Wetherby just outside Leeds is nice, Harrogate is upmarket. So is Yorks city centre and it's dripping in history. City walls, castle museum, viking museum, tremendous abbey....
Saltaire is an old mill town where the mill is now a trendy department store/art display. Hebden Bridge is a bizarre mixture of an old mill town, the hippies descended on in the 60s and the trendies in the 80s. So it had two art shops when I was last there, (Manchester had one). And you had a choice of which style of Tai Chi, crystal therapy, or rebirthing you wanted just from the ads in the post office. And a working class shrugged it all off as nonsense :-).
Transport for getting into cities is very good in England. Remember a lot of English people can't afford cars. You can get to practically any village in England by bus or train. Look in
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
The Dales are one of the prettiest parts of England and not far away.
But just look at the map and you'll see how close all these places are together. You can't go wrong with any country village really.
Sushi

Thanks for that Sushi.

If I accept, i'll be going over house hunting (or at least hoping that I get some time off to do so!).

Probably start in Leeds and get off at each stop and see how quick I can find a pub... it if takes too long, the village is crossed off the list! Seriously, someone at work recommended that I start at Horsforth (sp?) and look at each village one at a time.

Thanks,
Kris

I'd say that's the wrong rail line; you are heading eastwards to the flatness of the vale of york. I'm guessing you like the outdoors (this is ETS) head north west to the Dales or east to the pennines. Look at a contour map to see what I mean. South or east is flat. North or west is hills.
Hebden bridge is such a steep valley they build houses on top of each other and both have a front door at ground level.
Sushi

Sorry should have been head 'west' to the pennines obviously.
A contour map will make your decision easy. The Dales are gorgeous. And as for the pub thing (what do you mean 'seriously'? they aren't allowing non boozers on ETS now are they?)
My wifes home village is so small it doesn't have a single shop. But it has a pub. You can't be in a village without one here.
Sushi

There are very few places in the UK that does not have a pub. And if a train stops at the village then there will normally be a pub next too or very near the station, often with a railway themed name.

I would go as far as saying there are more pubs in the middle of the countryside by themselves with no village than there are villages without pubs.

Sushi... are you referring to areas like Skipton, Hetton, Grassington, etc? Its important I stay close to the rail line as much as possible. Hoping only to purchase one vehicle for the family so my wife stay in the 'football mom' status that she loves (yes, football and not soccer ;-)).

Schools and lifestyle are very important for us. So the areas have to support that.


Addition note: Maybe Hellifield?

Grassington and Hetton have no rail stations. But don't forget where there isn't a train station there is usually a bus.
And american football in England? I think you are going to find them very few and far between.
Anyone else help us out here? I'm neither a parent nor a sports fan, but was surprised we even had it here (I just looked it up on Wikepedia). Yes there are adult teams.
Are there any childrens teams? Do schools play it? What age are the babies Kris? I'm the black sheep in a family of teachers; I'll ask around.
Sushi

American football? Nah, i was referring to football, soccer for the north americans. Never understood the attraction till I moved to the Caymans.

Looking more in the area and its like within 20 miles of Leeds theres like hundreds (well, not quite) of villages. Surprising amount! Its like every few hundred feet theres another one!

I suspected you didn't realise how small a scale we were talking about.
Glad you finally looked at the map, I did tell you to; 3 times! :-)

You can fit England into Texas ten times. And England has twice Texas's population. As you've seen from the map, everything is so close. And a lot of people don't have cars. A quick web search will show you how extensive the transport network is. Manchester to Leeds for instance is easily commutable.
Sushi

I did look at a map, just didn't see the legend and the scale. Very use to north american dimensions!!!!

In 10 miles, i counted 13 villages (well, 13 names of towns and the like).

Take Harrogate to Leeds, its about 16 miles but on mapquest its about 30 mins by car... any ideas how long by rail?