Southampton!...?

I really love Newcastle - but I only know it as a visitor! It's isolated and far from everything, from a British point of view, though. I'm not too sure about long term job prospects in your field. But the city has a cool vibe to it and lots going on and the people are really lovely and friendly, in my experience - even if you can't understand them!     

Maybe start a new thread entitled 'Newcastle' with the perimeters you are looking for and the people living there will respond. 

What about Newcastle Upon Tyne? From what I've read, it has warmer-than-UK-average temps,

The thing to remember with the UK is that it really is a small country... therefore, even though temperature and rainfall averages might be higher or lower in different places, you're only looking at a small change (maybe 5 degrees fahrenheit across the whole country... e.g. today's forecast for Southampton is 57F and for Aberdeen 600 miles north, it's 51F)... so, while it's warmer in the south than the north, it's still not very warm at all! Newcastle is supposed to be one of the drier cities, but it's in the north of England and right up near Scotland so it may be quite cool up there compared to the south, especially as it's not far from the coast (today's forecast for Newcastle is only 48F).

In terms of rainfall, you're really only looking at a difference of maybe an inch per month, so again, it's not going to be much different in Newcastle compared to Southampton, for example, (e.g. in January, Southampton gets about 3.5 inches of rain (average) and Newcastle gets 2.2 inches (average); in July, Southampton gets 1.6 inches (average) and Newcastle actually gets 1.8 inches (average)).

Winchester in Hampshire also ranks well for quality of life.

We currently live about 20 minutes away from Winchester and will be moving there shortly (fingers crossed).  While it is nice, it ain't cheap. 
The train will get you to London Waterloo in about an hour and there are quite a few to choose from. 
Most of the primary schools are very good, however some are oversubscribed.  Keep in mind that just because you move into a catchment area doesn't mean  you will receive a place in the local school.  The three secondary schools  are highly regarded as well.  In addition, there are independent schools to choose from. 

We currently live about 20 minutes away from Winchester and will be moving there shortly (fingers crossed).  While it is nice, it ain't cheap. 

Agreed.

We live in the Southampton area and have really enjoying living here. We lived in the city for 1 year and we have just moved out to a small village about 20 minutes from Southampton.

Our children (ages 8, 8 and 4) all go to school in the local schools and I have been very impressed.

If you are interested in Southampton - I would look in the areas surrounding Southampton: the Meon Valley and the New Forest are both wonderful. AND you would only be about 15-20 minutes outside of Southampton and 1-1.5 hours from London. We live in a small, lovely village, but it is really nice to have easy access to the larger cities of Southampton, Winchester and Portsmouth.

Don't discount the Southampton areas just based on statistics! We love it here.