/through Leeds.

You could look at Hebden Bridge - frequent trains into Leeds although they get busy at rush hour as you might expect. There's an an abundance of country walks in that area. The little town has an alternative/hippie vibe which might or might not be to your taste. 45 -50 mins by train into Leeds. It would be about an hour and half to drive to Liverpool, and similar by train if you got the Chester train from Hebden Bridge. You're also about half an hour away from Manchester by train.

I can see it has moved, I think you will get better replies in this section. 🙂

You might have jinxed the thread by saying that 😆

How about the towns and villages near the train line between Harrogate and York. Poppleton, Kirk Hammerton, Marton cum grafton knaresborough. Etc Lovely part of the world. Train goes to Leeds. And close to a1.

Thanks @BellaVita I’ve not heard of Wilberfoss before, so it’s a new area I’m adding to my list! It looks like it’s in a quieter rural setting, which we’d like. Plus you’d have the Howardian Hills, North York Moors, and the Yorkshire Coast not too far away. We’ve also heard good things about Beverley, which isn’t far from Wilberfoss. I think my only concern would be you’d have the get the train into York to get to Leeds, so driving would be easier from this area. However, I can imagine going underneath York to get to Leeds you may have to opt for an early start and early finish in work to avoid the traffic build up!

Thank you @MEBBEEE. We had a meeting with one of our system suppliers recently and one of their Project Managers lives in Garforth. I’ve not done a lot of research yet on areas to the East of Leeds and he said to look at Hambleton and Selby. We’ve had recommendations for Tadcaster and a bit further up Wetherby too. Selby Abbey looks impressive and it’s good to know about the Selby line that goes to Leeds also.

It would be a bus into York (which goes to the station). My DH used the park and ride just outside of Leeds - he would park up and cycle (cycle path all the way in to the centre).

Yes, Beverley is also lovely.

Lots to research 😊

Have a look at Askern area. Askern itself is lovely - former pit village, but very well catered for despite being rural. Co-op, Aldi, Heron, several cafes, traditional bakery etc. Lovely lake, nice parks. If you want trains then Doncaster is on the main Leeds - London line; by car you are on the A19 that takes you to the M62 / A1/ M1. About 25 minutes into Leeds by car. With that budget you could buy a lot, and have plenty to spare!

If you’re looking the boroughbridge side of York, take a good look at predicted housing developments in the next couple of years. There’s a ton of planned housing that way and on the outer york ring road. Highlighting this as the local infrastructure can’t keep up (schools etc) there’s also no station in boroughbridge

If you want an area in outer York and commute to the main train station, the traffic on the ring road in the morning can be a nightmare, and parking is ££. You’d be better off trying for one of the outer stations on the Leeds line like nether poppleton

Other areas that always come up on these threads are ones you’ve already mentioned- Otley, Tadcaster, Wetherby

@CityToCountryMouse "I think my only concern would be you’d have the get the train into York to get to Leeds, so driving would be easier from this area." Train from Beverley to Leeds is via Hull. There is no direct train Beverley to York only the bus. Much of the old track is walking/cycling path.
However, Beverley is lovely and the wiser drive to Brough for the train to Leeds. Pocklington on the edge of the Wolds is another busy market town and works for only 2 days in Leeds. Howden is on the train line and it's all small villages between there and York.

With your commuting/travel requirements I’d pull up a map and look at the transport infrastructure.

my brother did a similar move- they chose Wakefield area as it’s extremely well connected to the m1/a1/m62 networks- he works in London 3 days a week. There’s also a train from Wakefield to London in under two hours, plus Manchester/liverpool/plymouth/edinburgh/Sheffield etc.

not a usual suggestion- most like pp will be for the “posher” areas, but they have found it great value for money and their transport works brilliantly. We visit a fair bit.

I’ve heard really good things about Saltaire @Sw1989 and it’s an area that keeps getting recommended to us. People have said it’s got lots of independent cafes, restaurants and bars, a really nice park, and canal walks. Although some have said to be aware that parking can be a nightmare due to it being a popular place to visit, and that there’s a lot of restrictive grade two listed properties. I know it’s quite close to Bradford itself too and others have warned it’s a mixed bag there with both good and bad areas. I appreciate that’s true of any area - however with us relocating and not knowing the area well enough to know the good vs bad (at this stage) that’d be one concern I’d have. As we are currently trying to conceive our first child, and this will be the home we hopefully start our family in. And from what others have said there are some areas of high deprivation in Bradford with higher crime rates (due to things like drug dealing and car crash / insurance scams). I guess I’d just be concerned about that spilling out into the nearby areas. Others have also said to check out flight paths from Leeds Bradford Airport as plane noise can affect areas like Horsforth, Menston, Otley, Bingley, and Shipley. Although I don’t know whether Saltaire would be affected too? Ilkley was on our list also, but houses don’t seem to come on the market as much and are more expensive. From our research so far we’d get less square footage in Ilkley than in other areas too. Appreciate this will be because it’s a popular area that has good train links and schools though!

Another vote for Hebden Bridge - also look at Halifax and Huddersfield which would fit your criteria in terms of trains for work and relative proximity to Liverpool. I think it’s Savile Park in Halifax which is the nicest bit IIRC, all of Hebden Bridge is nice. No bad areas really.

Hi @OlgaFjeldso, you’re absolutely right neither Boroughbridge or Easingwold have train stations. My thinking was they’re both market towns that are a bit more rural so may be less popular or susceptible to lots of new housing developments popping up. As I know having too many new build developments can place a lot of increased pressures on local amenities and infrastructure such as dentists, GPs, schools, roads, and public transport etc. Equally though I know it’d make the commute two days a week into Leeds a bit more complicated for my partner. It’s something I’m really conscious of and it’s difficult striking the balance between being in an area that delivers what we’d like when we’re not in work on the evenings and weekends and also when we are! Boroughbridge is close to train stations at Cattal (12 mins) and Knaresborough (15 mins) with trains going from these stations into Leeds. Then Easingwold is close to the park and ride sites at Rawcliffe Bar (17 mins) and Poppleton Bar (22 mins) with trains going from York into Leeds. We have sold our house and are just waiting for a completion date, so our plan is to move into rental accommodation in Leeds/Yorkshire before buying so we can get a much better understanding of the areas on our list and what will work and won’t work for us. As I appreciate what sounds do-able on paper might not actually be okay in practice!