Moving to Newcastle

[JDED1723]

Hi
We are looking at moving to Newcastle, we have two little girls, 5 & 6.

We currently live in a leafy suburb of Manchester on the metro line. Our house is two minutes walk from school and the local park...we really want to find somewhere to live in Newcastle that has a similar feel....any ideas?

We live in High Heaton and love it. Reasonable house prices, we have a lovely garden, really close to schools and Jesmond Dene and it's a half hour walk/20 minute cycle (all on cycle paths) to town.

Gosforth is lovely. Great schools and lots to do. Depends on your budget!

Would you go over the water into Gateshead? I live partway between the river and Low Fell (Low Fell is superb!), and im right inbetween a great primary school, a leisure centre, excellent public transport links, 20 mins walk into Newcastle. Massive beautiful park 5 mins walk away

Thanks very much all, that's really helpful.

We currently live in an area that is a bit of a utopian dream and we've tried to work out what it is that we love and therefore want to replicate elsewhere. Our current community has lots of amenities, a great school, a park at the end of our street where the kids play and play after bumping into school friends as everyone lives so close to the school. There is a small independent coffee house just across from the park which is another hang out for families...you get to know people quickly and feel surrounded by like-minded people...mostly families but a good mix. It's just rows of Victorian houses, tree lined streets on the edge of a great town on one side and a gorgeous village on the other side...all within a few minutes walk....nothing amazing on paper but truly wonderful in life, especially for our kids.

We have looked at Gosforth, Jesmond, Whitley Bay and Tynemouth on Rightmove but don't know them well in real life so are struggling to know what area best maps on to our current lives. Low Fell is also on our list but we fancied being a bit further north...to make up for 20 years living much further south!

Any more advice would be very gratefully received.
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All of those areas are lovely, with Gosforth and Jesmond being very "yummy mummy, bugaboo" and Tynemouth very barbour and wellies, dog walkers etc. Whitley Bay is beautiful along the shoreline, same as Tynemouth, not sure what WB is like further inland.

I cant give more detail as Im not living in those areas, this is just my experience as a (frequent) visitor to these places.

If you do decide to settle on Low Fell or want more info I cab help more with that side of the water.

Gosforth and jesmond are nice. As is Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, Monkseaton. Depends what you are after really.

Obviously the coast is nice beaches etc Town* is good because it's bigger etc

FYI Town is Newcastle.

Gosforth and Jesmond are great. Have you looked at Ponteland? Further out but lovely. Or even Morpeth?

The metro isnt too expansive, so if you want to be on that for ease of getting into the city id avoid Morpeth and Ponteland.

Where will work be?

Basically depends on budget, we moved from north yorkshire and love it!!

We used to live in jesmond, walk into city, on metro line, shops, cafes, restaurants, swimming pool, gym, victorian houses, town moor.....BUT students galore. I couldn't live there now due to this and not being able to nip to the lovely shops without quite honestly getting in a slight rage with it all!!! But if you like this kind of vibe then it is lovely.

Heaton further out but still on metro line and easy trip into city centre, victorian houses, schools, jesmond/heaton dene, a really decent high street, very 'suburbs' feel, quieter than Jesmond, some areas slightly run down/student rented housing.

Gosforth, lovely high street, metro into town, lovely feel, cafes, a few restaurants, very professional with young family orientated, some areas close to town moor, schools, victorian and 20's 30's houses.

City centre is great, loads to do for adults and children all year round, some fantastic amenities, great feel.

Whitley bay/ tynemouth etc are about 20 minutes drive from city centre, are incredibly busy during summer which some residents find frustrating. They are lovely but too far out to have city feel or to easily go into city for evenings etc on metro. We actually live in fenham at the moment, 20 minute walk into city, on the edge of the town moor, really neighbourly, but no cafes or restaurants, and only small area of nice big houses. We just found we got a hell of alot more for our money, can walk straight out of the front door onto the moor with the dog, walk into town for activities, cinema, eating out etc.

Best to have a look around and see what you think but hope that helps x

All of those places are nice and to be honest it depends on budget/what you're after.
Pp was spot on about gosforth and jesmond being more yummy mummy and Tynemouth and Whitley bay being more Barbour.
I have lots of friends with young families who love living in Whitley bay as it's so close to the beach and lots to do but it's further out for town.
Gosforth is lovely but house prices can be insane (for Newcastle that is).
If you're looking for value for money house wise but are still wanting to be close to everything I would look into high Heaton too.
you can't really go wrong with any of those areas to be honest they are all nice.

Where are you living in Manchester so we can compare?

Low fell is gorgeous too. Swaltwell park is so beautiful and some of the houses are gorgeous, you get waaaaaay more for your money and there is a villagy feel to it.

People always talk about gosforth as if central gosforth is the entire thing. Gosforth is huge though. There are much more affordable (but still lovely) parts of gosforth. In fact, the bits that are easiest for school places are often much more affordable than those that aren't. The garden village or grange park, for example, are not all the gosforth stereotype of yummy mummies with bugaboos (but are still really nice). Brunton park (up on the northern edge of gosforth) is a bit more expensive but it's really lovely (with a good sense of community).

