Where to live in county Durham

[Toon49]

Planning on moving to Durham as my husbands job has now moved there. We had thought we were moving to teeside area so we're now confused on what the nice areas are around Durham.
We are looking for good primary and secondary state schools with a budget of around £200-250,000 for a 4 bed house. Hoping for a place with somewhere to walk the dog and maybe a pub or two nearby. We've noticed a few houses in sherburn village online and also over Wingate seems reasonable.
Does anyone have any recommendations or advice?

Sherburn is OK but don't move to areas like Wingate, shotton, hordon or easington as they are pretty rough and there is a fair bit of anti social behaviour (unfortunately I live in these areas and I hate it so much)
Peterlee is OK too but frankly most of the villages around the area are very deprived.

Sedgefield may work. Fairly good road links.

Good secondary school.

Lanchester

Yep Lanchester.

I'd avoid Wingate etc but you will find affordable housing there. I'd be looking at Lanchester, Belmont/Carrville, a bit of Newton Hall, Shincliffe if I could up my budget, Sedgefield, Witton Gilbert, possibly Bearpark. Lots of nice areas to choose from but you really do need to think about school progression.

Is he going to be based in Durham City?

I meant to add think about travel, it can be difficult at times!

Lanchester :) im from Scotland. My dfs mum was born and grew up there, we holidayed there every year and loved it. Lots of nice little pubs too and not too far from Durham itself.

Thing about Durham is the city is quite affluent and the surrounding areas quite deprived. I would avoid Sherburn plus all of the places said above to be honest.

Barnard Castle, however, is lovely - a beautiful market town popular with tourists. You could get these houses, among others:

Cambridge Terrace, Barnard Castle, County Durham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62178394.html

Hawthorn Drive, Barnard Castle, County Durham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70342852.html

Bartlemere, Barnard Castle, County Durham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70581892.html

Bayswater, Five Acres, Barnad Castle, Co Durham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60380214.html

Cambridge Terrace, Barnard Castle, Durham, DL12
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79398329.html

DH commutes to teesside from Durham City. House prices here very much vary by secondary school catchments, though.

I know some lovely people in Wingate but would never want to live there. The secondary school is very undersubscribed and in financial. More trivially, there's bog all phone signal there and public transport is poor for the size of the village.

Sedgefield is lovely but you'll get a shoe box there with your budget!

If you're looking in Durham City, have a look at Newton Hall and Gilesgate moor. You'll also find houses in budget in Framwellgate Moor and maybe pity me, though there's not much in the way of 4 beds, there. You might also find something suitable in high Shincliffe.

There are 4 bed properties in your budget in Sedgefield on Rightmove

There are some good sized 4 beds for sale in Spennymoor on the newer/modern estates in your budget. Primaries are good (Oxclose and Kirk Merrington are two). Older kids go to better secondaries in Bishop Auckland or St Leonard’s in Durham City. Main bus route to Durham and on to Newcastle as well as to Bishop Auckland in the other direction. About 5 miles from Durham city.

Or Newton Hall is lovely and primaries are good there.

High shincliffe is lovely but there isn’t a great choice of secondaries for living there.

The main issue with spenny is slow resale. We searched there when we moved, last year, and good houses lingered for a long time. This was before the downturn started.

Another difficulty with Spenny is that there are a lot of new builds going up, so supply really is outstripping demand.

Barnard castle is nice but really far away. No way would I commute to Durham from there. Sedgefield nice but expensive. Same with shincliffe. Think Sherburn would fit better with your budget. It s also close to Durham and the A1 and A19. Teeside can be very expensive if you are in a good catchment area. Will try and send you some links when I am on my computer

Firstbrightday why not Lanchester? DM lived there happily for 40 years.

High Shincliffe is much less expensive than Shincliffe village.

I wouldn't want to drive from Barnard Castle (worth listening to Mark Steel on BBC Sounds, he obviously likes it) to Durham every day. Have a visit to Durham on a weekday if you can to get an idea of the morning drive to work. Lots of good primary schools in Durham but there are some secondaries you may not like.

Yes Barnard castle would be a bit too far I think. Lanchester looks lovely definitely has potential! Spennymoor seems really cheap for what you get so we'd assumed it must be a bit rough but looks okay. High shincliffe, Newton hall and gilesgate also have houses that look good but hard to know whats best will need to visit! What high schools would people recommend around Durham?
Thanks so much for all your help all really helpful!

I only have experience of Durham Johnston, I had no concerns at all. Lanchester has a Catholic secondary and there is one in Durham too.

I don't know the ones in Durham but am aware that there are good schools in Durham. If I remember rightly across the countu a few durham schools come top in terms of results then it's bedes. Sure soneone will correct me if I am wrong.

County.

For some reason MN is not letting me post a link right now so I private messaged you.

Gilesgate has a lot of student houses -which may or may not be an issue.

Spenny is mixed, some fairly rough areas, some much nicer. The town centre isn't up to much though.

Throwing Seaham into the mix, lovely place to live. Improving secondary school but transport to better schools possible. Couple of very good primaries