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How good is the riding and general living up there?
It has a rough around the edges clientele in parts.
Seems like a nice town to live in whenever I ride through, definitely some critical mass, but never lived there. It is somewhat isolated although I guess you can drive anywhere - end of a branch train line and the Manchester train is pretty slow. Macc is the adjacent town, far better connected, but I would guess also far more expensive.
The school situation sounded a bit iffy from a couple of people I've known (if you have kids). One woman I worked with grew up there and had to get the bus each day to Stockport for A-levels, and talked about v low levels of aspiration. Her husband [who was a bright fella] worked in a quarry, because that is what 16 yo lads do in Buxton. Obv just an anecdote but maybe something to check.
What's the riding like? Please.
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;">What’s the riding like? Please.</span>
😀 did seem a bit silly asking that going on the scenery but good to hear some routes and stories to encourage me.
Schools etc not a problem, it is just a 1yr contract. Just been looking to see what accommodation is around. Client site is right in the hills above the town so I would probably just keep a bike in the car all the time.
The riding is top notch. Less than 30 mins driving gets you to Hope or Castleton for ladybower & the dark peak. Tons of white peak action from the door, 20 mins driving to bakewell. All of the goyt valley and Macc forest on the doorstep.
Just over an hour to Greno and the trail centres of Sheffield, just over an hour to staffs and Cannock. Buxton is in the centre of shit tons of good mountain biking.
Did some riding from Ladybower round through Hope and up Mam Tor a couple of years back. Really regretted that full english breakfast at the B&B when I got to the broken road climb!
Am I right in thinking a little bit north of ladybower is some good stuff?
I hope you like the cold...place always seems 'danker' than anywhere else nearby! However, riding good, caving good (if you like that sort of thing) and plenty going on with the Opera House events
N of Ladybower is a famous trail called cut gate. Round that particular area is bleak moorland that doesn't have much else though.
You've got stuff at all quarters of the compass from Buxton. And the places which are quieter for MTB trails are often great for road-biking. Large part of the white peak SE from Buxton is all quiet pictureque roads.
For the riding take a look at the V-Publishing guidebooks to Dark and White Peak, I'm pretty sure it features in both, though it's arguably more white than dark. Good road and cross bike riding on the doorstep. Easy access to the rest of the Peak. And some great old, high-ceilinged houses. As a town it's always reminded me of a smaller scale, mildly-faded, slightly down-at-heel Harrogate.
I think it'd be quite a cool place to live for a year, though I reckon the riding's better slightly further north.
Be careful where you look to move, some really shitty areas around Buxton and well worth avoiding.
Riding is good though, plenty to go at.
As others have said, Bucko is a bit rough around the edges (lots of junkies etc).
However, it also has a bit of culture too, if that's your thing (Good amdram scene, Opera house, touring small time bands etc).
The weather is a bit rum.
The riding is great.
I don't live in Buxton but know it well having visited it countless times both riding and non-riding. Goyt Valley loop (think it's nicknamed Hilly Goyts Gruff) which half way round joins onto the Macc Forest loop (nicknamed Screaming Cats) so can do both of these short loops as a medium sized 26 miles ride. The best stuff is a 20+ minute drive away (e.g. Hope Valley Dark Peak trails) rather than what is available to ride into from Buxton itself.
Plenty more options for walks though.
Has got a lot more students in the last decade, for better and worse. Can get touristy at times, but has decent local facilities and the opera house has a huge range of stuff on. Great riding all around.
Bear in mind it can snow up there any time between October and April, and the routes in and out can get closed at times. Within the last decade I can remember a pub on the A515 having snow higher than the front door.
If the right job came up I'd live there - but not in Fairfield. For a one year contract with no ties I'd be all over it!
In winter its cold and wet, one rail line in and out to Manchester.
If you can drive it will offer great riding and a chance to see the peaks.
Not as much riding in the White Peak, Dark Peak offers a lot more , If you could live 20 mins away
in Whaley bridge, Hayfield, New Mills you have got great access to the trails around Kinder.
As others have said lots of riding over in Hope and Castleton and Bamford but these are mainly tourist villages.
On the train you can hop down to Whaley Bridge which would give you access to good routes in Hayfield within 20 mins of riding.
Lots on Viewranger if you have a look
It has a Waitrose, albeit disguised as a shit 80's supermarket from the outside. Had some good times there and it's in the middle of plenty of good riding. It has a provincial feel about the town centre though, if such things matter to you.
