Moving to the Doncaster area

[starmonkey]

Hi All,

Thought I'd pop in from my normal Berkshire forum to ask a quick question and ask for some local knowledge

My other half has got a job in Halifax but I'm currently working in west London. I've had a look and it's not possible to commute so I'll be staying put for the time being. It's more than likely the next job I get will be London based as well but I'll make sure I only look at stuff that's central (closer to Kings X).

Looking at trains to London/car to Halifax it looks like the Doncaster area is going to be about right for location. So my question is where should I be looking to live in the area? As we're moving from suburbia ideally we'd like a good size house with garden in a small village - only complication is the need for decent broadband which I know can be a bit hit or miss. Also if anyone currently does the London commute how bad is it? I'm not expecting it to be great (it'll probably be all 5 days too)!

Thanks for any advice.

Nick

[Beni997]

If her job is in Halifax why are you looking at Doncaster as its about 50 miles away???

[starmonkey]

As I'll still need to get to London daily. That means East Coast mainline and any further up than Doncaster makes the commute unworkable.

[johnny-b]

Hi welcome to the Yorkshire forum
I live in Doncaster as do quite a few others on here so you will get plenty of advice.
Firstly the town is excellently connected for travel as you have spotted but you are totally underestimating the commutes you are proposing. Doncaster to Halifax on a daily basis would be hell the M62 is as bad as the M25 and the train from Don Kings X daily sounds good there is or was one train in a morning that takes 1h35 but it is packed expensive and arrives about 09:00 check out some timings.
On the up side there are some good places to live at sensible prices (for you southern boys) the roads are good the beers good and we are friendly.
Anything else just ask.
Regards John

[KarlMac]

Check out some of the smaller villages outside of the main town. As mentioned above if you work near Kings Cross its not too bad of a commute.

[alspeed]

I reckon you will be in work before your girlfriend, unless she doesn't mind a 5.00am start.

[anothernameitist]

Kirk Sandal, would be useful, has a station too.

I'm in halifax so I could help your other half too, if that's OK with you

[Martin_Hx]

Im glad my commute only takes around 20 minutes Im near Halifax and i have no idea what Doncaster is like but that one hell of a commute for you!

Isnt the M62 supposed to be ALOT better now the "smart" network is all working?

[anothernameitist]

^ It is but its an hour or so on a weekend.

Depends where in Fax she is of to too A58 can get busy from Chain bar at rush hour

[starmonkey]

Well apart from the area it doesn't sound like we're in for much fun then!

I'm used to long commutes, I'm currently doing a 2 hour in, 2.5 hour home and that's only to go 35 miles (stopping service + bus)! I'd be looking at a half 6ish train which apparantly gets me in for just after 8. It's 20 mins to Canary Wharf and 10 mins to Westminster so that should cover me for jobs. I realise its still 12 grand for a season ticket though!

My other half is not used to long commutes however (40 mins M4 at the moment) so if it's as bad as you're suggesting to get to Halifax that could be a problem. She'll be working near the train station, so right in the centre - I'm assuming that's the worst place to be

Any other suggestions for locations or am I a bit stuck?

[gmasterfunk]

I head south past Doncaster every day and thank my lucky stars im not heading north. The a1 regularly crawls north bound and is usually at a standstill. I can't imagine facing that then queuing on the 62 from castleford to the m1 probably 1 junction of free running then queuing all the way to j26. Then you choose to go a58 or on to j25. The opposite is true in the evening

I really think you should consider trying it before you commit.

[skip_1]

You can get a train direct from Halifax to London (Grand Central) which is obviously super handy for Halifax, if you fancy living there. Seriously though, there are some lovely villages in the area.

[starmonkey]

Yes we'll rent first before buying. The only problem is I can't seem to see any other options for us, further South is worse for the car commute and further North is too expensive both in time and £ for the train

[UpTheIron]

Picking up on one of your comments, at rush hour it will take you a lot more than 20 mins to get from your train to Canary Wharf if you end up being there at some point in the future. Your half six train might not get you at your desk for 9am.

[Pesty]

anothernameitist said:

Kirk Sandal, would be useful, has a station too.

I'm in halifax so I could help your other half too, if that's OK with you

The station at kirk sandal is very handy especially as the ticket collector doesn't always get to you before the trail pull into donny

But I imagine it's not what op is looking for as it's not that great an area IMO.

But small villages near by between barnby Dunn and syke house might be ok and still close to kirk sandal. Personally I'd be looking at Bawtry ( use park and ride to station maybe?) maybe wroot area ish but back roads for her to motorway, maybe somewhere like cadeby or Hooton Roberts thinking smallish villages.

Problem is best parts of donny are far away from it.

gmasterfunk said:

I head south past Doncaster every day and thank my lucky stars im not heading north. The a1 regularly crawls north bound and is usually at a standstill. I can't imagine facing that then queuing on the 62 from castleford to the m1 probably 1 junction of free running then queuing all the way to j26. Then you choose to go a58 or on to j25. The opposite is true in the evening

I really think you should consider trying it before you commit.

I work in Leeds/ Bradford regularly. I go m18 m62 and I can be in Leeds centre in 1hr15 give or take.

M62 can snarl up but it's not too bad these days. But still 2:30 + in total a day to Halifax in good traffic a day probably more for her as I have a heavy foot is not going to be fun. Problem is going to be tragic from the 62 into Halifax I imagine too.


Why can't she get a train to Halifax?

Edited by Pesty on Friday 29th April 17:39

[DMN]

starmonkey said:

I'd be looking at a half 6ish train which apparantly gets me in for just after 8.

My Wife gets that train from York when she needs to be London for half 8. She's never had issues with it. Although when she's gotten the one half an hour later its been quieter.

[starmonkey]

This is all useful stuff! Thanks!

I've checked trains from Halifax and the earliest one is at 6.06 and it doesn't reach London until 09:29 so that doesn't look like an option.

Depressing that it sounds like it'll be 2.5 hours+ to get from Doncaster to Halifax - Google reckons 1 hr 10 in Monday traffic (it's meant to have learnt traffic behaviour etc)

York could be an option, it is £14.5k for a season ticket though!! This looks like a similar time on Google Maps as it is from Doncaster, is this traffic better on the A64/M1 (M62 is still required)?

An option I've just thought of is the other half getting the train to Halifax, only takes 90 mins and only £2.5k...

[DMN]

York to Halifax would be A64, A1, M1, M62. I used to do the first three parts of that and found it better in the morning than the evening. Although there is the option of carrying on the M62 and coming up the A19 past Selby if the A1/A64 get snarled up on the way home. Which they can do a lot, more so in the summrer with the tourist traffic.

You can go North of Leeds to get to Halifax from York, but expect it to take longer.

Edit: Surely the obvious choice is Leeds?

Not a patch on York of course, but much better than Doncaster. Trains straight to London and a short commute for your wife.

[starmonkey]

I have looked at Leeds - as we want to be out in the countryside the amount of time it takes to commute in to the station rules it out.

There's also only one train that can get you to London before 9am.

[andburg]

I don't see this going well


Wakefield is probably the best option for driving to Halifax and remaining under 3 hours for the commute to london
Trains to Kings cross from wakefield westgate are around 2:40 but still leaves an hour plus to get to Halifax.

40 minutes from Halifax puts you in Batley/Morley/Huddersfield/west Leeds, all well off the main train routes to London