Unlike a lot of people who base their decision on where to relocate on either work or because an area hold special meaning, we ended up looking to move based on being in closer proximity to family. My husbands family were based in the North East of England in a town called Darlington. We had lived a rather nomadic lifestyle having studied together in Edinburgh, relocated to Cambridge for my veterinary training and then finally settling in Milton Keynes for work. However, thanks to the COVID-era of our lives, my husbands work became and then remained fully remote. After some health issues on my part which led me to taking a step back from clinical veterinary practice we were no longer tied to the South and found ourselves wanting to be a bit closer to our Northern family members. Our property search therefore ended up being anything with a bit of land within 1 hour of Darlington. Neither of us knew much about the North Pennines or Weardale in particular before we came across for a few property viewings. However, the drive over literally took our breath away and after falling in love with the very first house we saw, a quite lunch in a riverside cafe for which we were joined by a Red Squirrel found us both with a feeling that this could be the right place for us.
Over the next few months, whilst we worked through a lengthy and complex purchase on the property we drove back to the North to explore the area a little more and found ourselves falling deeper in love with this wild and exposed part of the world. As two very outdoorsy people we are excited to share the wonderful, hidden gems of this lesser known part of the UK with you. We have dogs, I ride horses and my husband loves to road and mountain bike. As such we plan to share our finds for those on two legs, four legs (be they canine or equine) or those on two wheels!