Met a chap from Yorkshire at work on friday. He didn't have a good word to say about the place and reckoned it would be a very long time before he ever ventured back as the place was a complete shithole. I am sitting here tonight watching the Tour de France ride through the dales and moores and the scenery and villages and towns look stunning. This chap now lives in a new build estate in Cranbourne which for me would be the dullest of dullest places to live especially if I had traveled half way around the world for the privilege. Yorkshire now top of list for next trip back to UK.

You must forgive the bloke, he's probably from Bradford, if so he's right in every thing he says.

Done the Tour De Yorkshire too, it's been great round here. I have some relies over tomorrow whom I'm taking to Silsden to watch part too. Let's hope the weather is as good as it was today!

Glad you like Yorkshire, it's hard not too. Lovely people, lovely place!

I will just by a phrase book and hopefully I will be able to communicate with the locals

I am from North Yorks originally and I watched the tour last night and was very familiar with the roads.

I guess of the main issues is can you afford to live in those beautiful areas and also commute to work easily enough? After all Yorkshire really is a country of big contrasts. From the beautiful Dales to the heavy industry of Teesside, from the Wolds to the some of the largest and most deprived council estates in England , from the stunning rural Yorkshire coast to some of the highest unemployment in the UK in some Yorkshire seaside towns. with associated drug problems.

Take a drive to Whitby or Staithes (both stunning) and then go to Bridlington or Redcar, both very run down indeed.

Some locals who originate from the Dales area cannot afford to stay there and their children cannot afford to buy. Many of the best villages have had their hearts ripped out by townie yuppie blow ins buying second holiday homes or turning them in to holiday lets. Village post offices and also some pubs have closed, although the country pubs on the main tourists routes do ok still but have been tarted up to become higher end restaurants rather than a local free house for villagers. Yorkshire villages on the whole are certainly not the same places I grew up in where everyone knew everyone. Now you see people flying down the lanes in their 4x4 BMW's and who have built big high electric gates and high fences and don't socialise or contribute to village life.

Also the pictures yesterday looked fantastic in the July sun. The winter commute can be very depressing. I lived in the Selby area south of York and floods cut roads meaning a 20 min drive to work took 1 hour and 30 mins via detours. The there is the getting the ice off the car on a cold winters morning and the snow. Snow is fantastic on a weekend when you don't have to go anywhere but winters 2008/9, 2009/10 and 2010/11 were enough for us. It seemed like every morning between Dec - late Jan we were digging the car out and struggling to work, school and shops.

The people of Yorkshire can be the most approachable and friendly in the UK. Often they can be the most insular also and the term 'outsider' can be applied to many people with the wrong accent, look or attitude. Perhaps Yorkshire is similar to Australia in that you need to make an effort to get the humor and fit in.

Yorkshire is like anywhere else really, it depends on where you live, what you can afford and what your outlook on life is. I generally find that anywhere you go on holiday in summer tends to be fantastic and fills you full of happy memories. I know I spent many childhood holidays down in Devon and Cornwall (never been to either in winter) and I don't want to move there to destroy those memories.

But yes, Yorkshire sure looks nice on TV and is great for a holiday.

Cranbourne in some ways would be the pits.
Might possibly be the epitomy of new estate living without all the benefits, of say, even Berwick.

Sorry -I'm still struggling to get my head round the Tour de France being in Yorkshire. When did they become a French province??

(Actually it is more likely to be Yorkshire taking over France come to think of it..... )

Shortly after it became a country.... according to Jon
After all Yorkshire really is a country of big contrasts.

Locals being priced out happens everywhere around the world. Sydney, Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Byron Bay etc etc.

What's your hang up about people driving big 4×4 BMW and such like. Looks like exactly the terrain they would be useful in.

You yourself are now a blow in. Maybe you are contributing to pricing a local out of the market.

Good job you were not born in Sweden, Norway, Russia, Eastern Europe, Canada, Northern USA and a swathe of other countries if a couple of relatively mild winters did for you, I thought Yorkshire folk were made of sterner stuff.

If I were you I would just be very proud that you come from such a stunningly beautiful part of the world.

Lol. You cheeky bugger!


What brought you to Yorkshire papillon?

Television ;-) I am not in Yorkshire, just watching it on tv from Melbourne Australia. If you read my OP you will see why it struck a cord. Didn't watch live last night but recorded it and just watching it now. The crowds are incredible, think they said 1 million yesterday and possibly even more on the second day. Cycling has come a long way in Britain in the last decade that's for sure.

Oh sorry, obviously didn't read your post properly.

Yesterday was amazing, a fantastic atmosphere. I got a good spot yesterday, I was about two feet away from the cyclists, I felt the back wind I was that close. I couldn't believe how fast they were going


I haven't had time to watch it on TV yet, but I think me and my youngest will both be on so we are both going to have a look when he gets home from school today. He wants to see his 3 seconds of fame

Yep, the countryside in Yorkshire is stunning, though towns like Bradford, Dewsbury and Rotherham are shitholes. York itself is gorgeous as well.

Did the Tour de France thing myself in Sheffield last week and it was a great occasion.

It wouldn't be difficult really. Two blokes in flat caps walking whippets could probably take Paris before they could say "ey up, that's eck of a pylon"

Oh, my dad born & bred just outside of Wakefield.

We were in Ilkley the few days before the TDY, and the atmosphere was fab. Yellow bikes in every village, bunting out, people had erected scaffolding in their gardens to get a good view. We had to leave before we were stuck for 3 days, sadly.

Would that be the Ilkley of 'Bar Where's That?' fame?