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Original poster

Relocating to Durham

74 replies

Katiescarlet · 06/10/2009 22:51

Hello, I wondered if anyone would be able to give me some advice on relocating my family of five to Durham.
My husband's job is moving to Newcastle and so we're researching both Newcastle and Durham as possible areas to live and at this point we know nothing of the north east.
We have three children from 7 months to 5 years. Some guidance on where the good schools are in the area as well as the area's overall provision for Children's services would be useful.
Also, where are the nice areas within Durham to live that are within easy reach of a commuter link by train or car to Newcastle.
Many thanks

OP posts:

yveeastdurham · 07/01/2017 18:51

Even the ex mining villages are mixed on a very local level. I live in one which is lovely at one end and a half derelict shithole at the other!

Stanley is similar, but all enmeshed in a town. It also (like my own village at similar altitude) suffers from some pretty grim winter weather. Great if you get stupidly excited about snow, but not so great when you still have to commute, do the school run etc.

IAmAPaleontologist · 07/01/2017 20:07

ah the snow. We are tucked down in the Deerness valley so get a bit less than up consett way. Plus we are on a bus route so it always gets ploughed. Practicalities are important!

yveeastdurham · 07/01/2017 20:35

Yep, I live on a bus route, too. Only problem is that everything off the road ends up piled on the pavements! If I dare drop down into the road, some drivers look at me like I've lost it, even when the road is quiet. I'm often muttering, usually something along the lines of "well I don't see you walking!"

Starings17 · 07/01/2017 21:01

Thank you all for your responses. It took me a while today to figure out how to read new messages. As you can see I have got it now?
Children all grown up, just me. I have heard similar to what you are describing here of the variation of quality of houses from one end of a street or area to another. I will let you know what I think next week when I get more info on Southmoor. Have a good weekend all.

IAmAPaleontologist · 07/01/2017 21:14

You can buy my house, it is for sale . Lovely village, I just moving over the road.

yveeastdurham · 07/01/2017 22:13

We're moving, later this year, but our house can only be described as "having potential"! The good thing about being up here is that it was cheap, so is long since paid for.

Depending on your budget, Starings, though it's not actually that much more expensive, it might be worth looking at Chester le Street and parts of Birtley (Birtley's the same sort of mixed bag as Stanley!) as they're pretty much slap bang in the area you'll be living and working in, have good public transport links in both directions (handy for nights out or if you can't face the driving, parking etc, depending on where your workplaces are located) and both are close to the A1.

yveeastdurham · 07/01/2017 22:29

And just realised that I've mixed you up with the OP, regarding Newcastle, so forget Birtley!

The county is your oyster!

Roughly where in Durham will your job be, because getting across the city at rush hour can be a pig. Some of the buses were an hour late, this afternoon, due to a combination of roadworks and just plain heavy Saturday afternoon traffic. it suffers from the fact that, no matter how you get in and out of the city, everyone has to cross the one bridge. Then when, like today, there's roadworks affecting the few roads you can take when you choose to go the long way round, instead, it ends up gridlocked.

So it might be wise to choose somewhere based on being on the right side of the river Wear! If you do look in Durham, it's fairly easy. Avoid Sherburn Road unless you like extreme people watching and feral shopping trolleys. Most mere mortals can't afford Neville's Cross (as DS1 always points out, that guy has anger issues) and there's a vast choice of bland, can't go wrong semis dotted around the city on the various 70s estates.

Starings17 · 08/01/2017 00:18

IAmAPaleontologist:is your house a Bungalow by any chance? that is my interest.

yveeastdurham: is chester le str in standley?

I have to look up the post code of my office but I know that it is 30 minutes by Car from Durham Train Station. I didn't actually think traffic will be that much of an issue thanks for letting me know.

IAmAPaleontologist · 08/01/2017 08:31

your office is 30 min from the train station? where is it? you'll have driven out of Durham in 10 min at the most.

IAmAPaleontologist · 08/01/2017 08:34

and yes traffic can be horrible but if you choose where you live carefully then you won't have any problems.

IAmAPaleontologist · 08/01/2017 08:59

I just realised the app is doing that thing of posting in my usual name but the website posted in my mnlocal name. Indith and palaeontologist are one and the same.

Sadly my house is not a bungalow, sorry!

LocalEditorDurham&Newcastle · 08/01/2017 10:21

I don't really know Stanley, apart from to drive through and occasionally pop to Asda, but there's been some good advice here. If your office is 30 mins from Durham station, I would double check where as that can make a huge difference. I'm out in the hills, but I can get to Durham station in about 35 mins (not rush hour).

ShadowNova · 08/01/2017 10:30

Chester-le-Street isn't near Stanley. Chester-le-Street is a larger town right off the A1M in between Durham and Gateshead (north of Durham).

breakfastnotattiffanys · 08/01/2017 17:16

Chester le street is actually only about 6 miles from Stanley... I think knowing in which town /village your work is based will help us give you some good tips.

ShadowNova · 08/01/2017 18:19

So it is

I think I was getting Stanley muddled up with Stanhope. Which is a bit further away.....

LocalEditorDurham&Newcastle · 08/01/2017 21:36

Just a bit Shadow

Starings17 · 09/01/2017 18:26

My Office site is based at Crook!

yveeastdurham · 09/01/2017 18:58

Ah, that's miles out of Durham city! And not a straightforward journey from Stanley, particularly inwinter. All the green stuff to the west.of consett and crook on here is pretty high up - weardale. Stunning, mind!

breakfastnotattiffanys · 09/01/2017 19:57

Do not get mixed up with STANLEY and a small place near Crook called Stanley!!

breakfastnotattiffanys · 09/01/2017 19:59

On that map you can see both Stanley, Crook and way up the top is Stanley, the one where Southmoor is near!

Starings17 · 09/01/2017 20:20

Yea I see it thanks, what a coincidence.
yveeast thanks for the map. There is a good distance between them

LocalEditorDurham&Newcastle · 09/01/2017 21:10

That is quite near me Starings, and I have family there, so I might be of some help.

yveeastdurham · 09/01/2017 21:26

If I moved to Crook, it'd have to be Low Jobs Hill, so I could watch people corpse when I told them my address :o

LocalEditorDurham&Newcastle · 09/01/2017 21:36

Pronounced 'Jobe's Hill though yve - sorry

yveeastdurham · 09/01/2017 21:40

And yeah, there's a lot of place name recycling in Co Durham. There's 2 villages with the name of mine (more of a problem for the smaller one, I believe), plus numerous Trimdons and Easingtons, then all the various places in the region with various combinations of salt, sea and burn in their names! I've lived up here for the best part of 3 decades and still need to stop and think about a place name, sometimes.

Funnily enough, DH, DS1 and I were discussing Crook, yesterday and DH got Staindrop mixed up with Stanhope. We had another confusing conversation when he was mixing up Cornforth and Coundon, last week. I'm no better as I kept mixing up Kirk Merrington and Middlestone Moor in the same conversation (we were looking at houses, online, funnily enough!)

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