Retiring to Northumberland- Nice areas?

Jackie1813

daivid said:

Getting a teaching job in West Wales without Welsh language ability will be difficult. In the south and border areas many schools won't care, particularly for a shortage subject like secondary science

Thank you, yes she teaches secondary science. Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Her speciality is biology. We will think about Wales.

Jackie1813

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Jackie1813 said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Don't know where you live at the moment but if it is in the south of England then defiantly rent for at least 12 months to see if you like the area in cold wet weather.

Unfortunately our daughter has a medical condition where the "heat" in the South East is bad for her, moving to the cold and wet is for the best.

Wales is closer! 

We absolutely love Wales. Our daughter is a teacher and will need to find a teaching job, unfortunately she does not speak welsh and is rubbish at learning languages, her talent is in science.

Primary or secondary? Northumberland doesnt have that many schools compared to the rest of the UK and teachers who get into nice ones tend to stay at them. You need to look up the areas carefully, there are some nightmare schools in some areas.

Secondary Science. The school she has taught at is a nightmare school. She does enjoy a challenge.

sgun

Jackie1813 said:

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Jackie1813 said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Don't know where you live at the moment but if it is in the south of England then defiantly rent for at least 12 months to see if you like the area in cold wet weather.

Unfortunately our daughter has a medical condition where the "heat" in the South East is bad for her, moving to the cold and wet is for the best.

Wales is closer! 

We absolutely love Wales. Our daughter is a teacher and will need to find a teaching job, unfortunately she does not speak welsh and is rubbish at learning languages, her talent is in science.

Primary or secondary? Northumberland doesnt have that many schools compared to the rest of the UK and teachers who get into nice ones tend to stay at them. You need to look up the areas carefully, there are some nightmare schools in some areas.

Secondary Science. The school she has taught at is a nightmare school. She does enjoy a challenge.

Dont get me wrong, there are lovely schools too but teachers tend to stay at them long term. On the plus side driving from west to east of Northumberland is pretty quick. The A1 is busy at rush hour but you could still do most of the county to Newcastle in an hour. If she doesnt drive she might have problems. What schools has she seen vacancies at? (definitely a good idea to look before you move just to see where clusters of vacancies are and then look at the area accordingly). You might struggle with your budget in a "nice" area, it depends on what you want to compromise on. Why Northumberland?

Jackie1813

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Jackie1813 said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Don't know where you live at the moment but if it is in the south of England then defiantly rent for at least 12 months to see if you like the area in cold wet weather.

Unfortunately our daughter has a medical condition where the "heat" in the South East is bad for her, moving to the cold and wet is for the best.

Wales is closer! 

We absolutely love Wales. Our daughter is a teacher and will need to find a teaching job, unfortunately she does not speak welsh and is rubbish at learning languages, her talent is in science.

Primary or secondary? Northumberland doesnt have that many schools compared to the rest of the UK and teachers who get into nice ones tend to stay at them. You need to look up the areas carefully, there are some nightmare schools in some areas.

Secondary Science. The school she has taught at is a nightmare school. She does enjoy a challenge.

Dont get me wrong, there are lovely schools too but teachers tend to stay at them long term. On the plus side driving from west to east of Northumberland is pretty quick. The A1 is busy at rush hour but you could still do most of the county to Newcastle in an hour. If she doesnt drive she might have problems. What schools has she seen vacancies at? (definitely a good idea to look before you move just to see where clusters of vacancies are and then look at the area accordingly). You might struggle with your budget in a "nice" area, it depends on what you want to compromise on. Why Northumberland?

We have friends in Newcastle and surrounding area. The cool weather and hopefully the sea air will all help her health and as parents that are retiring we are happy to move where she will be happiest and healthiest. To be honest she looked this year and there were a fair number of vacancies. She has an alert set up for next year, that will let her know any vacancies.

onwards&upwards

Will your adult daughter always live with you?  If she has a medical condition that means she can't live independently it might be worth finding out what specialist services are in the areas you are considering.

sgun

Jackie1813 said:

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Jackie1813 said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Don't know where you live at the moment but if it is in the south of England then defiantly rent for at least 12 months to see if you like the area in cold wet weather.

Unfortunately our daughter has a medical condition where the "heat" in the South East is bad for her, moving to the cold and wet is for the best.

Wales is closer! 

We absolutely love Wales. Our daughter is a teacher and will need to find a teaching job, unfortunately she does not speak welsh and is rubbish at learning languages, her talent is in science.

Primary or secondary? Northumberland doesnt have that many schools compared to the rest of the UK and teachers who get into nice ones tend to stay at them. You need to look up the areas carefully, there are some nightmare schools in some areas.

