A national survey by an online dating website claims that Durham is the worst place in the UK for dating because there are fewer organised events here than in any other part of the . . . → Read More: Top tips for a romantic tryst in Durham]]>

Tourism chiefs have challenged claims that Durham is the worst place in the UK to find a date.

A national survey by an online dating website claims that Durham is the worst place in the UK for dating because there are fewer organised events here than in any other part of the country.

But the county’s tourism guardians say that Cupid is alive and well by highlighting Durham’s ten most romantic places.

Craig Wilson, marketing manager for the County Durham Tourism Partnership, said: “What’s clear from the results of the survey is that people in Durham are finding love in other ways than through organised dating events. There are so many beauty spots with the wow factor and stylish restaurants where you can impress a date.

“It may be that people in Durham are quite good at finding a date and once they have there is no shortage of romantic hot-spots where love can blossom,” said Wilson.

The partnership’s top-ten tips for a tryst to remember are:-

• Take in breath taking views of Durham Cathedral and Castle with a romantic row in a down the River Wear
• A night in the lush crimson ‘Le Boudoir’ room, or the Russian Bride suite, at The Fallen Angel hotel in Durham City
• Sharing an outdoor hot tub at Seaham Hall Hotel and Serenity Spa
• Speed through the hay meadows and purple heather clad Durham Dales on the back of a powerful three wheel trike with Weardale based North of England Trike Tours
• Take the plunge together on an adrenaline filled date at the Peterlee Skydiving academy
• Spend an afternoon appreciating fine art at the Bowes Museum, the French style chateau in Barnard Castle, built by John Bowes to celebrate his love for his French wife Josephine
• Enjoy champagne and strawberries at North East England’s number one picnic spot at the Tanfield Railway near Causey Arch
• Share a dessert at fine dining restaurant Gourmet Spot – winner of Restaurant Magazine’s ‘Best Dessert of the Year’ 2007
• Hold hands during a romantic stroll along the Durham Heritage coast, admiring sea views and rare wild flowers
• Get swept away with romance at England’s largest waterfall at High Force in Teesdale

Beamish Hall Hotel

For as long as anyone can remember Beamish, belying its size, has always been a remarkably industrious part of the world. White hot forges that produced iron and mills that ground flint for Sunderland ware pottery pulsed and pounded alongside the hustle and bustle of no less than . . . → Read More: Timeless pleasure at beautiful Beamish]]>

Beamish Hall Hotel

For as long as anyone can remember Beamish, belying its size, has always been a remarkably industrious part of the world.

White hot forges that produced iron and mills that ground flint for Sunderland ware pottery pulsed and pounded alongside the hustle and bustle of no less than four pits giving this small Durham village a mining legacy spanning 200 years and more.

Small knots of houses straddled a A-list industrial railway line that fed iron ore to Consett steelworks and carried coal by return to North East ports and power stations.

But, while Beamish was busy it was also beautiful; its round-the-clock hive of heavy industrial activities set amidst rolling landscapes and ancient woodlands.

Coal may have been King but, luckily for Beamish and everyone who knows this lovely part of the world, the power behind this throne was undoubtedly Mother Nature.

Beamish’s natural charms provide a perfect setting for Beamish Hall, home to an assortment of land and colliery owning ‘aristocracy’ before becoming the headquarters of the National Coal Board between 1953 and 1967, a residential college and now a hotel (more later).

In the early 1970’s, just a few years after the closure of the community’s last links with heavy industry – Beamish Mary colliery – it became the focus of an audacious new plan that would pay homage to the North East’s industrial past.

Beamish Museum - Hardware Shop.

Nearly 40 years on and Beamish is home to an open air museum that is an international success story (a former European Museum of the Year award winner) and a lasting tribute to the men and women who fashioned our unique North East identity.

Sitting comfortably in 300 acres of outstanding countryside (Mother Nature, I am pleased to report is still the boss) the museum is a microcosm of local life as it was around the years of 1825 and 1913.

If you want to experience first hand how people lived and worked in those days, the machinery they developed and equipment they used, Beamish lets you do it – first hand.

Beamish Museum - Coal Mine.

You can don a miner’s helmet and go down a mine, ride a tram and pay a visit to the dentist (volunteers always welcome here!).

Over the years, you name it the museum has salvaged and reconstructed it, brick by brick. The old town has shops, a Co-op, a printing business and a typical pub from 1913, the Sun Inn run by Joanne and John Taylor of the Bull Lane Brewery in Sunderland – and just getting to back to that North East identity (of which humour is such an important part) I have to mention their tribute ale for Sunderland AFC’s saviour Niall Quinn called ‘Sauce of the Niall’.

