Popular Pateley Bridge is on buyers radar

Self-sufficient and surrounded by natural beauty, Pateley Bridge is perennially popular but a recent award has broadened its appeal.

It won “Best Village High Street” in the Great British High Street awards although technically it is a very small market town.

Estate agents have since fielded more enquiries from would-be buyers but there has been precious little property to show them until now with a spring bounce on the horizon.

“The market here is seasonal and doesn’t mirror what is happening in nearby Harrogate or Ripon,” says Chris O’Mahoney, head of Dacre, Son and Hartley’s Pateley Bridge office. “Spring is busy for us but winter it is a lot quieter, which means we will have more properties coming on to the market very shortly.”

At the moment, the most expensive home on the market is a five-bedroom converted chapel with exceptional views. The property on Panorama Walk is for sale with Hopkinsons for £580,000. The cheapest is a bijou one-bedroom cottage on Church Street for £145,000.

In general, says Chris, the starting price is about £160,000 for a two-bedroom cottage and £200,000 for an ex-local authority three-bedroom semi-detached house.

Most properties sell quite quickly, though ambitious pricing can hinder their progress. “One of the issues is that sellers look at Harrogate prices and try to replicate them and that’s not a good idea. Pateley Bridge is desirable but not on the same level as Harrogate,” says Sam Newby, of Verity Frearson. He adds that first-time buyers often have to fight with those who want second homes and holiday lets.

“The town has always been popular for holiday lets and we get a lot of people wanting to retire there. They come from all over the country and that has always been the case. But there is a big proportion of local people who will upsize and downsize within the town. Those who live there are very loyal to Pateley,” says Sam.

Mid-lifers looking for live-work homes are also among prospective buyers. The Granary tearoom on the high street should appeal. It is for sale with Dacre, Son and Hartley for £375,000 and includes a four-bedroom maisonette.

Tearooms are part of the attraction of this quaint town, along with a host of amenities. It ticks every box for those who want to escape to the country but who don’t want to travel miles to the shops.

Pateley Bridge has everything from pubs to convenience stores, a deli and independent shops. It also has a park, a primary school, the high-ranking Nidderdale High School and a leisure centre with a gym and swimming pool. No matter where you live in the town there is a good walk from the doorstep. Pateley Bridge is the starting and finishing point on the Nidderdale Way, a circular route which covering 53 miles in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

What the town lacks is excellent transport links. The nearest train station is in Harrogate, half an hour away, while access to the A1 is also half an hour away, just outside Ripon.

Chris says: “We have a lot of people from West Yorkshire buying here and some of them work in Leeds. It’s not that hard to get into the city if you drive up to Summerbridge and then across the A59 and around Otley into Leeds. It takes just less than hour.”