Secondary Science. The school she has taught at is a nightmare school. She does enjoy a challenge.

Dont get me wrong, there are lovely schools too but teachers tend to stay at them long term. On the plus side driving from west to east of Northumberland is pretty quick. The A1 is busy at rush hour but you could still do most of the county to Newcastle in an hour. If she doesnt drive she might have problems. What schools has she seen vacancies at? (definitely a good idea to look before you move just to see where clusters of vacancies are and then look at the area accordingly). You might struggle with your budget in a "nice" area, it depends on what you want to compromise on. Why Northumberland?

We have friends in Newcastle and surrounding area. The cool weather and hopefully the sea air will all help her health and as parents that are retiring we are happy to move where she will be happiest and healthiest. To be honest she looked this year and there were a fair number of vacancies. She has an alert set up for next year, that will let her know any vacancies.

There will always be lots of vacancies in certain schools. I was asking where they were in particular as I spent 9 years in secondary education management in the area so I know which areas/schools have a high turnover of staff and why. If you have friends in Newcastle and the surrounding areas surely they can advise you on where to look for a house on your budget. They will know you and yourmyour requirements better than a bunch of strangers on the internet would. Where do your friends suggest? TBH it's not that hard to match up your budget with areas they suggest on Rightmove etc and then go and visit a few places to see where you like. 

Jackie1813

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

sgun said:

Jackie1813 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Jackie1813 said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Don't know where you live at the moment but if it is in the south of England then defiantly rent for at least 12 months to see if you like the area in cold wet weather.

Unfortunately our daughter has a medical condition where the "heat" in the South East is bad for her, moving to the cold and wet is for the best.

Wales is closer! 

We absolutely love Wales. Our daughter is a teacher and will need to find a teaching job, unfortunately she does not speak welsh and is rubbish at learning languages, her talent is in science.

Primary or secondary? Northumberland doesnt have that many schools compared to the rest of the UK and teachers who get into nice ones tend to stay at them. You need to look up the areas carefully, there are some nightmare schools in some areas.

Secondary Science. The school she has taught at is a nightmare school. She does enjoy a challenge.

Dont get me wrong, there are lovely schools too but teachers tend to stay at them long term. On the plus side driving from west to east of Northumberland is pretty quick. The A1 is busy at rush hour but you could still do most of the county to Newcastle in an hour. If she doesnt drive she might have problems. What schools has she seen vacancies at? (definitely a good idea to look before you move just to see where clusters of vacancies are and then look at the area accordingly). You might struggle with your budget in a "nice" area, it depends on what you want to compromise on. Why Northumberland?

We have friends in Newcastle and surrounding area. The cool weather and hopefully the sea air will all help her health and as parents that are retiring we are happy to move where she will be happiest and healthiest. To be honest she looked this year and there were a fair number of vacancies. She has an alert set up for next year, that will let her know any vacancies.

There will always be lots of vacancies in certain schools. I was asking where they were in particular as I spent 9 years in secondary education management in the area so I know which areas/schools have a high turnover of staff and why. If you have friends in Newcastle and the surrounding areas surely they can advise you on where to look for a house on your budget. They will know you and yourmyour requirements better than a bunch of strangers on the internet would. Where do your friends suggest? TBH it's not that hard to match up your budget with areas they suggest on Rightmove etc and then go and visit a few places to see where you like. 

Thanks for all the help, just a good idea to get other peoples thoughts on areas. Strangers opinions are sometimes more honest as friends want you near them. Thanks again

youth_leader

Would be good if you joined Northumberland Newsdesk on Facebook, you can find out a lot about the area through that.  Mainly for road information, but lots of local info too.

Jackie1813

pitbull said:

Jackie1813 said:

pitbull said:

You could go for Newbiggin by the sea which is along the coast from Blythe and is a lovely place.
Your budget should get you a seafront house.

I live in Woodhorn, Ashington which is 10 mins by cycle to Newbiggin with a great cycle track between the 2.

That sounds great. We are just getting into cycling. Thank you

No problem, if you have any questions or want us to check out anything for you, please send me a message and i will do what I can.

Hi, I thought I would post an update to this thread. After taking on board some of the advise given, we are now living in Stakeford , Choppington and absolutely love it. We did not rent first, we just sold our house in the south east and moved in May. I can honestly say we have no regrets at all.
Thanks again for all the advise.
Jackie

youth_leader

Glad to hear it Jackie1813, wishing you every happiness in your new home.  I'm off to look up Stakeford, don't think I've ever been there!