Relocating to Bishop Auckland/Barnard Castle area. Cockfield? What’s oil heating like?

[MovingHouse21]

We are relocating and have found a house we like in the village of Cockfield. The whole village is on oil though rather than gas. I have no experience of this - is there anything I need to know?

Does anyone know Cockfield? Or any suggestions of good places to live in the area? The main criteria is the house must be on a bus route to Barnard Castle and preferably no more than 30 minutes drive from Durham City. Must also have either 4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms plus 3 reception rooms.

I don’t know Cockfield directly (visited once) but my impression of a lot of the villages in the area is that they are mostly pit cottages and can be a bit insular. It’s also out in the woolybacks so you could be affected by snow and bus services might be limited and slow. Is driving to Barnard Castle a possibility in the future ie passing driving test and/or buying a second car? Could the car driver take the hit on a few mins extra driving and you live in Barnard Castle? It’s a bustling town with much more going on for it than Bishop Auckland.

What’s your budget and is it a village rather than town you want to live in?

I moved to County Durham and found a fabulous house within a fortnight. Subsequently found the village wasn’t that great. If I did it again, I’d rent and really have a look and feel for the whole area before deciding where to settle.

I'd err on the side of housing in Teesdale or towards Darlington rather than Bishop way.
The A67 towards Darlington has some nice villages along it, Whorlton, Gainford, Piercebridge, Winston, High/Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent. The bus runs half hourly on A67 from Darlington to Barnard Castle (or did pre covid, not sure now) and there is easy access to the A1 for Durham.

Re the oil heating, most rural properties have oil, our village all club together and bulk buy oil for a discount, so mightbe worth seeing if the community does anything similar.

The bus service to Cockfield isn't too bad. It's served by the 6, into Durham City. (I also allow myself a childish snigger to myself whenever that destination is displayed). I don't know the village itself, mind.

My parents have oil. The cost really fluctuates. Last winter, the oil was dirt cheap because oil prices worldwide had tanked but there have been winters when they've made more use of their coal fire because it's been so expensive.

I used to live in Cockfield and am in fact selling a house there right now. So we've had our house forever and always have had oil. We just fill up the tank and have heating and hot water. Generally order in the summer when fuel prices are cheaper and away you go

There are good bus routes in Cockfield it's a nice village.

Cockfield is definitely a bit insular. Agree with pp about villages along the A67 being better, with Piercebridge being easy for both Durham and Barney.
Or how about Staindrop?
Don’t know much about oil heating, but would caution you not to buy anywhere with electric central heating (electric boiler, not storage heaters). We were sold this based on how eco friendly it is - what they didn’t tell us is this is mainly because you don’t use any electricity at all, because it’s so expensive to run you can’t afford to switch the bloody thing on!

The main difference with oil is that you have to keep an eye on the level in the tank and order before you run out! The house will probably have a plug in gauge in the house that measures the level. We usually order when we are just below 1/2 full.
Like the poster above we buy via a local buying group to get the best price.

The other thing to remember is that the oil price can fluctuate quite a lot as it is a world traded commodity so we have paid everything from 23p per litre to 69p per litre in the 9 years we have lived here. Currently it's around 32p. We try not to buy just before or just after Christmas as the price tends to go up then.

Depending on your usage and the size of your tank you may only need to fill up once or twice a year, we just top up when the price is low.

I agree that there are better places for getting to Barnard Castle, mind. I don't think the scarlet band services that link cockfield and barney can get you there before 9am and they're not very frequent, though the day. Their services are mostly county council secured so can change at the drop of a budget. The few journeys that arriva run on the 6 go the wrong way as I think they're in place for bishop Auckland college.

I agree Barnard Castle would be a lovely place to live but I’ve not seen anything suitable within our budget. Same with the villages closer to Darlington.

I’m kinda ok with Cockfield being insular - we currently live in a village and actually Cockfield is nearer shops than we are right now. I’m used to not being able to get Deliveroo and being snowed in! We drive a 4x4 for this very reason. But I also know the drawbacks and I do worry as DS2 gets older that he might find it annoying not being able to independently travel to the cinema or wherever with mates.

From what I can see the number 85 Scarlet Band runs every 2 hours to Barnard Castle with an extra bus at school times (which is when we would need it).

Oil doesn’t sound like it’s ok. Is there anything I should be asking about the boiler or oil tank before I put an offer in?

oil heating works just the same as gas heating inside the house. Difference is that you need to monitor how much is in the tank. Do not trust whizzy gadgets, they fail - look for a sight gauge with a knob at the bottom. Pull that out and the level will move to where it actually is.

monitor oil prices on boilerjuice but don't buy from them - shop around locally. The lowest price for oil wasn't last winter, it was April 2020 just after demand crashed. Still considerably lower than it was about six years ago.

If you do run out you may need a professional to restart the boiler. It also MUST be serviced once a year. Order oil a few days ahead, you don't need to be at home when it is delivered.

oil can be stolen but it doesn't happen that often. Don't lock the tank as they'll just cut into it. Oh, and if the boiler is 30 years old budget for a new one, it won't last as long but it will be much more efficient.

I agree re must have the boiler serviced annually or the burner can soot up and stop working.
I would ask to see the boiler service record but not necessarily before you make an offer.
Honestly provided you keep an eye on the oil level and get regular servicing there are no issues with oil.

Ah, well I get my gas boiler serviced annually so that’s not an issue.