Family friendly communities in Newcastle

[britbunvan]

Hi Mums,
Would love your opinions.
I'm British (from Nottingham) but have been living in Vancouver, Canada for over 10 years, myself and hubby moved out for a great job and the work has just kept us here.
Now we have our 2 yr old girl, everything has changed of course :)
We'd love to get back to the UK to be closer to family, as we can only afford to see everyone once a year if that. Hubby has been contacted by a company based in Newcastle and so we're looking into some family friendly areas in and around the city centers or potential 30 mins out in a nice village, that we could live?
Kids parks close by and soft play centers and community/sports centers would be IDEAL!
I guess quality of life is really good in Vancouver and we have plentiful parks and really importantly, its safe here. We live in a newly built house and the community is clean etc...I was always scared for my security in the UK. I've lived in some rough areas so I'm by no means a snob hehe, we've just been in a bit of a bubble here and I know the realities of moving on.
Newcastle is a great city - I've been there as a tourist. Hubby knows it better than me, we both love the surrounding areas.
Just want to know what areas would have some great amenities for kids? are there some newer developments being built in or around the city centre? we would consider city living or out of town.
Thanks ladies x

I guess it depends on your budget!
Gosforth and Jesmond have some lovely family friendly areas and are generally very safe but can be quite expensive.
There are some great parts of the coast too. Tynemouth has a great community but is again, is a more expensive area. Loads for families to do though

You can get quite far in 20 mins on the metro. I'm in East Boldon which is south of the river but only 20 mins into Newcastle city centre on the metro. Lovely village, dh grew up here and convinced me to move back about 10 years ago.

Gosforth has 2 soft plays, lots of cafes and shops and a park. Newcastle is a great place to bring up kids, try searching some groups on Facebook like north east family explorers for an idea if the activities on offer.