Sheffield and outlying areas

felinefancy

cherdoll said:

I can HIGHLY recommend Barnsley!! I moved here years ago and love it. I work with lots of ''southerners'' who sold up and moved up north and chose Barnsley due to low house prices, good schools and low crime rates. You can be in Sheffield in 10-15 mins, Leeds in 20, Wakefield in 15..Manchester in 35 minutes..
The town centre has undergone a multi million pound regeneration, great transport links and VERY green
Please just ask if you need any more in depth info! Good luck and be brave

@c@cherdoll, that's good to hear :-:smile:  We're definitely considering Barnsley.  We went up there in May for a week for a  short break to do a recce around Sheffield/Leeds areas etc.   I like that it's conveniently placed between the two giving me more choice if I need to look for a new job.  (Still not heard from my boss... gah!! and we need  her response to determine whether we'll be on a one-salary mortgage or two!)  

One thing about having our own home again is I can finally have some furbabies again (as you know, renting not ideal for pets..).   But we need to rent initially as it's very very difficult for us to get time off together to view houses up there from London.. OH works shifts and we have few weekends together.  I also don't have any annual leave left.  So we will look to rent for a short term however we'll try to see if we can get at least one weekend off together and few several properties that weekend.  I'm just concerned because houses are selling so quickly - no sooner do we enquire it's gone!

I am normally brave but getting older I seem to have become less courageous.  My OH is not British and therefore not totally familiar with some of the ways we conduct business here etc so much of this project will fall on my shoulders.  But I'll grit my teeth and take each step as it comes.

tdawber

Dronfield is nice? 

cherdoll

felinefancy said:

cherdoll said:

I can HIGHLY recommend Barnsley!! I moved here years ago and love it. I work with lots of ''southerners'' who sold up and moved up north and chose Barnsley due to low house prices, good schools and low crime rates. You can be in Sheffield in 10-15 mins, Leeds in 20, Wakefield in 15..Manchester in 35 minutes..
The town centre has undergone a multi million pound regeneration, great transport links and VERY green
Please just ask if you need any more in depth info! Good luck and be brave

@c@cherdoll, that's good to hear :-:smile:  We're definitely considering Barnsley.  We went up there in May for a week for a  short break to do a recce around Sheffield/Leeds areas etc.   I like that it's conveniently placed between the two giving me more choice if I need to look for a new job.  (Still not heard from my boss... gah!! and we need  her response to determine whether we'll be on a one-salary mortgage or two!)  

One thing about having our own home again is I can finally have some furbabies again (as you know, renting not ideal for pets..).   But we need to rent initially as it's very very difficult for us to get time off together to view houses up there from London.. OH works shifts and we have few weekends together.  I also don't have any annual leave left.  So we will look to rent for a short term however we'll try to see if we can get at least one weekend off together and few several properties that weekend.  I'm just concerned because houses are selling so quickly - no sooner do we enquire it's gone!

I am normally brave but getting older I seem to have become less courageous.  My OH is not British and therefore not totally familiar with some of the ways we conduct business here etc so much of this project will fall on my shoulders.  But I'll grit my teeth and take each step as it comes.

You will be fine in Barnsley, it is perfectly placed between the 2 cities (or 3 if you include Wakefield too) and has a lot of big employers. Feel free to send me a message if you need any advice, or need a cat sitter when you DO move up! I wish you didn't have to rent and let someone else profit..but I understand, especially when it is a new area. Check Council Tax rates too and crime rates obviously. You'll love it! A lady I work with was made redundant in Wimbledon and moved up a few years ago after never even hearing of Barnsley until they began house hunting form somewhere affordable/safe...and she wouldn't ever go back now

nimbo

Air B and B rent by the month and you can get a whole house???? No six month tie in but you pay a premium. And may have to move. 

House buying is taking 16 weeks approx currently in the Barnsley area so a 6 month tie in isn’t the end of the world. 

Viewings in Barnsley were being cancelled on the day at times recently so arranging from that far would be a nightmare. Sorry. 

For Barnsley - 

There are nice bits in Goldthorpe and thurnscoe. (Close the the a1 to Leeds - but it depends which side of Leeds as traffic can be a mare). Pretty pit villages. Lovely community feel. There are also bits that are a bit rough.  

Dodworth is nice and by the m1. But probably out of your price range. It was out of mine too. Also traffic was a mare. 

Broadway - also near the m1. There will be small things in the right price range. Traffic is a mare. 

Cudworth has some nice bits and Space. 

athersley has previously had a bad rep and lots of bits are now way better then they used to be. A lot are ex council. Freehold. But that means they have gardens and big rooms. 

Swinton in Rotherham has nice bits. 


Ardsley - nightmare for traffic. 

Royston - personally I wouldn’t want to live there. And also a nightmare for transport links. 


personally I’d avoid:  
Grimethorpe - Barnsley 
kendray in Barnsley. 

Anywhere too close to town where Windsor’s shoes is - don’t know the name of the area. 

Raw marsh in Rotherham. 

RelievedSheff

I would add Jump to the places to avoid in Barnsley.

cherdoll

Brierley is my favourite little village in Barnsley. It is gorgeous.
Wombwell is nice in some areas but has some rough ish estates, but GREAT transport links.

Agree with a lot of Nimbo's comments, except Grimethorpe now has some really lovely estates. The traffic comments hopefully won't be relevant soon when the new contraflow is completed

RAS

felinefancy said:

 We're definitely considering Barnsley.  We went up there in May for a week for a short break to do a recce around Sheffield/Leeds areas etc.   I like that it's conveniently placed between the two giving me more choice if I need to look for a new job. 

If you need to look for work in Leeds, check the public transport connections and go for somewhere central, or make sure you'll be south of the river if you commute by car. Leeds has limited river crossings and if one fails the others snarl up very quickly.

It frequently used to take as long to get from home to the other side of the river (4 miles) as to get complete the journey by car. I decided to commute by bus and train as reasonable car journeys required a 7.10am start and there was no point getting back into Leeds before 6.40pm. 

nimbo

cherdoll said:

Brierley is my favourite little village in Barnsley. It is gorgeous.
Wombwell is nice in some areas but has some rough ish estates, but GREAT transport links.

Agree with a lot of Nimbo's comments, except Grimethorpe now has some really lovely estates. The traffic comments hopefully won't be relevant soon when the new contraflow is completed

The new estates in Grimethorpe are really over priced and have paper thin walls with tang gardens.  Some have amazing views currently - green bits and hills. But they’ll be built on soon enough. 

And any place near stair foot will be a mare for queues in rush hours and at weekends. Super pretty places. Also more houses are planned for near the old b&q site. 

felinefancy

Thanks everyone, this is really very useful information and greatly appreciated.  We're tending to look more towards the Barnsley area as it's bang in the middle and are remotely viewing a property next week. Also one in Swinton.  How's East Dene?

Fingers crossed that I can still work remotely for my present company.. should hear next week and that will determine exactly what we can go for.  

Yes, we had sort of heard about using Air BNB instead of renting six months.  It's a possibility!

nimbo

Sorry don’t know easy dean.