Discover places to visit in North East England, which includes Co Durham, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and the Tees Valley. The North East has been shaped by ancient invasion and modern industry alike, and the city of Newcastle upon Tyne is renowned for its sparkling night-life. Uncover stories behind some of the gems of Britain’s heritage, such as Durham Cathedral and Hadrian’s Wall – both UNESCO world heritage sites – and soak up the atmosphere of the unique, and often remote, rugged countryside, including Northumberland National Park, and the fascinating coastline. Families, wildlife enthusiasts, walkers and history-buffs love North East England.
ABAB’s Places now lists 200 places to visit in Britain. There is enough information about each one to tell you if you want to know more and links where available – to elsewhere on A Bit About Britain, the place’s own website, or both – to help you find it. Currently, all are places to […]
200 Places to visit Read More »
A Bit About Britain often refers to ‘Bede’. It occurred to me the other day that some of my readers may not know who – or what – this means. Which, frankly, is fair enough. Thus, for the benefit of the mildly interested, here is a bit about Bede. If you already know this, look
Frankly, you’ll be spoiled for choice if you’re looking for things to see and do in North East England. From dramatic, wild coast and countryside, to wildlife, castles, Roman remains, the simple grandeur of Durham and the culture and vibrancy of Newcastle upon Tyne, there is something for everyone. To start you off, here is
Ten of the best places to visit in North East England Read More »
To visit Lindisfarne, a tidal island at the tip of north-east England, is to enter a different world. It is a world of saltwater, seabirds and saints, a world of mudflats, mead and mystery that is still revealing its secrets. Our story begins in the shadow times before places like England, Scotland and Wales had
A pilgrimage to Lindisfarne, the Holy Island Read More »
A neighbour was taking a short break in Northumberland, and told me that one of the reasons she was excited about it was because, growing up, she had a picture of Grace Darling on her bedroom wall. She would not have been alone; Grace Darling was a perfect Victorian heroine who braved a violent North
The Grace Darling legend Read More »
North East England does many things rather well, and one of them is castles. There are dramatic coastal castles, like Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh, grand castles like Alnwick, frontier castles, like Norham, and castles you can stay in, like Langley Castle. Today, we’re going to take a look at Warkworth Castle, one of Northumberland’s great fortresses.
There are several reasons to go to the little Northumbrian coastal village of Craster. It is famous for its kippers, offers several pleasant eating options, an art gallery and is a popular base for bird watchers, fishers and walkers alike. Our excuse was to revisit Dunstanburgh Castle, surely one of the most dramatic set of
Craster to Dunstanburgh Read More »
I’m driving through the terraced urban landscape of South Shields, in search of a Roman fort. It is called Arbeia, a name believed to be a Latinised form of the Aramaic for ‘the place of the Arabs’, because the last known unit stationed there was a company of bargemen – possibly some kind of specialised
The wind whips words away, yet the incessant piercing cries of thousands of seabirds all around Marsden Bay cut through every sound. To the best of my knowledge, England’s north east coast between South Shields and Sunderland features in few guide books to Britain, whose writers seem to skip from the North Yorkshire Moors to
Marsden Bay isn’t quite the Algarve Read More »
So there you are, trundling down (or up) the A1 by Newcastle/Gateshead and this gigantic, rust-coloured, figure flashes past your peripheral vision. “Oh”, you think to yourself, in a wondering kind of way, “That can’t possibly be a very old aeroplane; it must be the Angel of the North.” And you’d be one of about
Angel of the North, steel statue and daffodil Read More »
Here is Washington Old Hall – a pleasant, but fairly unremarkable looking, old manor house in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear (say ‘Wee-ah’). Predominantly 17th century, it has pretty Jacobean-style formal gardens, an orchard and a nuttery. Washington Old Hall is situated in the village of Washington, itself an oasis of charm, and
Washington’s medieval DNA Read More »
In 1918, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. Just imagine. For the first time in more than four years, in this part of Europe, men stopped killing one another. Fighting had officially continued throughout that morning, however. Some, like American General
Durham’s story is a fascinating piece of the story of England. It is partly a tale of saints and kings and moving bones, and it begins back in the 7th century. The founding of Durham Cathedral Actually, it was mostly Cuthbert’s fault – with some help from the Danes, a lost cow and perhaps a
Cragside was the home of William George Armstrong; and William George Armstrong was probably a genius. Born in 1810 in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was one of those irritating people who seems to have been good at everything. Trained as a lawyer, he was an accomplished engineer, inventor, arms manufacturer, international arms dealer, industrialist, philanthropist,