We lived in Whaley Bridge for a year, absolutely loved it. Buxton is not a bad place, some decent pubs and bars.
I've been in the Buxton area for a couple of years now.
Have to say, I haven't noticed any particularly rough spots - but then, I don't really go for the night life, and I guess it depends where you're comparing with. Seems very tame compared with the rougher areas of London.
It's nice having a fairly sensibly sized town, compared with other parts of the Peak District. I do miss not having a good sized supermarket though.
Plenty of riding from the doorstep, but driving out a bit opens up a lot more.
Bad points? It does feel like it gets more than its fair share of cold and wet. And depends on what you do, but commuting might get a bit onerous.
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;"> It does feel like it gets more than its fair share of cold and wet. And depends on what you do, but commuting might get a bit onerous.</span>
Yeah I am getting that, my weather app last changed location when I was up there so I have been watching the weather on my phone every day.
I anticipate driving up Monday morning and back Thursday night most weeks so not looking forward to the long boring commute and it's going to rack up the miles on my "nice" car but then I bought it for work travel. If I could get an electric car that could do 160-180 miles then it would be perfect but something like a Leaf would need 2 charges unless there was a charge point at exactly half way so that adds another hour to the trip and means it would end up costing about the same as running my 55-60mpg diesel. Was planning on finding a house share to keep the costs as low as possible while up there, something in the region of £350-380 a month with all bills included which works out about the same as 3 nights in a B&B off season.
Kind of hoping I can find somewhere to live that is very close so I could cycle to work tuesday and wednesday and have a nice ride home after work. Looks like it might be possible to do road in the winter and mtb in the summer sticking to bridleways back to Buxton.
Depends where your working, Buxton as a base might be ok but where's the job located in relation to that ? IME that whole are can be gridlock some weeks.
mile or so as the crow flies to the SW of Buxton, I noticed the towns heading back west to the M6 (via A500) were a bit congested on the Friday night when I headed home the other week but it wasnt a touch on Brizzle and it's 90 minutes to do 21 miles.
Buxton is a fine place to live IMO - I had friends who lived there. Its still a proper town not just a dormitory for commuters
Working at the HSE lab then?
I'd have thought you'd find a decent rental for that kind of money, we had a whole house for not much more.
Client site is right in the hills above the town so I would probably just keep a bike in the car all the time.
Is it by any chance the Health and Safety Laboratory? Must be nice there in summer but by god its bleak any other time.
Snows a bit in Buxton too. Was speaking to a guy who lives there and he says its not the getting snowed in that's a pain its getting snowed out and not being able to get home.
shhh, wasnt going to say who.
Yeah I have seen whole houses for £425-450 but then you have bills and council tax etc so it might be cheaper to just suck it up and share for a year. But a house would mean I could have my GF and nephew up for weekends in the summer instead.
Bit worried about the snow. RWD, 265 wide tyres and 500Nm of torque don't bode well for getting up that twisty road to their site. Suspect a full set of winters will be going on in October if I can see out this winter.
I think people are making a bigger deal of snow than it actually is, because, well, it's snowed a little bit recently.
It'll catch you out maybe a couple of days a year. It's not really that much of an issue.
A friend in the NHS once informed me that Buxton has an unusually high incidence of mental health issues. Make of that what you will.
Buxton is my home town. It's got a lot going for it, not least of which is a superbly central location with decent MTB (and road) cycling in every direction. My family still live there as do some good friends, so we head over there regularly.
It's got a bit of a dual personality. The lower end of town around the Opera House is quite smart, with a decent choice of bars and restaurants for a relatively small town. The main park - the Pavilion Gardens - is a superb public space and often has events, especially in Summer. They even have a cinema now, which is doing quite well by all accounts. The upper marketplace is, however, a bit bleak and not quite as charming.
The Pennine Bridleway is a very short ride from the HSE, from which a whole world of off-road riding opens up. You can do some great riding from the doorstep. Buxton is right on the geological boundary of the limestone of the White Peak and the re-emergence to the west of the gritstone syncline that makes up the Eastern Edges. Don't assume it's all muddy/slippy limestone in winter; there's some great winter rides within riding distance to the west.
I think it's a great spot to live. The main reason we moved away was house prices. Go for it.