The site also has a Victorian railway station, Old Rowley transported from Castleside near Consett and painstakingly rebuilt, a Masonic Hall from Sunderland and, most recently, the famous ‘Westoe Nettie’ in South Shields.

Beamish, in the best traditions of equality, has gone one better than the painting immortalised by artist Bob Ollie by including the ladies as well as the gents in the reconstruction – a sitting tribute you might say.

On a more serious side, Beamish runs the Heritage Cubes, a project that stores and cares for donated collections and material from community heritage groups and individuals. These are kept in temperature controlled environments and are accessible for research.

Over 300,000 visitors a year make the trip to Beamish Museum and I am sure it’s an education to all – especially the 62% who come from the rest of the UK.

Many of those who visit Beamish will also have Beamish Hall, much, much more than a very fine hotel these days, on their must visit list. As a private home its previous residents include former Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and ‘Bonnie’ Bobby Shaftoe of nursery rhyme fame.

There’s nothing to suggest that architect David Craggs copied the Victor Kiam school of thought (your remember he was the chap who liked the razor so much he bought the company) but having lived close to Beamish Hall all his life, when it went onto the market, he jumped at the chance.

The multi-million pound deal has proved a life changing experience for him, wife Hilary and children Katie, Aron and Amy. All now have hands-on responsibility for one or more parts of the hotel operation.

Four years after the takeover they have transformed the hall and surrounding acres into a 46-room (and 1 apartment) hotel, a top location for live entertainment, a birds of prey conservation centre and a treetop ropes activity centre.

Beamish Hall Hotel

Managing director at the Beamish Hall Country House Hotel is 25-year-old Amy Craggs who said: “We have worked hard to broaden the appeal of the hall and all the new ideas have come from family brainstorming sessions.

“The first big task was to improve the hotel facilities. We took the number of rooms from 10 to 36. This was followed by the birds of prey and treetop walks marketed as Beamish Wild. Now we are developing a pub that will be served by its own on-site micro brewery,” she said.

The raptors and owl aviaries are spacious and blend in with the surrounding woodland. “We want this to be strong on conservation as well as a visitor attraction. We are developing breeding and study programmes for some of more endangered raptors including the development of an in-depth study programme for the Honey Buzzard.

“Flight demonstrations are held daily in the grounds of the hall and it is always spectacular to watch these magnificent birds,” said former graphic arts student Amy.

Completing the ropes walks course takes around 90 minutes to two hours (depending on fitness) and ends with the ‘Leap of Faith’, a 35ft drop to terra firma which is said to be not for the faint hearted.

This is proving a challenge for all ages including a request to take on the course from a group of female 70-somethings who form a group called Adrenalin Concessions. “The ropes are a real challenge and we have a lot of requests from clubs and organisations,” added Amy.

n Beamish is 12 miles north west of historic Durham City and 8 miles south west of Newcastle upon Tyne. From the North and South – follow the A1M to Junction 63 (Chester-le-Street exit), then the A693 towards Stanley for 4 miles, following the signs.

Living in an 800-year-old manor house set amid magnificent gardens was always going to attract attention from the genuinely curious to the downright nosey. Phone calls from people asking for ‘permission to view’ became so persistent that owners Keith and Maggie Bell decided there was only one course . . . → Read More: Crook Hall and Gardens – it’s a secret worth sharing]]>

Living in an 800-year-old manor house set amid magnificent gardens was always going to attract attention from the genuinely curious to the downright nosey.

Phone calls from people asking for ‘permission to view’ became so persistent that owners Keith and Maggie Bell decided there was only one course of action – they put out the welcome mat.

Now, having visitors round has become something of a way of life for the couple who call Crook Hall and Gardens home. They play host to more than 25,000 people a year and run one of the region’s top tourist attractions.

It’s only a couple of stone throws away from Durham’s bustling city centre but it could be twenty miles, deep into the Durham countryside, such is the impression of tranquility that wraps itself around you when you enter the grounds.

A visit to Crook Hall is to step back into history on the one hand and to be inspired by a combination of nature and human ingenuity in a series of themed gardens, on the other.

And come to Crook Hall they do, in their droves, from far and wide. After Durham Cathedral, Crook Hall is on the ‘must visit’ list of a growing number of tourists.

Indeed the repute of the hall and its gardens is sometimes more well known from those travelling from outside of the region than those living on its doorstep.

“We heard from one lady who learned about Crook Hall when she went to stay with a friend in Jersey. She didn’t know anything about Crook Hall and she only lived five miles away,” said Keith.

Both he and Maggie are keenly aware that as well as owning this marvellous 13-century grade 1 listed property they are also its guardians. “There are few sites in the UK that have the sort of range of architecture that makes up Crook Hall. The manor house was extended in the 1600’s and again in Georgian times.

