Does anyone live in rural Northumberland?

[maeveconroy]

Name changed for this.

Thinking of moving from suburban Newcastle to Belsay. Dcs would go to school in Ponteland.

Has anyone done this? And would you recommend it?

I have friends who moved out to Hexham and to Rothbury. Hexham friend's family really loves it. Rothbury friend does too but DC are grown up. They are really rural - cottage on a hill in the middle of nowhere but near Rothbury. My only issue would be what do DC do as they become teens? And do you love driving/have a 4WD? But gorgeous countryside and homes.

Yes dc are 8 and 6 now but I do wonder if they'd miss the convenience of the metro and bus when they are teens

Belsay is not too far from Ponteland. There’s almost no public transport though so you’d have to drive.

It’s a collection of houses really rather than a village. The village shop is awesome though.

Pont schools are good - after the pain of moving to the 2 tier system the high school is functioning well and will move to a swanky new building in 2020.

...meant to say, there’s Belsay school also, which now goes up to 11, and of course school buses for Pont all pick up in Belsay.

I'd be worried about the almost complete lack of activities for the children that they could do without getting in a car. School, shopping, swimming, dance classes, scouts, football - and then they get to be teens and want a social life. We live in a small town in Northumberland and I can't recommend it enough. However, if I was going to move to a village it wouldn't be Belsay I'd look for somewhere like Humshaugh or Ovingham or Hayden Bridge.

Belsay is nice and really not that rural (we live further out in the same direction). There's a decent shop in the village and it's not far to Pont or Newcastle. Belsay primary is part of the multi-academy trust so going there guarantees a place at Pont High.

I like humshaugh but seems much more isolated than Belsay?

Humshaugh is far from Hexham, has a great GP, first school and pub. From a friend's experience, it's a proper community. I think children then go to HMS and QE in Hexham.

It is a big decision, we moved to Northumberland from the Durham area about 7 years ago, it's great but so much to balance when you have children. We plumped for a town because having had teens we very much wanted to walk to school, activities, GP, shops.

That should say isn't far from Hexham.