lostnortheast

Hall Hill Farm Again

Back in the area for another week, the sun was shining so we headed over to Hall Hill Farm (on the B6296 between Satley and Lanchester) for a picnic and a play with the animals. Today was the official opening of their new play barn, featuring a decent indoor playframe, which is a welcome addition to the attraction given the exposed location and fast-changing weather in this part of the world. Here are a few shots I took of the kids and animals:

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You can read more about Hill Hall Farm and get a link to their website in my previous post.

 

Goodbye for now ... and over to you!

Our two weeks were up only too quickly and we're now back safely in not-so-sunny Lancashire. We had a great time in the north east - there were loads of interesting things to do and I feel like we've only scratched the surface. Thanks to everyone who made us feel so welcome, not least our hosts at Hadrian and Derwent Country Escapes (we stayed in The Lodge at Ruffside, which was perfect for us), and especially those who sent feedback on lostnortheast and re-tweeted my posts.

Please check out my blog of places to visit in and around the Bowland area of Lancashire if you get a moment.

I won't be posting any new reports here until the next time we're in the area. In the mean time, I'd like to open the blog up to guest posts. If you're interested in contributing, and are happy for me to edit and generally do what I like with your submission, drop me a line at gareth@lostinbowland.com. Pieces should be around 300 words and include up to a dozen photographs, each up to 1 Mb in size. If I use it you'll get full credit and a link to your website.

Thanks for reading and goodbye for now, Gareth.

Housteads Roman Fort at Hadrian's Wall

Housteads is a Roman Fort built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in around 124 AD to defend the northern frontier of the Roman Empire along Hadrian's Wall. The site, now owned by the National Trust and managed by English Heritage, is the most complete example of a Roman Fort in Britain. Access to the site is from a car park beside the B6318, not far from Haydon Bridge. Northumberland National Park charge £3 to park. A National Trust visitors centre by the car park provides a picnic area, cafe, toilets, information and gift shop. The fort and a small museum run by English Heritage are a gentle half-mile walk up the hill through some delightful scenery. Admission to Housteads and the museum is free to National Trust and English Heritage members, or £4.80 for adults and £2.40 for children aged 5+ otherwise.

The remains of the fort cover an extensive area, and signs dotted throughout explain the original use of the buildings and how the site developed. The setting itself is spectacular, with stunning views of the Northumbrian countryside, and well-preserved sections of Hadrian's wall snaking off into the distance. A visit to the site can be combined with a walk along the wall. The kids, already interested in all things Roman thanks to the Horrible History books and television programmes, raced around the walls enthusiastically, climbing and jumping as they went.

The museum is small but interesting, containing a collection of large stone carvings and smaller artefacts recovered from the site, a model showing how the fort would have originally looked, and boards explaining the history of the Roman occupation of Britain and how it affected the local area. The children had fun dressing up as Roman soldiers and sword-fighting.

Well worth a visit.

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Adventure Valley

Adventure Valley is a newly developed indoor and outdoor childrens play site at Brasside, just north of Durham. It offers a range of activities for children of all ages, with a wide range of play equipment. There is an indoor play area with cafe, which features a large play frame for older children (with ball-firing cannons I hadn't seen before) and a separate area for those under five. Another indoor area provides a large sandpit, marine-themed bouncy castle and a selection of farmyard and pet animals, some of which can be handled. There are extensive outdoor play facilities to suit children of all ages, including large rubber bouncy trampoline-like areas, quality wooden adventure play frames, zip wire, pedal kart circuit, and "slide stampede", an astro-turf coated slide the kids descend in giant inner-tube sleds. It was good to see staff at the pedal karts and tube slide to manage the queues. There is also a novel "panning for gold" water play feature and all-weather football area. Adventure Valley stage entertaining sheep and pig races, and the entrance fee includes tractor-and-trailer rides. Extra-cost activities include pony rides (£2), electric quad bikes, barrel train rides, and electric diggers (all £1 a throw). More animals can be seen around the site, at the stables, the duckpond, and around the paddocks.

Pricing at Adventure Valley is at a level where you need to be sure you will spend a fair amount of time there, with the weather to be outdoors, to get value for money, as it costs £5.95 per child, and an additional £7.95 for each adult. If you are just going to use the indoor playframes for an hour or so you'd be better off at an indoor play centre, as they don't usually charge for adults. You can save a few bob by taking your own picnic in, and a covered picnic area is provided.

A note on finding Adventure Valley - don't take the "Pity Me" exit from the A167 as we did, but the next one north (by the Newton Grange pub) - it is signed all the way from there.

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Hexham

Waking up to find the rain showers had finally subsided, giving way to what promised to be some solid sunshine, we decided to take a break from charging all over the region in our old red bus and chill out at the Ruffside Cottage. This went to plan for a good couple of hours before a game between eldest Holly and two-year-old Megan, which I imagine involved some vigorous pulling, hurt Meg's arm enough to warrant a trip to Hexham Hospital, which has the nearest A&E department equipped to x-ray the under-threes.