“We both feel an obligation to keep the essence of the building going and a strong sense that we should share the special qualities of this place,” he added.

Sharing not only extends to a tourist season from May to September but now includes hiring out the hall for weddings (Fridays and Saturdays) and special red letter day events as well as happenings at Halloween and Christmas. Crook Hall also opens its doors once a year to support local charities.

On the day of our visit over 60 pupils from St Leonard’s RC school in Durham had descended on Crook Hall to stage a series of fund raising events in aid of the Grace House Hospice appeal.

And talking of Halloween, Keith recalls some pretty scary moments when a step ladder took on a life of its own and started shaking uncontrollably. “I have also heard footsteps going across the ceiling which was quite an experience. Both incidents have no obvious explanation,” he said.

In a place at atmospheric as Crook Hall I suppose it’s inevitable that some ‘unconventional’ guests will be dropping by from time to time.

He and Maggie describe their ‘open house’ venture as a merger of informality and organisation. It works brilliantly and we should all be thankful that this gem of a place is accessible to the public.

Check out visiting information and more at www.crookhallgardens.co.uk

Hadrian's Wall

IF YOU HAD to nominate seven Roman wonders of the world Hadrian’s Wall would have to be one of them.

Wherever they went you could rely on the Romans to make their mark and this coast-to-coast construction, snaking a stony way across 82-miles of breathtaking countryside is a . . . → Read More: Hadrian’s Wall – A wonder of the Roman world]]>

Hadrian's Wall

IF YOU HAD to nominate seven Roman wonders of the world Hadrian’s Wall would have to be one of them.

Wherever they went you could rely on the Romans to make their mark and this coast-to-coast construction, snaking a stony way across 82-miles of breathtaking countryside is a testament to ingenuity, ambition, organization and power.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987, the Roman Wall continues to send out a powerful message from the past.

New horizons always presented a particular challenge to the Romans – sooner or later they just had to find out for themselves what lay beyond.

In 43AD the legions landed in southern England with serious thoughts of conquest on their minds. Julius Caesar had done some initial groundwork in 55BC but found himself called back across the channel to deal with more pressing matters in the shape of Vercingertorix and his Gauls.

Three decades on, with England and Wales no longer a cause for concern, the Romans were marching across the Cheviots and Carter Bar (the border dividing England and Scotland) to find the Scottish Borders at their feet and land stretching north as far as the eye could see.

For over a hundred years the Romans made considerable investments to make Scotland part of  ‘Pax Romana’ but politics and pull-outs to deal with problems elsewhere in the Empire eventually made it more of a headache than a harvest.

The Romans now concentrated their main northern boundary line along Stanegate, running from the Solway Firth in Cumbria to Wallsend on Tyneside. Five years after becoming emperor in 117AD Hadrian visited Britain and ordered a wall to be built from the Firth to the Tyne to “separate Romans from Barbarians.”

Whoever drew up the plans certainly had an eye for the spectacular taking the wall, interspersed with milecastles and forts through the rugged and awe inspiring landscapes. Some 1800 years after its construction Hadrian’s Wall still offers plenty to see.
In its heyday, Hadrian’s Wall would be manned by thousands of troops, alert to potential trouble from the north.

Any visit to the North East would be incomplete without a trip to the Roman Wall which has its best preserved centres at Housteads, Chesters and Vindolanda.

Further information: www.hadrians-wall.org and www.english-heritage.org.uk

Run by the Durham Markets Company (DMC) it’s a sort of downstairs – upstairs variation on the trades theme. Dozens of . . . → Read More: Durham Indoor Market]]>

UNDERNEATH THE TOWN Hall and Guildhall, which houses a fantastic display of ancient silverware belonging to the City’s guilds, is Durham indoor market that offers a distinctly different City shopping experience.

Run by the Durham Markets Company (DMC) it’s a sort of downstairs – upstairs variation on the trades theme. Dozens of stalls selling everything under the sun carry on a tradition whose roots trace back to 1851.

Visitors wandering in from the market place walk into a special atmosphere that mixes nostalgia with independence.

There’s plenty of variety, too.

The range includes high quality fish, game, poultry (an echo of when the market once had 300 stalls, mainly butchers), bespoke footwear and a pipe and tobacco shop that defies today’s PC trends.

DMC managing director Colin Wilkes said: “We originally started out on Palace Green and moved down to the market place before taking up the current residence.

“At one time the market traded until 11pm at night and closing up time was signalled by ringing a bell. We have always been proud of our independence and currently have 60 stall holders carrying on an essential local tradition,” he said.