There are some great parts of Heaton that sound close to what you're describing OP (although I'd be wary about getting students for neighbours; you get the same issue in jesmond, except the students usually have a bit more money). Every time I go to heaton there seem to be more (often hipstery) cafes and such like. Some of my good friends live in high heaton (quite near to paddy freeman park) and absolutely love it. There are some fantastic primary schools there (heaton manor just had a horrible ofsted though).

If you don't mind new builds, then the enormous great park development just north of gosforth has quite a lot of community stuff and nice parks/a nature reserve/ cycle paths and access to the countryside etc. Gosforth Academy is opening up a great park school in 2019 too (taking y5 and y7 the first year). Allegedly they're building a town centre for it too (but I wouldn't hold my breath on that). I think the houses they're building/have built vary from teeny tiny to seriously huge.

The Great Park estate is huge! Does it have any play parks and shops within it? It seems like one of those places that youd have to get in the car just to get a bottle of milk.

It's by Paddy Freeman Park that we live and there are hardly any students around us it's more young families and older people. The nearer the freeman hospital you go the less students there are.
I agree about other parts of Heaton being too studenty though.
I am interested to see what will happen when they open all the student accomodation whether that's going to have an impact on Heaton and jesmond.

Second all the places above and would like to offer Hexham or possibly Corbridge in as curveballs. I think hexham was even voted one of the nicest places to live at some point!

It is enormous yes. There are different bits within it too. There are three playparks that I know of. One in melbury park (the bit down the side of brunton park); one right in the middle of greenside (the bit that's next to kingston park); and one next to the community centre and the school (plus football pitches). I think they're building a new one too along with the next lot of houses.

There is a shop in melbury park. Or you can walk to the shops at brunton park. Greenside is next to Kingston park and there are local shops (and a pub) in there, plus it's about 10 minutes to walk to the ginormous Tesco etc. The great park master plan involves an actual town centre that'll be near the community centre (shops and a supermarket - probably a Starbucks!) and is where the outpost of the gosforth academy empire is going to be built. Who knows when. I think they developers have been selling houses on the basis that there'll be a great park town centre for a decade now.

They are putting some houses in by the hotel arent they? Walled Garden I think its called. Pretty pricey by all accounts but ill bet they will be pretty swish.

Maxwell: yes. If I was going to live in heaton, that's exactly where I'd look. Purely for the lack of students. It's too far away from a metro line for the students' liking. So they all cluster in heaton (rather than high heaton) and along the metro line through jesmond and gosforth up to south gosforth. The extra metro fare seems to stop them moving out to the parts of Gosforth near the regent centre, despite housing being cheaper out that way.

The people I know who live in jesmond or near ilford road are very much hoping that the students will want to live in town and not next door to them.

Yeah I think they are building more houses where the garden centre used to be. I've only ever driven past.

Heaton has all that you have just now...

a great school

Several really nice primaries: Cragside, Ravenswood, Hotspur, West Jesmon, Benton Park.

a park at the end of our street where the kids play and play after bumping into school friends as everyone lives so close to the school.

Heaton Park, Jesmond Dene, Paddy Freeman - all walking distance from the local schools.

There is a small independent coffee house just across from the park which is another hang out for families...

Heaton has LOADS of independent cafes on Heaton road right next to the park. Fewer in High Heaton but still a few.

you get to know people quickly and feel surrounded by like-minded people...

This will happen via schools I reckon. Heaton especially is full interesting folk.

mostly families but a good mix. It's just rows of Victorian houses, tree lined streets on the edge of a great town on one side and a gorgeous village on the other side...all within a few minutes walk....

Ok, so no village but you are 9 miles from coast in the east of Newcastle - Tynemouth and Whitley bay may also fit the bill for you as on the metro line. Some gorgeous terraces in Heaton. 1930s semis in High Heaton.

nothing amazing on paper but truly wonderful in life, especially for our kids.

Newcastle is an amazing city to live in. Arts and culture, parks, easy to access Edinburgh and London, and loads of stuff for kids to do. Coast, castles, countryside.
Good luck with the move!

NapQueen we are practically neighbours!

Another shout out here for Low Fell, minutes from Newcastle and lovely village feel but you can get a lot of house for your money!

《High fives Laundry》

Another possibility might be Benton. There are some lovely houses there (and tree lined streets). And there are playparks too.

Wow! Thank you for so so much detail, honestly....I can't tell you how helpful it is to get inside knowledge. I was born in Hexham and started life in Corbridge before my family relocated to Durham...still have lots of family in Northumberland though, hence my urge to be north of Ncl (not mentioning this to my Durham family!!! 😉)

We currently live on the Hale/Altrincham border...we live on the 'tree streets' which live up to their name! We moved here a couple of years ago, adopted two little girls last summer and are now struggling to buy anything as it's increased in price so so much even since we moved here. It's madness!
We have toyed with 'moving home' to the north east for a while but are now seriously considering it as we'd prefer to own our home so that our kids have a sense of permanence...so we'd prefer to bite the bullet and move now...or we'd have to wait until they are uni age!

The details you've all given me about Newcastle is so incredibly helpful...We are coming up to Durham for Easter hols so plan on doing some research trips, your messages help to narrow down our search areas...thank you. Keep the tips coming!
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