For anyone who reads my blog but doesn't actually know where I live you would be forgiven for thinking I step out of my door and I'm in the middle of Newcastle city centre but actually I live in a village, it's got a village store, a village shop and our village church, sadly that sounds a little more romantic than the actual reality because whilst we are technically Heaton village we're also 15 minutes brisk walk from the city centre and it does feel quite an urban landscape, well until you walk 5 minutes from my house and you're into the beautiful park lands of Heaton Park, Armstrong Park, Jesmond Vale and Jesmond Dene, it's my bit of pretty in the city and I can't actually imagine living anywhere else so when the lovely people at Walton Robinson approached me to write an article about where I live I couldn't wait to tell the world about my wonderful little village. Walton Robinson are letting agents, estate agents and they also offer investment in the many buy to let properties in Newcastle upon Tyne.

So here's my 10 reasons you should come and live in Heaton Village

1. As I mentioned above, when you're in Heaton (or Shieldfield or Jesmond or South Gosforth for that matter) you're only ever a few minutes walk from the series of interconnecting parks taking you from one end of the Ouseburn river to the other, you can spend the whole day walking through Freeman Park, Jesmond Dene, Armstrong Park, Heaton Park and Jesmond Vale, it's one of the greenest cities I know of having had the parks donated to the people of Newcastle by Lord Amstrong.
2. If you love vintage and bargains you'll be at home in Heaton, Heaton Park road is home to Small Change Vintage, Under the Bridge, Heaton Used Furniture and the Rummage clothing agency, and if you fancy a walk down Shields Road in nearby Byker you'll find a plethora of charity shops which will keep you very happy all day long.
3. There are a plethora of friendly coffee houses and tea rooms in Heaton ranging from my personal favourite Teasy Does It which is both child friendly and dog friendly, if you like great cake you should drop everything and go there immediately.
4. Heaton Road is home to one of very few organic supermarkets in the UK, The Honey Tree was even named as a local food hero by top chef and foodie Rick Stein
5. As well as being never very far from a beautiful park there are also 7 churches on Heaton Road and they all get involved in the local community, lots have activities like Youth Clubs, Brownies, Girls Brigade for the kids and there are also things for adults, I actually go to Slimming World at St Theresa's church on Heaton Road and I'm not afraid to say it!
6. We have a huge sense of community in Heaton, the people are quirky, lovely, friendly and we love a good get together, don't miss the Heaton Festival if you're in Heaton during the summer months.
7. We have the most amazing (and very reasonable) quirky little restaurant right in the middle of Heaton Park, Sambuccas in the park arrived a couple of years ago and has taken Heaton by storm, the best part for me is that you can go down in the evenings during summer and sit outdoors surrounded by beautiful parkland and they'll make a fuss of your dog too, although dogs can't go indoors Holly has been known to sample tasty morsels sitting outside with me.
8. if you have a dog you should definitely come and live in Heaton, on Saturday and Sunday mornings you'll find a huge sociable community of dogs and their owners congregating in Heaton Park, from Huskies to Beagles to Corgis you'll find many charming doggies and puppies all playing together around 10ish on weekend mornings.
9. Did I mention just how near we are to the city centre?   From my house in Heaton I can walk down to the Baltic centre for contemporary art in 20 minutes and I can walk back from the centre of Newcastle via every pub on the way without ever needing a taxi, the same can again be said for Gosforth, Shieldfield, Jesmond all of which are charming suburbs of Newcastle.
10. We have a thriving area filled with creative people around the Ouseburn Valley which is 5 minutes from home, musicians, artists, photographers, talented students have all moved into this area and it's an area being currently regenerated to make it even more of a thriving community.

Are you packing your belongings up yet or thinking of coming to live or invest in some property in Heaton?  I cannot imagine living anywhere else, I've been utterly content since moving here over 10 years ago, I do have days where I hanker to be beside the sea but then I just hop on the metro to Tynemouth and I'm there in 20 minutes, when you live where I live you're only ever a few minutes away from beautiful places.

The wedding of Donna and Richard at The Mansion House, Jesmond

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to photograph the wedding of lovely couple Richard and Donna, I met them some time ago through Twitter when they were looking for a wedding photographer, I jumped at the chance to shoot at The Mansion House in Jesmond because it's one of my favourite venues, I'd last shot Caroline and Omars wedding there and it struck me as a cosy intimate venue, perfect for Donna and Richards wedding with 28 of their closest friends and family.

Here's the story of their special day in photographs -

The gardens at the Mansion House are so beautiful and well tended, there are so many areas to have gorgeous couples portraits

 and don't worry if it rains, there is a beautiful staircase and plenty of areas indoors where portraits would be perfect too!

Richard and all his groomsmen wore bright socks and so we shot a slightly amusing portrait, note that they're all doing funny things with their fabulous Paul Smith socks!

Richard and Donna took time to email me from their honeymoon to tell me how much they loved their photographs, things like that make me so happy!!

If you are getting married soon or maybe not for a while why not come and have a chat with me about your wonderful day, I have some availabilty left in 2012 while 2013 is looking busier by the minute, to contact me visit my website or if you are viewing on your iphone my html website is here

Rachael and Andrews wedding at the Caledonian Hotel, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne

Rachael and Andrew are two of the nicest people I know, I don't live too far away from Rachael so I've met up with her and her gorgeous children on several occasions, Rachael has the best behaved little girls by the way, they are a real credit to her and Andrews obviously wonderful parenting.

so I bet you're here for the photos....

I had too many favourites to blog them all so here's just a small selection.




The dashing groom.



The gorgeous flowers.




The incredibly beautiful bride



I adore this photo of all the little bridesmaids waiting for the bride to arrive.



A lovely moment during the ceremony, thanks to photo friendly registrar George Carlisle who I've met at several weddings there are always plenty of these.




another gorgeous bridal.



The happy, happy couple!



first dance!

Rachael and Andrew, you're a lovely couple and I hope you enjoy your honeymoon, see you when you get home :)