Nice villages to live in the North East

[jorobertson81]

Please help. We are currently looking to move to a nice village in the North East but really need some help as to where would be good to live. We need to be commutable to Newcastle but happy to travel up to an hour so our search area stretches from just south of Darlington, up to Alnwick and inland to past Hexham.

We are looking for a nice village which has one or two nice pubs and is a short (ish) drive to somewhere with supermarkets and shops.

We think you can get more for your money in County Durham than Northumberland and would ideally like to buy a nice big house where we move to. We are also keen on making friends so a good community is important.

I have heard the following are nice- any comments or other tips?

Corbridge
West end of Hexham
Great Whittington
Alnwick
Hurworth on Tees
Yarm
Middleton St George
Lanchester
West end of Darlington
Witton le Wear
Bishop Auckland
Barnard Castle
Tynemouth

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi Jorobertson81,

Corbridge is idyllic - a bit more expensive because of that but it's definitely got a lot going for it in terms of nice pubs, beautiful countryside, gorgeous stone properties etc... It's also surprisingly lively for somewhere so picturesque! Having lived in both Hexham and Corbridge I'd say that despite being much smaller and sleepier-looking Corbridge definitely has better pubs and restaurants. We live in Hexham which has the advantage of being more affordable (property-wise) than Corbridge.... but we often end up driving to go out! It's also worth considering hamlets like Newton, Sandhoe and Beaufront which are only minutes away from Hexham/Corbridge but give you the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. I've also heard good things about Wylam, Stocksfield and Riding Mill. Further west of Hexham there are a couple of small places called Fourstones and Newbrough which are only about ten mins outside town and worth a look if you're after a country house!

Excuse the essay, hope this is useful :)

Thank you so much, I really appreciate you taking the time to write this and it's really helpful indeed!

Hello just read your post ref nice villages to live in Northumberland.
And as I am Alnwick born and bred I can help you out with this one. Well first of all Alnwick is not a village but a small market town with more than two pubs !!!! its a nice town close to the beautiful coast line with easy links to Newcastle. It has a lovely castle with famous gardens to explore and the locals are a very friendly bunch ( I am not bias I have lived in many parts of the world ) the school system is three tier with a good choice of schools . Houses are not cheap, (I blame Harry Potter and the Guardian for reporting Alnwick as the best place to live in 2002 . A note to point out Alnwick for all its charm is out on a limb its very rural nearly smack bang middle distance between Newcastle and Edinburgh I think that's part of its charm proximity to lots of lovely villages and yet a little further away from the big boys .
I wish you lots of luck in your quest for a new home anywhere up here in Northumberland is going to be great
neenybeany