Anyone live in or near Harrogate

[Wootle123]

We are contemplating moving to Harrogate (or near-ish). We moved from London a couple of years ago to almost central Manchester due to work and have never really felt settled for various reasons.

All family in Yorkshire and DH and I both like the North Leeds area and know it well from Uni days. We both can work in Leeds or possibly Harrogate.

I've been a few times to Harrogate and visited recently and was once again wowed by it (except the traffic).

Can anyone recommend any villages / small towns close by (we wouldn't want to be too central as don't think we could afford it) that I can look at on Rightmove and compare property prices / schools etc? Ideally south of Harrogate but doesn't really matter. In a village we would prefer a shop and a pub but happy for it to be quite rural as long as within easy ish reach of Harrogate amenities.

Budget wise we would be looking at around 500-600k for a 4-5 bed house.

[Ke88y]

Hi all, sorry to jump on someone else’s thread. we will be relocating to Harrogate this summer from Northampton. Ideally looking to be around the Grammar catchment if our budget will stretch. My children are 9 and almost 11. Where we are now, they both go to scouts/brownies, son plays for the local rugby team and daughter wants to try dance classes and horse riding. Does anyone’s kids do these kind of activities and have any recommendations please? I will also be looking to meet people as I won’t know a soul. Does anyone know of any groups, excercise classes etc? Thanks in adavance x

[tootsieglitterballs]

@Ke88y Not sure how you have got on with your searching, but just wanted to point out (in case you didn’t know) harrogate grammar isn’t a ‘grammar’ school and doesn’t have the best of reputations in Harrogate compared to the likes of st aidens.

Ripon Grammar however is a ‘proper’ grammar if that is what you are looking for 😊.

[tootsieglitterballs]

And when I say not a proper one, I just mean it’s not a selective one. It’s an academy now which has just retained the name ‘grammar’ as that’s what it’s known as.

It does still have a better reputation than some of the Harrogate schools, but St Aidens is much better from experience.

RGS is a selective school with an entrance exam.

[LarkinSky]

HI @Ke88y and @Wootle123, digging up an old thread here but I'm in the same position as you both were a year ago and looking to move to Harrogate (from outside the UK). I'd love to hear how it went for you, if you relocated, and any insight you have into areas / schools. We're also looking at HGS catchment areas, south-side, house-with-garden...

[Mrsrobinson247]

Hi @LarkinSky Harrogate is great, I grew up there. As pp have said the best schools in Harrogate are generally considered to be st aidans and st John fisher (both faith schools). I think HGS have recently changed their admissions policy, they used to give priority to rural children but now it is mixed rural/town but by rural it is villages to the north of Harrogate not south. Children on the south side go to Rossett, I’m not sure about your budget but the villages around Harrogate are very expensive, particularly south side and a lot of the children from these villages are privately educated at LGS, gateways and Ashville.