Durham city or Newcastle?

[lunakick]

Hi, I'm a newbie here but I just read someone's post about county Durham and I was wondering if any of you fine folks could give me advice about Durham city. I've gotten a job in Durham city with the requirement to work one or two days per week in Stockton/Thornaby. I would like a place with good primary schools, close to good(free and outdoors) playgrounds, access to good (maybe international) food, and low in crime. I was looking at Newton Hall in Durham.

However, I heard that Newcastle (Benton or something) is nice, but I don't know if it would be too far or expensive to take the train to Durham and Thornaby for work. Any thoughts would be great as I'm moving from Lancashire soon!!

The train from Newcastle to Durham is only 15mins, not sure of the cost if you were doing it everyday.
There are some nice areas within walking distance to the city - Nevilles Cross, Whitesmocks, Crossgate Moor - all have good primary schools and near to Durham Johnston secondary school, which has a good reputation also.
I have family that live in Newton Hall and it is pleasant - basically one very large estate, so assume there's some parts that are nicer than others - not 100% sure though.

Thanks, PiggyMad. I'm looking into Crossgate Moor. I'll look at the others you suggest. I was reading online there are not many playgrounds and the council has lost all the money to repair/renovate the ones there are. The houses I'm looking at are for about 700max for 3 double-bedrooms. However, they are about 100 more in the nice towns near Newcastle, with an hour commute to Thornaby on the days I have to work there.

Hi luna, I work in Stockton! I live in Darlington though. The train that goes from Newcastle to Thornaby is one that stopsat every tiny station in the world so the journey feels a lot longer, depends if that would bother you or not.Good luck in your search.

Hi - commute from newcaslte to stockon would be a real pain - and the trains to stockton/thornaby are not good and its quite spread out so where you want to go might not be near station - although maybe its the university which is quite near thornaby station!
I personally would look at Darlington - I live there so biased - but its in between durham and stockton - cheaper house prices, - you could get an amazing house for 500 k -5 or 6 beds and probably detached - the schools are in general great - although primarys are quite full at the moment- and its really friendly - more in than in my experiece than durham, and low crimes and some lovely playgrounds - its has some nice resturants too

I agree with previous poster - Darlington would be ideal for you. That commute is v annoying. Middleton St George is lovely, one stop from Darlo and about 20 min to Durham by train. It's about 15 mins to Thornaby the other way.

I was going to suggest Darlington, too. How weird We moved from Darlington to Lancashire 11 years ago. I loved living in Darlington, it is big enough to have all the amenities you need without being too big, IYSWIM. It also has excellent transport links.
I agree with allatsea1, Middleton St George is a lovely little vilage.

how funny Middleton St George is great isn't it I live there too! and yes if you wanted to go by train then it has a station -although not many direct trains to durham and not any I think from - and depends where in durham op was. - although on that budget Hurworth - v pretty and the west end would be well worth looking at too - or heighington to the north maybe -

Looks like Newcastle is a bit far from what people say. Yes, I'll be working for the university and I don't know how much I'll be teaching in Stockton. So, I guess Durham City might be the best bet for someone who doesn't want to buy a car.

Darlington sounds like a good compromise, but I'd like to be close to a city (Newcastle sounds like a proper city - no offense and I don't mean to sound so ignorant but I've not been in and around the UK much - so I'll listen to any advice), having grown up near New York City (I'm an American ex-pat).

I just don't know about Durham City because I read that it is not that family friendly, with regard to parks, playgrounds, kid-friendly museums, etc. Maybe I'm wrong...

Lunakick - the north east -apart from newcstle -and thats living and working there maybe - is not good for non car drivers -when my DH moved up here (also works for the university he learnt to drive v quickly!
the upside is that the traffic in general is not too bad -at least in tees valley

yes newcastle is much more proper city - and it has some lovely museums - highly recomend 7 seven stories about children's books -but unless you live near in the centre of durham eg near the station - without a car you won't be going v often -I'd get yourself up here for a weekend - have a look at a few places/houses - maybe do the durham to stockton run by public transport - should clarify things

If you're from New York then Durham will seem like a quaint village!!! It is lovely though.

Allatsea1, I always held a soft spot for Babylon Village on Long Island, NY, when I lived near to there. So, quaint might be okay if, like CRW1234 suggests, I live near the train station to get to Newcastle.

