Why house hunters are targeting Boroughbridge and its villages

The market town of Boroughbridge and its surrounding villages were once a well-kept secret. As buyers trawled through the well-known Golden Triangle hotspots, they failed to notice the low key historic gems.

Developers were the first to spot the potential and have maximised it with tranches of new housing both in the town and surrounding area.

Since the builders threw their spotlight on the area, it has grown in popularity and the house prices have risen accordingly.

A new report by Yorkshire based property finders the Search Partnership shows that prices of detached houses in villages around Boroughbridge rose by 12 per cent last year, outperforming all five of the other areas included in the study.

The report looked at the average price paid per square foot in 2019 on detached houses around Thirsk, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Harrogate, Wetherby and Bedale.

Harrogate saw a 4.6 per cent rise in values, Bedale 6.9 per cent and Ripon two per cent, while the areas around Wetherby and Thirsk saw a small decline.

Toby Milbank believes the spike in interest in Boroughbridge is due, in part, to those looking for alternatives to Green Hammerton and surrounding villages, after Harrogate Borough Council included nearby land in its Local Plan. The site could hold 3,000 new homes.

“If development goes ahead, it will create disturbance and has the potential to change the character of the area so buyers are concerned about this and are prepared to travel one more junction up the A1 to the Boroughbridge villages which, in the main, are pretty and unspoilt,” says Toby.

For many, the A1M, just a 12-minute drive away, is the biggest draw. Boroughbridge itself also appeals. It still has a good high street with independent shops, along with a large Morrisons supermarket and a leisure centre.

Caedmon Homes has just completed construction of Priory Meadows in the village of Kirby Hill, near Boroughbridge. The 34, three to five-bedroom homes start from £377,500 and there has been a boom in interest since the housing market reopened.

Paul Brown, Director of Caedmon Homes, says: “We look for sites that are well located and Boroughbridge is close to the A1M, which means easy access to Leeds, York and the North-East. We’ve had people wanting to relocate closer to family, some who want to move from areas under threat of substantial development and others coming from Leeds to somewhere more rural.”

Estate agent Harriet Naish-Bain is head of the residential department of Lister Haigh in Boroughbridge and grew up in the town. She says: “It used to be a very local market but interest from outside started about 15 years ago and it has been growing ever since. We have seen a lot of housing development but also more boutique shops and nice eateries and the town still has a lovely feel and sense of community.”

She adds that nearby villages are popular and cites Marton-cum-Grafton with its shops, pub and outstanding school as the hotspot. Great Ouseburn and Aldborough are also sought-after. Lister Haigh says that prices in the Boroughbridge villages are now on a par with those in the Harrogate villages, though values in the town are lower than in Harrogate. Estate and letting agent Tracey Wrigglesworth of Craven Holmes says this is attracting buy-to-let investors. Prices start from £99,950 for a one-bedroom apartment.

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