Moving to England - either York or Durham.

Hi.
Cannot comment about York (although it is a very scenic town,  and also fairly expensive because of it's heritage) but Durham I know very well as I live there.  Durham city has a very good bus network and caters very well for students and alike. Newcastle is 6 min by train and definitely accessible to more major cities and airports than York as example. Durham City itself is stunning, people very friendly and diverse in culture as a result of students from all walks of life. How old is you kid? School choices are good, accommodation very affordable on the basis you don't have your heart set on living smack bang in the middle of town. There are various towns around Durham with great bus links with affordable accommodation so pick your choose.
If I can offer any further assistance, just ask!
Just curious, are you looking at commuting by car, will you be working?... On the bad side of things, there really aren't any. Only word of advice, you need to make sure accomodation is in a decent area tho.... there are a few council estate's that don't have the greatest reputation but my 4 and 7 yr old boys are very happy with their area and school and I never have any concerns for the safety of my wife on nights out or home.

Hi, thank you for responding.

My son is almost three, we are thinking about the Au-pair option but we haven't decided yet.

Me and my husband are both going to study, me in Durham and him in Sunderland (The other option is York - Sheffield). He will probably travel by train between cities. Depending on what we have seen we are starting to lean towards Durham, it looks beautiful and family friendly but our main concern is that it might be a little bit to relaxed. We come from a really small town and would like to experience living in a vibrant, metropolitan city. How is the cultural life in Durham?

Not a problem.
Sheffield /York -. I'll share with you my thoughts and observations as we have a VERY similar setup here. The commute York-Sheffield is 1 hr by train so you can discard 3hrs a day for travelling. (you still need to walk to and wait for trains) Cost is EST. £20 per day based on Trainline.com. If I add the lost time and cost of tickets it really starts adding up. (just my opinion!) For £500-700 you can buy a reliable car, insurance, road tax and road worthy test will be another 800 per year against a potential £100 per week on train fares. Your situation might be you only need to go to class 2 days a week so it could be a waste of time but I found the time I saved by having a car, meant it paid for itself in one month.
Durham and Sunderland is much closer and I would imagine considerably cheaper to get to and from.... I would still get a car but that is my personal opinion.

My two boys are 4 and 7 and in our local schools we have a pre-school age 3 to 4 and the primary school age 4-9 but they also have an early start option which means for £1.50 your kid gets his breakfast and you can (in many if not all case's) they also have an afternoon club for the kids which will run until whatever hour...again, that is just an option to you. I have personally found with child 2, he has done much better as a result of mixing and interacting with kids than the first one did initially.

Vibrant city, I would say Durham is very lively. Definitely NOT London or Manchester busy but busy enough...depends on what you're after? If you want to be out and about and hustle and bustle, Durham and Newcastle is a very good start. Lots of theatre's, cinema's, restaurants and so-on. People are friendly, happy to have a chat, city is stunning, all round very happy. Au Pair, you will likely be looking at about £1000 pm (from what I can find and my friend had one) It could be handy but I feel it is potentially an unnecessary expense unless you have the money.

Yes, I admit that Durham/Sunderland is starting to sound more intriguing I am happy to hear that Durham isn't to relaxed after all but maybe just in the middle.

About the childcare: we were looking at some childcare options in England in general and the ones we found where really expensive so that is why we got the idea of an Au-pair. Maybe we have misunderstood but the option of public school isn't available until after five years old, right? And until than, the childcare is really expensive.

You have already had some good advice...

To answer an important question that you have not yet asked, while the universities of Durham, York and Sheffield are all excellent in their different ways, Sunderland does not have such a great reputation. So that is another factor that you might consider...

I studied at Durham and it continues to be a place that I love. The city is outstandingly beautiful; areas of natural loveliness are easily accessible; there is lots going on (mainly connected with the university, which dominates just about every aspect of life). Do bear in mind that Durham is very small: barely large enough to be considered a town (it is a city because it has a cathedral).

I have visited York several times and it is again a lovely place, and more of a city as the term is generally understood.

On the commuting: remember that a train ride can be used for study while a car journey is always dead time, so the choice may be less straightforward than suggested by others.

Childcare will definately need looking into, whichever way decide to go here is a link that might assist in someway:
http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/ … -years-old
There will be the obvious costs to non residents but I certainly know you will have  various options available to you, just do your homwework