Moving to North yorkshire/Northumberland

[Jackydaytona]

Hi 👋

If you could live anywhere in North Yorkshire or Northumberland (been to both places many times and love them...)
Where would you live?

With a budget of £350-400k - 3 beds min - downstairs wc - nice garden - outbuildings a plus - parking for min 2 cars - not keen on conservatories - no flat roofs! :)

Schools don't matter. Kids are older, near to a market town and decent hospital.

Ideally, somewhere welcoming! :)

I've driven through Morpeth and thought it looked fab. I like Richmond, too. I'm not super keen on a seaside town tbh

I love period houses, but I'm not sure we have the budget :(

So if you are happy to rule out old properties, that makes it easier. In that budget it won't be easy to find an old property that also has parking and outbuildings. Are you okay with new build estates?

The biggest issue I see is hospitals. Good, big hospitals and quaint N Yorks market towns don't tend to go hand in hand.

How important is the market town aspect? What if you could get to ones within a half hour drive instead of actually living in one?

Are you aware that good internet is problematic in a lot of the sort of places you describe and most places (including some new builds) only run on oil?

The major tertiary hospitals are Leeds or Newcastle.

In between you have Trusts in York, Middlesbrough, Harrogate.

How important is the hospital? If you have ongoing conditions needing serious level care then you may want to stick within an hour of Leeds or Newcastle. If it's just that you want to have a bog standard district hospital near by then York is fine

Strange to go North Yorkshire/Northumberland and cut out Durham, theres some lovely areas and we are one of the biggest counties right between the two you are looking at.

All I will say regarding what your looking for is that RVI is a FANTASTIC hospital while Dryburn (UHND) is possibly one of the worst hospitals in the world.

Before even finishing your post I thought Morpeth and then you mentioned it at the bottom.

I concur. OP is far more likely to get the kind of house they've described (especially if looking for old) in their budget in County Durham. But hospitals are probably still going to be an issue, and there are fewer chocolate box market towns. What I would say CD has over NY regarding hospital access is driving the rural country lanes in CD feels far less like gambling with your life than NY. If I had an emergency in the arse end of nowhere and had to drive to a local hospital quickly in poor weather, I'd rather navigate the CD roads. I was really surprised that I felt far safer on the road in the countryside there; I'm not even sure why that is (ofc, I don't drive, so can't put my finger on it).

It's definitely far better value for money than N Yorks.

The other thing I'd say to OP that I've been looking similarly myself for months, and homes with those requirements coming to market are very, very few and far between. There seems to be little movement in quaint old houses in N Yorks right now - at least around Harrogate going North, in between the Dales and Moors.

I live in North Yorkshire. Both lovely but you will get more house for your money in Northumberland. You will get much better connections from North Yorkshire

Alnmouth (although you aren't keen on seaside), Alnwick and surrounding areas is my favourite. Stokesley and Yarm.

😂. Couldn't agree more about the hospitals! Durham is definitely best avoided at all costs!!

Knaresbrough bigger and prettier version of Richmond.

Decent hospital near will be an issue in Northumberland- the only decent sized ones are Hexham and Wansbeck in Ashington. Alnwick has a sort of 'cottage hospital' but that's all, so do Rothbury and Berwick. There is a specialist emergency hospital in Cramlington but it is for emergencies- not a general hospital. North Tyneside has a general hospital but no emergency medicine. The big hospitals are in Newcastle.

So Morpeth, Hexham, Corbridge would be market towns near 'decent' hospitals. Prices are rising in Northumberland . £3/400,000 won't get you anything decent in Corbridge and probably not new build in Morpeth or Hexham- might get you a small terrace in Hexham or Morpeth. You'd find something quite nice in Alnwick possibly and it's lovely but no bigger hospital near. Nothing on the Northumberland coast for that price in places like Alnmouth, Warkworth, Beadnell, Bamburgh. Might find something in Amble. Tyne Valley- Prudhoe might be a possibility, something small in Stocksfield but they've really gone up. If you want a market town it's Hexham or Morpeth . Whitley Bay has rocketed in price- not sure what a new build would cost- you might get something small nearby like New Hartley.

Actually, you'd still find some really nice Hexham properties for around £400,000. Just had a look. I really like Hexham.