CRW1234, thanks for the tip on things for kids in Newcastle!! Sounds cool!

Boy, do I know how to drive (NY, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Juan in Puerto Rico, that's all the crazy drivers I can think of)! But the British gov't won't recognize my US license (probably reciprocating the fact that the US makes the Brits retake their driving tests too!) and now my US license has expired so I can't legally drive anywhere. Right now, I can't afford to have a car (insurance and petrol), but I at least want to get a license (the uni is supposed to have a departmental car, which might be handy).

Anyone have suggestions of good places to live within one mile from Durham station? I think Crossgate Peth, Nevilles Cross, and around Archery Rise.

Oh your] are renting - 700 per month - I had in my head you had 700 K to spend on a house

Friends on mine live in Nevilles Cross - think its fine - I would recommend ring Durham county council about getting kids into school - as that may be a factor which school have places and where to live

and the university has quite a few museums in durham which do kids things (not v exciting) but are free to employees

Durham is lovely, lovely lovely with a family it really is, there are plenty of things to do around the place and I love how you can just nip right from the centre of town to down by the river and feel like you are miles away from anywhere and just let the dcs race around.

I would consider Langley Moor or Framwellgate Moor, a tiny bit further than your 1 mile area but easy to walk to town and the station, plenty of buses and good schools. Places within a mile can be very, very full of students, most of the time it isn't a problem really but can make for more noise, rubbish left out and just feeling a bit out of it as your neighbours are not settled. Langley Moor attracts a lot of the American/other foreign phd student families because it has a good primary and nursery and a little high street with butcher, baker, small Tesco etc, a great park and takes 15 mins to walk to town.

crw1234, thanks as always. Sorry, I was vague about renting! You had a fine recommendation for schools, since my DD should be starting primary in Sept. I just phoned the council and they will send me application information.

Indith, thanks. I'm glad to hear that Durham is great for families. Langley Moor sounds nice, since it sounds like a village, which is where I am now in Lancashire. But it seems the houses available now are small - not many with more than 2 double bedrooms, and small lounges and kitchens. I understand British houses are smaller than American, but they make me a little grumpy!

Also regarding rental properties a couple of miles out, even 2 miles away like I am now, means I don't get to town too often. It may be because I find I have no money for buses and find cycling easier/cheaper/faster most times. I just have to wait for my toddler to be a faster walker or cyclist.

If you're from New York, Newcastle will also seem like a village, just less quaint than Durham. I like Newcastle, but it is tiny.

Also everyone I know who works at Durham university seems to live in Low Fell in Gateshead, and utterly love it there. Would still probably be a pest for getting to Stockton though.

You will struggle on the bedroom front I'm afriad, much of the rental housing around here is small, terraced housing. 2 double bed is hard to come by. My American friend has complained aobut housing size on a few occasions (Incidently she rents a nice house in Langley Moor will be vacating in July as they are moving away). At least with renting you can always start nice and close to the city and then once you know the area a bit more you can decide to move. If you try to get your dd into St Margarets or Nevilles Cross schools then you have a fairly wide choice of areas you can live in and still walk to school and walk to Durham. eg this is on a short term let and looks decent.

Indith, thanks for understanding my dilemma and my wanting to live 'large' in the UK. Along with my living large, I have enough books and just stuff to fill a 4-5 bedroom house. I could make one of them a library of books, vinyl, dvds, cds, and laserdiscs (I did say I was a geek, right?)! ;=) I can tell you that moving all the stuff takes all day for experienced movers.

I need to do like crw1234 recommends, and go and check it out for a few days.

Well if you do come and check out the area and want to chat to some people then hunt out eh Durham thread in the meet-ups section on here, there are quite a lot of us and some live centrally so could have some good advice.

Hi- my DH says there is a free bus from Durham to the Stockton campus for uni staff

Indith - my mum comes from Langley Moor (sorry for hijack) although she moved down south when she married my dad me & my sister were both christened there at the same church where my mum & dad were married as were all my aunts and uncles, grandparents, great grandparents etc. We love it so much that we go there a couple of times a year and as dh could get a transfer from work would seriously love to move there if I wasnt such a wuss

Hi lunakick

Just to add that the university runs a bus (i believe it's free for uni staff) between the durham and stockton campus during term time. It takes about an hour, so it's quite slow. But getting the train from durham to stockton requires a change (at darlington) so not much faster (and more expensive).