Places to visit in the North Pennines and the Lake District

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Places to Visit

These are arranged by areas so you can plan a day out. Most places are no more than 1.5 hours by car from here.

LOCAL - Alston, Nenthead & Garrigill

Alston is quite quaint with its cobbled streets. Click for photos It was used to film Oliver Twist (Julie Walters & Michael Kitchen). There is an 'Oliver Twist Trail' and a walk around the town.
The narrow gauge steam railway goes a few miles up the valley from Alston to Kirkhaugh where you can go for a walk or have a picnic before catching a later train back
By Alston station there is a small museum called The Hub. It is small but a very interesting local museum
Nenthead is an old mining village and a visit to the leadmine with an undergound tour is a must. Have a look at the Reading Room and the Water Fountain. The big building is part of what was the ore dressing shed and is an important historical industrial building despite being ugly!
Garrigill is an interesting village set around a village green.
Killhope is another lead mine with underground tours. The conditions were awful - it is aptly named 'Kill Hope'

TEES Valley - High Force, Middleton, Barnard Castle

High Force Waterfall is quite spectacular. You park at the pub and it is an easy walk down their path to see the waterfall.
Middleton-in-Teesdale is a pleasnt small town to stretch your legs. (Unfortunately the 'Meet the Middletons' museum is now closed)
THE museum to visit is the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle. John and Josephine Bowes (Related to the Queen Mother who was a Bowes-Lyon) travelled around Europe and collected many objects of art. They built a huge french chateau in Barnard Castle not as a home, but as a museum. It is quite unique as the exhibits are their personal choice. The mechanical silver swan is a must see. The cafe is excellent (try the smoked haddock chowder!)
There is a castle, but it is a bit disappointing. The best view of it is from down below by the river.

Beamish Museum (near Durham)

The Beamish outdoor museum is a huge site with lots of old buildings that have been carefully dismantled and re-erected. You need all day there as there is so much to see. Click for photos

Stanhope, DURHAM, and Blanchland

As you come in to Stanhope, on the left is the Durham Dales Centre - well coverted stone buildings with the Tourist Information Centre, several craft shops and a good cafe.
Durham is well worth a visit. There is a 'horse shoe' bend in the river that separates the very old part of the town from the rest. Towering above the river is the magnificent Cathedral (we prefer it to York Minster) and the Castle (now a University Hall of Residence, but open to the public during the university vacations). Click for photos . You can climb the cathedral tower for a superb view of the city and the surrounding countryside. When you tire of historic buildings, you can walk along the 'horse shoe' river bank or hire a rowing boat, or go for a boat trip. click for photos
Near Durham is Diggerland an amusement park with a difference - all the 'rides' are real JCBs!
Blanchland is an unspoilt old village. The estate that owns nearly all the village has not allowed any modern development out of keeping with the character of the place. Click for photos

HADRIANS WALL

There is a long distance footpath along the wall, but the best walk is from Steele Rigg to Housesteads. The wall is in quite good shape and follows the escarpment. The views are excellent and it is where they filmed Kevin Costner in 'Robin Hood'
There are lots of places to visit along the wall, but our favourite is Chesters. There is enough left to envisge what it was like. In the bath house and the commander's house you can see the brick pillars supporting the stone floor slabs and understand their underfloor hot air central heating! At the gatehouse you can see the hole of the door pivot and the curved groove made by the door.
Vindolanda is an interesting site that they are still excavating. We were there once and watched the archaeologist find a muddy bit of leather. In their museum we then saw similar cleaned and preserved bits of leather shoes.

Rock House Estate