Despite living in one of the capital’s coolest urban villages, East Dulwich, Kat and Mark Hedley were looking for a complete change when they moved 220 miles to the fringes of the Yorkshire Dales.
The couple, both 44, and their two children, Mia, eight, and James, 12, have found a new life in Pool-in-Wharfedale, a “one pub village” just north of Leeds.
They have swapped a city postage stamp garden for 2.5 acres of land; the daily commute now means a walk downstairs, since the couple both work from home most of the time — Mark as an editor and publisher, and Kat as director of operational risk for a bank; and family walks mean a three-hour hike around an 841-square-mile national park.
Almost six years on, Mark believes the biggest change of all has been the reduction in day-to-day stress.
“In London if you want to get a doctor’s appointment it is like trying to get tickets for Glastonbury. Here you don’t have to queue for anything, so even though the pace of life is slower you get more done.”
The number of incomers is likely to increase this year, on the heels of this week’s release of Wuthering Heights, a new film by Saltburn director Emerald Fennell, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Emily Brontë’s doomed lovers.
The film was shot on location all around the dales, from the moorland of Swaledale to the remote village of Low Row.
The movie is not the Dales’ first brush with screen fame. Both All Creatures Great and Small and Emmerdale are set there. But it is by some distance its most glamorous and will focus global attention on this under-the-radar glacial landscape of valleys and streams, endless moorland, and some incredibly beautiful towns and villages.
It is also pleasingly affordable. According to research by estate agent Hamptons an average home in the Yorkshire Dales will set you back £289,000 — in the Cotswolds you would pay £394,000, and in suburban outer London you are looking at £502,000.
Richmond, with its Norman castle dominating the skyline, and quaint cobbled square, is regularly named Britain’s best market town, which house hunters prize for its rich stock of Georgian architecture.
“It is an unspoiled town despite the fact that a lot of interesting new shops have been appearing,” says Richard Thompson, director of Alderson Estate Agents.
Average properties in Richmond trade at £254,000, up 11 per cent in the past five years, found Hamptons. If you want a three-bedroom Georgian townhouse in the town centre Thompson said you should find one for £450,000 to £550,000.
For those who want to live more off the beaten track, Thompson also recommends nearby Hudswell. “It has a community pub, there are walks everywhere, and you are only a couple of miles from Richmond,” he says. A three-bedroom Victorian stone cottage in the village would cost around £450,000 to £550,000.
With a population of just over 15,000, Skipton is a metropolis by Dales standards, and its position 18 miles north-west of Bradford makes it one of the best-connected options for buyers moving north. Trains to King’s Cross take two hours and 45 minutes.
Joe Langley, branch manager of Hardisty Estate Agents, suspects people make the move from London to Skipton to escape the havoc of urban life. “It is just a slower pace of life here, it is so peaceful,” he says.
Langley rates Skipton because of its proximity to “real countryside and views for days” as well as the benefits of living in such a vibrant town. “It has not lost its soul and there is loads to do, a real hub.”
It is also outstanding value for money, with an average sale price of £245,000, up a resounding 24 per cent since 2020. A three-bedroom house in the town centre would cost around £285,000, rising to around £300,000 if you want something chocolate box.
For buyers who want to really immerse themselves in nature, Hawes is set smack in the heart of the Dales and surrounded by mountains and moorland. Its remoteness means property in Hawes feels like a steal compared to London, with homes selling for an average £222,5000 according to Hamptons.
As a tourist honeypot, Hawes has more amenities than you might expect for a town with a population well below 1,500 — a couple of pubs, several restaurants, a bakery and the Wensleydale Creamery.
Buyers, says James Brown, owner of Norman F Brown estate agents, are a mix of young retirees and work-from-homers — second home buyers having been deterred by the introduction of Council Tax surcharges. “It is a very friendly and tight knit community, and very welcoming,” says Brown.
Langley agrees that incomers moving to Yorkshire need not fear the attention of angry placard-waving locals blaming them for rising house prices and begging them to go home. “I don’t think anybody is bothered where you come from so long as you get stuck in.”
