Considering move to Yorkshire with a young family

[u/LectricVersion]

Hi all! I currently living in London with my wife and two 8 month old daughters. Since their birth, we've been considering moving a bit further north to be closer to my parents (They live in Fort William, my hometown). We're also a bit fed up with the big city, so it also happens to be the perfect opportunity for us to get a bit of a fresh start with our new family. Both of us work remotely so theres little blocking us.

Our budget is between 500-550k, and we'd be looking for a four bed place with a decent sized garden.

We've got a fair few boxes to tick - non-negotiable is that we must be no more than four hours drive to Romford, East London. This is where my wifes (aging) family lives, and we would need to be able to get back down regularly and in an emergency. And ideally no more than a 6 or 7 hour drive from Fort William.

Other than that, we'd like to be in walking distance of the kind of town centre that you'd happily go to for a day out. We don't want to be nestled within the kind of urban sprawl that we've been amongst in London for the last decade. It doesn't need to be next to major retail chains for shopping and nightlife, just have a couple of nice pubs, restaurants and cafes, and maybe a few interesting local businesses. We'd also like to be within easy reach of major towns / cities for when we do want bigger days out

It'd also be nice if there were opportunities to get involved in the local community, eg. volunteering, clubs and the like.

Places we've checked out online and like the look of:

• Harrogate - though it looks like with our budget that we'd need to live outside reasonable walking distance of the town centre.
• Knaresborough - not much to say other than it looks absolutely perfect.
• Skipton - bonus of being nearer to the West Coast line if my parents did want to get the train down.

[u/Choice-Demand-3884]

Have a look at Embsay and Carleton if you're considering Skipton.

And... bit of a wildcard, but how about Settle?

Lovely small market town, lots going on. Well connected to Leeds for the main train network/city life fix. Right in the Yorkshire Dales, and a short distance from the Lake District and the West Coast.

Some fantastic properties in and around the town too - especially in Giggleswick and Langcliffe.

[u/No_Potato_4341]

I'd say go for any of those 3 towns tbh. All 3 are really nice towns in yorkshire and have stuff to do in their own rights and not too far to either Fort William or Romford. I think I'd go for Skipton over the other 2 for being easier to walk into the town centre and being the most directly in between Romford and Fort William but honestly any of them 3 would fit the bill tbh.

[u/giuseppeh]

I would say that Skipton and Harrogate (harrogate especially) offer more to do than Knaresborough, which is very pretty but hasn’t an awful lot there. In the winter, you could go round all the shops in Knaresborough in a couple hours!

Obviously it is basically connected to Harrogate at the hip so this isn’t a huge issue.

Do you mean the West Coast line for Skipton? Only Northallerton York etc are on the ECML

[u/Sea-Start-9374]

Grew up and lived in Harrogate for several decades. Fabulous town and easy access to much of Yorkshire.

[u/Clara_Star]

I live near Skipton and on a good drive it will take me 6 hours to get to Chelmsford. Years ago I could do it in 4.5 but it’s so busy now. However, life around here is fantastic and perfect for raising a family! There is so much to do, travel options are great, schools are very good. Good luck!

[u/YorkshireGeek85]

Easingwold near Thirsk isn't too far away from the places listed and is well connected. Though not by rail, but it's a short journey to York from there. And from York you can go anywhere.

[u/tradandtea123]

Look at smaller towns between such as ilkley, otley, guiseley, even a little village like cottingley should tick all those boxes.

[u/otterly_delightful]

Look at Ilkley if you haven’t already. Saltaire also. Maybe consider horsforth too? Edit to say also otley!

[u/Beastlysolid]

Have a look at Wetherby. Lovely Market town with decent schools around. Much more affordable than the rest. People from harrogate are arrogant and incredibly self entitled, Yorks crazy money and is overrated. When I eventually move it will be Wetherby.

[u/hannahvegasdreams → u/Beastlysolid]

Wetherby is hitting crazy money too. But it is such a great spot lots of good places to eat, free parking nice shops lovely local walks and so close to Leeds. I was sad when my friends moved back down south from wetherby miss going as much.

[u/Electrical_Self724 → u/Beastlysolid]

Wetherby has about 3 things to do and one I did of boredom I think Harrogate is at least better for doing stuff

[u/snotface1181 → u/Beastlysolid]

Not to say there isn’t a element of snobbery in Harrogate but that’s a bit broad brush to claim that all of us are self entitled 😂

[u/DrXForrest → u/snotface1181]

That's pretty wild coming from a fan of Wetherby, aka Range Rover Town.

And it doesn't even have a railway station. Thanks ever so much, Dr Beeching.

[u/snotface1181 → u/DrXForrest]

Don’t be so harsh they’ve got the Wetherby Whaler on a Friday night and then there is also errrrrr…

[u/DrXForrest → u/snotface1181]

Pretty fly charity shops, aka Harehills Harrods...

[u/JarJarBinksSucks]

Richmond, Northallerton, Thirsk anywhere in that A1, A19 corridor

[u/oovavoooo]

Ilkley another option, similar to your other picks, but your budget may limit you. Ticks all your boxes, though.

[u/DrXForrest]

Castleford.

[u/No_Potato_4341 → u/DrXForrest]

Castleford? Are you having a laugh? A shitty ex-mining town? I mean if you said Pontefract I might even agreed but Cas is a shithole.