Moving to Hordon, co.Durham...

[meloraspalm]

...am I mad? I’m a single parent with two children and I currently rent a flat from the council after leaving my ex because of dv. I ran a shop and had lots of friends before I met him, but that’s all gone now. I’ve had to move miles from family and am not working. I have trying to get my life back on track, having enrolled in a college course last September to kickstart a new career. After a couple of months I had to give it up as I couldn’t cope with the lack of sleep due to anti social problems with my above neighbours. This has been going on for a year now and I don’t have any life because of it. I need to move but can’t because I don’t have a job and live in an expensive part of the country that don’t except hb. I keep looking on rightmove and have always wanted to live near the coast. It has places listed for stupidly little rent and asking no bond so we could just move there. Is it really that bad??

Would they accept you as a tenant when you don't have a job?

There are lots of properties listed that specifically say uc/dss welcome.

Horden has a bad reputation.

Are you in Co. Durham already?

I just wanted to know if someone actually lived there what it was really like. When I was a student I used to live in Moss Side. It was rough, but not anything like it’s made out to be.

I am in the Peak District. It’s lovely and all my family are from here but it’s just not viable financially for someone in my situation.

Horden is cheap but there's quite a lot of unemployment and not much there. If you can, try and watch Canny Cops, which will give you a bit of an idea about crime etc in the area. It's certainly nothing like the Peak District.

On the positive side... It is near the coast and there's some lovely scenery there. It's not far from Peterlee, which has lots of call centre type jobs and is close to the A19, so Newcastle and Sunderland to the North and Middlesbrough to the south are fairly accessible, if you have a car.

Haven't lived there but do live in Co Durham. All of those villages near the coast are similar- high unemployment, fair amount of anti-social behaviour, a certain amount of drug dealing (county lines etc), amazing countryside. No amenities and no public transport.

Saying that if you've lived in Moss side you'd probably be ok.

Seaham, South Shields, Roker (Sunderland) are all quite a bit nicer.

NEE1302 I just watched an episode. It made Moss Side look like Mayfair. Thanks for the information. Back to the drawing board for me...

@meloraspalm I'm sorry it wasn't more positive. But as pp states, Seaham, a little further up the coast is much nicer. There's been lots of rejuvenation on the seafront and it has decent schools too. It's also on a train line so is reasonable in terms of public transport. Good luck!

My mil lives in Seaham. I’m stupidly surprised it’s quite nice. She has lived there for the past 10 or so years. We go up loads to visit. The beaches are lovely. Lots of money spent rejuvenating the area.

I'm another one recommending Seaham. My DM moved there 25 years ago and it wasn't great at the time but there's been a huge amount of investment in the area. The seafront area is lovely, there are lots of new housing estates and a good train line linking to Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough.