Sanderson Young Collection Magazine

PREMIER PROPERTIES & FABULOUS FEATURES

Spring | Summer 2010 £2.95

collection

MEDIEVAL SPLENDOUR For sale – historic West Bitchfield

SPRING CLEAN Keeping the dust at bay, the National Trust way

BEAUTIFUL HOMES Pages and pages of dream homes and interiors

A FINE VINTAGE Designer clothes with old-fashioned elegance

WE’RE BURSTING INTO COLOUR THIS SPRING

Bring some colour back into your life after the long white winter. Right now Chapmans is positively bursting with a huge choice of fabrics, colours, comfort options, styles and sizes on a great range of contemporary and classic sofas. So whether you go blue, pink, brown or yellow, your neighbours are sure to be green with envy.

Call in and see us today.

You’ll find us at Siesta House, Market Street, Newcastle. Customer car park available. We’re open Monday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm.

Sunday 11am to 5pm. Call us on 0191 2327628 or visit www.chapmansfurniture.co.uk Also at Siesta House,Victoria Viaduct, Carlisle.

OPEN SUNDAYS 11AM - 5PM

INTEGRA INTEGRATE TEGRA ATE ATE YOUR Y R HOME O HOM Link up your audio and television sour sources ces ar around ound the home and operate them all from from a single beautifully crafted rremote emote control, control, which can also take car caree of your heating, lighting, curtains and security – with a multi-room multi-room system called BeoLink®

M ROO BED

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M2 ROO BED

s s s s s For mor more e information on how an integrated Bang & Olufsen system can transform the way you enjoy your home, come and see our show apartment on Gr Grey ey Street, Street, Newcastle or call us for a survey at your home…

Bang & Olufsen of Newcastle 61-67 Grey Street, Newcastle NE1 6EF. TTel: el: 0191 01 2305551 Email: newcastle@bang-olufsen.co.uk www.bang-olufsen.com/newcastle

PERFORMANCE DEFINED Model shown: The 2010 Range Rover Autobiography

Paul Cummings Specialist Cars is one of the UK's most respected and connected specialist car dealers, with an enviable reputation for sourcing the best prestige cars, providing superb VIP vehicle management and discreet personal service.

The North East’s largest independent Range Rover dealer, our newly refurbished showroom is also home to a breathtaking range of prestige marques including Bentley, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Porsche and Maserati, in addition to semi-specialist cars at affordable prices.

Celebrities, sports stars, business leaders and high profile personalities all over the UK and abroad value our discretion, our personal service and our skill in customising cars to clients’ individual specifications. We know that you will value us too, so come and see us, and experience the drive you’ve been waiting for.

3 Mill Hill, North West Industrial Estate, Peterlee, County Durham SR8 2HR t: 0845 241 7177www.paulcummings.co.uk

hat an exciting start to 2010, with extreme weather pushing the initial January recovery back to mid-February, followed by a pleasant spring and the fantastic news that Nissan’s Washington plant will build the marque’s new electric cars.

Newcastle Utd seems solid in its Premiership bid, and hopefully this will bring stability to the squad and the players who will buy or rent through us in the summer.

How fantastic it would also be if Nissan’s lead could pave the way for others to follow in creating the North East as a European Capital of ‘Green Culture’.

There is much news now about the future of green housing, and predictions of whole estates being self sufficient, with recyclable energy sources, waste products and utilities, saving home owners thousands of pounds in running costs.

Energy Performance Certificates, which are part of the Home Information Pack, do have a strong merit and future governments are likely to look at this area of efficiency as a means of taxation.

So what of the future? Who will govern and what difference will it make to the housing market? I wouldn’t like to forecast the outcome of the General Election, but I think the majority of home owners would like to see stability in the housing and stock markets.

Confidence has clearly returned to the housing market over the last six months and the region has caught up with London and the South East, which saw more property sales in the last quarter of 2009.

Our trading figures are already very good for 2010 and are likely to remain so.

I understand that Savills recently revised its forecast for increases in property values upwards in the London region and it is clear that the UK continues to attract influential international buyers.

Future enticements include the Stamp Duty exemption for first time buyers up to £250,000 and the potential abolition of Home Information Packs.

Both will impact on the market, though the most important factor will be increased lending from the banks.

The lack of new homes built over the last two years will impact upon the supply of property in the near future, as will the potential for home occupation to swing from a growing spirit of ownership to an increasing trend for long-term rentals.

We have tiered our business very clearly to give an equal balance between homes to let and homes for sale, and we are becoming market leaders in the region for renting luxury suburban homes at £2,000 and more per calendar month, and mansions in the region at £5,000 and above per calendar month.

Our recent move to new premises at 95 High Street in Gosforth has brought together our experienced, expert staff under one roof, selling new and second hand homes, letting luxury houses and Quayside apartments and financing all the transactions within one building.

Even the opportunity to have a ‘Great Coffee’ and a tasty sandwich has been developed by my friend Stephen Deakin and his excellent team.

The people of the region have always been very

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onwards&upwards Sanderson Young MD Duncan Young notes that spring has brought the green shoots of recovery with it

“Confidence has clearly returned to the housing market over the last six months and the region has caught up with London and the South East …” proud and hard working and we can now look forward to moving onwards and upwards.

I would like to thank all of our clients, past and present, for their support. I am firmly of the view that internet and supermarket selling will not affect our brand, because it is so important to provide a personal and expert service if we are to maximise the selling price of our clients’ homes; something for which we have a particularly strong reputation.

We look forward to repeat and referred clients continuing to value our service for its top quality

marketing, photography and personal service, supported by an excellent IT strategy.

In addition, by May this year the Sanderson Young iPhone app will be launched, which is yet another example of our commitment to leading technology.

We also very much look forward to welcoming you personally at the office, where we will continue to give professional advice on a one-to-one basis.

If you are considering moving home please do not hesitate to contact me by email at duncan.young@sandersonyoung.co.uk

collection | 5

SY | SANDERSON YOUNG

regional

maturity

Sanderson Young’s Operations Director, Janet Hopkinson and Corporate Client Director Nicola Osborne offer their view of the much improved property market

JANET HOPKINSON The first quarter of 2010 was a tremendous boost to the company, with a staggering 100% increase in sales compared to quarter one 2009.

The ongoing development of our experienced staff is highly successful and we have emerged from the difficult period of 2007-09 with the support of our clientele, who are now keen to move.

Our conversions on inspections to instructions, as well as our viewings on properties to let, proves the importance of a quality team, buyers and tenants.

We second personal negotiators to buyers and work with them to define their precise needs. Then, if we haven’t got that property, we go out and get it!

The results speak for themselves, with instructions up an extremely healthy 139% and demand for property far outstripping supply.

We enter quarter two 2010 ready to meet and exceed expectations and as we enter the peak house buying season we expect further growth.

The growth in activity stretches across sales and lettings and the opening of our new regional branch at 95 High Street, Gosforth has proven to be a tremendous success. The office brings together our expert teams in one building and has increased our average monthly rental fee from £750 to £1,350 per calendar month.

NICOLA OSBORNE Investors and developers need and appreciate expert assistance and advice, particularly following a challenging period in the market.

This is where our expertise in the specialist areas of investment, market appraisal and site acquisition comes to the fore, and we work closely with a number of investors and developers with the aim of ensuring the best possible return on capital.

We are working with a number of clients now, particularly developers who are keen to review their current position in light of recent changes in the market. With more positive signs, improvements in developer and investor confidence and some improvement in the availability of lending, clients are increasingly seeking new schemes to develop or resurrecting schemes that have been previously mothballed.

These clients appreciate our expertise and advice on up-to-date development proposals, and we assist them in deciding if their proposed scheme works and what they need to do in cases where schemes have been halted due to slow sales or the lack of funding for development. We review and advise on change of use, costs and pricing.

We also prepare reports for clients who are considering the acquisition of new sites. We

6 | collection

consider all factors which affect the success of a proposed development and prepare a detailed market report reviewing potential uses for a site and its potential return.

We work widely in the new homes sector and are increasingly working with in-house sales teams to review existing sites. These developers appreciate our expertise in reviewing their sales strategy from a marketing, PR and media perspective, and we also review their pricing.

We are seeing renewed interest and confidence from better-informed residential investors. The strength of the residential rental market is good for the investment market and certain incentives, such as those offered by new homes developers, are encouraging the market.

We advise on land sales for a number of private and public sector bodies, and we are seeing renewed interest and appetite from house builders with strong competitive bids coming forward. We also work in valuation and consultancy, on asset valuation and loan security valuations.

For more details on Sanderson Young’s Corporate Client Services, contact Nicola Osborne at the rare! office, tel 0191 223 3500, email nicola.osborne@sandersonyoung.co.uk

We now offer mansion houses at £5,000 per month and luxury family homes on the outskirts of Newcastle, with good quality tenants with a track record of looking after their properties.

One of our most successful operations is our Ponteland branch, where, under the management of Elaine Newbigin and the direction of buyers seeking properties up to £600,000, we have seen fabulous sales. We now urgently seek family semis and smaller country cottages in the outlying villages of the Tyne Valley, where we have buyers waiting.

We are very proud to take new instructions in the new homes market and at Axwell Park we have stunning townhouses priced to sell and immediately available for occupation. Our associate Cussins Homes appreciates our expertise in sales and marketing and the imminent launch of Turner Square in Morpeth is eagerly awaited by our team.

We are market experts and we have great success in marketing and selling homes throughout the region.

Our fees remain extremely competitive and our success in selling and letting homes at all levels of the market is regionally renowned.

For more information please contact Janet Hopkinson at the rare! office, tel 0191 223 3500, email janet.hopkinson@sandersonyoung.co.uk

AN oASiS of SERENiTy AmiDST THE buSTliNG CiTy

The Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall, where the sensual knowledge of the east flows into the higher reaches of 21st century luxury, where we will pamper, indulge and relax you until your five senses are left begging for more. Choose from over forty five different treatments or one of our Day Rituals. Swim in the ozone cleansed pool, work out in the TechnoGym, or just relax in the thermal baths. The Serenity Spa is linked by a magical underground link to Seaham Hall Hotel, the leading small luxury hotel in Northern England, just twenty minutes from Newcastle, and discover style, service and cuisine that is off the scale.

contents Managing Director Duncan Young Operations Director Janet Hopkinson Regional Sales Manager Hazel Ross

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Editor Jane Pikett 01434 607 466 Editorial Peter Adams Mark Anderson Alastair Gilmour Neil Gordon Jane Hall Brian Nicholls Sales Sue Tomlin Anthea Slater Sanderson Young Media 0191 213 2533 Photography Mel Clark Kevin Gibson David Grebby Adam Lawrenson Nicky Rogerson

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PROPERTY 31 rare! Office

Design Mark Denny

57 Alnwick Office

Production Damian Wood

69 Ponteland Office

Print HPM www.hpm.uk.com

79 Gosforth Office

95 Residential Lettings P34 107 New Homes

Cover: West Bitchfield P26

ISSN No: 1740-3375 Whilst every care is taken in compiling the contents of this magazine, the publisher accepts no responsibility for the effects arising thereof.

All material is copyright.

Reproduction of any part of the magazine is forbidden except by written permission of the publisher.

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contents

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FEATURES 10 Shooting from the hip

30 Hot news

122 This charming man

Barbour’s Helen Humphrey on coats and country sports

The beautiful eco home you actually get paid for owning

Mahtab Miah’s charmed family life

12 Slow down

104 Let’s move

124 Flying economy

Beer and fish finger sandwiches in the Ouseburn Valley

Good news for the region’s rental market

Travel, credit crunch-style

16 Lights, camera, action

108 Starters for 2010

126 A fine vintage

Tom Harvey’s bid to bring film-makers to the North East

The new developments making their mark now

Designer looks with old-fashioned style

20 A life in film

116 This green and pleasant house

130 Watch this space

Film man Gareth Williams takes us on location

One couple’s story of the UK’s greenest house

Bringing art to the high street

22 The ultimate spring clean

118 High Roller

131 Hidden Gems

Ridding Cragside of the cobwebs

The Rolls Royce Phantom’s ghostly presence

Perfect places to shop, eat and stay a while

26 Medieval splendour

120 Alvis has left the building

134 Moving experience

The serendipitous beauty of West Bitchfield

One man’s journeys in a very special vintage car

Move house and help charity, all at the same time

rare! Office

Gosforth Regional Office

Ponteland Office

Alnwick Office

Regional Lettings

Mayfair Office

0191 223 3500

0191 213 0033

01661 823 951

01665 600 170

0191 255 0808

0870 112 7099

Jane Pikett meets

Helen Humphrey – mum of three, retailer, and vice chairman of Barbour – to talk dogs, jackets and crack shot Lord James Percy

shootingfromthehip 10 | collection

PROFILE | SY

reconceptions, as we all know, rarely match reality. But surely, the vice chairman of Barbour, Helen Humphrey (nee Barbour) must enjoy a country life of hunting, shooting, fishing and country dogs; a black lab and a springer for preference?

Apparently not. She lives in town (Gosforth), she doesn’t hunt or fish, though she has recently had shooting lessons (for work purposes – more later) and she has two town dogs – a pug called Pugsley and a chihuahua (a chihuahua!) named Peanut.

Preconceptions thoroughly smashed, she isn’t even wearing a Barbour when we meet, though she is most appreciative of the fact that I am modeling my own (a v stylish quilted International motorcycle jacket).

She walks her dogs in an orange (her favourite colour) Barbour body warmer and a padded Barbour coat – a prototype of a design due to be released this autumn.

Wearer tests like this are crucial at Barbour, and sometimes Helen gets her friends to test out prototypes too (oh, to be one of those friends!).

We quickly get into a lengthy discussion re the essential design features of a good dog walking coat and agree that she really should launch a Barbour Dog collection.

For now though, Helen is very focused on Barbour’s shooting collection designed by Lord James Percy – younger brother of the Duke of Northumberland and widely acknowledged as the best shot of his generation.

“He approached my mum [company chairman Dame Margaret Barbour] at a function in 2002 and said, ‘I could design better shooting jackets, let me have a go’, so she did,” says Helen. “He’s wonderful to work with and his designs are great because he knows exactly what he’s talking about.”

Helen has been involved in the family business all her life, while having various jobs outside the company in advertising, marketing, fundraising, TV and radio researching and running her own businesses.

“Even as a kid I’d go in during the school holidays and deliver the post and help the woman in the cutting room,” she says. “And I’d go to the game fairs with my mum and I’ve modelled in the catalogues since I was 14. It comes so naturally to me now that the decisions I make are instinctive.

I’ve grown up with it and learned a huge amount from just being there.”

One might imagine that the daughter of such a prestigious family business might have, shall we say, a bit of ‘attitude’. Not at all - a successful businesswoman in her own right, Helen Humphrey is very down to earth (jeans, jumper, subtle make-up...), very forthright and has not a shred of ‘attitude’.

She’s a grafter and a believer in working your way up, even when the business belongs to your family.

“God no, you can’t just flounce in and say ‘I’m Helen Barbour’ and just expect it all to be there for you.

You don’t get any respect for that,” she says.

She has a sharp business brain honed by the businesses she has launched and run in the last 12 years or so, having left her researcher’s job at the BBC when she married her husband Dave, who has a property business, 14 years ago.

Since last summer, she has headed Barbour Sporting – the division for which Lord James Percy designs. It was her idea to take over that side of

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“If I stop to think, I never make a decision. I always go on my gut. It works for me, and I feel very fortunate”

the business, as she felt passionately that it was something she could grow and make her own.

“Barbour Sporting is our core business,” she says.

“It’s okay having a great fashion range, but fashion doesn’t last forever. We have to be sure that our core market remains strong. The shooting collection is so important it’s almost as a separate entity in itself.”

She is endlessly curious and loves a project. A lover of detail, her puzzle solving abilities are now being put to the test in the search for a new Barbour hunting tartan, based on the current Barbour tartan and to be used specifically in the Sporting range to give it both cohesion and a separate identity from the rest of the Barbour ranges.

Helen is an obsessive researcher. “I like a challenge and I love being presented with a problem. I’d love to be dropped in the jungle and have to find my way home. I just like to get my teeth into things.”

She likes the process of taking a product from conception to design, to wearer trials, to refining, making, marketing and distribution, and Barbour Sporting is also special to her personally.

“It was about finding something in Barbour that would be mine. I’m not going in and taking someone’s job or managing a department someone else has built up. I’ve said to everyone on the shooting team, ‘I’m not the co-owner and the vice chairman here, I’m just me’. People are pretty cool about that.”

Helen is also taking on more of her mother’s work now as Dame Margaret eases off a little. “It’s time for her to enjoy her freedom, though she is a real workaholic, like me,” says Helen. “She couldn’t not work.”

Dame Margaret entered the company after Helen’s father John died in 1968, aged just 29. Helen was almost two at the time.

“Mum knew how proud dad had been. He was the fourth generation and had no siblings, so Mum felt she had to take it on.

“She took over out of love and obligation, and her working so hard when I was growing up was a great example for me. She’s also kept me down to earth. “ The business, meanwhile, has become highly

profitable, its products beloved of fashionistas and country folk alike.

“It’s only in the last few years that Barbour has got so big. It ballooned in the 80s when all the Sloane Rangers started wearing Barbours, but before that it was successful, but nothing amazing. We certainly weren’t anything like millionaires and all the money was ploughed back into the business.”

Helen grew up in Cleadon Village, near Barbour’s South Shields base. The family later moved near Morpeth and she went to school in Newcastle, away to Oxford for sixth form and to London to study for her degree.

It’s always been important to her that she carves out her own niche independently of Barbour. She has had several shops and she created a parenting website – www.ukparents.co.uk (which merged with www.ukparentslounge.com a few years ago) - long before mumsnet was a twinkle in its creators’ eyes.

“You can’t just walk into the family company,” she says. “I’ve got a degree and a post grad and my own abilities.

“I could just imagine me waltzing in with my chihuahua under my arm, sitting at a big desk, throwing my weight around and not really doing very much. Horrible. You’ve got to prove yourself.

I think now, at 43, I have proved myself enough to go and develop the shooting side of the business.

I know retail, I understand business. I have skills to take to Barbour now.”

Mum to John, 12, Danny, 10, and seven-year-old Stella, Helen tried being a housewife when she had her first child, but it wasn’t for her. Now she juggles family and business – her toy shop, Kid, on Gosforth High Street, and its online store, and Barbour – pretty successfully.

“There’s only one thing – I have to have a bath in the morning and another in the evening. That hour is my time and it’s sacred,” she laughs.

Her closest friends, she says after some thought, might describe her as faithful, honest, lively, and intolerant of “people who aren’t themselves”. She’s also a gut thinker. “If I stop to think, I never make a decision. I always go on my gut. It works for me,” she says, “and I feel very fortunate.”

collection | 11

SY | OUT & ABOUT

An Ouseburn Valley pub trail is one of the region’s great adventures, as Alastair Gilmour discovers

12 | collection

OUT & ABOUT | SY

t the point where the River Tyne and the Ouseburn join forces a sign reads Slow Down.

The message, on a quay wall near Byker, Newcastle, is intended for the small craft bobbing on the swell, but it’s a pointless warning. There’s no need to be told to relax or chill; entering the Ouseburn Valley does that to the soul, there’s something in the air.

The Ouseburn Valley was the cradle of Newcastle’s industrial heritage and is the final significant part of the city to come under the glint of developers’ shovels and contractors’ earth-movers, but the area has long been renowned for its clutch of the best traditional and theme-free pubs that the North East can offer.

Perched high above this compact, steep-sided and surprisingly green hollow are the Cumberland Arms and the Free Trade Inn; plonked on the confluence of the Ouseburn and the River Tyne is The Tyne (formerly the Ship Tavern), while keeping guard at the Byker Bridge end are the Ship Inn and The Cluny.

Five pubs, each with their own character; five pubs offering a range of beer, food and entertainment to suit the most demanding of palates, and five pubs that form an ale trail dotted with industrial remnants and social history linked to pottery works, glass factories, corn mills, lead making and toffee production.

The Ouseburn Valley has also developed into a lively urban quarter built around the creative industries where film-makers, theatre groups, painters, sculptors, designers and craftspeople have gravitated over the past two decades – and, of course, it’s the location of Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books, that jewel in Newcastle’s literary crown.

Ouseburn pubs reflect this creative edge; they have

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Five pubs, each with their own character; five pubs offering a range of beer, food and entertainment to suit the most demanding of palates …

grasped the meaning of the word individuality. It’s an enduring comfort to note that The Tyne still has the Black Watch tartan carpet from its 1995 refit, a curiously vivid blue and green concoction that contrasts with the pub’s exposed brick interior, brewing ephemera, musical curios and a wonderful ceramic-encrusted corner wall and mirror. Plus, the juke-box remains toll-free.

It’s this disregard for uniformity that makes one-off pubs what they are; corporate-free contentmentzones with no designer tag on the sleeve.

The focus of The Tyne’s reputation as a local musicians’ base is the free Sunday session where bands such as Three Trapped Tigers, I’m Not Google and No Time For Jive enjoy their shot at fame, indoors or outside in the sheltered beer garden by the new Ouseburn Barrage.

In its Ship Tavern days the pub was “better known for the horizontal refreshment on offer in the rooms above than the liquid refreshment at the bar”, but it’s now regarded as the “tap” for Wylam Brewery.

Several handpulls are reserved for the likes of its award-winning Gold Tankard, Bitter and Dognobbler, which we’re assured is named after a fishing fly rather than a supplement to missionaryposition shenanigans.

A welcome visitor is Zatec, a golden beer from the Czech Republic. This is the essence of the pub – you can sip any beer anywhere at any time and be transported wherever you like; Byker NE6 to North

West Bohemia CZ, for instance. Then you take your second sip.

A chest-thumping walk up the steps from The Tyne to the incomparable Free Trade Inn is generously rewarded by the breathtaking view of the Tyne elbowing its way seaward with iconic bridges, bulging buildings and regular, glorious sunsets contributing to the scene. Geordie “royalty” Denise Welch and Tim Healy nominated the pub’s window seat as their observation perch for the ITV series Britain’s Favourite View.

The pub is well-trodden, the juke-box is sadly no longer free, but it still plays the same 60s soul classics and timeless Talking Heads, ZZ Top and Elvis Costello that it did 25 years ago (minor point, but number 169 isn’t Frank Zappa as indicated, it’s Tom Waits).

The Free Trade’s lack of conformity is its charm, though its former unorthodox outlook and artistic slant has been tempered of late by an urban chic that embraces “shabby” a little too closely for some.

Fortunately, this doesn’t noticeably dilute its

collection | 13

SY | OUT & ABOUT

remarkable character, underlined by such details as the front door’s interior shutters dressed in the old Newcastle Breweries’ livery of black rail and style, cream panel and red moulding (some minor surgery and surface cosmetics wouldn’t come amiss, mind).

Real ales include regulars Mordue and Wylam, plus perhaps a special Allendale Chilli Beer and one from Captain Cook Brewery in North Yorkshire.

Sandwiches are supplied by Dene’s Deli, Jesmond.

Rock legend Jimi Hendrix is reputed to have idled away hours here while living in Heaton with his manager, former Animal Chas Chandler. Further rumour suggests it’s where he wrote Stone Free, but speculation was Hendrix’s middle name.

The Ship Inn sits in the shadow of Byker Bridge and the architecturally-underrated east coast main line railway bridge. Its delightful terrace overlooks the “village green”, the hub of bank holiday weekend gatherings and festival revelries.

Internally, it is square in shape with some fine features, such as the original stained-glass windows at the back which are best viewed from outside through protective iron bars, unfortunately. The central counter offers several national lager brands plus Hadrian & Border Tyneside Blonde and Gladiator, brewed just out of sight over the hill, which is as local as local gets.

The Ship also has a piano and the Ouseburn Valley’s only gaming machine – and who can argue with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen on the sound system?

Only yards away is The Cluny. Its funky, stylish coolness with its brush of tradition and a wave towards the future mean this is a pub with a positive perspective. It acts out several roles – international music venue, art gallery, cinema and all-day kitchen – as well as serving locally-sourced ales and beers from further afield; Sierra Nevada and Budvar included. Irish beer festivals are a regular feature while bottled beers from all over Europe and Belgian fruit beers on tap are house specialities.

The combination of stainless steel furnishings and timber dressing is sympathetic, stylish and functional, whereas The Cluny’s exposed brickwork and interior arches hint at its former use as a bonded warehouse. But now the high ceilings are offset by enormous metallic air conditioning ducts which lend the bar an inside-out Pompidou Centre je ne sais quoi and an industrial nod towards the cultural activity below which, given the Ouseburn’s history, is kind of neat.

The door to the kitchen is rarely still, swinging regularly for orders of Hungarian goulash, jambalaya, beef stew, sandwiches, or amazing burgers served with salad and chips reminiscent of blind cobblers’ thumbs.

14 | collection

“Rock legend Jimi Hendrix is reputed to have idled away hours here while living in Heaton with his manager, former Animal Chas Chandler”

Music-wise, a selection from forthcoming gigs promises Pappa Chubby, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash and the afro-funk Souljazz Orchestra.

Now brace yourself for the short, steep ascent to the Cumberland Arms. It’s often said that when you’re in the detached, multi-functional, muchloved Cumberland you could only ever be in the Cumberland.

The tidy courtyard at the front overlooks the valley and over the Tyne to Gateshead and beyond. Its basic interior is from the stripped floorboards, bench seating, timbered panelling school with a large fireplace – very active in winter – and wellstocked “bring one borrow one” bookshelves.

Monopoly, chess and dominoes are alternative pursuits. New kitchens have recently been kitted out and four, en-suite rooms developed.

Six cask-conditioned beers are normally on tap, principally from local micro-breweries, and the cider choice has led to the Cumberland being a regular Cider Pub of the Year.

It’s very much a community centre and a venue for traditional Northumbrian, Scottish and Irish music but also features indie, rock and jazz. It shifts daily between modern poetry, comedy (The Suggestibles) and rapper dancing – think Morris with swords not hankies, think bruising athleticism, think swish, swipe and energetic, foot-stamping gyrations.

Sunday lunches regularly sell out while more basic offerings such as nachos and cheese and fish finger sandwiches (is there anything more comforting than a fish-finger sandwich?) are trumped only by belly

pork with black pudding, mashed potato and cider gravy.

The Cumberland Arms, The Cluny, The Ship, Free Trade Inn and The Tyne have developed their modern enterprises organically and it’s hoped the rest of the Ouseburn Valley will be allowed to form, adjust and rebuild just as sensitively.

It’s no coincidence that tufts of grass and errant weeds grow from the sign at the Ouseburn Barrage.

It should actually read Slow Down. Full Stop.

IF YOU’RE SERIOUS ABOUT FOOD …

CRAB & LOBSTER

TRENCHERS RESTAURANT

Asenby, Thirsk, North Yorkshire YO7 3QL

New Quay Road, Whitby, North Yorkshire Y021 1DH

Nestled in the heart of the North Yorkshire countryside, the Crab & Lobster is guaranteed to offer you an experience unlike any other. Filled with interesting antiques and old memorabilia, the atmosphere gives an instant sense of character and charm. Although fascinating, it does not draw your attention away from the fabulous food that is freshly prepared and perfectly presented. Our adjoining hotel, Crab Manor, offers a choice of 14 boutique style rooms, individually designed to reflect a famous hotel from around the world. Each with their own or shared hot tub and sauna facilities, you can relax and unwind whilst enjoying a picture perfect setting.

Trenchers Restaurant is without a doubt one of the finest seafood restaurants in the area. Renowned for its ‘posh fish and chips’, Trenchers offers a wide range of fresh fish dishes, from halibut steak to the more traditional cod or scampi. It’s not only the food that makes Trenchers so appealing - with their famous Tiffany lamps and limitless supply of fresh flowers, the restaurant has been designed to create a bright and friendly ambience and the staff never fail to be attentive to your every need.

Winner of ‘Loo of the Year Award 2010’

Winner of the ‘Best Overall Restaurant 2010’

Ideal for weddings - please contact us to discuss your requirements

Book online at www.crabandlobster.co.uk or telephone 01845 577286 for a brochure

For further information visit www.trenchersrestaurant.co.uk or telephone 01947 603212

SY | PROFILE

lights,camera ...

action The North East’s creative industr ies enjoy public support like never before. Alastai r Gilmour talks to one man close to the action

AST: Mr Polanski, a film director, Miss Winslet, a young actress, Master Potter, an adolescent wizard, Mr Caine, a national treasure.

A man with a megaphone strides along a country lane, stops and looks around.

POLANSKI: “Let’s do the show right here.”

The scenario is imaginary, but the characters have all been involved in film-making in the North East.

But if only it were that easy.

When a film or TV production is here, we gawp at the stars and keep tabs on the takes, but what we don’t see are the extraordinary lengths that go into attracting them here in the first place.

The moving image industry contributes £122m to the North East economy every year via 165 companies employing 1,700 people.

Northern Film & Media invests in creative talent and introduces it to the market. The winner is the regional economy.

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“The commercial creative industries – film and TV, games, mobiles, interactive media, music – are worth £1bn to the region,” says Northern Film & Media chief executive Tom Harvey. “It’s a priority sector, growing twice as fast as other creative sectors nationally.”

And he has done personally what he asks film and television companies to do: embrace the North East.

Tom, his wife Claire and four children are settled in a farmhouse with hens and sheep and fields full of animals that make it as far removed from their old London base as it could be.

“When we were thinking about coming here seven years ago, we thought it was incredible that such a landscape could be part of your life. We were walking on Druridge Bay and thinking, ‘this could be our beach’.”

He talks of three distinct strategies to bring others here to work. “There’s local product: with talented people with good ideas, you can get production >>

Above: Inspector George Gently on location Above left: Northern Film and Media >> here. Then there are programmes that are ‘of here’ like When the Boat Comes In, and you get production companies from outside and embed the work in the region.

“Then there are projects that could be from anywhere, that we make here. You get them here for scenes in a castle, then we ask what else they need and instead of shooting here for a week, we persuade them to stay for six.”

The North East has been a backdrop for films such as Atonement, Elizabeth, Get Carter and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the BBC drama Inspector George Gently is currently being shot here.

“George Gently is set here and it’s crazy it’s been shot in Ireland previously,” says Tom. “If we can help them make it work here, we’ve got a chance to embed it in the region. That’s important with long-running television. Tracy Beaker, which is shooting now, was really written for London, but now they’re shooting in the North East. If we can help them make it more ‘North East’, the series starts to have added value.”

Inspector George Gently, starring Martin Shaw, is set in 1960s County Durham. Filming came to Durham after independent producer Company Pictures was awarded £150,000 from the North East Content Fund set up by Northern Film & Media and One North East.

The drama is written for TV by Jarrow-born Peter Flannery, writer of Our Friends in the North. “I’ve long wanted the stories to unfold in the landscape in which they’re set,” he says. “I’m coming home, and I’m bringing George Gently with me.”

He is also helping to spin the North East’s economic coin that bit faster. “For every pound we invest, between £4 and £5 is spent locally,” says Tom. “For the £250,000 we invested in George Gently, they’re

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spending between £1m and £2m here on local crews, facilities and businesses. It’s a good value investment for the region, and it’s bringing money from outside. Now that we can invest in productions, we are competitive with the best in Europe.

“We’re also not building local companies to be just part of a regional economy; we want them to be part of the global entertainments industry.

“Look at what Wales has been able to do from producing Dr Who. If you go back only six or seven years, there was almost no production in Wales.

Now it’s got 100 hours of network television. That was all about building up a production base from Dr Who. “Now there are projects that are written specifically for Wales, like Gavin & Stacey. You would never have had projects like that 10 years ago; they would have seemed too obscure. Now that’s the exciting place we’re at, and as people start to understand what the North East is, you can set more work here and it makes sense to a global audience.

“We in the North East are in that place now, and we could do some extraordinary pieces of work that will have huge resonance for the rest of the country. On the one hand, you’ve got to fulfil the expectations of the commissioners of television programmes, but on the other hand surprise them.

“If commissioners are expecting us to come in with

“Inspector George Gently is set here and it’s crazy that it’s been shot in Ireland previously. If we can help them to make it work here, we’ve got a chance to embed it in the region.

That’s important with long-running TV”

ideas that are all flat caps and whippets, it’s very difficult. But actually their expectations are different now; our image is different and our exports are different.”

Tom believes companies can be more creative here than in London’s ‘hothouse’ atmosphere, citing the 2009 movie Atonement as an example.

He says: “The scene on Redcar beach – the one everybody remembers – is talked about in film schools as extraordinary. It’s an amazing long take and everywhere the camera moves there’s something happening. Redcar and Cleveland Council got behind it; they cleared the decks and said, ‘we’re going to give them everything they need’.”

Similarly, Newcastle City Council pulled out all the stops in 2008 for Bollywood film Kaun Bola, even though it involved a VW Beetle crashing and somersaulting seven times down Grey Street. Now location manager Lee Alliston is planning to shoot more films around Newcastle.

“It went as well as we could ever have dreamed,” he said. “It’s such a breath of fresh air after London.

Everyone was so helpful, why wouldn’t you want to shoot a film here?”

Northern Film & Media is signing up local authorities to a Filming Friendly Charter and offering courses and workshops on film-makers’ needs. “People know the North East is open to filming,” says Tom. “The Grey Street crash was the exact opposite of what normally happens on location; you can’t close roads because it causes problems - whereas here we can flip a car in the most architecturally perfect street in Europe.”

And, it seems, you can stride across Redcar beach with a megaphone yelling: “Let’s make movie history right here.” And why not?

SY | PROFILE

Gareth Williams is the ultimate observer – and as one of the few TV and film location finders in the region, we see the gems he uncovers every day on our screens, as Peter Adams discovers

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wo things strike you on meeting Gareth Williams.

The first, how intently his brown/hazel eyes fix on you, carrying out a thorough examination, the second that this is exactly as it should be, because in his line of work, the ability to notice is very important indeed.

Gareth is one of the few film and TV location finders in the North East, and over the years he has built up an encyclopaedic knowledge of the region.

This knowledge, together with a knack for discovering places unknown to most, has been used latterly for the children’s series Tracy Beaker and the Robson Green drama Wire in the Blood.

Now working on a Second World War adventure to be screened by ITV later this year, he has to find 25 locations. With cast and crew arriving soon, he is two, maybe three short of target.

The day we meet, he’s setting out for Willington

Gareth Williams on location at Beamish

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PROFILE | SY

Quay in search of a church and a pub. We meet a short distance away, at the old Swan Hunter shipyard, where the production company is based in a former drawing office. Gareth reckons it would make a good setting for a fictional newsroom.

The once-proud yard, now stripped of most of its cranes, is vividly remembered by Gareth. Recalling attending a ship launch there as a young Sea Scout, he remembers being physically swept along the slope leading to the entrance by a tide of clocking-off humanity coming the other way.

Gareth’s first family home was in Dunston, adjacent to the then heavily industrialised riverbank, and at night his bedroom was illuminated by the glow of heavy industry.

But a short walk away was the countryside. “I’d just tell my Mum I was going out and my friends and I would spend the whole day playing in the fields and climbing trees. Or we’d cross the street and climb ladders in disused factories.”

Four decades on, and he is essentially still doing the same thing, except that his adventures can include anything from helicopter sorties above rural Northumberland to being one of the last people to climb the last crane in a dry dock before it was dismantled.

The past will often intrude on the present, as it has during preparation for the filming of Joe Madison’s War, when Gareth found himself back in the blue and white painted corridors and classrooms of his former primary school, now abandoned and locked up.

“I could have easily walked around blindfolded,” he says, “and it was a very moving, odd experience.

It felt like me looking over my seven-year-old shoulders.”

Gareth, 49, also gets to meet a range of people. “In my job, I can meet anyone, from a couple living in a Bristol council house who eloped together after escaping from an asylum (which they somehow got away with) to a lord in a castle.”

Gareth says he is “totally immersed” in the job he has been doing for the past 18 years, the last five exclusively in the North East.

The son of the comedian Ken Williams, drama and entertainment were highlights of Gareth’s school years, and as a result he says the words ‘imagine’ and ‘once upon a time’ are to him some of the most powerful in the English language.

After leaving school, he gained a Communications Studies degree at the then-Sunderland Poly and left wanting to do gritty drama, like Boys from the Blackstuff. “That was my kind of communication,” he says.

“Story telling is the big deal for me. The script is all-important; everything else is just a way of bringing the story to life.

“I can’t think of a better way to do it than on TV. The idea that you can get an audience of say 12 million people on a Thursday night, who will then go to the pub, club, school playground - wherever, and talk about it is just brilliant.”

While working on Casualty for the BBC in Bristol, Gareth was also made aware of the positive contribution to the local economy that TV and film can bring and when he returned to the North East 13 years ago, he determined that he would play his part in creating something similar.

“It is so important to have a sustainable film and TV industry capable of representing the region nationally and internationally on the small and big screen,” he says.

“In my job, I can meet anyone, from a couple living in a Bristol council house who eloped together after escaping from an asylum (which they somehow got away with) to a lord in a castle”

He researched how few television hours the region gets compared to Wales, which has about the same number of licence fee payers, and his findings played a part in the BBC’s decision to switch the filming of Tracy Beaker to the region.

Gareth says he “soaks himself” in every script. “I break it down and then start thinking, where have I been, who do you know, what do you know,” his memory aided by 60,000 digitised photographs.

Arranged on his office walls are 25 pieces of paper detailing the scenes for which he must find locations. The majority of them bear asterisks, which means he thinks he has found the right place.

In a fixed orbit around the pages are pictures of the locations, and among the possibles and the probables are the James Knott Memorial Hall in Heddon on the Wall and a snooker room above a church hall in Roker.

Close by are snapshots of the little-known St Anthony in Egypt Church, Walker, which is open so infrequently that the only opportunity he could find to look inside and establish contact with the clergy was to attend a service.

“Whether a location is used or not is all about the cost implications - can we afford to light it, can we afford to decorate it,” Gareth explains, “and so there have to be alternatives.”

He is particularly interested in properties or places in transition, and he has been helped in the past by Sanderson Young in finding executive houses.

Among the locations that he regards as having worked especially well are Fourstones Quarry near Hexham, which was used during the filming of the Catherine Cookson novel A Dinner of Herbs. “All the elements for the story were there,” Gareth says. “It fitted perfectly, as did the village of Simonburn, which was used for Places of Execution.

“I knew it straight away, and the assistant producer agreed, though we did about 200 miles that day looking at other possibilities.

“It worked not just because it looked good, but because it worked for the residents, and they enjoyed having us there, which made it more worthwhile. It was a great experience.”

During a busy year of seeking out locations far and wide for a vast variety of projects, Gareth can drive some 25,000 miles looking for exactly the right spots. “But I’m not the most sociable person,” he reveals, “so I really enjoy it.”

He will also walk hundreds of miles a year, and tells the story of a day one May, while out and about near Langley Viaduct, which spans the South Tyne, he crossed paths with a shepherd.

During the course of their conversation, the shepherd pointed out a bush bursting with blossom.

He asked Gareth what he thought of it before walking closer to it, stopping again and asking the same question. The pair of them ended up bent over it, studying its petals. “It was an experience that will stick with me, as at every stop something different and equally wonderful could be seen,” Gareth recalls with evident pleasure.

And so it seems, the keen observer had been given another lesson in how to look and to notice the minutest details the rest of us may miss. And he went on the more enriched for it.

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SY | INTERIORS

ultimatespringclean The

No-one likes doing the household chores, but what happens when you’ve got 32 rooms to dust, vacuum, polish and preen? Jane Hall takes a look behind the scenes as Cragside is given a pre-opening spring clean

pproaching Cragside from the main entrance on a frosty March morning offers a few surprises.

For a start, winter has not quite released its grip on this corner of Northumberland and ice is still coating Tumbleton Lake, which lies to the left as you drive into the estate off the Rothbury to Alnwick road.

Further on, volunteers are hard at work in the car park, shovelling away stubborn drifts of snow and ice. With just days to go before Cragside officially opens for the new season, there is urgency in those spades, brooms and wheelbarrows.

And if outside is a hive of activity, then what is afoot behind the heavy oak front door of this extraordinary mansion, built by the Victorian inventor and landscape genius Lord Armstrong on a

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rocky outcrop high above Debdon Burn at Rothbury, is little short of phenomenal.

Inside the home crammed with ingenious gadgets, Katherine Williamson is busy, and within a minute she dispels the myth that once the last visitor has left at the end of October, National Trust staff go into hibernation.

For while the house gets a holiday from the 130,000 pairs of feet that walked through last year, the staff certainly do not.

“We let the house unwind,” Katherine says. “The carpets and rugs are rolled up and the curtains taken down and left to rest.” But if the curtains are allowed to hang loose, Cragside’s team of housekeeping staff, assisted by an army of volunteers, certainly do not.

A spring clean here involves a good clean for 6,000 ceramics, photos and other nick-knacks, the 8,000 books are dusted and checked for mildew, the paintings brushed down, the curtains and rugs vacuumed and the metalwork treated and buffed.

“Everything at Cragside has to be perfect,” Katherine says.

The 43-year-old house steward joined the Cragside

INTERIORS | SY

Right: Colin Liddee, paper conservator, mending a tear in the canvas of Faithful Unto Death by Henry Emmerson Far Right: Katherine Williamson, Cragside House steward, and Alex Riddell, conservation housekeeper

team five years ago. In charge of supervising the house team, planning the cleaning rota and liaising with curators on conservation issues, her current role is a million miles away from her previous life working in catering for Northumberland County Council.

She is the first to admit she was, “totally naïve about conservation” when she joined the National Trust, but she now knows how to handle everything from antique metalwork to paintings and old photos.

“At first I thought, ‘Oh Lord, I don’t know if this is for me’, but over the past five years I have become very protective of the collection.

“It’s a challenge, but one that is very satisfying. Our reward is in helping to preserve this magnificent house for the future. The people who come here think it’s a magical place, and we take great pride in presenting it to the highest standard.”

Today, the drawing room – the last and the grandest addition to Cragside – is being woken from its winter slumber. With just 10 days to go until the house re-opens to the public, the room, with its giant Italian marble inglenook chimney piece, is a frenzy of dusting, cleaning, polishing and vacuuming.

Dust covers are being removed from the furniture, ceramics taken out of storage, and the tarnish removed from metalwork.

Katherine is working on a pair of metal and ceramic electric lamps standing on a console table beneath an impressive 5ft high painting of Winifreda, wife of Lord Armstrong’s great nephew.

On either side of her hang portraits of her two children, Winifred Watson-Armstrong, who died aged 18 in 1912, and William John Montagu Watson-Armstrong, later Cragside’s third owner.

Wearing a pair of latex gloves, Katherine is gently polishing the metalwork on the lamps using a seam-free cotton duster and Renaissance Wax – the magic ingredient that removes tarnish and gives a gleaming sheen.

“It’s a wonder product,” Katherine says. “It really is marvellous. It was originally formulated by the British Museum and has unlimited uses on everything, from furniture to metal, leather and even marble. As it contains no acids, unlike other waxes it doesn’t damage even sensitive materials.”

The light in the drawing room is dim. The blinds have been pulled down because prolonged exposure to sunlight can cause serious damage to textiles and wood, and the room is uncomfortably cold because humidity is another enemy in historic homes.

“The heating system is controlled by the relative humidity, the amount of moisture in the air, rather than the actual temperature, so we try to keep it in a

“ … The people who come here think it’s a magical place, and we take great pride in presenting it to the highest standard”

band that most objects from organic textiles to metals can sit in – that’s around 58%.

“The heating system only kicks in if it needs to lower the relative humidity in a room. That’s why we have to have the heaters on in the summer. Visitors give off as much humidity as a 60 watt light bulb and when they come in on a warm, wet summer’s day, the heaters come on to balance it out.

“If we didn’t do this, mould would become a problem and picture frames would start to split. And cold is actually good for the collection, which is why you’ll see all the house staff are in their coats and body warmers.”

Cragside is closed for around three-and-a-half months for winter. This year the lower part of the house re-opened for the February half-term, before closing again for another month.

With 32 of Cragside’s rooms open to public scrutiny to be cleaned and conserved from the kitchen to the bedrooms, library, grand staircases and galleries, 14 weeks gives Katherine and her team little time to make an impression.

This winter has been more difficult than normal due to the snow. “We rely very heavily on volunteers,” Katherine explains. “We have a team of 20 or so who come in over the winter and do a range of jobs from book cleaning to clearing out the kitchen cupboards.

“Last November, our volunteers did 300 hours’ work. They’re absolutely incredible. That gave us a cracking start, but then, of course, the weather deteriorated and from about mid-December to the February half-term, a lot of the volunteers couldn’t get here.

“As a result, the books haven’t been finished; that’s how much we rely on our wonderful volunteers.”

But not everything is cleaned every winter.

Paintings, ceilings and panelling are done on a rota.

“We couldn’t possibly get everything cleaned every year,” Katherine says. “And in fact a lot of damage

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SY | INTERIORS

acleansweep

can be done by over cleaning, particularly with gilt and textiles.”

During the summer, the staff keep on top of the dirt by vacuuming the walkways and dusting the visitor route, but it is in winter that the fun begins and the rooms are dismantled and covered up.

Some will get a full deep clean from ceiling to floor.

The other rooms will be cleaned from the top of the doors down.

“People think we’re quite genteel, but we wear steel-toe capped boots and we know how to whip up scaffolding very quickly,” Katherine says with a laugh. “This is a very strenuous job because you have to move very heavy objects very quickly.”

The jobs that require a head for heights are not to everyone’s taste. “We use scaffolding which is very simple to erect when we’re doing high level jobs, but not everyone likes getting up high,” Katherine says.

“We do the rooms at this height on a rotation system, and we clean all the cornices, walls and ceilings using feather dusters to get into the corners, and use brushes for the rest.

“You don’t realise how many spiders you have in these rooms until you go up and start cleaning off the cobwebs. That’s where the scaffolding comes in.

“We vary the brush depending on what the surface is. We use a soft pony hair if it’s particularly delicate or slightly stronger hog hair for something that can take a bit more.”

Paintings are checked if not always cleaned, and a conservator called in for any needing TLC. This year, there have been no major works such as re-decorating, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing.

“The intense cold did cause a bit of wear and tear and allowed the elements in, but that’s been taken care of now,” Katherine says.

Come opening time, there’ll be no sign of scaffolding, the curtains will be back in place, the metalwork polished and the floors and tiles gleaming, ready to welcome another 130,000 visitors.

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Does Katherine enjoy her job? “I love it! I enjoy the contrast between being open and closed and I like seeing the pleasure Cragside brings to people. They often comment on how clean the house is.

“We do sometimes get visitors asking why we need to close for so long over the winter. They’ll say, ‘it’s only a bit of dust’. Well, I can vouch for the fact we get rather more than a bit of it.”

Cragside house is open Tuesday-Friday 1pm-5pm, 11am-5pm weekends and school holidays. It is also open Bank Holiday Mondays. The house closes on October 31. The gardens, estate, restaurant and shop are open 10.30am-5pm until October 31 and 11am-4pm November 3-December 19

Keeping a house like Cragside clean requires some tricks of the trade – many of them old-fashioned remedies that have stood the test of time. House steward Katherine Williamson reveals some secrets: • Antistatic dusters: “These are indispensable. The dust sticks to the cloth, rather than being redistributed around the room.”

• Brushes: “We use many different types. Pony hair, which have soft bristles, are ideal for ceramics, glass and textiles. Hog hair, which are firmer, are used for wood, metalwork, marble, alabaster and stonework.

Panel brushes, which have hard bristles, are used on radiators and stair banisters, and we use shoe brushes on the panelling.”

• Wallpaper: “This is cleaned with a ‘smoke sponge’, which is dragged down the surface and literally lifts the dirt away. These are made from latex and are so called because they were originally used to remove nicotine stains from walls.”

• Glass and ceramics: “We clean these with cotton wool buds and distilled water. Small areas are gently rubbed with a damp swab and then dried with a dry one. We never immerse them in water as they could crack or split.”

• Fire grates: “We black these as they would have been originally. We use a product called Zebo, which has been around a long time. We apply it with a hard bristle brush and then buff with a soft cloth. Once that has been done, they can be left for several years before being re-blacked.”

• Wooden floors: “These are mopped weekly with a paraffin and vinegar solution. It’s an old-fashioned method which softens and redistributes the wax already on the floor. It’s a method I would recommend anyone use on their waxed wooden floors to help preserve them.”

• Tiled floors: “These are barely wet mopped. We never use anything like washing up liquid or abrasive cleaners.”

• Copper pans: “All the copper work in the kitchen has been sprayed with a special lacquer which gives it a protective film and means it doesn’t need cleaning.”

• Paintings: “We clean the gilt frame with a soft pony hair brush and we have wide, slightly firmer brushes for the canvas - one stroke down the surface and the dust is removed.”

• Books: “Small museum vacuum cleaners are used and brushes for the tops and spines. Our volunteers also brush random pages and detailed files are kept so we can spot any new damage like damp or mould.”

• Curtains: “We take them down and rest them over the backs of the chairs to take the weight off them.

We vacuum them lightly through a special net.”

• Rugs: “These are vacuumed, lined with acid-free paper and rolled with the patterned side facing out.”

FINANCE | SY

Neil Gordon talks to Paul Hardingham, director of Sanderson Young Private Finance, about the advantages of using an independent mortgage adviser to find the best mortgage...

whatprice

n the subject of good advice, Oscar Wilde once said, “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never any use to oneself”.

Failing to listen to the good advice of his barrister at his trial led to Wilde spending two years in Reading Gaol, which underlines the fact that expert advice is a precious commodity indeed - especially when it involves money.

Sanderson Young Private Finance has being offering sound advice for eight years now. Director Paul Hardingham and his team together have more than 50 years’ financial experience, so what advice can Paul offer to those seeking a mortgage now?

“Mortgages are harder to come by these days, especially if you approach the lender directly rather than through an adviser such as Sanderson Young Private Finance,” says Paul.

“Stricter guidelines mean banks and other lenders now have to scrutinise mortgage applications more closely to ensure borrowers can repay their loan, and lenders are much more selective about who they lend to.

“So, ‘self cert’ mortgages are no longer available and borrowers have to produce documented proof of earnings, as they did a generation ago.

“Lenders are also changing their lending parameters more frequently. For example, we have recently helped a number of perfectly creditworthy clients who were turned down when they approached lenders directly. Luckily, we found the perfect mortgage for them.”

So how can using an expert like Paul make a difference to a mortgage application?

“As professional mortgage advisers we know the pitfalls and can advise our clients how to avoid them,” Paul explains.

“Lenders are accepting applications on face value and rejecting them on closer scrutiny and it is direct applicants, who don’t have the backing of an experienced adviser, who lose their mortgage because they lack the expertise to challenge the lender’s decision.

“That’s why we now spend three quarters of our time ensuring mortgage applications with ‘agreement in principle’ eventually translate into a completed purchase.”

And can expert advice also help you find a better mortgage?

“Absolutely,” says Paul. “It is often the case that the cheapest mortgage is not necessarily the best. As we are dealing with high volumes of differing applicants, we are fully up to date with lenders’ service standards. While some lenders issue a mortgage offer within a week, others can take up to eight weeks.

“This knowledge can be crucial, and for the sake of a

goodadvice?

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paulhardingham slight increase in interest rate, the faster service can be crucial in securing your home.

“If you deal with a lender directly, this issue may not become apparent until you’re down the line with an application and under pressure to exchange contracts.

“There’s no point in me merely recommending the lowest rate if lenders’ service standards mean you will lose your new home, or their lending policy means you have no chance of qualifying for the mortgage.”

So why do mortgages vary so widely? “The lack of capital in the financial machines means lenders are looking to cherry pick the lowest risk clients,” says Paul, “which means mortgage products are ‘priced for risk’ - so the higher the proportion of the property value you are borrowing, the higher the interest rate.”

So if you’re locked into an unfavourable mortgage deal, can Paul help?

“We would be delighted to help a client move their mortgage to a more favourable lender. We are whole-of-market advisers and not restricted to one lender, and hence not restricted to promoting a limited range of financial packages.

“We have access to a huge range of different mortgage products across the financial spectrum; so we are certain to be able to find the right deal for you.”

And his top financial tip for the current market?

“Nowadays,” says Paul, “the difference between borrowing 76% and 75% of a property’s purchase price may only be minimal, but the difference in interest rate huge. My advice is to look at the sliding scale of repayment costs carefully and consider increasing the deposit as much as possible to obtain a lower interest rate and more favourable terms.”

So, only the very brave should venture into the mortgage market alone, and with SYPF’s client base including actuaries and accountants, it is clear that specialist knowledge is invaluable.

Book an appointment with Paul or one of his team at 95 High Street, Gosforth, tel 0191 284 3723, email paul.hardingham@sandersonyoung.co.uk We do not normally charge a fee for mortgage advice; however this will be dependent on your circumstances. If a fee is charged our typical fee is £250.

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. The content of this article is personal opinion only and does not constitute as Financial Advice in any way Innovation Financial Management Limited, trading as Sanderson Young Private Finance, is an appointed representative of Personal Touch Financial Services Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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SY | FOR SALE

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FOR SALE | SY

Jane Pikett tours West Bitchfield – one of Northumberland’s most historic and unusual country houses – and discovers a remarkable home waiting for a new owner

n the wall in the downstairs cloakroom at West Bitchfield hangs a framed article from an edition of Country Life dated July 1940.

It describes in detail the history of Bitchfield’s three-storey battlemented medieval pele tower, marvels at its secluded location at the heart of handsome Northumberland grazing land and parkland, and praises the then-incumbents, Mr and Mrs C E Pumphrey of the famous tea family, for their good judgement in their restoration of the 17th Century house: “Which Mr and Mrs Pumphrey have lately restored with admirable judgement from a state so near ruin that less visionary prospectors would have been daunted.”

It’s a charming reference to the Pumphreys’ restoration, and their renovations are also praised

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more than once by the present custodian as we tour this magnificent Grade I listed property at the heart of the Belsay estate near Morpeth.

And while Mr and Mrs Pumphrey deserve their due, West Bitchfield has been improved further in recent years to create a beautiful family home that today’s Country Life would no doubt praise just as highly.

A magnificent reception hall has been added, the Pumphreys’ unforgiving leaded windows have been replaced by kinder, light-giving 12-panel sash designs, and parts of the formal walled gardens have been opened up to allow access to the breathtaking view with the addition of a beautiful water rill elegantly guarded by a pair of stone greyhounds.

While the photographs in that Country Life of 1940 depict a magnificent home, its interiors could not be

described as welcoming, but that has changed too.

West Bitchfield today, even in its grandest spaces, is warm, welcoming and comfortable, as befits a home which has raised the large family of the present owners.

“It’s a wonderful family home, a house of great character and charm which comes to life with a family living here,” says the owner. “Like all houses, it needs to be lived in; it responds to activity. It isn’t a historic monument - it’s a charming family home.

“We have lived in every single room in this house and enjoyed every bit of it.”

Accessible only by private road through the grazing land and parkland of the Belsay estate, the journey to West Bitchfield carries with it a real sense of anticipation and serendipity which grows as you tour the house.

The 17th Century gatehouse and cobbled drive lead to charming stables and a gin gan, while the house and pele tower present an imposing facade which is not diminished as you pass through the vast oak door into the huge hall.

Added in the late 1990s, the hall looks for all the world as if it has always been here. Certainly, the feeling was that Bitchfield should have a grand entrance, and the baronial-style double-pitched oak roof and exposed trusses, which were rescued from a school, certainly fits the bill.

The black and white flooring, which echoes an 18th Century design in Portuguese stone, elegantly complements the grand oak staircase, the huge stone chimney breast and the original exterior wall, where a glazed division separates the dining room from the hall through the original fireplace.

Despite this grand entrance and the large scale of West Bitchfield (nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a near 40ft x 20ft drawing room), this is a warm, cosy house.

Yes, there are grand spaces, but they are friendly and welcoming. The drawing room, for example, is made all the more inviting by the English butter tones of the oil-painted wood-panelled walls, the snug window seats overlooking the south-facing gardens and parklands, and the fitted china cabinets.

French doors lead to the attractive south terrace, while a Gothic arch with an oak door leads to the adjoining pele tower and billiard room with its barrel vaulted stone ceiling, exposed stone walls and stone flagged floors.

Imagine being a child here and running up the old stone stairs from the pele tower billiard room to

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SY | FOR SALE

“We most enjoy the peace of the gardens, which have evolved with us, and we’ve enjoyed making the house our own. It has been a very happy, family home, and we’ve enjoyed every bit of it”

your bedroom above, and you have something of the feel of Bitchfield: a house of unexpected twists and turns and that ever-present sense of adventure.

How many games of hide and seek, one wonders, have been enjoyed here over the centuries?

At the risk of anthropomorphism, West Bitchfield has the air of a kindly old uncle who might welcome you into his book-lined,trinket-filled study and may, very occasionally, open a drawer and produce yet another surprise.

What could be more eccentric than a drawing room floor that must be watered once a week? Yes – watered! It is covered in traditional rush floor matting from Norfolk, also known as medieval apple matting, made from hand-plaited rush sewn with a jute twine. It’s a beautiful floor covering with a natural tone and a wonderful, subtle scent. Its thirst,

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one might add, only adds to its idiosyncratic appeal.

No less appealing is the dining room next door, marked by that great stone fireplace with its glazed panel to the hall and a fabulous galleried library landing created by the renowned designer Dudley Poplak.

Poplak deserves special credit of course. One of the most noted interior designers of the 20th Century, his 2005 obituary in The Times noted that he was renowned for, “his flawless taste, the empathy that allowed him to tailor his work to each client’s image, and his unfailing insistence, which his patrons could afford to share, that only the best would do”. This is presumably why Prince Charles asked him to prepare his country home, Highgrove, for the arrival of his then bride-to-be, Lady Diana Spencer.

Interestingly, Poplak’s obituary might have been

describing Bitchfield itself in continuing: “Given his patrons’ social and business lifestyles, their homes, he knew, had to have some degree of formality, but a great strength was that he realised, too, the importance of cosiness where appropriate, and could produce grandeur and/or comfort to order.”

And Bitchfield is a comfortable home above all else; even where it is on a magnificent scale, there are no cold corners, no unwelcoming hallways, only happy surprises and endless views over its eight acres and beyond.

The hand-printed wallpapers throughout are by turns pretty (in the bedrooms), sophisticated (in the reception rooms), even quirky (the snug gentleman’s study).

There is no hotel-style formality here; the nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms are in places elegant, in others idiosyncratic, in others pretty or boyish (according to the choice of the youngsters who have occupied the children’s rooms) – but all share the warmth, cosiness and welcoming feel of a truly happy family home.

It sounds almost trite to say that the house retains many original features, because of course it does – its stone fireplaces are both commanding and welcoming, its thick walls make for dreamy window seats, its meandering stone stairs to the roof of the pele tower and the promise of 360 degree views over wild Northumberland and far beyond are worn by the footsteps of seven centuries.

Other features include a Victorian mahogany barber shop double sink unit in the master bathroom, those old school trusses on the hall roof (“We had to make the roof fit the trusses, rather than the other way round,” says the owner with a smile) even a huge organ in the hall, which looks as if it were made for the place.

Some history: Bitchfield’s pele tower is one of Northumberland’s smaller examples, of the sort

FOR SALE | SY

inhabited by the younger sons of knightly families at the end of the Middle Ages.

It was built by the Middleton family of the Belsay estate and sold around 1502 to Majorie Harbottle, the heiress of the Harbottle estate, who later married Sir John Fenwick. In 1529, it passed to Roger Fenwick and in 1622 Robert Fenwick built the manor house – hence the date stone inscribed RF 1622 JF you can still see in the dining room.

In 1630, the estate was sold by the Fenwicks to Sir Edward Grey, from whom it was sequestered in 1646. It was later acquired by James Clavering, who is believed to have added the formal walled gardens, which have now been sympathetically re-modelled.

In 1802, the Claverings sold the property to Sir Charles Monck, who built Belsay Hall. It was in a state of ruin from about 1930 until the Pumphreys restored it in the last major works prior to the refurbishment completed in the last 15 years.

The word ‘character’ is much over-used, but this is truly a home full of personality and spirit. There’s a pretty music room, for example, providing a hard-to-leave stop-off point between the sunny morning/breakfast room and the dining room.

The master en-suite bathroom has, in addition to that old barber shop sink unit, an antique French musical WC (the owners have a well-developed

sense of humour...) and guests can stay in a cosy suite with its own sitting room that’s so secluded they could out-stay their welcome without a soul knowing it.

There is also a staff cottage and gatehouse which both provide extra accommodation, plus an estate office at the front gate, which rather gives new meaning to the phrase ‘working from home’.

You can see the Cheviots on a good day from the roof of the pele tower, or you can lose yourself in the pretty snowdrop and bluebell wood which lies to the west of the formal gardens.

A woodland moat flows into a pretty lake, and a not-so historic pedallo is dusted off each summer for lazy days on the water.

Bitchfield’s seclusion is belied by the fact that it only takes half an hour to reach Newcastle city centre by car, and it is all the more charming for the fact that it is so unlike the more usual style of Northumberland’s grand historic houses.

“Unlike many of the grand houses you seen in Northumberland, with their pillars and grand scale, this house has great presence and yet it’s still so easy to live in,” says the owner.

“We most enjoy the peace of the gardens, which have evolved with us, and we’ve enjoyed making the house our own. It has been a very happy, family home, and we’ve enjoyed every bit of it.”

West Bitchfield is for sale through Sanderson Young’s rare! Office.

The sale includes the main house and pele tower, stables, gin gan, estate office and administration centre and eight acres of land. It also includes an attractive three-bedroom stone-built cottage and a one-bedroom gatehouse.

Please contact Duncan Young or Hazel Ross at Sanderson Young’s rare! office, High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle, tel 0191 223 3500, email duncan.young@sandersonyoung.co.uk

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SY | NEW HOMES

hotnews

Fancy a gorgeous country home complete with a £2,000 present every year? As cash rebates are announced for owners of homes with eco heating systems, we’ve found the very thing

elaware House – a beautiful, six-bedroom stone-built rural country home in the pretty Northumberland village of Medburn, near Ponteland – offers plenty to please a potential buyer.

In a gorgeous country location only a few miles outside Newcastle, its beautiful big spaces include a double-height garden room and conservatory, welcoming entrance hall with oak herringbone flooring, Farrow & Ball paintwork, a big stone fireplace and a stunning breakfasting kitchen.

It’s a super, traditional country house built with care by a small Corbridge-based developer. Who could ask for more?

Well, it seems you don’t have to – because the Government is actually prepared to give you money to live here.

The Renewable Energy Association (REA) has just announced a new rebate scheme designed to encourage homeowners to install green domestic heating systems. Under the new Governmentsponsored Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), homeowners with new eco heating systems can qualify for an annual payment to help offset the cost of installation.

These payments could amount to £2,000 or more per year and continue for 10-23 years, depending on the system, and ground source heat pumps (GSHP) like the one at Delaware House are eligible for the most generous 23-year rebate, amounting to some £40,000 over the next 23 years.

Not only that, but the technology will also keep you warm. One of five properties being built in Medburn

by Dockleaf Developments, the house is a big 4,000sq ft, yet the latest under-floor heating technology and individual room thermostat control ensure it is cosy and warm, whatever the weather.

D

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In addition, residents in three neighbouring homes built by Dockleaf with GSHPs are already enjoying significantly reduced energy bills.

Delaware House, which has just been released for sale at £950,000, is a traditional three-storey detached stone home with six bedrooms, four bath/shower rooms, big breakfasting kitchen, double-height conservatory/garden room, drawing room, dining room, family room/study, utility room and double garage. Outside there is a pebbled courtyard, double garage, a substantial garden and fabulous views over the surrounding countryside.

Dockleaf is a family run company that is breaking new ground in domestic GSHP installation and its green priorities led to it being shortlisted in last year’s ‘Property Oscars’ – the 2009 North East Renaissance Awards, sponsored by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

A GSHP is a simple, yet highly ingenious system that works like a refrigerator in reverse. A network of underground pipes absorbs solar heat stored in the

soil and a heat exchanger transfers this free heat to your home. With good insulation, a GSHP is an effective and economical way to heat a house and hot water.

A typical domestic GSHP system costs between £10,000 and £25,000, depending on the size of the property, and Dockleaf’s investment at its Medburn development will certainly pay dividends for its residents.

The timing of the RHI scheme, which applies to heat equipment commissioned after July 2009, could hardly be better. The hardest winter for 30 years meant most UK domestic heating systems worked overtime and now many of us are picking up hefty fuel bills. In contrast, the lucky buyer of Delaware House can look forward to a handsome cheque.

Delaware House is for sale at a guide price of £950,000. For more information, see www.dockleaf.com and to arrange a viewing, contact Sanderson Young’s rare! Office, tel 0191 22 33 500, www.sandersonyoung.co.uk

rare! OFFICE

rare! Office Specialising in the sale of properties over £700,000 in Newcastle and £1 million throughout the region, the rare! brand has established itself in the North of England as the leading estate agency for the sale of luxury and beautiful homes.

The team is directed by Managing Director Duncan Young and supported well by colleagues Hazel Ross, Ashleigh Sundin and Muriel Chapman.

Hazel has many repeat and referred clients who respect her extensive knowledge of the estate agency market and her superb negotiation skills in dealing fairly with her clients.

Ashleigh and Duncan first worked together in 1987 when they worked for Dudley Charlton, and many of Ashleigh’s clients recognise the warmth of her negotiations and her attention to exceeding their expectations The office enjoys a prominent location in the Old Bank building on the High Street, Gosforth, where some of the most discreet and professionally handled sales in the region are kept a secret.

The branding and marketing of clients’ properties is handled with the utmost skill using the very best sales tools, photography and experienced surveying support.

The Mayfair office in London provides this regional brand with an International window to the world’s best buyers.

For further information about buying and selling through the rare! Office please contact Duncan Young, tel 0191 223 3500, email duncan.young@sandersonyoung.co.uk

The Old Bank, 30 High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 1LX | Tel: 0191 223 3500

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RARE OFFICE

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A fabulous opportunity to acquire a distinctive, stone built and highly impressive detached Victorian house. Built in the 1870s, the property has been extensively renovated, refurbished and luxuriously upgraded by the current owners in recent years. The house enjoys total gardens and grounds extending to just under 23 acres and includes grazing land of 15.5 acres and magnificent formal gardens.

Situated just to the south of Corbridge, this beautiful home enjoys an outstanding aspect and view over the Tyne Valley and its stunning grounds. The house itself, accessed through electrically operated gates and good security, has a great deal of style.

Magnificent Great Hall | Elegant drawing room | Family sitting room | Gentleman’s study | Formal dining room | Well equipped and fitted kitchen | Large breakfast room | Extensive basement store rooms, with study and workshop areas | Master bedroom suite with handmade furniture, outstanding bedroom, en suite and tower study | Six further bedrooms | En suite Two further bathrooms In the last five years a horticultural masterpiece has been created from the former paddock, which is now landscaped to an extremely high standard and is a haven of peace and tranquillity. The grounds also include a helicopter pad, a large general purposes store building and beautifully structured and tiered gardens The outbuildings include stables, three double garages, kennels, tack and feed sheds and an arrangement of store rooms. The 15.5 acre paddock has its own water and a range of timber shelters. Lauder Grange is a very imposing ‘gentleman’s residence’, with excellent access to Corbridge, its shopping facilities and rail and road networks linking into Newcastle and the International Airport. A highly imposing country home.

Price Guide: £3.5 Million

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RARE OFFICE

Lauder Grange Prospect Hill, Corbridge

RARE OFFICE

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Originally constructed in the mid 16th century, a formal hall was added in the late 18th century. This is an outstanding country house, part of a small estate, originally a hunting lodge to the Bishops of Durham. The property has been extensively renovated and refurbished and provides a luxurious standard of accommodation.

The formal grounds extend to 2.2 acres and there is a 1.2 acre woodland and a grazing paddock of just under 8 acres. Electrically operated gates lead to the magnificent tree lined avenue and large courtyard with parking for many cars, a single garage, open single carport and a number of outbuildings.

Reception hall | Cloakroom and separate wc | Sitting room Elegant dining room | Drawing room with wood panelling Well fitted kitchen/breakfasting room | Laundry, butler’s pantry and cloakroom/wc | Master bedroom suite with library, en suite and dressing room | Three further double bedrooms | En suite Family bathroom and shower room | Guest annexe with bedroom, dressing room and bathroom/wc

Separate to the main house is a beautiful stone Gazebo with a private courtyard and fountain and which accommodates an office. A swimming pool with changing room and private gardens is housed within a detached building. The former coach house has been converted to a two double bedroom luxurious cottage. The formal grounds are stunning and have been superbly landscaped and maintained. This very special property is situated in this magnificent valley, in a beautiful village, with accessibility to Tyneside via the A68 and A69, as well as Wearside and Durham. An outstanding example of a beautiful private country home.

Price on Application

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RARE OFFICE

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For further details contact Hazel Ross or Ashleigh Sundin on 0191 2233500

RARE OFFICE

Shandon Adderstone Crescent, Jesmond

Price Guide: ÂŁ1.975 Million

This is a rare opportunity to acquire such a significant and elegant period family home. Shandon, set in gardens and grounds of just under half an acre, is one of four magnificent detached houses in the immediate vicinity built around the same era, and offering stunning large gardens to the south and west enjoying afternoon spring and summer sunshine. This house has many beautiful features including lovely ceilings, plaster work, fireplaces, panelled doors and brass door furniture.

Entrance vestibule | Reception hallway | Dining room with bay window and marble fireplace | Drawing room overlooking the rear gardens and marble Adam fireplace | Family sitting room | Kitchen/breakfasting room with four oven Aga and oak fitted cabinets | Utility/laundry room Four first floor bedrooms | En-suite dressing room | Family bathroom | Three further second floor bedrooms | Shower room Games room with full sized Riley snooker table This magnificent family home could easily be further modernised, refurbished and extended due to the size of the gardens and grounds. The gardens are adjacent to the Northumberland Tennis Club with access to the club from the rear garden, and privileged membership can be enjoyed by residents. There is a long drive at the side of the property with secure parking and a separate garage with a range of outbuildings.

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RARE OFFICE

Newfield House Hepscott, Nr Morpeth

Price on Application

Occupying a stunning site of 1.2 acres is this exclusive and highly luxurious modern mansion. The property, newly constructed between 2007 and 2008, provides one of the most impressive and beautiful homes in the region. It has a great deal of privacy and seclusion from its electronic wooden panelled double gates, with high hedge boundaries leading through to the driveway and courtyard, connecting around a circular fountain and leading in turn to the triple car garage.

Marble entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc | Dining room | Cinema room | Formal drawing room | Study | Games room | Swimming pool with glazed doors to gardens | Shower room, steam room and sauna | Bespoke kitchen by the Kitchen Centre | Family dining area and breakfast room Lounge with plasma screen and surround sound | Utility/laundry room | Six bedrooms | Dressing room | Six bathrooms | First floor flat

This property is truly a one off within Hepscott and represents one of the finest newly constructed houses we have seen in Northumberland. Hepscott is an attractive village with good accessibility into the market town of Morpeth, and Newcastle via the A1. The house has top of the range, state of the art facilities and appliances, as well as sound system, security, CCTV and highly impressive internal doors, ceilings and mood lighting. This is an outstanding house.

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RARE OFFICE

Southlands Wylam Wood Road, Wylam

Price Guide: ÂŁ1.95 Million

Southlands is a stunning detached home in magnificent gardens and grounds, extending to three acres. This 1920s property has been extensively refurbished and modernised to a very high standard. The grounds are stunning with rolling parkland gardens, rose beds, superb stone terraces and trees, tennis court, lake with fountain, large fully enclosed swimming pool, and large leisure house. There is also a small paddock and vegetable garden, double length greenhouse, kitchen garden, chicken run, stable block and double length garage.

Entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc | Formal internal hall | South facing sun room | Magnificent drawing room | Elegant dining room | Kitchen with cooking range | Separate private wing with snug, double bedroom and shower room/wc | Cinema/games room and gymnasium above garage Master bedroom with dressing room, en suite and balcony | Three further double bedrooms, one a study | Single bedroom with dressing area Family bathroom/wc Southlands is a very fine home with beautiful village facilities and train links into Newcastle. The Tyne Valley has excellent amenities and easy access to Newcastle via the A69. Properties of this nature rarely come to the market and this is a fine example of a tremendous family house with tasteful accommodation and magnificent grounds.

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RARE OFFICE

Heathdale Elmfield Road, Gosforth

Price Guide: ÂŁ1.5 Million

A very impressive home, set back from Elmfield Road, originally built in 1908 and named after the original Heathdale Estate. Externally the gardens contain a variety of plants, flowers and trees giving good screening and privacy, whilst to the foreground of the house at the rear there is a south facing terrace and patio.

The property has good on-site parking, a single garage, two gas central heating boilers and a comprehensive alarm system with surveillance cameras.

Entrance hall | Elegant dining reception hall with inglenook fireplace | Drawing room | Family room with access to patio | Beautiful kitchen with hand made Herrington Gate maple cabinets | Utility & laundry room | Cloakroom/wc connecting from the reception hall | Three large first floor double bedrooms; two with handmade wardrobes | Luxurious en suite | Family bathroom | Two second floor bedrooms and bathroom

Heathdale has a great deal of quality to its building construction, with lovely panelled doors, brass furniture, high ceilings, cornicing and elegant fireplaces.

Elmfield Road is one of Gosforth’s premier residential addresses and this is certainly one of its most impressive houses. A very fine property in a lovely location.

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RARE OFFICE

Brookfield House Middle Drive, Darras Hall, Ponteland

Price Guide: ÂŁ1.5 Million

Situated in magnificent grounds is this fabulous stone built detached house. Built in 1981 it has a discreet and impressive electric gated entrance and a beautiful long, well illuminated drive. The open courtyard leads to three double garages, giving parking for six cars if required. The lawned gardens have beautiful borders and conifer hedging giving great seclusion to the house. The impressive stonework is supported by double glazed, sealed unit cross leaded windows and many of the ground floor reception rooms have beautiful stone mullion windows.

Entrance vestibule | Reception hall | Drawing room with double doors to garden | Dining room | Family room | Substantial billiard room used as a cinema | Kitchen/breakfast room with beautiful cream cabinets and granite worktops | Utility & laundry room | Shower room/wc Five double bedrooms with fitted wardrobes | En suite | Family bathroom/wc | Family shower room/wc | Gas central heating | Alarm

Externally the rear gardens are very impressive, with stone terrace and patio and access to a separate timber deck with hot tub and Jacuzzi. Brookfield House is a highly impressive house, close by to the Broadway, with local shopping, restaurants and schools.

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RARE OFFICE

The Walled Garden Whalton Park, Gallowhill, Morpeth

Price Guide: ÂŁ1.395 Million

A wonderful opportunity to acquire a stunning house which was built in 2001 and purchased by the current owners in 2007. The property occupies a site of 1.483 acres and has a highly impressive pillared entrance with remote control gates and CCTV. The large drive and courtyard provides parking for several cars and there is a triple car garage with electrically operated up and over doors. The house is beautifully presented and tastefully decorated.

Entrance vestibule | Reception hallway | Elegant dining room | Drawing room with magnificent marble fireplace | Kitchen/breakfast room with appliances | Utility | Stunning family room with glazed atrium | Boot room | Ground floor guest bedroom | Shower room/wc | Games room with cinema room | Study | Master bedroom with dressing room and en-suite with sunken Jacuzzi | Four further double bedrooms Three en-suites | Family bathroom The property benefits from gas central heating and double glazing. The gardens and grounds are beautiful with well stocked flower borders and shrubs, and terraces with stone balustrades, ideal for entertaining. The principal gardens and grounds are west and south facing with a central circular water feature, small orchard, and open lawned gardens.

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RARE OFFICE

The Gables Thornhill Road, Benton

Price Guide: ÂŁ1.35 Million

This is an outstanding opportunity to acquire one of the most magnificent houses within the region, sitting in grounds extending to 0.826 of an acre. This stunning property has been extensively refurbished by the owners within the last two years to an extremely high standard. The electronic entrance gates lead into a large courtyard and block paved drive with superb lighting, large single plus garage and a range of outbuildings and stores. The external illumination and the close circuit TV surveillance cameras are highly impressive. The grounds at the rear are magnificent with open lawned areas, evergreen trees and lovely stone flagged terrace and patio. The gardens are large and very private.

Entrance porch | Reception hallway | Drawing room with doors to the garden | Well presented family room | Dining room | Utility and laundry room | Stunning kitchen/breakfast room with an Aga and integrated appliances | Three large first floor double bedrooms | Master en-suite dressing room and shower room | Luxury bathroom/wc | Three second floor bedrooms | Shower room/wc | Study The Gables has a modern efficient gas central heating system recently installed, comprehensive alarm system, tasteful decoration and superb fireplaces, making this house highly impressive. Benton links easily into Newcastle, Gosforth and Jesmond with excellent road and rail links and this is undoubtedly one of the finest houses in the area if not the region.

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RARE OFFICE

The Old Vicarage Church Road, Wylam

Price Guide: ÂŁ1.1 Million

A fabulous opportunity to acquire a stunning stone built detached period home in the centre of the village of Wylam. Built in 1888 and Grade II listed the property was purchased by the current owners 10 years ago and was significantly extended, refurbished and improved in 2002, in keeping with the architectural styling and detailing of the house. The house has a great deal of style and building features including sash windows, tall ceilings and beautiful fireplaces. This beautiful home has fabulous professionally landscaped gardens and grounds with parking areas, an all weather tennis court and impressive tall mature trees.

Entrance porch and vestibule | Reception hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Elegant and charming drawing room | Lovely study | Dining room Well equipped kitchen/breakfast room with a four oven Aga | Utility room | Fabulous family room | Four first floor bedrooms | Two bathrooms Guest bedroom with en suite bathroom | Two teenager’s bed/sitting rooms to the second floor The property is alarmed, has beautiful sash windows, tasteful decoration and gas central heating. Wylam is well regarded within the Tyne Valley because of its ease of access into Newcastle as well as its train links. It is a well supported village with local shopping facilities and restaurants/public inns. The Old Vicarage is a beautiful period home in a lovely location and viewing is strongly recommended.

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RARE OFFICE

Gallowhill Capel CurigHall Preston Whalton Park,Park, North Morpeth Shields

Price Guide: £100,000 £995,000

A handsome, An outstanding five country bedroom, house, fivesituated reception only room, a short detached distancehouse, away from circa the 1900, village well of positioned Whalton and in the close exclusive by to Bolam and much and sought its nature after reserve Preston andPark. walks.

The The property house itselfmany has offers superb a standard original of opulence and traditional and architecture features including rarely available oak panelling withintothe theregion hallway and and has study, beenwood restored parquet to itsflooring, former glory decorative by specialists, ceilings and capable superb of working original on a building leaded windows. of such Thehigh family standards. home has been beautifully refurbished over recent years to provide well proportioned family accommodation incorporating many of its period features alongside stylish, modern décor.

4 Reception Rooms | Kitchen | Cinema Room | Games Vestibule | Impressive reception hall | Cloaks/wc | StudyRoom | Living room | Dining room | Snug/family room | Fabulous family kitchen/breakfast 6 Bedrooms | 4 Ensuites | 4 Bathrooms | Cellars room (fitted 2010) | Conservatory leading to stone terrace | Utility | Master bedroom with ensuite shower room and dressing room Extensive Gardens | Triple Garage | Mature Trees & Shrubs Guest bedroom with ensuite shower room/wc | Three further bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc

Externally, there are electric wrought iron gates leading to a driveway with parking for numerous cars; there is a detached garage and gated access to the rear garden.

The splendid rear garden is landscaped stonerain terrace, lawned garden withare mature planted and shrubs, anframes attractive pond, NB. The property has been fully refurbished withwith newaroof, waterlarge goods, windows which double glazedtrees set in sash timber andcentral high quality timber greenhouse and as original the boundary.

An internal viewing is essential to appreciate the character and space this family home offers. alarm systems, as well wiringwall andto plumbing circuits.

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DELAWARE HOUSE The Avenue, Medburn, Near Ponteland

DELAWARE HOUSE IN BRIEF: 6 bedrooms | 4 bathrooms Designer walnut kitchen by Alexander Carrick of Corbridge Fantastic flowing design Great location, only 8 miles from Newcastle

ENERGY EFFICIENT HOUSE New government proposals, for houses using ground source heating, should entitle the owner of Delaware House to approximately £2,000 P.A. for 23 years.

For more information, see www.dockleaf.com Price Guide: £950,000 For further details and to arrange a viewing: Please contact Sanderson Young Rare Office 0191 223 3500

VIEW THE VIRTUAL TOUR ON: www.dockleaf.com

From Sanderson Young

RARE OFFICE

Eltringham House Mickley, Stocksfield

Price Guide: ÂŁ950,000

Originally dating back to the 16th Century, and extended in 1719 and the mid 19th Century, this impressive stone built country home enjoys a beautiful setting.

The house is full of character with fabulous building features and is surrounded by impressive gardens with lawned areas, mature trees and borders, attractive stone cobbled patios and terraces, and beautiful lighting. The property is accessed via electrically operated gates and there is a large double garage with an electrically operated door.

Stone flagged entrance hall | Drawing room with stunning bay window and fireplace | Dining room | Morning room | Kitchen and breakfast room fitted by Mowlem & Company | Utility | Gardeners wc | Cellar | First floor: four double bedrooms, one en suite bathroom/wc and double shower Shower room/wc | Second floor: open lounge and hall leading to three double bedrooms in roof space | Oil central heating | Alarm

With tasteful decor the property benefits from a private and discreet access, close by to Stocksfield, and excellent for commuting into Newcastle with road and rail links. A very fine country home in a beautiful location with stunning views over the Tyne Valley to the west.

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RARE OFFICE

Dotland Grange Hexham

Price Guide: ÂŁ850,000

This is a fabulous property set within private gardens and grounds of 22 acres. Built in 1956 the detached house is situated just to the south of Hexham and enjoys stunning views over surrounding countryside. It has potential to be an even larger property, with space within the roof void to create further accommodation if required. Its gardens and grounds give privacy and seclusion, with mature fir trees, open grazing paddock, lawned areas, stone terraces and an all weather tennis court.

Entrance vestibule | Study | Large hall with oak flooring | Main sitting room with fabulous views and a marble fireplace | Dining room with views of the tennis court | Conservatory/sun lounge | Kitchen with aga | Breakfasting room with patio doors and a wood burning stove | Utility Two cloakroom/wcs | Billiard room | Four bedrooms | One en suite | Family bathroom/wc | Cellar

Externally, there are a range of outbuildings and a three car garage, ideal as a workshop. The lawned areas have beautiful flower borders and the grazing paddock is well screened by surrounding fir trees. The setting is magnificent. Dotland Grange is close to the market town of Hexham, with its shops, banks, offices and schools, and has good accessibility via the A69 and rail links into Newcastle.This is a super property in a lovely private area.

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RARE OFFICE

Woodlands Front Street, Whitburn

Price Guide: ÂŁ795,000

A beautiful detached house, privately set back from the Front Street in Whitburn and set in a fabulous mature garden site. Originally built in the 1950s the house was dramatically remodelled and extended in 2002 and has electronic gated access into the gardens, with beautiful mature trees. The driveway leads to an open courtyard and parking for many areas, and a detached garage with clock tower and electric doors. The gardens are very impressive, with lovely lighting and lawned areas, a timber deck and patio. Internally, the property benefits from very impressive woodwork with beautiful panelled wood doors and skirting boards.

Entrance porch | Reception hall | Main sitting room overlooking the gardens | Garden room with doors to terrace | Dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room refitted in 2007 | Family playroom | Utility/laundry room | Shower room and wc | Master bedroom with fitted wardrobes and luxury en suite bathroom/wc | Second guest double bedroom with fitted wardrobes and en suite | Two further bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc The property has a comprehensive alarm system, double glazing and gas central heating system (with a new boiler installed in 2007). Historic plans were passed for the construction of a swimming pool to the rear of this house and these will be available to prospective buyers. This superb home is very well located within Whitburn, with excellent road links into Tyneside and Sunderland and good access to the nearby beach and local shopping facilities. A very impressive home in a lovely area.

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RARE OFFICE

Lynton Lodge in summer

Lynton Lodge Apperley Road, Stocksfield

Price Guide: ÂŁ750,000

Built in the 1920s and purchased by the current owners in 1983, this fabulous detached family home has a great deal of style and character. The property is set in a beautiful garden site extending to approximately one acre, with many mature tall trees and shrubs giving good screening and privacy. The drive leads into a courtyard, as well as to the detached double garage, greenhouse and outbuildings.

Reception hall | Drawing room with two marble fireplaces and two bay windows | Dining room with bay window and marble fireplace Conservatory with garden views | Kitchen with Aga and Oakwood cupboards | Family room | Four double bedrooms | Two large bed/sitting rooms with bay windows | One en-suite | Fifth bedroom | Family bathroom | Separate wc

The property has tall ceilings, beautiful picture rail and cornice detailing, magnificent fireplaces and also has gas central heating, some double glazing and tasteful dĂŠcor. Stocksfield is well supported by neighbourhood facilities, as well as road and rail links into Newcastle and there are tremendous sports facilities nearby. Viewing is strongly recommended.

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RARE OFFICE

Coromandel Mountsett, Burnopfield

Price Guide: ÂŁ695,000

An outstanding opportunity to purchase a fabulous detached luxury house built in 2007. The property occupies an impressive elevated position with stunning views to the west, north and east. It’s orientation at the rear provides stunning panoramic views of Northumberland, the Tyne Valley and towards the coast.

Coromandel occupies a fabulous site extending to just over 1.8 acres including a paddock and a beautiful lawned garden surrounding a water feature.

Entrance hall | Cloakroom with separate wc | Living room with doors to balcony and terrace | Kitchen/breakfast room with appliances Family sitting room | Beautiful Juliet balcony | Two upper ground floor bedrooms, potentially a dining room and study | Shower room/wc Four lower ground floor bedrooms | Two en suites | One first floor bedroom with en suite | Utility | Double length garage

The property has gas under floor central heating, double glazing, TV surveillance cameras and easy access to Team Valley, Metro Centre, Newcastle, Washington and Durham. This is a magnificent new house with fabulous views which must be viewed to be fully appreciated.

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RARE OFFICE

Ravensbourne Hetton Road, Houghton Le Spring

Price Guide: ÂŁ725,000

This fabulous two storey detached house was originally built circa 1896 and provides a very impressive house, set back from the local access road and yet enjoying convenient commuting to Newcastle, Sunderland, and Durham. In a good quality residential area the house itself has been well cared for by the present owners. The accommodation has a great deal of character and quality and enjoys a lot of privacy.

Entrance portico | Vestibule | Reception hallway | Lounge | Dining room | Morning room | Music room | Fitted kitchen | Laurdry room Master bedroom | En-suite bathroom/wc with sunken bath and shower cubicle | Five further bedrooms | Large family bathroom/wc Stone pillared balcony |Gates access and driveway | Double garage Internally the accommodation has tall ceilings, beautiful fireplaces and lovely plasterwork, as well as sash windows, picture rails and plaster coving. All of these internal features add to the splendour of the room presentation. The gardens are particularly impressive in the summer months and include lawned areas with tall trees and lovely clematis surrounding the main windows. Viewing is strongly recommended of this lovely home in a beautiful area.

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East Farm Mews RARE OFFICE

East Farm Cottages, Sunniside Lane, Cleadon Village A splendid, detached family home in the Conservation area of Cleadon Village with rural views over countryside towards the coast. The property has five reception rooms and four bedrooms, and occupies a mature, private garden site. It is presented to a high specification with many traditional features including, oak flooring, traditional style staircases, radiators and open fires.

Reception hallway | Shower room/wc | Study Living room with open fire | Dining room Snug/family room | Garden room with doors to terrace | Family kitchen/breakfast room Utility | Four bedrooms | En suite Bathroom/wc | Shower room/wc Externally there is an extensive gravelled driveway area providing off road parking for numerous cars and a double integral garage. The well established gardens are predominantly laid to lawn, with mature planted shrubs, fruit trees, and small stream giving privacy and shelter. The front garden is lawned and terraced with a pathway giving direct access to the village.

Price Guide: ÂŁ795,000

Southside Whalton, Morpeth Situated on the edge of this beautiful Northumbrian village and with stunning views is this beautiful stone built detached family home. Built in the mid 1990s it enjoys an enviable garden site with a private lane connecting to the courtyard and a detached garage.

The property itself has double glazing, oil central heating and an alarm system.

Entrance porch and hall | Cloakroom/wc Lounge with double doors to conservatory Dining room| Kitchen/breakfast room | Utility Study | Five bedrooms | Dressing room En suite | Family bathroom/wc

Externally, there are lawned areas, secret gardens, and a small orchard of fruit trees. A 10 acre grazing field is available subject to separate negotiation. Whalton has excellent local amenities and is close to superb schools, golf courses and sports facilities, as well as road links to Ponteland and Morpeth. A lovely home in a beautiful location.

Price Guide: ÂŁ699,000

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Inspired publishing without the drama.

0191 419 3221

sales@room501.co.uk

www.room501.co.uk

moving mountains... ...to ensure customer satisfaction, every move!

With over two decades of removals experience under our belts we are, as you would imagine well versed in the art, and strive to make every move as stress free as possible.

In setting these high standards for ourselves,we ensure customer satisfaction everytime, be it a domestic or commercial relocation. Each is dealt with by our own professional uniformed staff who are discreet and courteous and work to make your moving experience smooth and simple.

With clean recyclable packaging materials, additional services available such as packing, storage and antique handling we are the complete removals service.

So if your forthcoming move seems mountainous, well, we’re the specialists!

OFT Approved code

F005

Northumberland Business Park West, Cramlington, Northumberland NE23 7RH Telephone: 0191 284 0558 enquiries@gosforthremovals.co.uk

www.gosforthremovals.co.uk

ALNWICK OFFICE

Alnwick Office The team here at Sanderson Young’s Alnwick office is passionate about this beautiful area, and we’re delighted to see the market become so much more robust on the coast, in our rural villages and in our historic towns.

The market for second homes, holiday homes and investment opportunities is very active now and we also have a large portfolio of new homes and residential properties for sale and to let.

Under the careful management of Gillian Greaves the team of Heather Richardson, Ros Johnstone, Penny Wright and Jane King all provide expertise at this branch, and all of them live locally and are passionate about the joys of living in Alnwick and the surrounding area. Heather, who was formerly a sales negotiator, is also now a qualified valuer.

We have an enormous number of registrations of interest for holiday homes now, and high demand for all property types in every part of the north Northumberland area we serve.

We look forward to a very busy and a very successful 2010, selling and letting properties in all areas and at all levels of the market.

For further information about buying and selling properties and holiday homes in Alnwick and the surrounding towns and countryside of north Northumberland and the coast, please contact office manager Gillian Greaves, tel 01665 600 170, email gillian.greaves@sandersonyoung.co.uk

31-33 Bondgate Within, Alnwick, Northumberland NE66 1SX | Tel: 01665 600 170

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ALNWICK OFFICE

New Moor House Edlingham, Nr. Alnwick

Price Guide: ÂŁ995,000

A fine 1800’s stone built detached country house with approximately 5.7 acres of land. Two large grazing paddocks, field shelter and stabling. This beautiful home incorporates four separate cottages: Briar Cottage one bedroom, Rose Cottage one bedroom, Clematis Cottage two bedrooms, Jasmine Cottage three bedrooms disabled access, ideal for holiday investment income or multi-generation living. This fabulous country house has six bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/breakfast room and beautiful beamed ceilings to the dining room and living room.

Six bedrooms | Two bathrooms | Dining room | Living room both with feature stone fireplaces | Kitchen breakfasting room | Utility room Workshop | Courtyard and carport | Stunning grounds and open meadows

To the lower ground there is a utility room and a workshop. The property benefits from oil and gas central heating systems, double glazing in wood frames, a beautiful courtyard and car port and stunning grounds and open meadows with mature trees and timber stables for horses and a field shelter and tack room.

This is a lifestyle purchase.

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An imposing four bedroom detached property built circa 1928, set on an elevated site in Wooler Town.

This is superbly presented and a well proportioned family home which benefits from many original features, together with fabulous views across open countryside towards Fowberry Moor and Weetwood Moor, as well as benefiting from gas central heating and double glazing.

Entrance lobby | Entrance hall | Lounge Dining room | Kitchen | Garden room Coakroom/wc | Utility | Three double bedrooms One single bedroom | Family bathroom Separate wc

Attractive gardens to all sides to include lawns, mature planted beds, paved patio and ornamental garden.

Double access gates at the front provide access to a driveway with off street parking, and a detached garage with workshop and tool store to the rear.

Price Guide: ÂŁ330,000

West Street Belford This charming traditional mid terraced house is situated towards the western edge of the village of Belford, just a few minutes walk from local shops, pubs, and hotels with superb open aspect views from the rear garden over the open countryside and fields.

The property has been sympathetically extended at the rear to provide spacious family accommodation.

Entrance lobby | Entrance hallway Cloakroom/wc | Spacious lounge | Dining room Attractive fitted kitchen/breakfast room Master bedroom with dressing area | Three further double bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc

The master bedroom has been designed by the current owner to maximise the rear aspect and views.

Externally, to the rear of the property there is a lovely landscaped garden incorporating lawn, raised beds, patio area and storage sheds within a stone walled surround.

Price Guide: ÂŁ279,950

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ALNWICK OFFICE

Holmedale Victoria Road, Wooler

ALNWICK OFFICE

Alnwood Alnmouth An imposing four bedroom detached house with a superb one bedroom annexe, ideal as a holiday cottage or granny flat, occupying a mature woodland garden site of approximately 0.45 acre. The generous family home, offers both versatility and space, and is well positioned in Alnmouth being only a few minutes walk from the village facilities.

Entrance hall | Impressive living area Formal dining area | Kitchen/breakfast room Two ground floor bedrooms | Shower room/wc First floor – balcony to living area Two bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc | Garage Self contained one bedroom annexe

An internal viewing is essential to appreciate the versatility of accommodation on offer and the potential for a healthy holiday cottage income.

Price Guide: £525,000

Cherrywood Prudhoe Street, Alnwick Cherrywood, is a substantial and extremely well presented detached family home. Well positioned within walking distance of Alnwick town centre, with the benefit of off street parking, a single garage, and generous private gardens to three sides. The property has been finished to an extremely high standard throughout having been comprehensively modernised and upgraded during 2009 by the present owners.

Entrance lobby | Entrance hallway Cloakroom/wc | Lounge | Dining room with French doors to garden | Fitted kitchen | Utility Three bedrooms | En-suite shower room Attic bedroom | Bathroom/wc Externally the property is approached via a driveway which leads to a single garage, generous and private enclosed gardens surround the property to three sides.

The property benefits from gas central heating to radiators and double glazing. The market town of Alnwick offers a wide range of amenities including numerous shops, restaurants/hotels, public houses, theatre/cinema and leisure centre.

Price Guide: £475,000

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Leaholme, is an attractive detached property built circa 1925, situated on the edge of the popular coastal village of Newton-by-the-Sea, and provides well proportioned family accommodation with many original and traditional features, whilst benefiting from oil fired central heating to radiators, and gardens.

Entrance porch | Entrance hallway | Generous lounge | Dining room | Handmade kitchen Ground floor shower room/wc | Utility room Side porch/boot room | Four double bedrooms Family bathroom/wc

Externally, lawned garden to front within a walled surround and driveway for off street parking. The rear garden is laid mainly to lawn with decking area and stone outbuilding. Newton by the Sea is one of the most sought after locations on the Northumberland Heritage coastline with its beautiful beach and superb views of Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance.

Price Guide: £475,000

Mill House Wandylaw Farm Steading, Wandylaw Chathill, Nr Alnwick Mill House is an individually designed and spacious converted barn, well presented and appointed. This property offers rural living with a contemporary feel.

The original building was circa 1800’s and was converted by the current owner and completed in 2009 to include what is believed to be the chimney stack of the original threshing mill.

Entrance lobby | Cloakroom/wc | Entrance hallway | Lounge | Family kitchen/breakfast room | Utility | Dining room | Master bedroom with vaulted ceiling | En-suite shower room/wc Three further bedrooms | En-suite shower room/wc The property benefits from oil fired central heating, double glazing and alarm. Externally a blocked paved driveway provides access to the property and parking for approximately four cars leading to a lawned garden with access path. To the rear there is a walled and fenced garden laid mainly to lawn with a paved patio area.

Price Guide: £475,000

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ALNWICK OFFICE

Leaholme Newton By The Sea

ALNWICK OFFICE

Beachcomber Newton Barns Newton-By-The-Sea Beachcomber is an attractive and superbly presented stone built barn conversion. One of seven properties within this exclusive Farm Steading development constructed by Turney Wylde in 2006, located to the west of the sought after village of Newton-by-the-Sea. This property has stunning sea views across the gardens and open countryside to the rear.

Kitchen/dining room | Utility | Cloakroom/wc Lounge with byre style window and French doors leading to the rear garden | Three bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc | Stunning coastal views towards Beadnell Bay

Externally the property is approached to the front via a courtyard with two allocated parking spaces. To the rear is a generous enclosed landscaped garden, taking in those superb sea views. The property benefits from LPG gas under floor heating to the ground floor and radiators to the first floor, double glazing, and a security alarm system.

Price Guide: ÂŁ415,000

Rivergreen Amble A rare opportunity to purchase a stylish three storey contemporary property situated within Warkworth Parish on an exclusive award winning development by Rivergreen Developments in 2007, views from front to Warkworth Castle and Amble Marina and Braid to rear.

A double integral garage with landscaped side garden and enclosed lawned garden to the front.

Entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc | Contemporary fitted walnut kitchen/utility | Ground floor double bedroom | En-suite shower room/wc | Three further bedrooms | Master en-suite Family bathroom/wc | Fantastic second floor 26ft lounge with views The property incorporates many design features noted as excellent with EcoHomes 2003 includes sedum and zinc roofs. With high standards of specifications to include oak flooring, fitted furniture and sanitary ware, gas central heating via a condensing boiler, double glazing, visual intercom system and security alarm system.

Price Guide: ÂŁ350,000

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Pedlars Rest is an attractive and well proportioned individually designed detached family home, set within a mature and substantial garden of approximately half an acre and enjoying superb views over the open countryside. The property benefits from oil central heating to radiators, double glazing and alarm system.

Entrance lobby | Entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc Kitchen/breakfast room | Utility room Lounge | Garden room | Dining room Three bedrooms | Master en-suite | Family bathroom/wc.

Externally there is a gravelled driveway to the front and the side provides parking for several cars. The rear gardens are laid mainly to lawn with mature borders, patio area, pond, rockery and a fence surround. A paved and covered side area also provides access to a double detached garage.

Price Guide: ÂŁ425,000

The Garden House Bolton, Nr Alnwick The Garden House is a four/five bedroom, detached bungalow occupying a most fabulous garden site in the small, rural hamlet of Bolton, near Alnwick with open aspect views over the surrounding countryside. The bungalow, of timber frame construction with stone and brick, offers generous family accommodation, stunning gardens and a double integral garage.

Lobby | Hallway | Study/fifth bedroom Excellent 21ft living room with open fire Dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Utility Four bedrooms | Master en-suite shower/wc Family bathroom/wc

The Garden House is approached via stone pillars to a large driveway. The high stone and brick wall gives excellent privacy and shelter and forms a major feature of the grounds. A truly delightful, family home with great living space and splendid, uninterrupted rural views.

Approx. 7 miles from Alnwick.

Price Guide: ÂŁ375,000

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ALNWICK OFFICE

Pedlars Rest Sharperton, Nr Rothbury

ALNWICK OFFICE

Sturton Grange Mill Warkworth We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning barn conversion, one of four properties converted in 2007, from a former Threshing Mill dating back approximately 200 years. The property was sympathetically restored and converted to provide a unique luxury home which combines the character of the original building with the design needs of modern living.

Open plan dining kitchen | Utility | Lounge with French doors | Study/fourth bedroom Shower room/wc | Cloakroom/wc | Three bedrooms | Two en suites | Luxury family bathroom/wc | Garage | Landscaped gardens

The property is well insulated and benefits from under floor heating, double glazing and a pressurised hot water system, as well as being fully wired for digital audio and vision system. The property has been finished to a high specification with Oak internal and external doors.

Price Guide: ÂŁ525,000

Learchild Moor House Thrunton We are delighted to offer for sale this handsome, traditionally constructed Northumbrian farmhouse built in natural stone, circa 1824, set within generous gardens and grounds, extending to offer superb equestrian facilities which include a stable block with 4 loose boxes and one foaling box, as well as a paddock area of circa 4.219 acres.

Entrance hall | Lounge with beamed ceiling Attractive sitting room/study | Garden room Dining room | Fitted kitchen | Boot room/utility Cloakroom/wc | Four bedrooms | Master en suite bathroom/wc | Family bathroom/wc

Externally the property is approached via a gravelled driveway which provides an ample parking area, generous formal lawned garden to the side which extends to a woodland area. Agents Note: In addition to the main house and grounds as above there are two further lots available by separate negotiation.

Price Guide: ÂŁ495,000

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Beaconsfield Terrace Alnwick

Reception hallway | Living room | Dining room | Fitted kitchen Three bedrooms | Bathroom/wc | Attic double bedroom En-suite wet room | Garden to front, paved patio to rear

Price Guide: £297,500

Green Batt Alnwick A traditional and well presented Grade II Listed town house, set over three floors within Alnwick’s Conservation Area just a few minutes walk from the town centre. The property benefits from gas central heating to radiators, double glazing, and many traditional features including original shutters to some of the windows.

Entrance hall | Sitting room | Bedroom | Cloakroom/wc | Basement bedroom/sitting room | Fitted kitchen | Cloakroom/wc | Three bedrooms | Lounge/dining room | Family bathroom/wc

Price Guide: £249,950

Meadow Riggs Alnwick A well proportioned and improved link detached bungalow with attractive mature gardens, within this established cul de sac development. Attractive gardens to front and rear, driveway parking and single garage with workshop area to the rear. The property benefits from gas fired central heating and UPVC double glazing as well as loft and cavity wall insulation.

Entrance lobby | Entrance hallway | Living room | Dining room Fitted kitchen | Three good bedrooms | Master en-suite Shower room/wc | Garage

Price Guide: £215,000

Aydon View Alnwick It is with pleasure that we offer to the market a rare opportunity to purchase this attractive and well presented four bedroom, detached family home. The property enjoys fantastic elevated views with gardens to the front and rear. An early inspection is recommended to appreciate the location and style of this superb family home.

Entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc | Lounge with elevated views Kitchen/dining room | Family room having French doors | Four bedrooms | Master with en-suite | Family bathroom/wc

Price Guide: £285,000

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ALNWICK OFFICE

An excellent opportunity to acquire this beautifully restored three storey, Victorian period townhouse, within this attractive and popular part of Alnwick’s central Conservation Area. The property has been thoughtfully restored over recent years to retain many original features and benefits from gas central heating. Views over rooftops to town and Alnwick Castle. Viewing is highly recommended. No upward chain.

ALNWICK OFFICE

Armstrong Cottages Bamburgh This Grade II Listed terraced timber cottage, located within a few minutes’ walk of Bamburgh beach, Castle and village is ideally suited for a coastal retreat, and has been successfully let out in recent years as a holiday home. The cottage benefits from night storage heating, traditional style double glazed and sash windows.

Fitted kitchen | Generous lounge/dining room | Two double bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc | Paved patio to the rear Enclosed lawned garden to the front with parking area

Price Guide: £285,000

The Granary Newton-by-the-Sea A superb and renovated two bedroom holiday home with remodelled kitchen and bathroom, which is located in the heart of Low Newton yards from the beach, dunes and The Ship Inn. This ground floor flat provides excellent holiday accommodation in one of the most sought after coastal villages in Northumberland.

Entrance hall | Open plan living room | Dining area | Fitted kitchen Two double bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc | Allocated parking for one car View of Low Newton-by-the-Sea from the dunes

Price Guide: £225,000

The Old Coach House Bridge Street, Warkworth A charming, well presented self contained two bedroom first floor flat, currently a successful holiday let, converted from an original end terraced cottage in the heart of this picturesque coastal village. This well presented apartment could provide a superb rural bolt hole to enjoy relaxing country weekends or useful holiday let investment property.

Private hallway | Delightful living room | Luxury bathroom and wc with shower | Fitted kitchen | Two bedrooms Shared courtyard area

Price Guide: £189,000

The Viking Seahouses Occupying a truly unique location above the harbour, this superb two bedroom duplex has accommodation over the first and second floors within this stylish exclusive coastal development. Built in 2008, this modern duplex is well designed and proportioned to provide stylish accommodation with panoramic views of the coastline to include Bamburgh Castle and The Farne Islands.

Communal entrance | Entrance hallway | WC | Open plan living room/dining kitchen | Balcony | Dining room | Two bedrooms En-suite bathroom/wc | Shower room/wc | Garage

Price Guide: £349,950

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Durham House Thropton

Living room | Dining room/study | Fitted kitchen/breakfast room Utility room | Four bedrooms | Two en suites | Shower room/wc Off street parking

Price Guide: £249,950

Bluebell Lodge West Street, Belford Bluebell Lodge is an attractive stone built detached, period property occupying a central location within the village of Belford. The property offers spacious and well proportioned accommodation, as well as a delightful rear garden with outbuildings and off street parking.

Entrance lobby | Lounge | Sitting room | Dining area | Garden room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Three bedrooms | Bathroom/wc fitted with a roll top bath | Separate wc

Price Guide: £235,000

Castlegate House Castle Street, Warkworth This Grade II Listed Georgian property occupies a unique position within the historic village of Warkworth, directly abutting the Castle walls and entrance.

This charming four bedroom property offers versatility in its use, ideal as a main residence, holiday retreat or as a bed and breakfast opportunity. Castlegate House has been maintained by the current owner, however this property will require a degree of maintenance and updating.

Entrance lobby | Dining hall |Lounge/dining room | Fitted kitchen Utility/wc| Four bedrooms | Master en-suite | Family bathroom/wc Paved courtyard garden to rear

Price Guide: £395,000

Well Close Rothbury Well Close is a significant period country house occupying a generous relatively level site of some 1.862 acres approximately within the heart of this picturesque Coquetdale Valley village. Well Close is an imposing stone built rural property, offering generous and versatile accommodation arranged over two floors, with the added benefit of an adjacent holiday cottage.

Drawing room | Formal dining room | Kitchen | Utility | Study Cloakroom/wc | Study | Six bedrooms | Bathroom/wc | Box room Two bedroom self contained holiday cottage

Price Guide: £795,000

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ALNWICK OFFICE

This impressive four bedroom stone terraced house has an excellent position in Thropton, with superb rural views from the rear. The deceptively spacious family home has been refurbished and finished to a high standard throughout, with the guest bedroom suite on the ground floor being refurbished in 2009. Lawned garden. No upward chain

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The Daraz 4 Holly Avenue West, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne 0191 281 8431 | enquiries@thedaraz.com | www.daraz.co.uk

PONTELAND OFFICE

Ponteland Office Our Ponteland office has had an extremely healthy start to 2010, with sales and instructions significantly up on last year and much evidence of confidence now returning to the market.

We have also seen an increase in buyers – many of them in a position to buy now - which means good quality properties marketed at realistic prices are selling very well.

We are assisting to market homes up to ÂŁ5 million in value from this office working with our rare! office colleagues to maximise the sale of some very fine and extremely beautiful homes.

Our experienced team is supported by manager Elaine Newbigin with Alison Bullock and Vicky Staton, and valuation guidance is given by MD Duncan Young, who has been valuing here since 1986.

The village of Ponteland continues to attract many buyers who appreciate the fine restaurants and coaching Inns surrounding the beautiful village green with its historic church and yet convenient access to Gosforth, Jesmond and the city centre via road and Metro nearby.

Demand also remains high for luxury houses to let and many of these properties have rented easily to good quality tenants through Sanderson Young.

In addition to working very successfully in Ponteland and Darras Hall, we are very active in the Tyne Valley and south Northumberland, and the expert team here at Sanderson Young Ponteland is looking forward to a very busy 2010.

For further information about buying and selling properties in Ponteland, south Northumberland and the Tyne Valley, please contact Elaine Newbigin, tel 01661 823 951, email elaine.newbigin@sandersonyoung.co.uk

Coates Institute, Main Street, Ponteland NE20 9NH | Tel: 01661 823 951

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PONTELAND OFFICE

Willow Way Darras Hall, Ponteland

Price Guide: ÂŁ845,000

This stunning contemporary and distinctive family home is set within its own grounds with gardens to the front and rear elevations and with delightful views over local countryside. This delightful home has many features which include the Spanish oak doors, the Italian style tiled flooring throughout, many walls with polished plaster work, aluminium windows and doors, a central music surround system throughout many of the rooms and very versatile accommodation.

Entrance lobby | Reception hallway | Dining room | Living room with patio doors to the rear garden | Drawing room with vaulted ceiling Fitted kitchen with American walnut units| Cloakroom/wc | Utility | Four bedrooms, two with Jack and Jill en-suite bathroom | Master en-suite dressing room and bathroom | Bedroom five/study | Shower room | Basement garage

The property is located on the edge of Darras Hall and is well positioned for commuting possibilities into Newcastle International Airport whilst there are a wide range of amenities to be found on hand within the village of Ponteland and Darras Hall. Viewing is strongly recommended to appreciate the accommodation on offer.

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PONTELAND OFFICE

Beggars Roost Painshawfield Road, Stocksfield

Price Guide: £795,000

‘Beggars Roost’ forms a fabulous detached three storey home in a mature and very pleasant garden site. The house has, in more recent years, been greatly improved, refurbished and extended which has the benefit of having a lower ground floor capable of being adopted for a variety of independent uses. A very impressive feature of the house is a handmade staircase that curves within the stairwell to the first floor above and the lower ground floor below.

Living room | Dining room | Study | Balcony | Kitchen/breakfast room | Lower Ground: Games room | Large cellar | Utility room Reception area | Office | Activities room |Cloakroom/wc | Sun lounge | Five bedrooms | Master en-suite dressing room and bathroom Two further en-suites | Family bathroom/wc | Beautiful gardens and grounds | Courtyard with parking | Double garage

Stocksfield is a popular residential area of the Tyne Valley, well supported by the local shopping facilities and road networks into Corbridge, Hexham and Newcastle. There are excellent sports facilities nearby, including a cricket club, golf club and many superb restaurants and public inns in the nearby area. This is a lovely home in a super area.

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PONTELAND OFFICE

Darras Road Darras Hall, Ponteland

Price Guide: ÂŁ645,000

Occupying a fabulous mature garden plot of 0.556 acres (0.225 ha) and set back from the popular Darras Road location, is this excellent detached family home in a lovely mature garden plot with in and out access drive, good parking and double width garage. The property has been dramatically extended and refurbished by the current owners. The property has lovely gardens at the rear with mature trees, family terrace and patio with rolling lawned gardens, small burn and professional tennis court.

Entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc | Living room| Study | Music room | Kitchen with fitted cabinets and sitting area. | Large extension to the ground floor providing family breakfasting room with double doors onto the gardens | Master bedroom with en-suite shower room Second double bedroom with dressing room/study | Third double bedroom | Fourth double bedroom and en-suite shower room

This light and bright house benefits from gas central heating and double glazing. Darras Road is popular because of its ease of access into the centre of Ponteland village, with its shops, schools and excellent public inns and restaurants. It also has convenient accessibility to Broadway and the local neighbourhood school within Darras Hall. This is a pleasant and well presented family home in a good area of Darras Hall.

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PONTELAND OFFICE

Ulgham Grange Farm Ulgham

Price Guide: ÂŁ585,000

Number one Ulgham Grange Farm is a substantial barn conversion which will have to be viewed to be appreciated. It is set within a generous site that extends to 0.641 acres. Access to the property is via a gravelled driveway leading onto an oval driveway providing ample off street parking leading to a double garage.

The property benefits from gas central heating and double glazing. The accommodation is versatile and will suit a wide range of prospective purchasers.

Reception hall | Lounge with three Northumberland arches leading to rear courtyard | Study | Breakfasting kitchen | Dining room Family bathroom/wc | Sauna | Gym | Ground Floor bedroom with en-suite shower | First floor: Master bedroom with dressing room and en-suite Four further bedrooms | En-suite shower room

Ulgham Grange Farm is a range of six converted farm buildings and farmhouse located on the edge of this Northumberland village. With its own public house, Ulgham has good road links to the nearby ancient town of Morpeth. This highly sought after town has excellent amenities including shops, supermarkets, public houses and restaurants. It also has very good schooling for all ages and road links into Newcastle and throughout the region.

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PONTELAND OFFICE

Prestwick Whins Farm Prestwick This delightful and deceptively spacious home will have to be viewed in order to fully appreciate its location and the unique accommodation this property has to offer. It has rural views towards the rear elevation and internally this bespoke house has been finished to an extremely high standard and has been well designed.

Entrance hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Living room Mezzanine bedroom three (currently used as an office) with en-suite | Fitted dining kitchen Utility | Two bedrooms| Two en-suites | Family bathroom/wc | Dressing area

The property is set within its own grounds with lawned garden to the front and rear elevations whilst to the side there is a share of its secluded courtyard. At the bottom of the rear garden is a double garage with two separate electronically controlled up and over doors.

There is off street parking and a security alarm.

Price Guide: ÂŁ599,950

Rothley Hall Rothley Rothley Hall occupies a breathtaking and enviable rural position set within spectacular forty three acres. This substantial wing of the converted country house benefits from a tranquil and secure setting but is within easy commutable reach of Newcastle City Centre and Newcastle International Airport. The ancient market town of Morpeth is just 10 miles away, which provides excellent amenities.

Living/dining room | Contemporary designed modern kitchen | Cloakroom | Five double bedrooms | Two en-suites and dressing rooms Family bathroom |Extensive garden with terrace Private roof terrace There is under floor heating, additional ceiling heating and air recirculation system and double glazed windows. There is access to the communal gymnasium and swimming pool. Externally, there are manicured grounds, a tennis court, paddock, woodlands and lake. There is an abundance of wildlife including red squirrels and deer.

Price Guide: ÂŁ595,000

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This modern stone built detached family home is located in the hamlet of Kirkheaton with lovely views to the front elevation over the green. There is good access into Newcastle upon Tyne, Ponteland and all the amenities it has to offer. The property is surrounded by some of Northumberland’s most picturesque countryside and benefits from oil central heating and double glazing.

Reception hallway | Lounge with feature open fireplace | Impressive 28ft dining kitchen Utility room | Snug/study | Cloakroom/wc Master bedroom and en-suite | Three further bedrooms | Family bathroom Towards the front of the property there is a gravelled driveway which provides off street parking and access to the front door. There is also further parking to the side elevation and from here access can be gained to the lawned gardens which sweep round to the rear elevation. There are paved patio areas along with wall surround. There is an option to rent up to 10 acres of grazing land

Price Guide: £445,000

Ridgely Drive Ponteland Located towards the edge of Ponteland village, Ridgely Drive is a highly sought after location. This semi detached family home has been finished to a high standard and must be viewed to be fully appreciated. The versatile accommodation is set over three floors and benefits from gas fired central heating and UPVC double glazing.

Entrance hall | Open plan lounge/dining room Fitted kitchen | Three double bedrooms Modern bathroom with separate wc | Second floor double bedroom which could be used as an office or an additional reception room

Externally the property has gardens to the front and rear. To the front there is a driveway providing off street parking as well as access to the single garage.

To the rear there is a lawned garden which overlooks local woodland, with a patio area to the side of the house and a good sized split level deck area.

Price Guide: £339,950

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PONTELAND OFFICE

Garden House Kirkheaton

PONTELAND OFFICE

Ladywell Way Ponteland This superbly appointed, extended four bedroomed, semi detached house, located on this popular estate, provides convenient access to Ponteland village which supports a range of good quality public houses, restaurants and shopping facilities. The property itself is stylishly presented throughout and benefits from UPVC double glazed windows, gas central heating and solid oak panelled doors throughout.

Entrance porch | Cloakroom/wc | Reception hall | Lounge | Dining room | Sitting room Fitted kitchen | Four well proportioned bedrooms | Luxurious en-suite bathroom to the master bedroom | Shower room

Externally there are gardens to the front and rear of the house. The front garden is complemented by a block paved driveway and gives access to a detached garage. Viewing is strongly recommended.

Price Guide: £335,000

Beech Court Darras Hall, Ponteland This detached bungalow, originally constructed in the 1970’s, is located on the edge of Darras Hall with stunning views over open countryside. The property offers considerable potential for renovation and modernisation and although having been maintained over the years it is somewhat dated in presentation.

Viewing is strongly recommended to fully appreciate the considerable potential this property offers.

Entrance lobby | Reception hallway Living/dining room | Kitchen | Utility room/cloakroom | Three bedrooms | Family bathroom | Attached double garage Extensive gardens to the front and side elevations The property is set within approximately 0.315 acres with a driveway providing ample off street parking and gives access to the garage. Ponteland village is approximately two miles away and offers a range of good quality facilities including public houses, restaurants, shopping and schooling for all ages.

Price Guide: £330,000

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Florin Court, Hartford Hall Hartford A superbly presented four bedroom semi detached house, well positioned overlooking an attractive central green, in the prestigious Hartford Hall Estate.

The well appointed property, with accommodation set over three floors, is finished in brick, stone, and render to provide a most attractive and impressive house, ideal for a couple or family.

Reception hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Living room Kitchen/breakfast room | Sun/garden room Utility area | Three first floor bedrooms En-suite | Family bathroom/wc | Superb 21ft second floor master bedroom with en-suite

Externally, there are front and rear gardens and a single garage within a block. With gas fired central heating and sealed unit double glazing, the accommodation has been further improved by the current owner. Viewing is essential to appreciate the space and quality of accommodation on offer.

Price Guide: ÂŁ319,000

Louisville North Road, Ponteland This two bedroom first floor apartment is located within the popular development of Louisville, which is made up of a variety of different styles of apartments, all with allocated parking and with good access into the heart of Ponteland village which offers a range of good quality facilities including public houses, restaurants and shopping facilities.

Communal entrance | Inner lobby | L shaped lounge/dining room | Fitted kitchen with modern appliances | Two double bedrooms Master en-suite shower room/wc Family bathroom/wc| Communal grounds Allocated parking

The apartment has an entry phone system connected to the front door, double glazing and gas central heating. There are communal grounds with one allocated parking space in addition to visitor parking.

Price Guide: ÂŁ199,950

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PONTELAND OFFICE

Sixpence House

New Bengal Restaurant - Gosforth

SPICE UP YOUR EVENING

Eat in at the ‘Take Away’

New Bengal Restaurant 232 High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 1HH

Tel: 0191 2841295 | 0191 2856706 www.newbengal.co.uk

GOSFORTH REGIONAL OFFICE

Gosforth Regional Office Our relocation from 55 to 95 High Street, Gosforth continues to be a huge success. Our clients certainly appreciate our wider regional focus, and they enjoy having the opportunity to browse our regionwide portfolio at Great Coffee – the beautiful coffee shop to which we are attached.

We have a dedicated and committed team which is supported by a team of 10 experienced and knowledgeable local talent with a combined experience of over 185 years in estate agency!

Julie Summerbell manages the branch and is assisted by Emma Shinfield and Gill Cockburn on sales with Sheila Fleming on sales progression, plus Jacques Esterhuizen and our valuation manager Penny Wright on valuation advice.

Our new office, with its larger display areas, comfortable seating and relaxed environment is a real attraction and sales and instructions are both significantly up on last year.

Our clients also appreciate our expertise in successfully marketing properties at all levels of the market both within Gosforth and Jesmond and in the wider area.

To illustrate our regional focus, we are now increasingly active in Newcastle city centre and the Quayside and further afield, including in Blaydon, where we are marketing the Axwell Park development in addition to a number of individual properties.

The team has a wealth of experience which is greater than any other agent in the area and seeks to exceed the expectations of our clients in everything they do.

If you are thinking about buying or selling, please contact Julie Summerbell, tel 0191 213 0033, email julie.summerbell@sandersonyoung.co.uk

95 High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4AA | Tel: 0191 213 0033

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Green Close Stannington, Northumberland

Price Guide: ÂŁ510,000

A splendid, four bedroom, detached house well positioned in this exclusive and sought after cul de sac in Stannington, with a generous, landscaped garden overlooking the adjoining fields. The stone built family home, enjoying a southerly aspect to the front, offers well proportioned accommodation. There are attractive gardens to the front and side elevations, and to the rear a large, lawned garden with mature shrubs and trees to the fence boundary, providing both privacy and shelter.

Entrance lobby | Reception hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Superb 19 ft living room | Dining room | Family room/study | Family kitchen/breakfast room Utility room | Master bedroom | Dressing room | Luxury en suite shower room/wc | Three further bedrooms | Superb family bathroom/wc Double width driveway | Double attached garage

The property has a superb family bathroom fitted with a Villeroy and Boch suite including a large corner shower with Hansgrohe hand and drench shower, as well as Fired Earth fittings. An early viewing is recommended to appreciate the quality of accommodation and generous gardens, as well as the excellent proximity for commuting to Newcastle to the south, and Morpeth to the north.

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Highbury Jesmond

Price Guide: ÂŁ449,950

A handsome double fronted, three storey, end terrace house, well positioned at the northern end of Highbury, one of the most sought after residential roads in Jesmond. The generous property has retained many traditional and period features, including marble fireplaces, ceiling coving and lovely, stained glass and leaded windows whilst improved and extended by the current owners. The well proportioned accommodation is set over three floors.

Vestibule | Entrance hallway | Living room | Dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Family/play room | Utility room | Cloakroom/wc First floor master bedroom with superb en-suite bathroom/wc | Two further bedrooms | Family shower room/wc Superb second floor living room/possible further double bedroom | Study/fourth bedroom

Externally, to the front of the property there is a small town garden area with wrought iron railings. On street permit parking is also available to the front of the house. To the rear there is a small rear yard which is gravelled and paved.

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Grove Park Oval Gosforth

Price Guide: ÂŁ435,000

We are delighted to be given the opportunity to sell this magnificent, two bedroom, penthouse apartment, which has in addition to its approx. 1100 sq ft of living accommodation, an extensive patio/sun terrace also measuring approx 1100 sq ft, which is not overlooked and boasts a predominantly westerly and southerly aspect and enjoys sunshine from mid morning to late evening. From this elevated position the views across the roof tops of Gosforth and beyond are very impressive and the Cheviot Hills are visible on a clear day.

Apartment hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Magnificent lounge with full height, full width double glazed windows giving panoramic views Fitted kitchen with excellent range of fitted base and wall units and integrated appliances| Master bedroom | En-suite shower room Bedroom two | En-suite bathroom

The apartment boast high quality fitments throughout, which include hardwood laminate flooring, chrome sockets, switches and down lighters, electric heating and double glazing. There is secure underground parking, a communal entrance with security intercom, as well as lift and stair access to all floors.

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Substantial 1930’s semi detached house in a fabulous location enjoying a one and a half width plot. This very special house has a large block paved drive and courtyard with double parking area and two interconnecting single garages. There are very substantial gardens to the rear, with lawned areas, beautiful terraces, a patio and well stocked borders.

Entrance Vestibule | Reception hall | Sitting room with lovely bay window | Dining room Family room | Fitted kitchen/breakfast room Cloakroom/wc | Five bedrooms | Two ensuites | Family bathroom/wc | Box room

The property has gas central heating with a new boiler installed in 2009 and double glazing. It also has an alarm system, lovely tall ceilings and super aspect and views over the beautiful gardens. An excellent location within central Gosforth. Viewing strongly recommended.

Price Guide: £675,000

Broomhaugh Riding Mill, Northumberland Set back from a country lane in the small hamlet of Broomhaugh, is this fabulous newly constructed detached family home. Built to a high standard, with beautiful stone work, there is the opportunity for any potential purchaser to work with the designers and builders to finish this lovely home to their personal design.

Hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Kitchen/breakfast room | Utility | Drawing room | Dining area Open plan kitchen | Garden room | Four large double bedrooms | Dressing room | Two en suites | Family bathroom

Externally, to the front there is a gravel parking area and access road, and at the rear there is a private, lawned garden with timber decking and attractive walkways close by to the banks of the adjacent river.

There is also a double garage.

Price Guide: £550,000

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Osbaldeston Gardens Gosforth

GOSFORTH OFFICE

Belle Grove Terrace Spital Tongues An impressive Georgian townhouse, overlooking the Town Moor, with views towards the city centre, and with well proportioned, five bedroom, family accommodation set over three floors. Original period features include beautiful, decorative leaded and stained glass windows and doors, fabulous marble fireplaces, decorative ceiling coving, roses and panelling, sash windows with working shutters, and original wood flooring.

Reception hallway | Living room | Dining room Light and airy kitchen/breakfast room | Utility room | Bathroom/wc | Spectacular 22 ft drawing room with three sash windows Five bedrooms | Shower room/wc The property benefits from an attractive, landscaped front garden that is predominantly lawned with mature planted shrubs and trees. To the rear there is an enclosed rear courtyard with roller doors giving access for off street parking, and additional permit parking spaces to the front.

Price Guide: £489,000

Woodlands Gosforth A fabulous, traditional, five bedroom, three storey mid terraced property offering generous, well proportioned living accommodation. This family home, in one of Gosforth’s most prestigious and sought after residential roads, has retained many traditional features including leaded bay windows, cast iron and marble fireplaces, ceiling coving and is well presented throughout.

Vestibule | Reception hallway | Cloakroom/wc Living room with doors to courtyard | Dining room | Family kitchen/breakfast room with appliances | Five bedrooms | En suite Shower room/wc

Externally, there is a small town garden to the front, and a lovely, enclosed private rear courtyard enjoying a southerly aspect. On street parking is available.

Woodlands is one of Gosforth’s most prestigious and sought after residential roads, ideal for Gosforth High Street as well as public transport into the city centre.

Price Guide: £479,950

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A most impressive and stylish double fronted semi detached house, extended and completely remodelled internally. It provides a stunning, contemporary home finished to an extremely high specification with many design features including exposed brick to the walls, LED floor lighting, wiring for a Bang and Olufsen sound system, and Travertine and oak flooring.

Reception hallway | Cloakroom/wc | 24 ft living room | Superb 20ft kitchen/dining room Folding doors to terrace | Glass galleried landing | Three double bedrooms with en suites, master with dressing room mezzanine

Externally there are landscaped gardens with a decked terrace overlooking a contemporary water feature, a patio and well stocked border. This is a superb, contemporary home on a generous corner garden site with a double garage, ideally suiting young professionals and those seeking something unique and special.

Price Guide: ÂŁ475,000

Grove House The Grove, Gosforth Situated on the second floor and extensively renovated and refurbished to an extremely high standard is this beautiful three bedroom apartment.

With fabulous well maintained communal gardens and grounds the property has a single garage and good parking facilities. The apartment can be accessed via a lift or stairs where it has its own private landing with a good storage cupboard for bicycles etc.

Beautifully decorated living room | Dining room | Balcony | Kitchen with appliances Three bedrooms | Dressing room and en suite Family shower room/wc | Garage Allocated parking

There is electric panel heating, double glazing, fitted blinds to all windows and excellent security. This is an immaculate very impressive apartment in a beautiful location of Gosforth with excellent access to all amenities and facilities on the High Street as well as good transport links.

Price Guide: ÂŁ425,000

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Greenriggs Avenue Melton Park, Gosforth

GOSFORTH OFFICE

Willerby Drive Whitebridge Park, Gosforth A well presented, four bedroom detached family home, well positioned in the much sought after Whitebridge Park in Gosforth. The property benefits from gas central heating, double glazing, driveway parking for one car, a single garage and gardens.

Entrance hallway | Cloakroom/wc | 18ft living room with French doors to dining room Kitchen/breakfast room | Four bedrooms Two en-suites | Large family bathroom with corner bath

Externally there are open lawns to the front of the property and the rear garden is predominantly laid to lawn with a fence and hedge boundary and raised timber decked area leading directly from the kitchen and dining room.

Price Guide: £385,000

Benton Park Road Newcastle A rare opportunity to purchase a five bedroom, detached house, circa 1926, with a generous garden site, large driveway and double detached garage. The family home has charming accommodation over three floors, as well as a cellar, and could have further potential for extending and development (subject to normal planning and building regulation consents).

Hallway | Living room | Dining room Kitchen/breakfast room | Utility area Cloakroom/wc | First floor – two good double bedrooms | Single bedroom/study | Bathroom Separate wc | Second floor – two bedrooms Cellar The house, owned by one family since the 1960’s, does require some updating, however it has been well maintained throughout and has double glazing and gas central heating. Externally there are fabulous landscaped gardens with lawns, planted borders, shrubs and trees, a greenhouse and timber shed.

Price Guide: £339,950

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A fabulous, two bedroom apartment on the first floor of this handsome, double fronted house in the heart of Jesmond. The conversion apartment has been beautifully refurbished over the last few years to provide, a tasteful and stylish home with much character and charm, many original features and a terrace/balcony.

Reception hallway | Splendid living/dining room | Contemporary galley kitchen Study/office with doors to balcony | Superb master bedroom with door to bathroom/wc Second bedroom with en-suite

Externally, there are communal gardens to the front and rear and a detached, single garage for the apartment. This fabulous apartment is only minutes from the shops, restaurants and bars of Osborne Avenue and Acorn Road.

Price Guide: £335,000

Saville Gardens The Grove, Gosforth This is an outstanding, two bedroom, ground floor apartment with the advantage of having its own private garden. This delightful apartment block was constructed by Messrs Banks circa 2005/2006, and was built in the grounds of an impressive Victorian villa, situated on the Grove which is one of Gosforth’s most prestigious and sought after addresses.

L shaped reception hall | Spacious lounge Well fitted kitchen/breakfast room | Main bathroom | Two double bedrooms, both with fitted wardrobes and en-suite shower room to the master

There are UPVC double glazed windows, gas central heating, allocated parking space and electric security gate access. The garden is lawned with a paved patio and well stocked borders.

Price Guide: £330,000

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Osborne Road Jesmond

GOSFORTH OFFICE

Adderstone Court Adderstone Crescent, Jesmond An immaculate three bedroom first floor apartment in this prestigious development and completely renovated in the last 12 months. There is a gated entrance with CCTV, private drive and parking area, underground parking and lift access to the first floor. The apartment has gas central heating, double glazing, alarm system, new carpets and lovely decoration throughout.

Entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc | Three bedrooms | Master en-suite shower room Beautifully decorated lounge | West facing balcony and terrace | Fitted kitchen/breakfasting/dining room Family bathroom/wc This apartment, bought from new, has been extensively refurbished in the last year to a luxurious standard and is presented with very fine accommodation. The property benefits from gas radiator central heating, spotlighting to the ceilings, attractive cornicing and newly fitted carpets throughout. Externally there are magnificent mature grounds.

Price Guide: ÂŁ325,000

Howard House Elmfield Road, Gosforth An outstanding, two bedroom ground floor apartment, set within this handsome Victorian villa. The stunning apartment has been recently redesigned internally to provide stylish, modern accommodation to a superb standard and specification, whilst still retaining many of its period features including moulded high ceilings, decorative ceiling coving and large sash windows overlooking the garden.

Communal entrance hall | Hallway Impressive 23ft open plan living space Contemporary fitted kitchen with integrated appliances and doors opening to the garden Two double bedrooms | Stunning bathroom/wc with separate double shower Externally, the apartment has a single garage and an allocated parking space to the rear of Howard House.

The lovely landscaped gardens are communal and accessed directly from the living room by way of the French doors. There is no upward chain.

Price Guide: ÂŁ310,000

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A luxury, two bedroom apartment with fabulous views from the open plan living area to the River Tyne and the Railway Bridge. The well proportioned apartment, situated on the 6th floor of this Quayside development, has been upgraded and refurbished throughout by the present owners, offering a high standard of accommodation and fittings.

Entrance hall | 27 ft open plan living space High gloss kitchen | Seven picture windows Master bedroom with fitted wardrobes En suite bathroom/wc | Second double bedroom with fitted wardrobes | Bathroom/wc

There is a communal entrance with stairs and lifts giving access to this sixth floor apartment which also benefits from one allocated parking space in the neighbouring municipal car park.

Price Guide: £275,000

Marine View Seaton Sluice A stunning, three bedroom semi detached house enjoying fabulous uninterrupted views to the beach and coastline. Finished to an extremely high standard throughout, having been extended and fully refurbished in recent years, it has high quality flooring, solid oak doors, a cast iron wood burning stove and well appointed kitchen and family bathroom.

Entrance porch | Cloakroom/wc | Living room with French doors Open plan dining room with sea views | Fitted kitchen | utility | Three double bedrooms | Family bathroom | Garage | Mature gardens

Price Guide: £315,000

Oakhurst Drive Gosforth A well maintained, three bedroom, semi detached house on this sought after residential road with a lovely west facing rear garden, double length garage and driveway. The 1960’s family home, requiring some updating, offers generous accommodation and has double glazing and gas heating. To the rear of the garage is a utility area and separate wc. No upward chain.

Entrance porch | Living room | Dining room with doors to garden Fitted kitchen/breakfast room | Two large double bedrooms Single bedroom | Bathroom | Separate wc

Price Guide: £310,000

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Forthbanks Tower Newcastle

GOSFORTH OFFICE

Newlands Road High West Jesmond An attractive, double fronted terraced house in this much sought after residential road close the Town Moor, Jesmond Dene, Ilford Road Metro station and local shops/amenities. The four bedroom family home, in need of some modernisation, offers generous, well proportioned accommodation with tall ceilings. Externally there is a single garage and yard to the rear.

Vestibule | Entrance hallway | Living room | Dining room Good sized kitchen with AGA | Utility/pantry | Three double bedrooms | Single bedroom | Bathroom | Separate wc

Price Guide: £305,000

Mariners Wharf Quayside A stunning, three bedroom penthouse apartment, located to the 3rd and 4th floor of this sought after Quayside development, with two balconies giving fabulous views over the river to the Sage, Baltic and the Tyne bridges. The penthouse has generous accommodation over two floors, with separate access to each floor, and has a single garage beneath the development.

Secure communal lobby | Reception hallway | Three bedrooms En-suite shower room/wc | Bathroom/wc | Cloakroom/wc Spacious open plan living/kitchen area

Price Guide: £299,950

Ellesmere Villa West Granville Road, Jesmond An elegant and stylish, two bedroom apartment on the first floor of this imposing semi detached Victorian villa. The well proportioned apartment is well presented, and offers generous accommodation with many period features including sash windows, ornate marble fireplace and high ceilings. There is a gravel driveway, rear parking area, single garage and additional parking. No upward chain.

Private entrance | Secure entry phone system | Hallway Impressive living room | Superb kitchen/breakfast room Two double bedrooms | En suite | Large family bathroom

Price Guide: £299,950

Otterburn Avenue Gosforth An excellent, three bedroom, terraced house located at the end of Otterburn Avenue with a lovely garden to the front, and a yard providing off street parking to the rear. The well proportioned house, a family home for the last 40 years, has been extended with an architect designed garden room. Garden to front, parking to rear.

Vestibule | Entrance hallway | Living room | Dining room | Garden room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Shower room/wc | 3 Bedrooms Bathroom and separate wc | Pull down ladder to boarded loft room

Price Guide: £295,000

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A superbly, presented townhouse, well positioned towards the edge of the Newcastle Great Park, with excellent views from the rear over the grassland and to the front, over the communal green. The three/four bedroom town house has accommodation over three floors, gas central heating, double glazing, a landscaped rear garden with a southerly aspect, driveway and single garage.

Hallway | Family room/4th bedroom | Utility | Shower room/wc Open plan living/dining room | Fitted kitchen/breakfast room Three bedrooms | Master En-suite shower room/wc Family bathroom

Price Guide: £295,000

Sturdee Gardens High West Jesmond A well proportioned, four bedroom semi detached house, situated in a much sought after residential area. Benefiting from gas central heating and double glazing, the accommodation is set over three floors. Externally, there is a double width block paved drive to the front leading to the single integral garage, and to the rear, a lawned garden with paved patio leading from the house.

Entrance hallway | Living room with French doors to garden Generous dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Three bedrooms Bathroom | Separate wc | Second floor fourth bedroom

Price Guide: £275,000

The Wickets Moor Road North, Gosforth A spacious, two bedroom apartment situated on the second floor of this modern development, with a balcony overlooking the Cricket Ground. The apartment benefits from a security telephone entry system, gas central heating, double glazing and one allocated parking space. Externally there is a balcony overlooking the Cricket ground and an allocated parking space for one car.

Communal hallway | Hallway | Good sized living/dining room with French doors | Fitted kitchen/breakfast room | Master bedroom En-suite shower room/wc | Guest bedroom | Bathroom/wc

Price Guide: £249,950

Brookfield Westfield, Gosforth A four bedroom townhouse, well positioned on the end of the terrace within this sought after cul de sac, enjoying a south facing garden. In need of updating and modernisation, it is set over three floors and benefits from gas central heating and double glazing. Externally there is a driveway to the front of the garage and to the rear a private enclosed rear garden enjoying a southerly aspect.

Hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Utility room | Double garage First floor 26ft living/dining room| Kitchen | 4th bedroom/study Three second floor bedrooms | Bathroom/wc

Price Guide: £245,000

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Featherstone Grove Great Park, Gosforth

GOSFORTH OFFICE

St Hildas Road Hexham A traditional, stone built terraced house in this sought after residential area, well positioned only a short walk from Hexham town centre with its wide variety of shops and amenities, and easy access to the High School via a footpath to rear.

The three bedroom house is set over two floors and has gas central heating, an enclosed rear courtyard garden and on street parking to the front.

Lobby | Entrance hall | Living room with bay window | Dining room Fitted kitchen | Three bedrooms | Family bathroom/wc Enclosed rear courtyard | No upward chain

Price Guide: £239,950

Kenton Lane Gosforth A substantial, three bedroom semi detached house, circa 1934, with lovely south facing rear garden, single garage and driveway. The excellent family home has gas central heating, double glazing and has been well maintained. Externally, there is a small front garden and a superb rear garden with patio. There is a driveway for one car leading to the single attached garage. No upward chain.

Living room with door leading to the rear garden Large formal dining room | Breakfast room | Fitted kitchen Three double bedrooms | Bathroom with separate wc

Price Guide: £225,000

Lanesborough Court Gosforth A stylish and superbly presented ground floor apartment, well positioned overlooking attractive, communal landscaped gardens and benefiting from a car port for allocated parking. The Grade II listed apartment, has sash windows and lovely high ceilings giving a real feeling of space and light. The apartment is finished to a high specification throughout.

Communal entrance shared with one apartment |Entrance hallway Open plan living space with good fitted kitchen | Master bedroom En-suite | Second bedroom/study | Bathroom/wc.

Price Guide: £215,000

Osborne Court Osborne Avenue, Jesmond A generous, and well proportioned two bedroom flat located on the second floor of Osborne Court. The flat benefits from stair and lift access, gas central heating, a modern well appointed kitchen and bathroom, as well as residents’ parking, and communal gardens. Vacant possession.

Communal entrance with lift | Spacious hallway | 20ft living/dining room | Stylish galley style kitchen | Two double bedrooms Large bathroom with a separate shower

Price Guide: £199,950

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A spacious ground floor apartment with a private south-facing garden and double garage. This well-presented, two-bedroom apartment is situated in a quiet cul de sac, adjacent to Gosforth Park Racecourse and Nature Reserve. Additional residents’ parking is available. The property benefits from double glazing and gas central heating. No upward chain.

24ft hallway | Open plan living/dining room leading onto the lovely terrace and garden | Well appointed fitted kitchen with integrated appliances | Two double bedrooms | Bathroom/wc

Price Guide: £179,950

Development Land Wallace Street, Spital Tongues A rare development opportunity in a prime residential area, a building plot with lapsed planning (1997) for a three storey, three bedroom, detached house. To the front is a disused garden site, occupied on a lease with a peppercorn ground rent, and passing rent of £10 pa with potential as a landscaped garden. Planning was given in 1997 for the following:

Entrance hall | Cloakroom/wc | Good sized lounge | Kitchen Master bedroom with en suite | Two further double bedrooms Bathroom/wc | Garage | Plans available to view

Price Guide: £135,000

Clarendon House Clayton Street West This spacious and well presented one bedroom first floor apartment, in Grade II listed building, benefits from secondary glazing, electric heating and a security intercom system. The property is well located in the heart of the Grainger Town area which has undergone tremendous regeneration in recent years. The apartment is priced at a realistic level and viewings come highly recommended.

Reception hallway | Family bathroom/wc | One double bedroom with fitted wardrobes | Open plan lounge/dining room with off shot contemporary fitted kitchen with integrated appliances

Price Guide: £119,950

Baltic Quay Mill Street, Gateshead This studio style quayside apartment is situated in the sought after Baltic Quays, and is located on the 2nd floor. It is in a prime location offering easy access across the Millennium Bridge to Newcastle’s vibrant quayside, local amenities and transport links. Access is gained via the Mill road entrance and the apartment benefits from one private car parking space.

Entrance hall/lobby | Open plan bedroom with neutral carpet and living area with oak wood laminate flooring | Fully fitted kitchen with integrated Smeg appliances | Bathroom/wc

Price Guide: £114,950

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GOSFORTH OFFICE

Low Gosforth Court Melton Park, Gosforth

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Rialtos 1 Main Street, Ponteland, Newcastle upon Tyne 01661 820 600 | enquiries@rialtos.com | www.rialtos.co.uk

REGIONAL LETTINGS

Regional Lettings Our relocation from Newcastle Quayside to our new regional sales and lettings office at 95 High Street, Gosforth, continues to attract increasing numbers of instructions to market a range of quality properties regionwide from ÂŁ500 per calendar month to ÂŁ10,000 per calendar month.

In addition to a growing number of quality properties in the city centre and its suburbs, coastal areas and the countryside, we have seen a significant rise in the number of parties registering their interest in renting a home in the region, which proves just how robust the regional lettings market is now.

We are seeing increasing success in letting country mansions, fabulous detached country homes in Ponteland and beautiful suburban semis and larger detached houses in Gosforth and Jesmond, which means we can offer a diverse range of property types to our prospective tenants.

Many tenants are represented by blue chip companies, which means we can introduce not only good rental figures, but excellent tenants.

Gail McLean leads the team and is supported by Sarah Johnstone, Joyce Walton and Duncan Ross and we work with our rare! Office in securing for higher rental values at the very top end of the market.

For information on letting your home for the best possible return, please contact Gail McLean at the Regional Lettings Office, tel 0191 255 0808, email gail.mclean@sandersonyoung.co.uk

95 High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4AA | Tel: 0191 255 0808

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RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

Edge Hill Darras Hall, Ponteland

Price Guide: ÂŁ4,500 pcm

This stunning detached family home is superbly fitted out with quality fixtures & fittings . The property is contemporary and stylish throughout with modern furnishings and all bedrooms are spacious with en-suite facilities as well as four reception rooms and a hot tub in the rear garden. Darras Hall is a very much sought after location and situated within close access to Newcastle airport as well as the lovely village of Ponteland

Private gated entrance | Reception hallway | Spacious living area | 3 further reception rooms | Fitted kitchen with integrated appliances/snug area/dining area | Sun room | Utility room and wc | Quirky gallery overlooking the lower hallway | Three bedrooms all with en suite Master bedroom with en suite wet room/ bathroom with a Jacuzzi bath and double shower | Sit out balcony from master bedroom

The property has piped through sound system in certain rooms as well as touch pad mood lighting and gas central heating. To the rear garden there is a wonderful hot tub, paved area/ decking for summer entertaining as well as garden. Externally there is a double garage and substantial driveway for extra car parking behind private gated entrance.

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RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

Glenisla Whickham Park, Whickham

Price Guide: ÂŁ1,800 pcm

This detached family home is situated within the sought after village of Whickham with its range of shops and restaurants. The property is a short distance from Newcastle city centre and offers easy access to the A1 north & south as well as the Metro centre. The accommodation has been completely remodelled throughout with high specification fixtures and fittings giving a contemporary and stylish feel in every room.

Private gated entrance onto the driveway | Reception hallway | Stunning kitchen and breakfasting/family room with folding doors leading out onto the garden and patio area with a decked sitting area | Formal lounge with dining area | TV room | Four double bedrooms | Three en suites Family wet room | Sonos music system throughout

Externally there is a double garage and private gated entrance onto a spacious driveway. Early viewing is highly recommended to appreciate the sheer luxury this property offers.

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RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

Centralofts Waterloo Street, Newcastle A very well presented penthouse apartment situated within the highly desirable Centralofts building. This location offers superb access to local shops, bars, restaurants and amenities including the nearby Central train station. There is a communal secure entrance lobby with concierge service and lift and stair access to all floors.

Spacious open plan living area | Fitted kitchen Roof terrace with stunning views | Master bedroom with en-suite wet room | Second bedroom with en-suite bathroom | Further double bedroom | Separate WC

Offered immediately on a furnished basis this property also benefits from underground allocated parking.

Centralofts is a popular residential development close to the heart of Newcastle city centre so early viewing is highly recommended to avoid disappointment.

Price Guide: ÂŁ2200 pcm

Penthouse, 55 Degrees North City Centre A stunning three bedroom top floor Penthouse which is furnished to a very good standard with accommodation covering two floors.

Offering bespoke fixtures & fittings and fantastic city views as well as an outside balcony area.

Entrance hallway | Three bedrooms Two en-suites | Open plan lounge and kitchen area | Spacious dining area | Stunning views over the city of Newcastle

Benefiting from concierge service, lifts to all floors and underground secure car parking. Early viewing is highly recommended to appreciate the quality and sheer standard of this accommodation which is available immediately.

Price Guide: ÂŁ1800 pcm

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This stunning two bedroom Penthouse Suite is furnished to a good standard. The accommodation is situated in this wonderful Grade II listed building over two floors and also has a stunning roof terrace with views across the city of Newcastle.

Communal entrance | Reception hallway Dressing room/study | Two double bedrooms Master en-suite | Family bathroom Lounge/Dining area | Fitted kitchen | Spiral staircase to entertaining room | Dining area

Externally there is one allocated car parking space which is situated underneath the development. Early viewing is highly recommended to appreciate the quality and sheer standard of this accommodation which is available immediately.

Price Guide: ÂŁ1800 pcm

Love Lane Quayside

This stunning three bedroom spacious penthouse is offered to the market on a furnished basis. The accommodation has been recently updated by the current owners and has the added benefit of 3 car parking spaces which is very unusual within the heart of the quayside.

Reception hallway | Cloakroom/wc | Three double bedrooms all with en-suite facilities Spacious kitchen breakfasting area Living/dining room | Fantastic panoramic views Extra room which can be used as a study room

The property has gas central heating and secure buzzer entry system. Do not miss out on this well priced penthouse apartment situated within the heart of the quayside.

Price Guide: ÂŁ1495 pcm

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RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

Stamp Exchange Westgate Road, Newcastle

RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

Hawthorn Road Gosforth • 1 Bedroom • Available immediately • Bathroom • Central heating • Furnished • Town garden

Price Guide: £695 pcm

Hawthorn Road Gosforth • 2 Bedrooms • Available immediately • Bathroom • Central heating • Furnished • Hallway

Price Guide: £650 pcm

Hyde Terrace Gosforth • 1 Bedroom • Available immediately • Bathroom • Central heating • Furnished • Garden

Price Guide: £525 pcm

Haydon Close Red House Farm, Gosforth • 2 Bedrooms • Available immediately • Bathroom • Communal areas • Hallway • Kitchen • On street parking • Reception room • Unfurnished

Price Guide: £480 pcm

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• 2 Bedrooms • Allocated parking • Available immediately • Balcony • Communal areas • Concierge • En suite shower room

Price Guide: £750 pcm

Manor Chare Newcastle • 2 Bedrooms • Balcony from master bedroom • Bathroom • Communal areas • En suite shower room • Furnished

Price Guide: £750 pcm

Kingfisher Court Riverside Park, Dunston • 2 Bedrooms • Allocated parking • Available immediately • Balcony • Bathroom • Communal areas

Price Guide: £650 pcm

The Stephenson Staiths South Bank, Gateshead • 2 Bedrooms • Allocated parking • Available immediately • Bathroom • Garden • Hallway • Kitchen

Price Guide: £550 pcm

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RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

Lime Square City Road, Newcastle

RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

Manor House Road

Caesar Way

Jesmond

Wallsend

Belle Grove Terrace Spital Tongues

• Awaiting text

• 4 Bedrooms

• 2 Bedrooms

• Available immediately

• Available immediately

• Central heating

• Central heating

• Conservatory

• En suite bathroom

• Dining room

• En suite shower room

• En suite shower room

• Furnished

• Furnished

• Kitchen • Pleasant views

Price Guide: £1000 pcm

Price Guide: £900 pcm

Price Guide: £750 pcm

Milk Market Newcastle

Curzon Place Gateshead

Eskdale Terrace Jesmond

• 2 Bedrooms

• 2 Bedrooms

• 1 Bedroom

• Allocated parking

• Allocated parking

• Available immediately

• Bathroom

• Available immediately

• Bathroom

• Central heating

• Bathroom

• Central heating

• Furnished

• Communal areas

• Communal areas

• Kitchen

• En suite shower room

• Furnished

• Lift

• Furnished

• Reception room

Price Guide: £775 pcm

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Price Guide: £750 pcm

Price Guide: £695 pcm

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Elmfield Square Gosforth

Baltic Quay Gateshead Quayside

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Lime Square City Road

Park Avenue Gosforth

Northside Stamfordham

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Centralofts Newcastle

successfully letting homes

continuing to do what we do best We now have clients looking for similar properties to rent. If you are thinking of letting your property please contact us today on 0191 255 0808

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Headmasters House Gosforth

The Old School Heddon on the Wall

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Runnymede Road Darras Hall

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Burnside Prestwick

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RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS

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SY | LETTINGS

let’s

move Neil Gordon gains an expert view of the increasingly robust residential lettings market from Sanderson Young lettings manager Gail Mclean

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“The North East is still attracting a steady flow of incomers wanting quality corporate lets …”

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hether you’re letting, renting or just dipping a toe in the water to see how the land lies, the residential lettings market is robust in city, coast and country now, which is good news for all sectors of the market.

Gail McLean and her team at Sanderson Young’s residential lettings department are handling an extended rental portfolio now, which is excellent news for tenants looking for a good selection of property. In turn, returns for landlords are extremely healthy.

But has the recent cooling in the financial climate affected the level of achievable rents?

“In the North East, the rental market is very attractive for landlords because demand for good property is still outpacing supply,” Gail says. “The North East is still attracting a steady flow of incomers wanting quality corporate lets, and these tenants range from professional footballers to financial experts.

“More importantly, these tenants are requiring longer letting periods, creating a healthy stability in the market. For example, we have just let the old Headmaster’s House in Gosforth for 12 months at £1,600 per month.”

It has been a year since Sanderson Young moved its Lettings Office from Newcastle’s Quayside to Gosforth’s High Street and extended its geographical coverage, so where are the hot spots?

“The Quayside remains exceptionally popular, and this area is still very much a priority for us,” says Gail. “Apartments in Ouseburn Wharf and Lime Square at the east end of the Quayside are particularly in demand, while The Turnbull, Manor Chare and St Ann’s Quay are the most popular locations towards the city centre.

“Outside the city, along with Heddon and Stamfordham, the Tyne Valley villages of Walbottle and Wylam are seeing a great deal of interest. These locations are perfect for people who work in the city but prefer to live in the country, as the commute to Newcastle is less than 30 minutes by road or rail.

“South of the river, Whickham and Dunston are becoming increasingly popular, while Staithes South Bank offers tremendous value for money.”

What about the north of the region? “Again, we have an excellent choice of good property in good locations,” says Gail.

“For example, we have a one-bed flat in Rothbury for £425 per month and a two-bed flat in central Alnwick for £450, as well as a range of family homes for very reasonable lets. However, we are always looking for more quality property and we are attracting a growing number of enquiries from film companies.”

Gail has previously helped to find suitable locations for the Bollywood film Hum Tum Aur Ghost (English title: Who Spoke?) which was shot in Newcastle 18 months ago.

The film is scheduled for release in the UK in April and you can see the trailer on You Tube now. Pay particular attention to the scenes in the penthouse – they were shot at The Turnbull, courtesy of Gail!

“The film really helped to promote the city with TV and film production companies,” says Gail, “and we have a number of irons in the fire, including a major project for children’s television.

“I am also actively seeking more property to offer to film companies, both as locations and cast and crew accommodation. I can’t promise to make you a Hollywood star, but I can promise quality tenants, attractive rents and a truly professional lettings service.”

Twelve months on, has Gail any regrets about moving her office away from the traditional heart of the North East’s rental market on Newcastle Quayside?

“Not at all,” she says at her new Gosforth office at 95 High Street. “The Quayside is still very important to us, while the move has helped us to expand into a truly regional service.

“We see more landlords and tenants here in Gosforth than we saw at the Quayside office. They have a coffee in the coffee shop here and browse, which can take a long time, as we have a larger selection of property to rent now than ever before.

“Moving from the city centre has helped us refocus our letting activities across a much wider geographical area and price range.

“For example, at the top end of the scale we recently let a large Darras Hall property for £5,000 per month, while in Gateshead’s Staithes South Bank we

LETTINGS | SY

“In the North East, the rental market is very attractive for landlords because demand for good property is still outpacing supply”

have a fabulous two-bed, ground floor apartment with its own garden available for just £500 per month.

“It’s all about offering landlords and tenants a better and more comprehensive service. In the past, many people thought we dealt only with premier penthouses, but that was never really true, and even less so nowadays.

“Of course, we still offer plenty of prestige lets, and we don’t handle student accommodation, but now we have much more mid-priced property in a wider choice of locations.

“For example, we have a four-bedroom family home on a new estate in Wallsend for just £900 per month, a three-bedroom semi in Gosforth for £695 per month and a delightful two-bed apartment in the village of Stamfordham for £400 per month.

“Expanding out of the city centre means we now have access to a lot more period property. The Stamfordham apartment is a good example, because it is in a historic building overlooking Stamfordham’s pretty village green.

“Similarly, on the south side of the Tyne Valley, in Heddon on the Wall, we recently let a Victorian

school house that had been converted into a charming three-bedroom home.”

So, it seems variety is thriving in the region’s residential lettings scene, and that’s good news for all of us – particularly those film crews eager to make their temporary home here. Lights, camera, action ...

For more information on houses and apartments for rent and to discuss letting your property, see www.sandersonyoung.co.uk/let and contact Gail McLean, tel 0191 255 0808, email gail.mclean@sandersonyoung.co.uk

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NEW HOMES

New Homes Sanderson Young has had tremendous success marketing a range of prestigious developments in recent months, successfully selling all the properties released for sale.

Now our expert new homes team, led by Janet Hopkinson and Nicola Osborne at the rare! office in Gosforth and Gillian Greaves at the Alnwick office, is dedicating its exceptional skill to marketing the last remaining large family homes at the unique Hawthorn Grange development at Brunton Lane, Gosforth, and those at secluded Elmfield Square in Gosforth.

We are also delighted to market Turner Square, Morpeth – a superb development by Cussins Homes of apartments and family homes close to the town centre and enjoying beautiful rural views.

At Mount Hooley Farm, Beal, near Berwick, we are also delighted to be marketing an exquisite small farm building conversion of luxury homes just a short distance from beautiful Holy Island.

There is much interest in these and the other developments detailed in the following pages, which is why property developers appreciate the work of our highly motivated sales team and expert media department’s brochure design, branding, advertising and editorial press coverage.

Our recent work for Northumberland Tyne and Wear Trust has also provided a significant level of interest for land opportunities at Prudhoe with more sites scheduled for disposal in the future In addition, we provide a comprehensive property consultancy to developers and builders large and small, appraising developments, acquiring sites and acting on behalf of owners in the sale of development sites.

For advice on your potential development site and new developments coming to market, please contact Janet Hopkinson at the rare! office, tel 0191 223 3500, email janet.hopkinson@sandersonyoung.co.uk

The Old Bank, 30 High Street, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 1NY | Tel: 0191 223 3500

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2010

SY | NEW HOMES

enewed confidence in the new homes market is certainly making its mark on the region now, with a return in house building activity heralding some superb developments regionwide.

The developments detailed in these and the following pages have one thing in common, and that’s superb quality. Good value is also to the fore, and imaginative and stylish design creating beautiful spaces for the way we live now.

At Turner Square in Morpeth, the award-winning Newcastle-based house builder Cussins Ltd is creating apartments and family homes which benefit both from the nearby town centre and a pretty, green setting with lovely rural views.

At historic Axwell Park in Blaydon, the Dare Group has done a superb job of converting the historic hall into apartments and built 18 outstanding new homes in the beautiful grounds.

Field Homes’ Hawthorn Grange development at Brunton Lane in Gosforth is so tranquil, Sanderson Young’s own operations director bought one of the superb homes here last year, while Dunelm Homes’ Elmfield Square in Gosforth is an attractive mix of old and new.

Then, up the coast at Mount Hooley Farm, Beal, near Berwick, we are marketing a superb farm conversion which has created six exquisite properties in a fabulous setting.

Which all goes to prove that there’s a dream home for everyone – all you have to do is move in.

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Starters for Neil Gordon takes a look at some of the best new property offered for sale with Sanderson Young this spring

> Turner Square Morpeth

24 stylish homes and apartments, offering a mix of one-bedroom apartments, two-bedroom duplex apartments, three and four-bedroom semis and a detached house, all built around a leafy cul-de-sac with garage and/or off-road parking for each property. The properties are finished in traditional style with spacious interior layouts including open-plan living spaces.

Prices from £82,000

For more information, contact Sanderson Young’s Gosforth Office, tel 0191 213 0033, or see www.sandersonyoung.co.uk

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Cussins Ltd

NEW HOMES | SY

>

Outstanding four-bedroom townhouses built to a high specification and set in 35 acres of parkland with a walled garden and views across the Derwent Valley create quite a spectacle on this historic site.

These beautiful homes boast versatile, contemporary living spaces and stylish design touches including a first-floor sun terrace overlooking the estate’s woodland.

Axwell Gardens Axwell Park Blaydon

Prices from £380,000

Contact Sanderson Young’s Gosforth Office, tel 0191 213 0033, see www.sandersonyoung.co.uk or www.daregroup.co.uk/axwellpark

>

Dare Group

The final three properties are now available in this sought-after location. They include two townhouses and one semi-detached property, all built to a very high specification and boasting a contemporary internal layout for maximum versatility. This is a truly unique development and an outstanding blend of contemporary and traditional style. Its location is both close to the city and extremely tranquil.

Hawthorn Grange Brunton Lane Gosforth

Prices from £450,000

For more information, contact Sanderson Young’s Gosforth Office, tel 0191 213 0033 and see www.sandersonyoung.co.uk

>

Field

The last remaining property is now available in one of the best locations in Gosforth. This five-bedroom semi-detached family home is beautifully designed, and the option remains to customise the internal specification. This quiet development of new-build and historic renovation is surrounded by mature trees and quiet avenues and is also just a few minutes’ walk from bustling Gosforth.

Elmfield Square Gosforth

Price on application Typical kitchen

For more information, contact Sanderson Young’s Gosforth Office, tel 0191 213 0033 or see www.sandersonyoung.co.uk

> Mount Hooley Farm Beal near Berwick

Dunelm Homes

A small development of exquisite barn conversions with bespoke designer bathrooms and kitchens and faithfully restored or recreated period features, Mount Hooley Farm is ideal as a permanent home, second home or holiday let. There are six two to fourbedroom properties for sale, all boasting high quality specifications and spacious gardens with country views.

Prices from £295,000

For more information, contact Gillian Greaves at Sanderson Young’s Alnwick Office, tel 01665 600 170 or see www.sandersonyoung.co.uk

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ESCAPE TO THE COAST CARDINAL POINT

BEADNELL Introducing a stunning new development of two and three bedroom cottage style homes on the beautiful Northumberland coast Wake up to coastal living

For more information call 0191 266 9646 or visit yuillhomes.co.uk

AN EXCITING NEW DEVELOPMENT 24 STYLISH HOMES & APARTMENTS FROM A PRESTIGIOUS NORTH EAST DEVELOPER WITH BEAUTIFUL RURAL VIEWS AND QUALITY LIVING ACCOMMODATION. PRICES FROM £82,000 Designed around a secluded, leafy cul-de-sac Turner Square offers a mix of one bedroom apartments, two bedroom duplex apartments, three and four bedroomed semi detached homes and a three bedroomed detached house.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT SANDERSON YOUNG ON 0191 2130033

www.cussins.com AMYTIS GARDENS The final phase of Cussins’ innovative development at Amytis Gardens, South Shields has now been released visit www.cussins.com for more information

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Laborious on-site measurements and office-based drawing can make plans a time-consuming task, but new technology is revolutionising the process, says Smith Marston LLP

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Back in the day, the only way to measure and draw floor plans was to visit a site armed with pen, paper and tape measure and then go back to the office and laboriously draw your plans on tracing paper at the drawing board.

Tape measures have been replaced in recent years with ‘disto’ lasers and the drawing board replaced by computer-aided design software, but still surveyors, architects and other professionals generally have to visit sites in twos and make a hand-drawn sketch of the floor layout before laboriously measuring each room.

And for every day spent on site, they will spend another day in the office drawing plans on AutoCAD or similar software.

Is it efficient? No - it takes two to measure and record data on site, there’s potential for human error in recording measurements, it can be timeconsuming and therefore expensive.

At Smith Marston LLP, we’re now using the latest in mobile surveying technology; a revolutionary system using hand-held laser measurers linked

by Bluetooth technology to Samsung Q1 Ultra

tablet microcomputers. This automatically transfers measurements direct to a CAD program, effectively drawing a room as it is measured.

This ensures accuracy, even in plotting ‘out of square’ buildings, and precision of +/- 5mm over 100m is achievable.

For most buildings, one person can collect the data, and because the measuring function creates an AutoCAD drawing immediately, any discrepancies can be spotted on site.

There’s also no drawing time in the office, and no risk of human error or return visits, and all that means it is considerably cheaper.

This equipment is ideal for any size of building and for many purposes - for example, enabling architectural designs to be developed from existing plans, for commercial uses such as lease plans, fire precautions plans, plans for licensed premises, and for assisting with general estate management purposes.

To find out more, contact Adrian Marston at Smith Marston LLP, tel 01434 607 802

MAIN OFFICE Peterel Field Business Village Dipton Mill Road Hexham Northumberland NE46 2JT Tel: 01434 607802 Fax: 01434 607272

• HOMEBUYER AND BUILDING SURVEYS • DESIGN DRAWINGS FOR PLANNING PERMISSION & BUILDING REGULATIONS • NEW BUILD AND EXTENSIONS • LOFT CONVERSIONS AND REFURBISHMENT • PARTY WALL ISSUES • DEFECT DIAGNOSIS • BOUNDARY DISPUTES • RIGHTS OF LIGHT • DAYLIGHT & SUNLIGHT TESTS For further information please call Philip Smith or Adrian Marston email: info@smithmarston.co.uk www.smithmarston.co.uk

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NEWCASTLE OFFICE Rotterdam House 116 Quayside Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3DY Tel: 0191 260 3123

LUXURY TOWN HOUSES - AXWELL PARK

BRING THE OUTSIDE INSIDE… BESPOKE CITY LIVING IN RURAL HEAVEN

Axwell Gardens

Axwell Park, Blaydon, Tyne & Wear NE21 6RN

The townhouses at Axwell Park are now complete, a development of stunning properties from the DARE Group. Just a short drive from the city centre, yet set in 35 acres of parkland with a private walled garden and views right across the beautiful Derwent Valley. With high specification throughout this truly is a unique tranquil place to live. Exceptional funding deals available.

The Sales Centre is open Thursday to Monday - 10am to 6pm - Prices from £380,000

Contact: T: 0191 4144412 | www.axwellpark.co.uk

DEVELOPMENT AND REGENERATION EXCELLENCE

GOSFORTH OFFICE:

0191 213 0033

Elmfield Sq, Elmfield Rd, Gosforth

WOULD YOU LIKE TO CUSTOMISE THE INTERNAL DESIGN OF YOUR NEW HOME TO YOUR OWN SPECIFICATION? YES, THIS IS POSSIBLE IF YOU PURCHASE THE LAST REMAINING SEMI DETACHED HOUSE AT ELMFIELD SQUARE, CENTRAL GOSFORTH

Typical kitchen

Show House

PRICE ON APPLICATION PLEASE CONTACT: GILL COCKBURN: 0191 2130033

www.sandersonyoung.co.uk www.dunelmhomes.co.uk

Great Savings Available

Crawley Dene, Powburn GREAT SAVINGS AVAILABLE. Showhome now open Thursday to Monday from 10am - 4pm.

Come and visit us or call us on or Contact Rook Matthews Sayer on

01665 578504 01665 510044

An exclusive development of homes with beautiful surroundings in Powburn, Northumberland.

Crawley Dene consists of an exclusive collection of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom properties, with a mix of detached, bungalows, coach house apartments and linked new homes. There are 8 variations of new homes all designed with nature in mind with great attention to detail, featuring stonework, conservation brickwork, natural slate and timber fencing.

*(affordable home incentive - 30% discount on market value)

NEW HOMES | SY

designsforlife Glenrose Developments’ stylish new executive homes at Rydale Park offer versatile living spaces, a coastal setting and so much more

No matter how much we love our family, we all crave a bit of space to ourselves, and Glenrose Developments’ stylish new two and three-storey executive homes now being built on the south Sunderland coast will provide just that.

Just a stone’s throw from the rugged coastline and within easy reach of popular schools and local shops, these handsome four and five-bedroom family residences allow everyone in the family to find space for themselves.

And with generous plots, stylish fittings and versatile layouts, everything has been carefully considered to ensure Rydale Park’s new residents will love the place they call home.

The elegant design touches at Rydale Park will include French doors leading to spacious back gardens, feature bay windows, ample cupboards for versatile storage space, en-suite bathrooms and remote-controlled double garages.

The properties will also boast a very generous 1,628sq ft to 2,116sq ft of flexible space and will include fully fitted integrated kitchens with granite worktops, sophisticated appliances, tiled floors and under-floor heating.

The bespoke interiors will also feature bathrooms with whirlpool baths and smart home technologies will be fitted throughout each property. Each exclusive home will also benefit from turfed gardens

complete with garden shed and security alarms.

Location, as they say, is all, and Rydale Park is just 10 minutes from the city centre and its many attractions in one direction and burgeoning Seaham in the other.

Its cul-de-sac layout creates a small, exclusive oasis and it enjoys impressive views of the sea and the rugged coastline.

It is also easy to reach major routes including the A19 and A1, and its proximity to Doxford International Business Park and Doxford Retail Park is also a major attraction.

Award-winning Glenrose Developments, which is based on the north bank of the River Wear, has been responsible for a varied portfolio of developments, though the company retains a strong preference for smaller self-contained schemes like Rydale Park, where privacy and seclusion are particularly important to residents.

Situated just off Angram Drive on the east side of Ryhope Road (A1018), purchase prices are expected to be between ÂŁ399,950 and ÂŁ454,950 and a stylish show home is due to be completed later this year.

To find out more, contact Carol McDowell at Glenrose Developments, tel 0870 351 5060, email enquiries@glenrosedevelopments.co.uk

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SY | NEW HOMES

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Brian Nicholls finds out how one couple have built a six-bedroom house in their spare time and made it a UK first in terms of its environmental credentials

Sally Marshall and Kevin Robertson

pleasant house n this spacious house befitting Beverly Hills you look out of the windows and instinctively wonder if the pit heaps are back in County Durham.

Hereabouts in Great Lumley, 13 coalminers, men and boys, once perished in a gas explosion, and 2,300 villagers once had eight pubs to drink in.

Thirsty work, coalmining.

But Great Lumley today, uphill from Durham CCC’s Riverside cricket ground, is transformed and thriving on its panoramic views - a dormitory village of 3,843 residents including a truly bold couple, Sally Marshall and Kevin Robertson.

Those mounds you see outside their remarkable new home, with its feature stonework and white render walls, are actually displaced earth and will vanish as the place is landscaped.

And then Great Lumley will certainly be noted for High Farm Rise – one of the UK’s most progressive examples of eco-ethical homes.

The ground-breaking houses here are being masterminded, not by enviro-scientists or building technologists, but by husband and wife academics Kevin and Sally.

They’re erecting a £2m development of four properties, the first of which, their own, is tipped to become the North East’s first ever accredited a top score under the Government’s green code for sustainable homes (if other claimants exist, they’ve yet to come forward).

We’re talking a wind turbine, photovoltaic panels, biomass stove, underfloor heating and rainwater harvesting. We’re talking 4-5 bedroom homes for about £695,000 – the prototype, the creators’ own home, being recently nominated for the Northern Building Awards. We’re talking light, space, simplicity and restfulness.

The couple’s house has six bathrooms and offers guests almost a whole wing of their own. So spacious is it that son Toby may phone down on his mobile rather than shout to see who’s in.

Downstairs is open-plan, a vast kitchen and dining area the immediate eye-catcher.

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“We’ve had to become experts very quickly. Often sales people and suppliers can only offer a sales pitch and don’t really know how things work, so you’re telling them …”

A T-shaped stairway rising from a hall big enough for a tea dance leads to the upper accommodation, some of which they use for a second lounge, a music room, a study and a utility room, all of it enjoying more views that make a major selling point.

Where else can you see over to Durham Cathedral, Lumley Castle and the Angel of the North and have Gateshead spread out, a panoply of lights, at night?

The foundations for Sally and Kevin’s awesome task were laid in February last year. Working every day including holidays, they can now say their house, where they are already living, will be finally completed within two months.

The second one, already snapped up ‘off plan’, should be ready in July and the entire project finished within two years – completing a remarkable feat for a couple who’ve not given up their day jobs: she a music and performing arts teacher at a Gateshead secondary school, he associate dean of Northumbria University.

It has meant regular 6am site meetings and evening work until 11pm. Five shelves of box files in the study testify to the paperwork involved. Ask Sally where they’re at now and she’ll reply: “Gathering our energies for the next stage.”

She explains: “The hardest thing – and we’ve been involved in building over about 20 years – is doing it while still carrying on two full-time and very demanding jobs. When we might otherwise have had our feet up, we’ve been planning, preparing, designing, emailing, and gathering quotes.”

Battle fatigue is understandable and she also concedes some trial and error, but uncertainty, broken promises, bureaucracy and financial over-runs all come with building a house that’s ahead of its time.

Sally explains: “We’ve had to become experts very quickly. Often sales people and suppliers can only offer a sales pitch and don’t really know how things work, so you’re telling them. Even people dealing with building regulations phone for guidance now.”

And financial over-runs occur, she says, because although you’re tight on budgets some people “try to take the mick” as unpredictables enter the equation. Kevin tackles the “nitty gritty” of accounts and budgeting and in confrontations, Sally is soft cop to his hard cop. “If a battle’s not going anywhere, I bring Kevin in. Then they get worried!”

The land was so hard to work that engineering gobbled a lot of the contingency money. Some utility “service” has disappointed too and Sally’s presently battling for £4,000 refund over work paid for upfront.

As for government pledges of solar-energy incentives: “I got the same equipment installed efficiently and cheaper by not going for the grant. The Government has to look at that. If you want people to go green there has to be a genuine incentive.”

Either way, the mechanics are magnificent. The 10

photovoltaic panels are money makers. They generate electricity for the home and for sale to the National Grid. Once the wind turbine’s turning there’ll be a 10% surplus of energy to home needs.

Already, only the same amount of electricity as a three-bedroom semi is used. Annual heating bills could be a mere £50.

Underground heating is needed only on the ground floor because heat recovery from warmer areas such as the kitchen and bathrooms is spread throughout. All air indoors is changed every two hours, hot water needs no further heating, and on the March morning of this interview the heating hadn’t been required for three days.

In the rainfall harvest system, all rooftop rainwater runs into a 4,800 litre tank in the garden to provide for the washing machine, car washes, garden tending and six toilets. In a drought, mains water would be delivered separately.

Sally says the house, though large, needn’t be expensive to furnish. “You live differently because the beauty’s in the warmth. You don’t need so much furniture and other possessions. We live humbly here, even frugally.”

Her aunt, who came to stay recently, said they could have fitted four more rooms in, but three days later she admitted she understood the appeal of the bright, open spaces.

They lived in a 300-year-old house on Lambton Park before this, and before that they converted a Consett farmhouse. “That was a learning curve,” laughs Sally, “living in a caravan with a twoweek-old baby then moving into one room while we worked on the rest of the house as the money came in. It took a little while to get that one finished!”

Sally’s 44 now, exuberant and without so much as a line on her face to suggest the slightest concession to stress. Will this be their last self-build? “Yes,” she says. “I don’t think I’ll be tempted to do any more.”

Looking out at those top floor views, you can understand why.

High Farm Rise High Farm Rise is expected to meet all criteria for the highest sustainability score – level 6 – in the ratings code for new homes. A level 6 house over a year might show a net carbon emission of zero.

The spa at Seaham Hall Hotel gave the couple design inspiration, particularly the glass atrium entrance rising almost the height of the building. By coincidence, their son Toby, 17, is now head pastry chef at the hotel.

Newcastle architects Napper, who were responsible for the spa’s atrium, gave extensive advice. Planners at Chester-le-Street District Council (absorbed now by Durham County Council) were helpful, says Sally morale-raisers even.

Queensberry Design engineering consultants of Morpeth oversee the site and locally sourced materials have been used, also local builders – GYM Construction of Meadowfield and Washington Building Services.

And excess hardcore is even removed by a recycling firm for use in other construction projects.

Find out more at www.eco-houses.info

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SY | MOTORS

Okay, not everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up for a big luxury car these days, but when Mark Anderson was asked to drive a Rolls Royce Phantom, no one could blame him for saying yes

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“ The automatic gearbox changes are imperceptible. It will do 0-60 in 5.7 seconds.

I floored the accelerator a couple of times to find objects started to move past us more quickly …”

driveit

sk anybody on any continent on the planet to name the luxury car and chances are the words ‘Rolls Royce’ will be uttered in a variety of accents.

The marque has become a byword for luxury and quality the world over and since 1904 Rolls Royce has provided vehicles to heads of state, royalty and the super rich. Indeed, no rock star’s mansion is complete without a pool containing a Rolls.

Obviously, they don’t come cheap and they remain determinedly exclusive, with just over 1,000 bought in 2009. Vintage Rollers with interesting provenance also change hands for huge sums. Indeed, the most expensive vehicle ever sold at auction was a 1934 Phantom II once owned by the Maharaja of Rajkot. It is known as the ‘Star of India’ and was sold for more than £8 million: one careful owner.

Today’s Rollers are still hand built in Britain, but as with many great British institutions, the marque is now owned by a foreign investor (BMW) keen to capitalise on a bomb-proof brand.

When I got the chance to drive the latest incarnation of the legendary Phantom at Paul Cummings Specialist Cars in Peterlee, I was keen to see what foreign ownership meant to such a quintessentially British icon.

When it launched in 2003 it was considered a controversial departure from tradition and the addition of a drophead convertible and coupe to the range had the traditionalists snorting in their G&Ts. I was equally keen to discover what justifies the jaw-dropping £300,000-plus price tag.

First of all, it’s huge. I’m 6ft 2ins tall, yet the bonnet is well above my waist and the roof just under my chin. It sits on enormous 21’’ wheels, their famous self-righting hubs ensuring the ‘RR’ emblem is always correctly displayed. At more than 5.8m in length, 2m wide and weighing in at 2550kg, the word ‘imposing’ was invented for this.

It is a technical and engineering marvel, and I’m going to read you some of the gubbins from the manual to illustrate why this car got so many Rolls Royce purists so hot under the collar. Bear with me.

It has a 6.75-litre, 48-valve, V12 engine derived from BMW's N73 V12 powerplant that produces 453bhp and 720N·m of torque. It uses direct fuel injection, and is a drive by wire design using valvetronic technology. The aluminium extrusions used to construct the aluminium spaceframe are produced in Norway using hydroelectric power, shaped and machined in Denmark and finally hand-welded in Germany.

The transmission is sourced from ZF of Germany, the vehicle electronics are sourced from BMW. It

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really doesn’t sound very British, or like it was fettled by men in brown coats fuelled entirely by tea, does it?

And that could be a problem, but it isn’t. Because the way all this multinational high-techery reveals itself, the body in which it is encased and the way it is finessed at Goodwood, Derbyshire, England, would make Messers Rolls and Royce very proud indeed.

Take the interior. Stepping inside is like walking into a five-star hotel. The dash and various other surfaces are constructed from 40 solid pieces of hand-cut timber. This one uses Burr Walnut veneers from a single tree – more than 10sq m of it.

Eighteen cows gave up their hides to provide the acres of leather, the headliner and rugs are woven from cashmere and lambswool.

Inside and out, the designers blend modernity with classicism. There’s more than a hint of Art Deco style in the headlamps and interior details, a little of the Parthenon in that famous grille, and yet it can be tricked out like the Death Star.

The gadget and extras list is endless (the Bespoke division of Rolls Royce will create anything you can think of that they haven’t...) but here are a few of my favourites.

The rear doors of the Phantom open coach-style, the opposite way to cars driven by mere mortals.

This could make it an awful fag to reach your door from the depths of the rear seat, so they’ve given you a button that closes it for you. This is standard.

The Spirit of Ecstasy disappears beneath the bonnet at the press of another button, thus deterring ‘souvenir hunters’.

Cabinets for your drinks, your Rolls Royce crystal and your Purdey shotguns can all be fitted.

Obviously, it has Bluetooth, Sat Nav etc, and there’s an umbrella concealed in the rear door.

Driving the Phantom is a wonderful and surprising experience. I expected a car the size of a small nation to be difficult to manoeuvre and all that power to be a bit of a handful, but not a bit of it. It’s also eerily quiet. At a standstill it is silent and even under brisk acceleration all you can hear is a distant rumble of thunder.

At 70mph, the sound of rain on the windscreen is louder than the tyre and engine noise. The automatic gearbox changes are imperceptible.

It will do 0-60 in 5.7 seconds. I floored the accelerator a couple of times to find objects started to move past us more quickly and the speedo said we were moving quite rapidly, but there was none of the excitable snarly fuss of a sports car or even a top-end exec cruiser.

A highly entertaining ‘power meter’ on the dash tells

me that at 70mph I’m using 10% of the available power. Progress is stately. The magic carpet flows through corners and, amazingly given its length and weight, feels taught and light.

I was ready to dislike this car. I assumed that people pay a massive premium for the statue on the bonnet, that the Germans had ruined it and that all traces of ‘Rollsness’ would be gone. I was wrong, I loved it.

This is probably the most accomplished Phantom ever built; a technical tour-de-force that embraces the very best engineering. It also retains the hand-built, bespoke quality of its forebears and is the last word in luxury and refinement.

I understand completely why people pay what they do for it. The one I drove is for sale at Paul Cummings Specialist Cars. It’s a 2006 model in mint condition and can be yours for £139,950. I definitely would.

Mark Anderson is business development manager at room501 Publishing, publisher of BQ magazine, FQ magazine and luxe: www.room501.co.uk

The 2006 Phantom we drove is for sale at Paul Cummings Specialist Cars, Peterlee, priced £139,950. Paul Cummings Cars specialises in luxury marques, VIP vehicle management and vehicle customising and has an enviable celebrity and sporting client list. It is also the region’s biggest independent Land Rover dealer.

Paul Cummings Specialist Cars, North West Industrial Estate, Peterlee, SR8 2HR, tel 0845 241 7177, www.paulcummingspecialistcars.co.uk

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SY | MOTORS

has left the building Vintage cars are shrouded in fascinating stories, but as Alastair Gilmour discovers, it’s the way you tell them that brings them to life

intage cars start on the handle of patience, persistence and tenacity. Their owners thrum with tolerance, curiosity and deep pockets. They are also terrific story-tellers.

A vintage car has a tale at every turn of a wheel, an episode in every outing, and anecdotes lurking under the bonnet. The charm is in the telling of these tales, and Terry Popplewell tells great ones.

His 1932 Alvis TL 12/60 four-seater tourer drips with anecdotes; an eccentric first owner, life as a delivery van and years of neglect. Then there’s the faithful reconstruction, the endless maintenance, the fun and the tears that take enthusiasts hostage and keep them captive.

Every vintage car owner recognises themselves in The Wind in the Willows, where Toad is dumped on the road after an encounter with an internal combustion engine.

“Glorious, stirring sight! The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today – in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped – always somebody else’s horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!”

Whitley Bay-based Terry Popplewell has a “poop-poop” in his near-80-year-old Alvis; one of

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those Marx Brothers’ rubber-bulbed horns he fitted under the dashboard “to amuse the kids”. To be a proper enthusiast, you possibly have to be a big kid yourself.

The basics of Terry’s open-top giant were originally built in Coventry in 1931, and the body fitted in Newcastle in 1932 makes it unique.

“Alvis don’t put bodies on cars,” says Terry. “It’s just an engine and a running chassis – the rest is up to the coachbuilders.”

Hence, Alvis styles include sports two-seaters, narrow four-seaters, four-and five-seat tourers, two-seat tourers, doctors’ drop-head coupés, two and four-door saloons, fabric and metal panelled examples, and a smattering of one-offs.

The coachwork for Terry’s TL 12/60 was done by the commercial vehicle builder Motorbodies, at Batley Coachworks, Jesmond Road, Newcastle (later at Warwick Street, Shieldfield).

Terry came across the Alvis in 1963, having previously owned a 1935 P-series MG as a young man, which he readily admits was bought as a ‘bird-puller’.

“A friend had an old Alvis and we’d work on them together. One day in 1963 some students passed by, and one said he’d almost bought an Alvis the previous week. I asked him where it was and he passed on the phone number.

“It belonged to a painter and decorator in Ovington, Northumberland. We went to see it, and it had about 60 rolls of wallpaper piled in it, a wooden pelmet, tins of paint, a rope ladder, all sorts. They’d also painted it without cleaning it down properly, so you can imagine what it was like.”

The Hall family of painters and decorators used the

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Alvis throughout the Second World War and until 1962, when it developed engine problems and was retired to their workshop, to be replaced by a Ford 8 van. They had christened it Bluebird, though the paint job rendered that a misnomer.

Terry says: “I negotiated £30 for it, towed it home and put it in a lock-up with all the spares that came with it. We stripped it down and did all the painting and welding, but I shelved the project for a long time – until 1990.”

He decided it was time to get Bluebird finished and was recommended to a firm in Derby. They said it could take two years.

“I’d go down there to check it every couple of months,” he says, “and I got it back on the road about 30 years after I bought it.

“The bill from Derby was £8,000-£10,000. My mother – an ex-Tiller Girl who did two Royal Command Performances – had left me some money and that financed it. She’d have been pleased about that.”

The Alvis – registration TY 9056 – now regularly competes in local rallies and various Alvis Owner Club events around Britain. Terry puts around 2,000 a year on the clock and says it’s happy at 50 to 55mph, returning a steady 22mpg.

“I wanted to see if I could get the original licensing form, and when I rang up the girl said the forms weren’t available, but she could tell me that the first owner – in 1932 – was a Mr Bentham of Tynewood, Ovingham.

“I looked him up in the phone book, never expecting him to still be there, but there he was.

“I went to see him and this bloke came to the door of this big house dressed in jodhpurs, saying he’d been out riding. It was Mr Bentham. He must have been 80-odd, but told me some anomalies of the car.

“For instance, if you used a coachbuilder Alvis didn’t know, the car had to go back to them for approval and they could make you take the body off. He’d designed it himself, with a boot which the Halls had racked off for carrying tins of paint.

“He told me Tom Hall had painted his house in 1936

“His wife said she worked in an office on the Quayside in the 60s and all the girls’ boyfriends had Minis. She said she was so embarrassed being picked up in the Alvis that she’d lie on the floor until they left Newcastle” and he gave him the Alvis for payment.

“I wrote to Alvis about Batley Coachworks and they said they’d not given permission to Batley Coachworks, so they considered mine to be a special. No two Alvis’s are the same. You get saloons, spilt-screens, beetle-back, duck-back and tourers. I’ve been at a do with 60 others and not seen one the same as mine.”

Most 12/50 and 12/60 owners were enthusiasts, and the cars’ durability and manufacturer back-up until Alvis ceased car production in 1967 (they still make military vehicles), ensured a high survival rate.

As starry-eyed stories have it, the romance of Terry’s Alvis, with its four-cylinder 1,645cc engine and twin SU carburettors, knows no bounds.

One day in the mid-90s, Helen Hall, wife of Tom Hall’s younger brother John, rang Terry. She’d seen him drive through Wylam and had tracked him down. She said her husband had learned to drive in the car and, as it was his birthday soon, asked if Terry would bring it over to Ovingham as a surprise.

“My wife and I drove over. John Hall answered the door and he looked past me towards the car. ‘It’s Bluebird,’ he said, and burst into tears. Then he started to pick holes; it wasn’t quite the right colour or the right radiator cap. But he was wrong on that; his was from an Armstrong Siddeley. We all then went out for a run and a meal.

“His wife said she worked in an office on the Quayside in the 60s and all the girls’ boyfriends had Minis. She said she was so embarrassed being picked up in the Alvis that she’d lie on the floor until they left Newcastle.”

Bluebird is a handsome beast with its chrome radiator grille and enormous headlamps. There’s no drivers’ door (there’s a spare wheel where it should be), while one door is on the front passenger side and the other on the driver’s rear. It has bench

seating, the gearstick is on the driver’s right and the centre pedal is the accelerator. The bodywork is part aluminium and the bonnet is steel.

Terry produces an old brown jotter in which he keeps a neat log of every journey, mileage and fuel consumed. He’s right; it’s always 22mpg, up-hill or down dale.

“It’s got a crash gearbox, no synchromesh, and you have to double de-clutch,” he says. “The engine runs hotter with modern petrol and needs an additive to stop the valves burning, so I’ve fitted a fan.

“It has a silver hare mascot on the bonnet, while others have an eagle. It has cable brakes, not hydraulic, but it stops OK. “I normally start it on the handle. It originally had two six-volt batteries, but they’re difficult to get hold of, so I’ve fitted a modern 12-volt one, but it’s not really enough to start it on its own.”

And Bluebird still has many chapters to write about the real way to travel. Poop-poop!

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SY | PROFILE

Mahtab Miah is blessed with five very beautiful and very successful daughters and a multi-award-winning restaurant that exudes exquisite good taste, as Jane Pikett discovers

thischarmingman hree years ago, a riot of colour, music and rose petals descended on The Sage Gateshead, heralding jubilant celebrations to mark the marriages of two Newcastle sisters and their new husbands.

The Journal, Newcastle, turned out to report that 700 guests, horse-drawn carriages, bagpipes, white Rolls Royces and 250,000 red petals heralded the recent weddings of Sumita and Surita Mahtab, daughters of Mr Mahtab Miah; probably the proudest father you will ever have the pleasure to meet.

For the owner of Vujon – one of Newcastle’s most elegant and renowned restaurants – and father to five beautiful and very successful daughters, this was an uncharacteristically public gesture, and one which exemplified Mr Miah’s pride and joy in his family.

“I have five wonderful daughters who have all worked hard to make a success of their lives. I am very proud of them all,” says Mr Miah, who was delighted to see his third daughter, Kabita, also marry last year.

He is quietly and justly proud of his family and of his business, and one cannot doubt the effort that has gone into assuring both will flourish.

Vujon is rated among the top ten Indian restaurants in the UK by the British Curry Guide and has won many awards, including Best in the North at the prestigious British Curry Awards.

Mr Miah’s daughters are flourishing too. Sumita, 31, is a London-based barrister, Surita, 30, and Kabita, 27, are both dentists based in Manchester, Najibah, 26, is a doctor at Newcastle’s RVI, and Tanveer, 23, an accountant with Stokoe Rodger in Hexham.

“He has been very full on as a father,” Surita told my colleague a few years ago. “When we were

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“I have five wonderful daughters who have all worked hard to make a success of their lives. I am very proud of them all”

younger, our friends would ask where a lovely dress or outfit came from, and they couldn’t believe it when we said, ‘oh, my Dad bought it for me’. They’d joke about how they wanted him to choose things for them.”

Mr Miah simply says he is “spoilt” by having such a wonderful family, and he is delighted to now have a grandson, Zakariah, born to his daughter Surita and her husband a year and a half ago.

“I am very lucky that they all come home to see us, even from London and Manchester,” he says, adding that he loves nothing more than cooking for a house full at home in Gosforth.

Indeed, cooking and experimenting in the kitchen, learned watching his mother as he grew up in 1950s and 60s Bangladesh, is a great love, though his

place at Vujon is primarily front-of-house.

As other restaurants come and fads go, Vujon has remained, paying its own understated and very elegant homage to fine Indian food and service since 1990.

Queen Street – one of Newcastle Quayside’s most elegant addresses – provides a grand setting for the restaurant, where imaginative dishes are painstakingly prepared using local produce and fine Indian herbs and spices roasted and blended by hand to traditional recipes.

It is exquisitely decorated in elegant, understated style – rather like Mr Miah himself. Indeed, so charming is he, so impeccable his manners, so precise his dress, that I’m not the only person I know who can’t quite manage to address him by

PROFILE | SY

his first name, despite his oft-repeated invitation to do so.

The name Vujon comes from the ancient Sanskrit word for ‘gourmet dinner’ and the chefs are continually exploring recipes to create imaginative dishes, some of which have their roots in the India of the Raj. It’s all very different to the world the 17-year-old Mahtab Miah found when he left Bangladesh to attend college here in the late 60s. Having grown up in a family where food was central to family life, he was soon attracted to the restaurant trade, working in Manchester for a while before heading to Sunderland one dark and cold December night in 1971 to manage the new Rose of India in Derwent Street.

“I didn’t know where Sunderland was,” he says, chuckling at the memory. “My friend and I were driving in my Mini along the A1 and I saw a sign for Londonderry [near Northallerton] and I was convinced we’d somehow ended up in Ireland.”

He later became a partner in two other Sunderland restaurants before striking out on his own for the first time with the renowned Tandoori International in Ocean Road, South Shields.

He deliberately sited Tandoori International on the opposite side of the road to most of the many others on the road, stripping out the flock wallpaper and the stereotype to present a very different, considerably more elegant outlook.

“They liked a more sophisticated place, and they liked the high quality food. It was a huge success” “The customers came on day one and never stopped coming,” he says. “They liked a more sophisticated place, and they liked the high quality food. It was a huge success.”

And from there to Vujon, which he opened six months after Terry Laybourne launched 21 Queen Street a few doors away.

“Indian restaurants still weren’t widely of a high quality then,” he remembers, “but we succeeded,

and I think we’ve helped to raise standards in the city.”

Anyone in the hospitality trade will tell you the hours are long and the demands rigorous, so his wife Syeda stayed at home with the girls. “That explains why they’ve all done so well,” says Mr Miah, laughing.

“But no matter how busy I was, I always made sure I had a couple of hours a day at home with them, to eat and talk together,” he says. “That, I believe, is extremely important.

“I am tremendously proud of them now, not just for their achievements, but also because they are happy, and that is what I have always wanted for them.”

Will one of them join the business? “I would have loved that, but with successful careers now, I suppose not. Perhaps my grandson: that would be wonderful!”

He has a lot to be thankful for, and is quietly appreciative of the fact. He’s not one to paste press reviews to the restaurant windows, adorn the walls with photos of his celebrity clientele, or shout too loudly about Vujon’s many awards, but there is a quiet pride in his achievements.

“The most important thing to me is to see the pleasure people have here,” he says. “Every guest at Vujon is as important as any other, and I love to see them enjoy themselves. That’s why I still love what I do. It is a good life.”

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SY | TRAVEL

flying

economy

We’ve all got used to making our money go further, but do you really get value for money when you go on holiday? Jane Pikett discovers some tricks of the trade for the post-credit crunch traveller

have a friend who buys everything on a Tesco credit card, collects Air Miles as she goes and takes the whole family on holiday every year on the points.

Me? I have a Boots advantage card and occasionally I manage to build up enough points to bag a free bottle of shampoo. Doh! The fact is, those in the know, or those with even more knowing travel agents, can bag room and flight upgrades, even free nights in the best hotels, just by being canny.

Emirates airlines, for example, have a great rewards system, and if you have a good travel agent with an encyclopaedic knowledge of how to maximise the benefits - well, you’re flying.

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Jane Ruffman, from Norseman Travel in Gosforth, is one such. Jane, who’s husband Bruce owns Norseman and is equally well informed, even manages rewards schemes on behalf of her clients, swapping points between credit card and airline loyalty schemes, for example, to secure upgrades and free nights.

“The Emirates loyalty card is a great reward system,” she says. “The key is, enrol the whole family and then as soon as you start flying, you get points. If you’re going on one or two holidays a year, you can accrue quite a lot of points which you can use for upgrades.

“A lot of our clients, particularly business people who fly a lot, can benefit but don’t have the time or

the inclination to stay informed of the benefits or to manage their loyalty schemes. We’re happy to do it for them, and the beauty is that you can swap points between schemes.

“For example, American Express rewards, which you gain every time you spend on your card, can be swapped for room upgrades with certain hotel groups, or you may be able to get free accommodation if you have enough points.

“All you need is a good travel agent who knows which schemes work together, or check the rewards yourself and start making them work for you.”

And where to go to make your pound go further?

Well, Jane’s best-value destinations right now include South America, where it’s still cheap to live and so your holiday pounds go further. South Africa, despite the bad publicity over some hotels bumping up prices in advance of the football World Cup, also remains fantastic value.

Non-Euro zone countries like Turkey are also scoring because of our aversion to the much-battered exchange rate, and while Dubai remains pricey, the canny holidaymaker flies overnight both ways – thus saving on hotel bills.

American Express points can be swapped for Sirius points (the loyalty programme for Jumeirah Beach Hotels), and combine these with Emirates Skywards

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points and suddenly the family is staying on for a few nights for free.

Jane Ruffman worked out loyalty cards, flight times etc for someone I know to achieve an amazing five nights’ free bed and breakfast in an executive room in Jumeirah Beach, Dubai for six people. Her clever planning resulted in an eight-day holiday with six nights’ accommodation and two overnight flights for just under £1,500, which is quite a bargain.

But I reckon Jane’s best tip is the easiest to execute – just say thank you. At great length. In writing. And wait for the rewards to come in.

“When you come back from a holiday, write a terrific letter to the top person wherever you’ve stayed and tell them how wonderful it was,” she says.

“Emphasise the good points, tell them how great the pool boy was (by name), the chambermaid, the bar man, and then tell them how much you’re looking forward to going back.

“You will often get a reply saying thank you, they’re looking forward to seeing you again and is there anything they can do for you – and there you have it. Take the letter with you and use it to request a room upgrade.

“And remember to write to them before you go again, or before you go to another establishment in the same group, and tell them how much you’re looking forward to enjoying lunch and drinks by the pool; you might just find they come for free!”

Contact Jane Ruffman, Norseman Travel, Gosforth, tel 0191 284 7271

traveltips www.moneysavingexpert.com offers great hints for boosting your points stash with the likes of Air Miles and also contains clever tips, such as, if you’re going to try to for an upgrade, don’t book a special meal (veggie, halal, kosher etc) because airlines carry few spares, especially in the higher class seats.

The site also says lone travellers are the most likely to get an upgrade (it’s easier to move one person than four) and if you’re on a special trip (birthday, honeymoon...) you or your travel agent should tell the airline staff.

Nowadays, you can often check in online 24 hours before your flight, which increases your chances of an upgrade because it’s convenient for staff to issue upgrades before things get busy. Or, arrive very late, when economy is full, and the check-in staff might upgrade you at the gate. This is, however, a risky strategy!

Unlike holidays, you should book flights early.

Business people will pay top prices for

last-minute seats, so airlines put their prices up close to the day they fly.

If you book online, don’t click on the automatic travel insurance without checking out the full cost and conditions – it could be very expensive.

Travel to places where your pound will go further and where the standard of living is low.

Develop an encyclopaedic knowledge of credit card and airline loyalty schemes and the many benefits to be had, or find a travel agent to do it for you, and say thank you to the top person at your accommodation and your travel provider – you may get a bigger thank you in return!

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1970s scarlet designer evening gown £75, Scarlet Ribbons

SY | FASHION

“We source the best quality vintage and some of our clothing and boots have barely or never been worn.

There’s not a loose button or a torn lining anywhere”

1970s lime green designer evening gown £75, Scarlet Ribbons

his week, I am mostly admiring my Alexander McQueen-inspired skull-print scarf, picked up for a song at one of the region’s coolest vintage emporia, Scarlet Ribbons in Durham.

It is a thing of great beauty and so reminiscent of the late, great McQueen’s famed design that, well – you wouldn’t know the difference would you?

Scarlet Ribbons is a treasure trove of pristine vintage and retro-style new stuff, like my scarf and a collection by funky Swedish design house Pop – all military-inspired jackets, groovy tunics and funky little hats and sunnies. We do like.

Run by Bronia McNay and Jonny Rudd, Scarlet Ribbons recently opened in Durham city, in a little side street off Framwellgate Bridge, part of The Gates shopping centre.

Jonny, a former joiner, made all the shop fittings himself, and he has a work area next to one of his aubergine-coloured shelving units where he restores some of the pieces.

“Everything we sell here and online is absolutely pristine,” he says. “We source the best quality vintage and some of our clothing and boots have barely or never been worn. There’s not a loose button or a torn lining anywhere.”

It’s a pure, unadulterated joy riffling through this little lot, and in addition to the skull print scarf, I emerge sporting a black furry beret, a Kasabian (the band) badge, and vintage men’s shades (yes, I am v stylish..!).

Even the music is vintage (Slade’s Everyday is playing on the CD when I arrive) and as I explore the racks of jeans and bomber jackets, hats and sunnies, shoes, boots, leather jackets (Jonny is an expert in their specialist restoration), military stuff

T

Jane Pikett gets nostalgic with some of the region’s coolest vintage emporia

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FASHION | SY

(ditto), jeans, jumpers and dresses, Bronia and Jonny tell me their story.

“I’ve always loved vintage stuff, and I love the search for something I really want,” says Bronia, who’s a graphic designer by trade and has come up with funky little price tags and logos for the store.

“I’ll get some vintage item in my head, and that’s it, I’m on a mission to find it.

“We’ve been trading online now for four years, but it’s a real pleasure having the shop and witnessing the glee on people’s faces when they find an item they really want. We had two girls from Kazakhstan dancing up the road the other day after finding some gorgeous little cocktail dresses they’d been after for months. It was lovely.”

The name of the shop comes from that old Harry Belafonte song, Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair), about a girl’s dreams of special ribbons, which Bronia’s late father used to sing to her as a child.

“The name is a little tribute to him,” she says.

Bronia and Jonny, who live in rural Weardale, love the quality and style of vintage finds, and not just clothing. They used to run a business restoring houses and love nothing more than rooting round reclamation yards. Meanwhile, Jonny’s 1982 Land Rover is, he says, “a wonderful piece of character”.

He also loves the painstaking detail of restoring some of the items. “As a joiner repairing something, you might find the pencil marks someone made years ago. When I’m repairing a leather jacket, I might remove the lining and find tailor’s chalk from years ago.

“But lots of stuff comes in new. I bought some 1950s military bomber jackets a while ago, and they arrived in their original packing. I pulled back the wax paper, and they were as pristine as they had been the day they were packed, with the original packing slip dated 12.12.1955. I thought of the guy who’d packed them. Maybe he’d been thinking about Christmas coming, and obviously he’d never imagine that they’d never see light of day again until 2009. It was quite a moment.”

Jonny finds endless things in pockets – old coins (there’s a 1966 threepenny bit sitting on the shop counter), shopping lists, bus tickets; snapshots of people’s lives, and he’s researched traditional methods of restoring and caring for leathers and fabrics, becoming a specialist along the way.

Jonnny and Bronia source their stock from a network of suppliers all over the world, built up over the four years they have been operating online at www.scarlet-ribbons.co.uk “You get to know what will sell, and we do buy stuff we like,” says Jonny. “It has to be a bit individual, a bit different. The kick in having the shop is the >>

1950s golden brown print tea dress £12, lacquered belt £6, Best Vintage

Location: Whitley Bay Clothes: Scarlet Ribbons, 34 The Gates, Durham www.scarlet-ribbons.co.uk Best Vintage, High Bridge, Newcastle www.bestvintageuk.co.uk Stylist: Krista Puranen www.kota-designs.com Make up: Lucy Frazer Beauty, tel 07973 619 482 Models: Lucy and Florence from Tyne Tees Models, www.tyneteesmodels.co.uk Photographer: Kev Gibson, www.kgphotography.co.uk Bronia McNay at Scarlet Ribbons

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SY | FASHION

Vintage red shoes, Ding Dong

directory Here are just a few North East vintage emporia (search online to find more): Scarlet Ribbons, 34 The Gates, Durham www.scarlet-ribbons.co.uk Ding Dong Vintage, 45 The Gates, Durham Best Vintage, High Bridge, Newcastle www.bestvintageuk.co.uk Jailhouse Frock, www.jailhousefrock.co.uk Attica, High Bridge, Newcastle, www.atticavintage.co.uk Frock ‘n’ Roll www.frocknroll.co.uk Bowler Hat Vintage, Fern Ave, Jesmond, Newcastle www.bowlerhatvintage.com Flip Original American Clothing, Westgate Road, Newcastle www.flip-clothing.co.uk Thrifty Beatnik (men’s), Grainger Market, Newcastle www.thriftybeatnik.co.uk Magpie Swop, Park View, Whitley Bay http://magpieswop.blogspot.com Make and Mend market www.myspace.com/ourmarket And the original – Rummage, Osborne Road, Jesmond, Newcastle For lots more about vintage, see www.daisygreenmagazine.co.uk

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Stylist and vintage fan Krista Puranen

<< people. An elderly man came in the other day looking for a hat and went out with a Dunn & Co trilby. He couldn’t have been happier.”

Just down the lane at Ding Dong, also part of The Gates, mother and daughter team Jill and Fawn Cheyne set up their vintage emporium last December because Jill’s South Shields home was bursting with the stuff she’s collected over 25 years of nosing round markets and auctions.

“I can’t stop,” says Jill, the packed shelves and rails surrounding her testament to the fact. “Over the years I’ve collected amazing dresses and coats which came from Hollywood film sets and stately homes. This dress was in a James Bond film, this one came from Durham Castle. They’re beautiful aren’t they?”

They are, as is the collection of vintage furs, which are arguably the most popular things in the shop. In the hour I’m there, two women already sporting furs from Ding Dong return to try on more, and the rest look to be the most coveted items in the store.

Fawn is a creative force here. She has pasted sheet music, magazine pages and pictures of angels all over the walls, and her head bands, customised with vintage brooches and feathers and lined with leather signed “with love from Fawn” in gold script are exquisite – and amazing value.

In addition to the beautiful dresses and furs, the 1960s lace wedding dress in the window, the bomber jackets, military jackets and medals, knick knacks, hats and jewellery, there are unique items, customised by hand by Jill and Fawn, including blazers with denim cuffs, collars and vintage badges.

It’s Fawn’s shop, stocked with her mother’s collection; a collection which fills the even larger storeroom downstairs and still overflows at home.

Isn’t it time to stop buying for a while? “No,” says Jill. “It’s my passion. I have to keep collecting, and

Chiffon dress £14, lacquered belt £6, Best Vintage

that’s why we have to keep selling. It’s lovely though, isn’t it?”

For an example of the pure elegance and sophistication of vintage style, look no further than interior designer and fashion stylist Krista Puranen.

“I love the quality of clothes from the 20s, 30s, 40s and more,” says Krista. “I love to mix and match and customise things, creating my own style which my partner calls ‘eclectic’. I don’t know what I’d describe it as, but I love it.”

Krista, a striking red head who styles individuals, fashion shows and shoots, bands and music videos, lives with her partner Craig Wilson, a music promoter, in the Byker Wall, which she loves for its mix of local families and bohemians.

“It’s a wonderful place with an incredible mix of people,” says Krista, who came to the UK to study interior design six years ago and stayed. “I like the architectural style. It has a Scandinavian flavour, so it reminds me of home.”

Most of her clothes are vintage finds, she has a huge collection of accessories, and while she might occasionally blend into the crowd in jeans and a

Ding Dong Vintage

FASHION | SY

1950s electric blue dress and accessories, all Ding Dong

jumper, she generally likes to dress for the occasion – in other words, beautifully.

“It’s important to respect people,” she says, “and for me that means being polite and dressing well.”

She finds her clothes at vintage shops like Best Vintage in High Bridge, Newcastle, where she sourced some of the outfits pictured here, and at markets and swap shops like the Magpie Swop in Whitley Bay. “It’s a much more ethical way of living,” she says, “and good vintage clothes are often so much better made.”

Putting together outfits also lifts her mood, she says, “and it makes you walk better, stand straighter when you are well dressed.”

Krista, who is also involved in the monthly Make and Mend markets at the Star and Shadow cinema in Ouseburn and the Grainger Market in Newcastle, began creating her own style when she was a child.

“I made my own fantasy land,” she says. “I always felt that, if we need to wear clothes each day, you may as well have fun doing it. I just turned out to be a colourful person!”

Krista customises her finds and mixes clothes from different periods to create her look. Her influences are many, but she is a particular lover of the films, architecture and art of the 1920s and 30s when everything, she says, “was so elegant, so beautifully and so deliberately designed.”

Krista is an interior designer by profession – she was responsible for the new interior design at the Side

Cafe, Newcastle, among other projects - and she also customises vintage homewares, like lampshades, for her clients.

She’s also a personal stylist (not just vintage) for men and women and does home consultations to re-organise your wardrobe, which means that mere mortals like you and I could become as stylish as her – now there’s a temptation!

Her business is called Kota Design - ‘kota’ being the Finnish word for tepee, “which kind of explains it all, as in a tepee being a home full of beautiful things to live with and to wear,” she says. “It’s all beautiful.”

Krista Puranen, personal stylist, fashion shoot and music video stylist and interior designer is at Kota Designs, tel 07912 566 627, www.kota-designs.com

Ding Dong Vintage

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SY | OUT & ABOUT

hiddengems

Jane Pikett seeks out some great places to eat, shop and stay a while

Black Horse, Beamish, Co Durham The Black Horse is one of the best pubs I know – even better now that it has been extended by its owner, Bob Fountain, who lives yards from the door and presides over the growing of the pub’s organic veg in the field behind it.

The last time I went, I met a friend and we took our dogs and kids for a ramble round the pretty fields surrounding the place before settling down for a four-hour Sunday lunch of roast beef for some, fabulous fish and chips for others, a pint each of Spitfire for the grown ups.

Really, is there any better way to spend a Sunday?

Bob exudes a genuine passion for the organic produce grown in the fields behind and he also owns the neighbouring Aston Workshop, where some of the world's most luxurious cars are lovingly restored and sold. It is, like the Black Horse, quite a thing – if not as tasty.

Black Horse, Red Row, Beamish, Co Durham, DH9 ORW, tel 01207 232 569, www.blackhorsebeamish.co.uk Shoreline Cafe, Craster, Northumberland

Norma James, Corbridge Named for the former model who founded it some 40 years ago, Norma James passed into new ownership in 2008 and remains something of an institution in Corbridge, dominating Middle Street with its big picture windows displaying a taste of the fabulous collection inside.

Norma James has always been renowned for its occasion wear, though day wear and outdoor items are also available, and its accessories collection is also extensive.

Now run by David and Noreen Crompton and Lynn Clark, the store has recently expanded upstairs to create a dedicated occasion wear boutique for clients who want a quiet area, away from the busy shop downstairs, to take time to select a special outfit, whether that be for a day at the races or a wedding.

The new showroom’s collection includes ranges from design houses including Condici, Ispirato, Marc Cain and Joseph Ribkoff. There is also a beautiful range of jewellery and hats.

Norma James, Middle Street Corbridge, NE45 5AT, tel 01434 632 214

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There’s nothing like a day or 12 on the coast, and Shoreline café is one reason - apart from Robson’s excellent kippers - to visit Craster.

Local ingredients go into the Northumbrian lamb casserole, hearty homemade soups, sandwiches, homemade cakes and of course the kipper dishes. They welcome kids and dogs (these are good people!), they have free Wi-Fi and the wood-burning stove and sofas make it all very cosy.

Shoreline also has a small store stocking everyday basics and locally produced gifts, which means that if you’re staying in one of the gorgeous cottages nearby let by Coastal Retreats, it’ll also help keep your cupboards well stocked. It’s also opposite the fantastic artist Mick Oxley’s gallery, which is just one more reason to go.

Shoreline Cafe, Church St, Craster, Northumberland, NE66 3TR, tel 01665 571 251

Balman Gallery, Corbridge

Andy Balman – music promoter, co-founder of The Biscuit Factory and co-creator of the Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair – has taken the logical next step by opening a new gallery which stands out for the unconventional, often challenging nature of its art.

Balman Gallery, housed in a Victorian Grade II listed former Town Hall in Corbridge, plucks its artists from a ground-breaking elite which includes Billy Childish - the prolific artist, poet, writer and one of Brit Art’s most interesting and perplexing characters (and former lover of Tracey Emin) - Geraldine Swayne, Chris Gollon and more, including the renowned Maggi Hambling. The annual Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair, meanwhile, opens for the fourth time at The Sage Gateshead in October.

Balman Gallery, Town Hall Buildings, Princes Street, Corbridge, NE45 5AD, tel 01434 634 629, www.balmangallery.com

OUT & ABOUT | SY

Crab Manor Hotel and Crab & Lobster Restaurant, Asenby, North Yorkshire Crab Manor is among the most eccentric hotels in the country, with a decor that mixes vintage with sophistication to create a unique destination.

Its 14 rooms each pay homage to famous hotels of the world and, from Bora Bora to Turnberry, Raffles to Cipirani Palace, the rooms are decorated with luxury and eccentricity. Quirky is an oft-used word that is not always deserved – but not so here. In fact, quirky is the very least of it.

The owners have also just invested £250,000 in new rooms in the style of, for instance, the six-star Burj Al Arab in Dubai and the London Ritz, while other new additions include luxury lodges built from chunky Latvian logs. They have a cool, contemporary feel and cuddle-up fur rugs complete the effect.

Meanwhile, Carb & Lobster restaurant is similarly renowned for its eccentric decor and fabulous food created from local ingredients, with mouth-watering delights including roast fillet steak with oxtail and shallot ravioli or lobster, scallop and prawn thermidor. Just go. It’s fantastic.

Crab Manor, Asenby, North Yorkshire, YO7 3QL, tel 01845 577 286, www.crabandlobster.co.uk

Green’s Restaurant and Green’s Boutique Apartments, Whitby If you go to Whitby, Green’s Restaurant & Bistro has to be on the menu.

Owned and run by Seafood Chef of the Year Rob Green and his wife Emma – an award-winning artist specialising in willow sculpture - it’s a real treat, serving fabulous local produce landed at Whitby Quay.

Where to stay? Try one of Rob and Emma’s new boutique holiday apartments, which include a penthouse for two on prestigious West Cliff, a charming fisherman’s cottage for two in historic east Whitby, and an elegant mews cottage sleeping six in the town centre.

All beautifully decorated and perfectly situated, they’re great little places to stay, and best of all, they’re all close to Rob and Emma’s fantastic restaurant, where Rob’s renowned menus mix the classic and the innovative, with dishes including Whitby turbot with langoustines, fennel bahji and curried hollandaise, and Whitby sea bass with smoked mashed potato, steamed mussels and queens and broccoli tempura.

Green’s Restaurant & Bistro, 13 Bridge St, Whitby, YO22 4BG, tel 01947 600 284. Green’s Boutique Apartments, Whitby, www.greensofwhitby.com

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To discuss how we can help you or to advertise in the next Collection magazine, call Sue Tomlin on tel 0191 213 2533.

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SY | OUT & ABOUT

Rialto Ristorante, Ponteland Rialto, sister restaurant to the nearby Ponteland Tandoori, has recently opened in Ponteland and offers classic Italian cuisine in a typically relaxed atmosphere.

Pizza and pasta are obvious choices, as is the steak and seafood. They also list their local suppliers on the menu - AC Snaith butchers of Main Street Ponteland, Elliots Greengrocers of Merton Road, Ponteland, Quality Fayre Fish Merchants of Merton Way, Ponteland, Dennhofer Wine Merchants of Newton, and Euromarket Cheese of Newcastle.

You can have steak or lamb cutlets in a variety of guises, all kinds of chicken, and fish including king prawns, mussels, swordfish and monkfish with red onions and peppers in a chilli and tomato sauce.

There’s all the pizza and pasta you could ever dream of, daily specials, a function room, outside catering on offer and a very warm welcome assured. A bit of Italy on the River Pont. Bello!

Rialto Ristorante, 11A Main Street, Ponteland, NE20 9NH, tel 01661 820 600, www.rialtos.co.uk

Stewart & Co Fine Food, Jesmond, Newcastle I have a friend who is so enamoured of the gorgeous cakes at Stewart & Co in Jesmond that he is in danger of turning his office into a cake emporium, so many does he buy at Stewart & Co in Brentwood Avenue to take to work with him.

“Go on, have a bit, it won’t do you any harm...” is his oft-repeated phrase as he turns up with yet another box of delicacies so scrumptious his colleagues report they have to indulge, if only to save him from himself.

And it’s not just cakes – with an in-house butchery supplying handmade sausages and bacon dry cured on the premises, the butchers are on hand to advise on every cut, including the Sunday roast. Doddington cheese is a star of the deli, and Chainbridge Honey is an indulgent treat you can buy every week. And why not? It’s local – and it’s good for you.

Stewart & Co also runs the 100-seat cafe at the Newcastle City Library and has a cafe and fine food store within the Cookson estate at Meldon Park near Morpeth, which is well worth a visit in itself (there’s a page about it on the Stewart & Co website and more details to be had at www.meldonpark.co.uk). Aw go on, go on ... you know you want to.

Stewart & Co Fine Food, Brentwood Avenue, Jesmond, Newcastle, NE2 3DH, tel 0191 281 4838, www.stewartandcofinefood.co.uk

ART | SY

watchthisspace

Jane Pikett discovers the world of Empty Shop – where unused buildings are used to create vibrant, dynamic art spaces everyone can enjoy

orget pristine white cubes and high-brow elitist art. Where some galleries may pan der to pretension, at Empty Shop art is at its most democratic.

Founded by artistic collaborators Nick Malyan and Carlo Viglianisi a year ago, Empty Shop finds vacant retail units and opens them temporarily to artists.

It’s a huge success, with more than 20 exhibitions in unused retail spaces in the last nine months.

Now, having attracted almost 10,000 visitors to vacant shop galleries, Nick and Carlo have found a permanent HQ, studio and gallery space in a quirky old building in Durham city.

The former Greggs’ bakery in The Gates shopping centre is now Empty Shop HQ. Its gallery spaces and studios form a creative hub and planning space for further temporary art spaces.

This historic rabbit warren on Framwellgate Bridge provides the perfect creative base for its artists – a collaborative group called The Freebirds - now moving into the shared studio space.

The seven-strong group – they are currently looking for two more to join them - is named after The Fabulous Freebirds American (WWF) wrestling team of the 1980s, which was in turn named for the song Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Remember this?

If I leave here tomorrow / Would you still remember me? / For I must be travelling on now/ Cause there’s too many places I’ve got to see ...

F

Back to the point, and the Freebirds WWF team collaborated on wrestling choreography in a similar way that Empty Shop’s resident artists share ideas in their rough and ready open-plan studio space.

“We’re about using space as it is, whether that’s here or in temporary shop spaces,” says co-founder and artist Carlo Viglianisi, sitting on a reclaimed sofa in one of the studio spaces. “It’s about a creative response to space; democratising space.”

Co-founder Nick Malyan continues: “It’s about an artist responding to a wall or space, not about us making it into a perfect white cube. It’s about presenting art spaces that don’t have to be institutional or intimidating.”

This inspirational pair enthuses at length about the accessibility of the spaces they create in empty shops, and the collaboration they are fostering for artists here. Nick continues: “It’s demystifying art and creating a friendly vibe. One journalist once described Carlo and me as ‘really encouraging art parents’, which is funny - and true.

“We’re using space as a resource, and space is the one resource artists need and the one thing in abundance on every high street now.”

Artist Carlo is a photographer and award-winning cartoonist, while Nick’s background is rooted in cultural regeneration, arts development and festival and events management.

Their skills are complementary, the pair of them

embodying Empty Shop’s ethos of skills sharing and artistic collaboration.

In an Empty Shop temporary unit, artists can use space for just a few pounds a day, while the Freebirds pay only a minimal rent to join this highly supportive, inspirational collective.

“There’s a real lack of space and support for artists, so we provide both space and a supportive network,” Nick says.

The gallery space at the new HQ is quirky and cool and launch night in January this year was staggeringly popular, attracting more than 300 enthusiasts. Once they’re all settled in, there will be a series of shows there, and new Empty Shop temporary art spaces springing up in the area to follow. Watch this space...

Empty Shop, The Gates, Durham, DH1 4SJ. For information about up coming shows and new empty shop events, see http://emptyshop.org

nickandcarlo in the new studio and gallery space in Durham city

thegallery

Sanderson Young is supporting Barnardo’s in its many projects supporting young people and their families in the North East – and your house move can help

amoving

o matter how marvellously uncluttered you imagine your wardrobes and cupboards to be (really?), when you come to move, it’s always a surprise just how much stuff you have. So what to do with it all?

Well, Sanderson Young is supporting Barnardo’s services in the North East by making it easier for people on the move to de-clutter – and do their bit for charity at the same time.

We make it easy to donate your saleable furniture and household goods, clothing and footwear to Barnardo’s, who will pick up your goods direct from your home before you move – and that means your move is that bit easier.

So what does Barnardo’s do? Well, it’s famous for something it no longer does – running orphanages.

It’s also the UK’s largest children’s charity and has been working in the North East since the 19th Century, now supporting some 14,000 young people and their families every year.

Barnardo’s offers support when a child or young person’s future is under threat - be it from homelessness, drugs, sexual abuse, disability, unemployment, prejudice, or emotional problems, supporting families where children may be at risk from abuse or where parents can no longer cope.

Barnardo’s adoption and fostering schemes also give a new start to children termed ‘difficult to place’ because of emotional or physical problems, and the charity also has drop-in centres, services for young people with life-threatening illnesses, family centres and nursery facilities.

It also runs a service for young people who care for a sick or disabled relative and support groups for mothers of abused children.

The charity’s many other services in the region can be summarised as: Parenting: Barnardo’s family centres and specialist projects support families in crisis.

Domestic Violence: Barnardo’s works with

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experience women and children who have suffered domestic violence and works with men who are perpetrators of domestic violence to help them change their behaviour.

Disability: Barnardo’s works with disabled children and their families to make sure everyone – parents and children – are supported.

Sexual exploitation: The charity works with young boys and girls who have been sexually exploited, often through prostitution.

Training, education and employment: The charity offers training opportunities and support, helping young people gain confidence, build self-esteem and gain new skills for work.

How you can help …

Barnardo’s services in the region are run by dedicated professionals and committed volunteers.

All its many projects rely on money raised by Barnardo’s fundraising staff and the public.

Volunteers carry out a wide variety of tasks, including befriending young people, providing transport for children and families, locating placements with employers for trainees, administrative tasks, fundraising and running charity shops.

Every year, the charity spends around £17 million to keep its services going in the North East, some £3 million of which is raised in voluntary funds.

There are many ways to give, including running a fundraising event, joining a payroll deduction scheme and making a bequest in your will.

Businesses can help by operating a payroll deduction scheme, making a donation or a gift-in-kind, sponsoring local events and by adopting Barnardo’s as their official company charity.

And now, if you have sold your home with Sanderson Young, Barnardo’s will make your move easier by picking up your unwanted goods and putting them to a new and very valuable use, which helps everyone.

Barnardo’s North East, Buston Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle, NE2 2JL, tel 0191 240 4800, www.barnardos.org.uk

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