English violist Lionel Tertis was born in West Hartlepool!

We were invited to participate in the first ever Viola Day in Hartlepool, sponsored by the Tertis and Aronowitz Competitions. It took place on October 5th, 2025. 

We were up…

We arrived in the UK exactly one year ago on May 30, 2024 (via the QM2)! We have really loved being here, and though the home-buying process was a struggle (and took several months), we are finally in…

Both Yorks have too many tourists. Maybe it was especially packed because we came during the Christmas market season. Christmas seems to be a much bigger holiday in England than in the US (and it's also much more secular.)

With…

Scott had his first performance here in England! It was at the Newcastle City Library on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Here are a few pictures and videos from the recital.

VIDEOS: 

For 3 complete pieces, watch this video:

For a…

Stuff You Might Find Surprising About England (If You're Also a Yank)

To start, although England is much farther north than the US, because of the Gulf Stream coming up from the Caribbean (which may only last a couple more…

Neighborhood 10: Jesmond and Gosforth

So we once again hopped on a bus to Newcastle City Centre and then took a quick metro ride to Jesmond. It's just north of the city centre and apparently very crowded with students living…

Neighborhood 8: Chester-le-Street

We hopped on a bus south towards Chester-le-Street (bus 21), straight down Durham Road. It was about a 25 minute bus ride from our current home, so, yes, it's a bit far from the center of Newcastle.

…

Saltwell Towers

We thought we'd post about the large park in our town: Saltwell Park. It's about a 30-minute walk from our house. A beautiful park…..with a cafe in the ‘towers’ and an excellent coffee shop on the other…

Neighborhood 7: The coastal towns near the North Sea

We hopped on a bus and metro out to North Shields first. (We finally got our POP cards that cap our daily use on the metro to £5 each, so that…

Neighborhood 5: Wallsend

This one gets a 'no'. We had read online that it was ‘up and coming’. It may be, but it still has a ways to go. They do have a big Aldis, and the Latin in the…

We passed the ‘Angel of the North’ as we walked towards Birtley.

Neighborhood 3: Birtley

Birtley is just south of where we are currently living, about 2.5 miles. We decided we'd walk there. There are quite a few…

Neighborhood 2 - Newcastle Center

After disembarking the Queen Mary 2, we took a shuttle to London and had a bit of a wait at Kings Cross train station. We found a corner at one of the station pubs…

We moved to Low Fell, England! We are renting this beautiful home in a VERY hilly neighborhood. 

It's a 3 bedroom, 2 ½ bath house with a modern kitchen (which includes a dishwasher, oven, fridge, washer, and dryer!) and a…

This week I'm going to concentrate on HOW we got our visas to go the UK. Every country has its own types of visas that are available for those looking to move permanently. We did A LOT of research to…

Once we had decided on England, we needed to pick a city. Not easy, as there are lot of good candidates to choose from! 

Most English cities have most of what we're looking for in a place to live. The…