wanting to buy a small house in rural Northumberland.

I'm just a fair weather Northumberlander trish! When we were doing the house up in the spring I took 3 hot water bottles to bed with me each night!

Oh dear, this is making me so homesick! We do want to be out in the sticks, and in a lot of ways would love the colder weather. Our border collie would too. We had a place in the Scottish highlands for a few years and managed ok in the winter, even when snowed in. (apart from the short days.)
I realise though that we'll have to sell our place here first, and that won't be easy.
Anyway thanks for all the suggestions, and I'll be following them up.
I had a few holidays in Bamburgh as a child, with a cousin's family, and would prefer the coast, but already know it's outside our budget.

Tegan are you prepared to spend at least a few days each winter snowed in? Many of the most remote places in Northumberland are sometimes, even those within easy traveling distance of the main cities. If you don't mind that's fine but if you are concerned you might be better off in one of the smaller villages. Good luck!

Or living in a very cold place?

Log onto Rightmove, put in your requurements and budget and see what comes up. Tegan or someone else could then give you any insight they might have.

Are you really sure you want to be out in the sticks?

They're filming Transformers5 in Bamburgh today [and yesterday]. Cars, drones and famous people everywhere. Anthony Hopkins just walked down the street by all accounts. And I should have been there but have a hospital appointment. Grrrr

northumberland featured on Location etc., recently with a budget about 200k, some lovely properties and it looked a very scenic place to live, my sil from Newcastle says it's beautiful but, not for southern birds, like me, who sit on a radiator the whole of winter

I too am just across the county border of Northumberland TriciaF and we spend a lot of time in and around Northumberland and the borders. Some lovely little villages but it depends how isolated you are prepared to be. I would need a little shop and maybe a pub at the least but there are plenty of lovely places. Have a look at an estate agent called George F white who has a lot of Northumberland properties on his books. I love Bamburgh and Alnwick and all the little villages around that area. Gorgeous village called Rennington ( might be pricey) and Paxton village just over the borders . Too many to mention . I am sooooo jealous
The Northumberland weather might be a bit different to what you are currently used to though .

It is beautiful; had I not met the S.O. I doubt if I would ever have discovered the place. The sad thing is though, he's up there having a log burner installed, one of the reasons being that we wanted our old dog to have a nice time lying in front of it, but I'm not sure she's going to be around to enjoy it. The place has been rented out throughout the summer and we've had some lovely messages in the visitors book. I felt a bit raw at the thought of other people being there but I'm so pleased that other people have enjoyed it, especially one little girl who wrote that it was 'like a home from home' .

Tegan, whilst you are up there, please find me a lovely seaside cottagey type house for around £50,000 lol. It really is a lovely part of the country and I do quite fancy a move amd would be very happy (I think) to have you as a neighbour!

I don't think you'll have a problem if you want to be out in the sticks. Anything with a sea view is horribly horrendous. I actually love the area around Berwick [and Berwick itself]. If you have an idea about which area you'd like to be we could check it out for you. Some friends from our village are moving up there and we were able to warn them that one house they were interested in was in a flood area. I do know someone who has lots of animals; they live out by Duns [sp]. The S.O. is up there now and I'm going up next week for a couple of weeks. Don't have a computer up there but my pad thingy works after a fashion. I do find up there that there is a community spirit that seems to be lacking in a lot of places, and there always seems to be something going on in the village hall etc. The downside is you might have me for a neighbour some of the time.

I live in the next county and have had a look at estate agents sites. It is possible to buy a house for your budget but would probably not be detached or in a quiet area. I was amazed to see how prices have risen, £600,000 is not unusual now, I think southerners sometimes buy up north because they get a lot more for their money.