Having dropped Maggie and Meg at the hospital, I took the older four for a wander around Hexham. We saw the Old Gaol and Hexham Abbey, then headed into the adjacent park where the local ice-cream man introduced the kids to the delights of Hawaiian Ice, a heap of slush in a plastic bowl drenched in three gaudy coloured syrups of their choosing. Having ingested (and enjoyed) their ices, the kids then pushed their digestive luck further by spinning on a dual tyre contraption before heading off up a grassy hill for some rolling action. I was just fearing the worst from an overheating Rosie when I got a call from Maggie to say Megan was ok - she had dislocated her arm at the elbow, but was now feeling much better having had it popped back in.

NB: Hexham also has a leisure centre with public swimming baths which we visited a few days ago - this was modern, with good family changing facilities, a selection of shallow pools in addition to the main swimming pool, and a large inflatable obstacle course for older children which is brought into play at certain times of the day.

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Locomotion

Locomotion, The National Railway Museum at Shildon, celebrates the contribution the town has made to our rail heritage, and houses some important pieces of the national collection, including the Sans Pareil, and early rival to Stephenson's Rocket, and currently the Mallard, arguably the fastest steam locomotive ever. Several original Shildon buildings are preserved including Soho House, founder Timothy Hackworth's home, and the Soho Shed, the oldest industrial building in the area. Hackworth, the Soho House exhibit, explains the development of rail manufacturing at Shildon, and includes a social history of the town through to the closure of the works in the 1980s. The exhibits here are aimed at children and are very interactive. The house and gardens are lovely - we stopped for a picnic there. The other original buildings continue the theme, explaining the importance of the site in moving goods in the area and explaining aspects of the manufacturing process. A wide lineside path takes visitors past a modern interactive sculpture, the Light Engine, a childrens play area and a picnic site, before arriving at the collection building, a massive hangar containing a fantastic collection of engines, carriages and railway memorabilia. There is also a cafe and gift shop within the collection building.  Toilets are available at either end of the site, and there is good disabled access througout. It should be noted that train rides are only offered on occasional event days, and a charge is made for these. The museum itself is free (donations requested) which is wonderful given what is on offer. More information is available at the National Railway Museum Website

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Pow Hill Country Park

Pow Hill Country Park lies on the southern side of Derwent Reservoir, north west of the village of Edmundbyers. Designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), it consists of woodland (mostly coniferous with some broadleaf species, particularly Rowan and Birch by the reservoir) and meadow areas supporting a diverse selection of wildlife including wading birds, butterflies and wild flowers. The bracken and heather are jumping with grasshoppers. The reservoir itself is stocked with trout for angling and is the most popular fishery in England. There is free parking, picnic tables are provided, and the broad and well made paths are suitable for wheelchair and pushchair use.

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Beamish

Beamish, billed as the "Living Museum of the North", is one of the biggest tourist attraction in the area, both literally (the site covers 400 acres) and in terms of visitor numbers. This did mean some queueing to get in and for some of the guided exhibits, but it was worth the wait as the quality of the exhibits has not been compromised by the scale. Beamish feature reconstructed buildings and vehicles which preserve the social history of the North East; a colliery (the kids loved going down the mine) and pit village, with workers' cottages, chapel and school; a farm, with cottage, animals and restored machinery; a town with period shops; and a Georgian hall with period landscape. The outdoor sites are linked by footpaths and old buses and trams; some of these are adapted for disabled visitors. The "living" exhibits are staffed by enthusiasic guides dressed and acting in character, who do a great job of conveying what life was like for those living at the time. There is a lot to cover in one visit, so it is worth noting that a year pass is the same price as a day ticket - we plan to visit again before the end of the holiday to cover the bits we missed. You can find more information at the Beamish Website.

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Blanchland River Derwent Walk

Blanchland village is a picturesque collection of stone buildings close to the remains of an abbey. It lies by the River Derwent to the west of Derwent Reservoir. We went for a short (about a mile and a quarter) walk starting from the playground by Blanchland Sports Club (ample parking, £1 donation requested towards upkeep of the grounds), heading west along the public footpath running beside the river as far as the road at Baybridge, then following the road right a hundred yards or so before following the permitted path back beside the fields returning to the sports club. The area is covered by Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 307. The riverside path is rutted and narrow in places; the permitted footpath along the fields is broad and push/wheelchair friendly.

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Durham

Nestling in a crook of the River Wear, Durham is an historic cathedral and university city which has also benefited from a good dose of "regeneration" in recent years, as is apparent from the swanky new developments around the Millenium Place and along the river. Today we just stopped for lunch, then had a quick wander through the city centre up to the cathedral, not stopping long as the weather was a bit iffy and the kids were playing up. Durham has plenty of charm and places of interest - we liked what we saw and will hopefully return before we leave.

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Hall Hill Farm

Today we visited Hall Hill Farm which lies on the B6296 between the A68 and Lanchester. The farm park features the usual lamb-feeding, rabbit and chick petting, tractor & trailer rides, rare breed farm and exotic animals. The staff were all really friendly and patient with the kids. There is a picnic area with adventure playground, a large barn with plastic tractors to ride, and a tea room serving snacks and main meals. A nice extra today was a Punch-and-Judy style puppet show, featuring farm animals and a scary witch (a little too scary for our little Meg!)

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Welcome to lostnortheast

Welcome to lostnortheast, my special holiday sister site to Lost in Bowland. During the next two weeks I'll be exploring the North East of England from my base in Ruffside, by Derwent Reservoir in County Durham. I'll be covering bits of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the historic city of Durham, Kielder Forest, the North Sea coast and more. Stay tuned and I'll let you know how I get on.

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