Small Villages

[Tracy1230]

Hi everyone,
I’m wondering if anyone can help with our search. After careful consideration me and my husband have decided to follow our dream and relocate to a small village. However, there’s so many to sift through ha!
We want to live on the outskirts of a small village, so don’t have to be central but around 10-15 minute drive would be perfect. We want a small-ish village but with quite a few shops/cafes/restaurants. Quite rural but not too much so we would find it difficult to travel to work. We can both work in any major town, ie Leeds, York, Manchester, etc so we can move pretty much anywhere. However, we don’t want to move anywhere near London or further south than that.
We also need a good primary and secondary for our children.
Up to now we have seen Kirkby Lonsdale, which we love but not sure if its a bit far to commute, I don’t fancy doing the school run and travelling an hour everyday to work. My husband starts work very early and finishes gone 6pm so I’m the one who does all the pick ups and drop offs. Maximum about 30 mins I’m looking for.

We also came some across the Cotswolds and surrounding areas but not sure which villages to look at, if anyone could give us some direction that would be great.
Our budget is £400,000, we want a 4 bedroom detached house. Preferably not too close to other houses, or at least enclosed. Good views are extremely important too.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Egerton near Bolton is a large ish village, close to good countryside walks, good primary schools, Canon Slade secondary school, good train and bus connections into Bolton and Manchester. Nice restaurants supermarkets further along into Bromley Cross .

10-15 mins drive

That's not really the outer skirts of a village, that's miles away. a 10 - 15 min walk would be more outer skirts. Think about walking home from the pub or restaurant on an evening, or getting snowed in.

We’re looking for somewhere a bit more remote than bolton. More countryside.
10-15min drive suits us fine, if closer than that would be great. We not drinkers so not too fussed about walking home from the pub as we drive everywhere. Although that may change when the kids finally leave home 😉

So you want somewhere remote but a half hour commute to a major city? Given that it probably takes half an hour to commute to work if you live in one of the cities I'm not sure you're going to be able to get both of those....

Also, I'm assuming schools are a consideration?

If you don't need it that remote then there are lots of villages in the "golden triangle" between Harrogate, York and Leeds. But 400k probably wouldn't get you the house you are after.

Saddleworth? Ramsbottom and surrounding areas? Houses would likely fit your budget

From your description, rural but with quite a few shops, pubs and restaurants doesn't exist
Sounds more like you want to live on the edge of a market town, or a 10-15 minute drive of one?

We're about 15 minutes away from a market town, however our village has nothing - no pub, shop. I have to drive to town to get supplies if we forget anything on the weekly shop.

Would you consider Lincoln?
With your budget you could probably get somewhere within 30 minutes drive of Lincoln Market Rasen. Village on the outskirts of there and then drive you 10-15 minutes for the shops, restaurants etc

I think you’re wanting a smallish town rather than a smallish village! A smallish village is likely to have one small shop for basic groceries (which might also be a post office and a cafe if you’re lucky), a primary school, and a pub or two. At the very most! Market towns are great though, I live in the Cotswolds and I think somewhere like Minchinhampton or Painswick could work for you.

Egerton ,Belmont, Abbey Village , Rivington all on the edges of west pennine moors, rural enough but still good access to Bolton Manchester and Preston.
I don't think remote villages have all the conveniences you're looking for really. Besides if you have children they won't thank you for that lovely but remote village.

From what you have described you are looking for a larger village. Most small villages don't have several shops.

Yes I think you’re all right, a smallish town/big village is what we want. Something along the lines of Kirkby Lonsdale. When I say remote, I don’t mean totally isolated just ‘out of the way a bit’ 🙈. So we are not directly looked over by other houses.
Another area we have been to is Ambleside. We don’t want to move that far up north but that sort of vibe is what we are after. Lovely location, shops all within short driving distance and plenty of places to eat/drink.
Glad your all here otherwise I’d still be looking for that ‘small’ village. 😂

Thinking of the Cotswolds, which you mentioned, the sort of places in the south that would fit your description are Minchinhampton, Nailsworth, Tetbury, Malmesbury, Cirencester. I hesitate to recommend Stroud because I think it's a shit hole. What you are describing though is a small market town. I live in a rural (Glos) area surrounded by villages, and out of five villages only one has a small shop/post office, but they nearly all have a pub! I think your problem with the Cotswolds would be your budget, so you would get better value for money if you looked just outside (Severn Vale, North Wiltshire etc). Also the Forest of Dean is excellent value, as is the Hereford/Glos border.

Would a small village have shops and restaurants?!

*looks out of window at solitary shop.

Do you want rural or do you shops, restaurants etc. Because you can't have both.

I've always lived in small villages. Most I've had is one small corner shop and one pub. My last village had neither.

How about Marsden or Slaithwaite in West Yorkshire?

@Frith2013 My village has a chip shop, that’s a sort of restaurant lol

Villages along the Ilkley train line from Leeds might suit you - menston, burley-in wharfedale etc. Think Ilkley itself would not be affordable unless you were prepared to compromise on house size or detachedness.

Or Peak District villages outside Manchester?

Holmes chapel, cranage maybe. HC is a larger village but it does have the amenities you are looking for.

it always makes me laugh when people from the city say they want to live in a little rural village with lively cafe/resturants, shops of various nature, several secondary schools to choose from etc etc
a little rural village normally has 1 shop/post office and a pub and thats if you are lucky. most no longer even have a primary school anymore!

We live in a large village house wise as a couple of new estates have been built of aprox 100 houses each. we have 1 pub, 1 post office/tiny shop and thats it, no school or anything. oh the local farm sells fruit and veg out of a shed.

My village is obviously doing ok then, as it has a shop, pub, primary school and a fish and chip shop 🤣

I grew up in a village and as a result I am very greatfull to live in a city.
First try to rent for a year (and keeping/ getting lodger for your current place), reality might be different from what you are imagining.
If you have kids, teenagers need some independence and a small place without good public transport can 'trap' them. Asking mum or dad for a lift is just not very 'independent' and will become too soon very tiresome for parents.

You really need try before buying. It can be hard to shift a village/countryside house if you will change your mind.

Try Milnthorpe and Staveley (the one near Windermere) if you are looking at Cumbria.

Both have very active communities with butchers, village shops, primary schools and access to good secondary schools. Both have good access to major A routes to the M6. Both are within easy driving distance to Kendal/Lancaster for shopping and restaurants and there's loads of great country pubs for dining in the area.

You can get a direct train from Staveley to Manchester, other times of day it's just a change at Oxenholme. Milnthorpe is close to the M6.

Try Peak District. I'm only about 15 mins from Macclesfield, Bollington and Whaley Bridge. Macclesfield has a train station to major towns and cities. Our village just has a pub though no shops at all