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.
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, […]
I journeyed to Souter from Gateshead through seemingly endless housing estates. The drive seemed curiously out of time, as though my car was in a bubble of the past, a mood somehow pricked at the first, innocent, exciting, sight of the sea. Souter is easy to find; but you shouldn’t miss spotting a lighthouse, should
What’s at the end of the wall? The wall’s end? Walls – solid boundaries designed to keep people in – or out. There are famous walls, like the Berlin Wall, the Great Wall of China, the fantasy Wall in Game of Thrones or even the one that Shirley Valentine talks to (“Hello, wall.”). In the
Segedunum – the end of the Wall Read More »
North East England
This is the skeletal remains of the Temple of Mithras, just outside the Roman fort of Brocolitia on Hadrian’s Wall. The fort, also sometimes called ‘Carrawburgh’ is only visible as lumps in the ground; this is not a place for those cursed with a short attention span. I visited at dusk on a bleak day
Brocolitia Mithraeum Read More »
North East England
A business trip to Newcastle upon Tyne reminded me what an imposing, and quite beautiful, structure the Tyne Bridge is. Designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson and partly modelled on the Sydney Harbour Bridge (aka ‘the coat hanger’), it is instantly recognisable all over the world. Construction began in 1925 and the bridge was opened
There’s something calm and peaceful about the ruins of Egglestone Abbey. They huddle on top of a small hill above the River Tees, just outside the old market town of Barnard Castle, in County Durham. The location feels almost as secluded these days as it must have been when the abbey was founded eight centuries
We all know what a national park is. Although definitions vary, they are usually rural areas of natural (or naturalised) beauty designated as ‘special’ in some way by their national governments. Normally, the environment within a national park, including its flora and fauna, are protected and there are particular rules about what you can, and
Britain’s National Parks Read More »
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If you didn’t know about this, you wouldn’t know it was there. If you know what I mean. A good friend told me about it – I’d been driving past for ages in blissful ignorance. Just east of Chollerford in Northumbria, a little to the north of Hexham on the northern side of the B6318,
North East England includes the counties of Co Durham, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and the Tees Valley. To visit North East England is to enter the old kingdom of Northumbria, formed when Bernicia – which stretched way into what is now Scotland – unified with Deira to the south, between the Tees and the Humber.
A bit about North East England Read More »
All North East England