Relocating to Newcastle

M0nica

Allira Newcastle upon Tyne is in North EAST England, not the north west. Roughly 60 miles south of the border between England and Scotland

Yes, of course it is, DD went there for an interview for a university place but chose to go to the South-west instead!

Even when I typed that I had a map of the UK in my mind's eye with Newcastle in the correct place. Duh!!

I did go to university there, and throughly enjoyed myself there. Met DH there, although we were three years out of university, before we got together as a couple.

M0nica

I did go to university there, and throughly enjoyed myself there. Met DH there, although we were three years out of university, before we got together as a couple.

My mind must have been flitting around the country when I typed that!

Galaxy

I agree about the traffic, I work in Newcastle and live outside the city, it is horrendous to get into the city and move around it by car.

My friend has to travel via Benton Lane/Benton Road on a regular basis, she will often get off the bus and walk due to delays during peak periods.

Fantastic city but the traffic system leaves a lot to be desired!

I’ve just got parked on top of John Lewis in Newcastle - virtually no traffic and hit all the green lights! It’ll be a different story when I head out and up Gosforth High Street to collect DD2’s Little Dog later though!!

DH and I have been studying Newcastle with the aid of OS maps, Rightmove and Streetview and are gaining an idea of the layout. The one thing I haven't been able to find is an A to Z map of the streets which really help me to learn my way about because I'm not brilliant with maps on my very slow phone. Although we are used to an old fashioned rural way of life, everyone here tells us that it's a lovely town with friendly people and that we will soon feel at home. We are looking foreward to exploring especially Heaton, Longbenton and Gosforth during our first few days visiting from the 12th.

Gosforth has a village feel to it, at least it did last time I was there. There use to be a wonderful Chinese restaurant with superb food inside the old local cinema. In Heaton, there are quite a number of small food outlets. My favourite is near Heaton Park. They sell organic meat and beer. They were featured on one of The Hairy Biker programmes.

Having lived in both the SE and the West Midlands I can say that the traffic most of the time is not as horrendous as some other parts of the country. Public transport is relatively good although some of the locals complain. They haven’t had to wait for buses in Bristol or London that never come.

I’ve found the NHS here particularly good. DH was referred to one of the local cataract removal centres. He had one removed after a 3 week wait and the other about 6 months later. Both the Freeman and Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) are excellent in my opinion. Dentists are something else although our local GPs surgery is very good.

I hope you enjoy living in Newcastle.

Thank you ayse. Although there were buses when we first moved here we don't have any public transport in our village now, but could do a three mile walk to the nearest bus stop in the next parish. Any public transport will seem
good to us! Are there many cycle lanes in Newcastle?