Darlington county durham mumsnetters!

[Defoncforthis]

Hello!
Just looking for opinions and advice especially from people local to Darlington. I live in south england and need to relocate due to finances. I have £150K equity. Husband and three children 13, 10 and 6. I am thinking I will put my house on the market early next year with the view to hopefully move summer 2027. I don't have a large budget but could stretch to £175 for a 3 or 4 bedroom property. I work remotely, my husband would need to find work but that's not my primary concern. Any advice on where I could look for that budget and advice on schools please? Thanks in advance!

Hiya, you won’t get a house in the west end of the town which is the nicest place to live but there’s definitely property in other parts of the town. Do you know the town ? As coming up and walking around will give you a much better idea of the feeling in each area etc. May I ask why Darlington in particular? Just trying to gauge as other areas of teeside and County Durham are cheaper but not always as “nice”.

There are a lot of new build areas in and around Darlington - would that be your cup of tea? West Park particularly has an excellent primary school but secondary schools are a bit hit and miss - and I speak as an ex-teacher.

I love the town, I think it's hopeful and resilient, but obviously there are areas of deprivation. £175 could certainly get you a decent 3 bed, if not 4. Great rail links to other areas (for colleges as your DC get older). I'd check out Mowden and the north west area of town - Carmel college catchment (that's a good secondary) or along Woodland Road.

Hope that helps and feel free to message me.

I would be quite careful schools in Darlington, do your research carefully is my advice. Decent high schools are over subscribed.

Mowden is ok but I’m not sure you will get a 3 bed for less than 180k. Realistically £200-220k is the budget there. Branksome is pretty rough in places but you would get a property there and the high school (wyvern) is getting better. You might get something in West park or Faverdale for that money.

Good luck OP, I’m a darlo resident not by choice but it’s grown on me in the time I’ve lived here. Possibly a bit like fungus but still!

I don't know the town just researched it on the Internet whilst looking for affordable places to live in England. I have plans to spend time there before I make the move obviously to get a feel for the place. Thank you all for getting back to me 😃

Thank you I will pm you I am sure when I've got properties I'm interested in! Appreciate that 😊

How long have you lived there can I ask? Other than carmal which secondary and primaries are decent. I would like my youngest to go to a good Catholic school as we are Catholic thank you!

@Fizzink38 as an ex teacher can you advise on the best Catholic primaries please? Or other school you would recommend or avoid thank you 😊

If you have no particular reason to pick Darlington I would maybe come up and travel around more often the North East before picking a location. There are nice and not nice parts of everywhere but I think picking Darlington essentially out of a hat without exploring other options is a bit odd.

Other than darlington where would you recommend please for a family and with affordable property?

Like I say everywhere has good and bad parts but a lot of the Durham villages are pretty affordable, Sunderland is getting a lot of investment and the Seaham area. It depends!on what you are after really do you want urban, countryside, seaside? Village, city, town? Good transport links? Darlington might be a fantastic choice for you but it just seems you have zeroed in on it for no real reason.

Agree with other PP that if there’s no huge reason for Darlington then there’s lots of options in the region. We live here as we commute to london almost every week and it’s amazing for that. But there’s Seaham etc as others have mentioned that might be better bang for your buck if you can truly be anywhere.

There are reasons for Darlington primarily it's affordability. I also want to be in a big town. I like that it's not far from the coast but I don't want to be living by the coast exactly. I have looked at Newcastle and Sunderland. I used to live in between the two. From what I can see I will get more from my money Darlington then Newcastle or Sunderland. I appreciate your comments thank you.

I have looked into Seaham as it consistently comes up as an affordable place to live but I think when I've looked into it there are more choices for secondary schools in Darlington and i will have 2 children in secondary next year. I also think there will be more work opportunities for my husband and it will be easier for our general day to day life being in Darlington than Seaham.

I'm afraid I was a secondary school teacher so primary not my area of expertise! Have heard good things about Holy Family in terms of their inclusive ethos and St Augustine's for results. They're both feeder primaries for Carmel.
Other than Carmel, Polam Hall is worth a look, and they've just had a massive lot of building improvement, and personally I rate the Education Village at the other side of town. Their intake is quite challenging but they've got an inspirational headteacher. And having all your children on one site is a bonus for a working mum.

I’ve been here 7 years. Not catholic myself but we have catholic family that went to holy family primary and then Carmel in that time. Both kids had a decent time at holy family as far as I know. You might find that there are houses in your budget in Cockerton, the denes and up west Auckland Road that would work for holy family being your local school.

Places like Bishop Auckland, about 10 miles away, some pretty decent parts and culturally very up and coming, think Kynren, though the actual town centre is dreadful, schools ok, Spennymoor, again some decent parts and Newton Aycliffe, particularly Woodham, obviously much more potions as you move further away from Darlington £175k would have got a decent property a few years ago but like everywhere prices have risen

I live in Darlington and love it. Good transport links. Budget wise, you will find somewhere, but you need to be realistic in your expectations. I live in the west end, and if you can stretch to about £220k you should get something.

Oh and if you’re Catholic you should get into Carmel. It’s the top criteria after looked after, etc.

Really appreciate all your comments thank you all. 😄

Barnard Castle? Lovely town. Too rural?!

I'll have a look thank you