Hot Spot: Hebden Bridge

Room for one more on top is less a motto for bus conductors than for housebuilders into this quaint West Yorkshire town, observes Robert Liebman

The double-decker system succeeds with buses and sandwiches. In Hebden Bridge it applies to houses. Piggybacking small houses atop one another, the town exploits its cliffsides to the fullest.

The double-decker system succeeds with buses and sandwiches. In Hebden Bridge it applies to houses. Piggybacking small houses atop one another, the town exploits its cliffsides to the fullest.

"These underdwelling overdwelling houses are unique to Hebden Bridge," explains estate agent Ben Turner. "During the industrial revolution the workers needed houses. This area is very hilly and there is a shortage of land, so instead of building one terrace on the hillside, they would build a house and then build another above or below it. A basic two-bed underdwelling starts at about £95,000."

Some underdwellings have been combined with the units above to form larger single residences, in some cases totalling six stories. Side by side dwellings have also been merged. Turner notes that, while building societies were reluctant to lend on these curious dwellings 15 years ago, mortgages are routine today.

The area also has an abundance of stone-built cottages, converted mills and barns, and new stone-built detached houses. "This is a very cosmopolitan town between Leeds and Manchester, which attracts young professionals and other commuters," Turner adds. "This time of year we get mostly serious buyers, people who are dedicated to moving because they found a buyer for their own property."

Once Hebden Bridge produced enough corduroy and worsted to become prosperous. Today, it relies more on visitors seeking acupuncture treatment and tourists enjoying the Calderdale Valley. Halifax's regional manager Chris Stonock notes that this "quaint Pennine village has both a midweek and a Sunday market, which is a tourist attraction as well as a market for local residents. Over the past three years house prices have more than doubled, leaving an average house price of about £180,000".

THE LOW-DOWN

Getting there

Hebden Bridge has rail services to Leeds and Manchester. The M62 is 10 miles south, and the M65 is 14 miles north.

Attractions

The Picture House, which is located in a restored 1920s cinema, hosts live events as well as films. The Little Theatre is housed in a 120-seat refurbished coach garage. Pace-Egging, a traditional mummer's play, is performed every Good Friday and has an international as well as a very strong local following.

Thanks, but no thanks

The World Dock Pudding Championship, in Mytholmroyd, judges puddings made from the spinach-like dock leaf, which is mixed with oatmeal and nettles and fried in bacon fat. A recent winner was a vegetarian who, scandalously, substituted olive oil for the porcine variety. Mytholmroyd was the birthplace of late poet laureate Ted Hughes. His wife Sylvia Plath is buried in nearby Heptonstall cemetery.

Prices

A two-bedroom, stone-built cottage with period features and off-road parking in the rear, is selling for £99,950; while a modern two-bedroom semi, is for sale at £120,000; and a three-bedroom terrace with a conservatory is for sale at £128,000; all at Halifax. A five-bedroom, end-of-terrace house with a garage with a coal-store basement room (window above pavement level), utility basement room, and three storeys above has a guide price of £310,000 at Reeds Rains.

Upstairs, downstairs

A stone-built Grade II-listed "under and over" house, which is in need of upgrading, is for sale and is currently two separate properties comprising one underdwelling and its companion overdwelling. They can be converted into one unit. The overdwelling has three bedrooms, and the underdwelling is a self-contained bedsit with pull-down double bed. It is on offer for £185,000 at Reeds Rains.

Chapel

Just west of Hebden Bridge, the 1807 Naze Bottom Baptist chapel, which was converted in 1988 into a four-bedroom house with two receptions, a dining room,a large entrance hall, with a double garage and large front and rear gardens is for sale at around £445,000. Near the chapel is a four-bedroom terraced house in a rustic setting. Two of the bedrooms are in the attic. The property comes with a garage and is offered for £250,000. Both properties are offered by Halifax.

Bed & breakfast

A stone-built four-bedroom detached house with a stone fireplace and ceiling beams has a two-bedroom annexe currently used as a B&B; £440,000 at Turner.

Old barn

A recently converted Grade-II listed detached barn has three bedrooms, a double garage, a cobbled courtyard has a dining room separated from the lounge by a large central chimney breast with stone surround, incorporating an iron solid-fuel stove, c.£495,000 at Charnock Bates.

New farm

Strines Clough Farm is a recently built L-shaped, six-bedroom detached house with a study, a utility room, a sun room and garage with about five acres of grazing land, and additional land separately available, c.£650,000 at Charnock Bates.

Estate agents

Halifax, 01422 842007; Reeds Rains, 01422 843988; Charnock Bates, 01422 380100; Anthony J Turner, 01422 846770.