Escape to the Durham Dales

The wild, sweeping slopes of the Durham Dales descend to meet hay meadows and green pasture in this place of stark, contrasting beauty

On the meadow slopes of Teesdale and Weardale the young lambs make so much early-morning noise that you can find yourself out of bed – and even out of doors – long before breakfast.

Down south spring can seem a pallid thing; a scarcely perceptible increase in the warmth of the sun, a gradual bud-break and a slow drawing-off of woollies. But up north in the Durham Dales, spring comes in one almighty rush.

Up on the great dun-coloured moors between the valleys, lapwings creak ‘pee-wit’ and curlews bubble ecstatically over their courtship and nesting rituals. A sharp wind whistles out of a blue sky, driving flights of rooks before it and hissing in the sycamores around Stanhope and Blanchland.

The hundred burns of the hillsides dance musically down their valleys, while to the south the River Tees, swollen by rain, falls in a thick, thunderous curtain of foam and spray over High Force waterfall. Further up Teesdale flare the brilliant royal blue trumpets of spring gentians, those rare and fragile flowers first set in the West Durham landscape after the last ice age. There’s more colour, noise and movement in nature than anyone unfamiliar with these moors and dales could dream.

The Durham Dales are not soft country – far from it. Exploring down the back roads and footpaths you’ll see scars and hummocks on the high slopes, the spoil heaps and evocative engine-house ruins of the lead mines that once brought prosperity and pollution to these high valleys.

Chatting to shepherds, helping to steer a batch of runaway sheep into the right gateway, getting soaked in rain showers and dried in sunbursts at half-hour intervals, you’ll discover a countryside where hard work and natural good manners, bleakness and beauty, go hand in hand. These are English spring pleasures at their most acute, in a landscape both wild and breathtakingly beautiful, among people genuinely glad to see a stranger as a portent of the end of another cold, hard winter.

Shafts and shepherds
The history and culture of the Durham Dales are bound up with two seemingly diametrically opposed activities – the harsh heavy industries of lead and coal mining (now defunct), and the pastoral occupation of shepherding.
During spring, the Dales are alive with the bleating of tiny lambs and the Eastgate Sheep Show at the end of May (01388 517374) will initiate you into the mysteries of gimmer shearlings and tup hoggs. The Durham Dales’ long association with coal mining comes to life at Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum (0191 370 4000; www.beamish.org.uk), with its tours around a reconstructed colliery village and drift mine, conducted by ex-miners, and a 1913 town street. The scars of lead mining are seen everywhere in the hillsides, and Killhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum (01388 537505; www.durham.gov.uk/killhope) in Upper Weardale, a restored 19th-century lead mine, reveals the unvarnished truth about working in this deadly industry.

Fresh from the farm
Creamy Cotherstone cheese, venison from the Raby Estate and lamb raised in Teesdale and Weardale are all delicious. Buy them at farmers’ markets in the area – check www.teesdalefarmersmarkets.co.uk for details of locations and dates. Tracy Betney of Broom Mill Farm, West Auckland (01388 834564; www.broommillfarm.co.uk), produces succulent sausages – try Boozy Broon bangers, made with Newcastle Brown Ale, or fabulous spicy Rockets. Katrina Palmer of Bluebell Organics (01325 718841) supplies organic vegetables widely in the region. William Peat (01833 638123) and Marden Farm Shop (01833 638092) in Barnard Castle are excellent for meat, pies, cheese and bread. Buy all you need for a picnic here then laze on the grass by the River Tees in the shadow of the ruins of Eggleston Abbey.

Buying and browsing
There are some good little galleries in the Durham Dales – try The Glass & Art Gallery in Consett (01207 583353), the Lime Tree Gallery in Stanhope (01388 526110; www.alexclarkart.co.uk) and Middleton Crafts in Chapel Row, Middleton-in-Teesdale. Middleton Crafts sells Trevor Dixon’s miniature stone walls complete with sheep or sheepdog, a nice evocative souvenir. Or potter in Middleton’s ironmongers-with-knobs-on, J Raine & Son (01833 640406).

If it’s raining…
It’s very good at that in the Durham Dales. Luckily, two of the North’s great indoor attractions are at hand. Raby Castle near Barnard Castle (01833 660202; www.rabycastle.com), seat of current incumbent Lord Barnard’s family since 1626, is everything you want a Border castle to be – grim and massive outside, full of art treasures, fine furnishings and family mementoes within. Red and fallow deer roam the parkland and there are walled and ornamental gardens.
The Bowes Museum (01833 690606; www.bowesmuseum.org.uk) is not at Bowes, but at Barnard Castle. This vast French château-style museum was created by Victorian colliery-owner and country gentleman John Bowes and his French wife Joséphine to display their art collection for the benefit of the public. Here are porcelain, paintings, furniture and costumes from all over Europe. Pride of place is taken by the musical automatous silver swan that ‘comes to life’ at 2pm and 3pm daily.

Outdoor pursuits
The Durham Dales are great for walking, with footpaths and old packhorse trails crisscrossing the hills. You can explore the area’s industrial heritage with walking guides available from local tourist information centres. River and reservoir fishing is excellent; there are riding centres in all the dales; cyclists can challenge their muscles on the hill roads; and adrenaline freaks can get their fix of abseiling, rock climbing and so on at several adventure centres, including the YMCA in Consett (01207 502680; www.ymca.derwentside.org.uk); Kingsway Adventure Centre in Middleton-in-Teesdale (01833 640881; www.kingswaycentre.co.uk) and YMCA Weardale House in Ireshopeburn, Bishop Auckland (0800 591527; www.weardalehouse.co.uk). Details of all these and more are on Durham County Council’s County Durham website (www.durham.gov.uk/tourism) or from local tourist information centres.

Points of view
Great for views are the steep lanes that connect Teesdale with Weardale, and
the narrow road from Rookhope to Blanchland. These offer immense moorland vistas at the summits and wonderful panoramas of each green dale as you descend into it.

Flora and fauna
During spring, the hay meadows in the upper dales are full of wild flowers, and the rough moorland of Upper Teesdale becomes jewelled with rare ice age flora. Lapwing, curlew and snipe call from their nesting grounds on the moors, and peregrines, merlin and short-eared owls are all seen hunting the wilder places. There are all sorts of nature-related events and expeditions in Hamsterley Forest – call its visitor centre (01388 488312; www.forestry.gov.uk) for details.

Local heritage
Driving around Teesdale, you’ll notice the neat whitewashed farms of the Raby Estate. They are painted white by long tradition. It seems that a former Lord Barnard became lost in the fog and sought a free night’s lodging with one of his tenants, but somehow ended up mistakenly sleeping at a farm belonging to a neighbouring landlord. Chagrined to receive a bill for his B&B in the morning, the unamused peer ordered all his properties to be painted white to avoid future cases of mistaken identity.

Places to stay
• Bee Cottage Farmhouse, Castleside, Consett (01207 508224; www.smoothhound.co.uk/hotels/beecottage). A welcoming B&B situated on the edge of the moors. B&B, double rooms from £64.
• Frog Hall, Herdship Farm, Harwood-in-Teesdale (01833 622215; www.herdshipfarm.co.uk). Self-catering cottage (sleeps four) on a working farm with nature trails, wild flowers and birds. £180-£395 per week.
• Horsley Hall, Bishop Auckland (01388 517239; www.horsleyhall.co.uk). A friendly and stylish place in a lovely village setting. B&B, double rooms from £100.
• Low Cornriggs Farm, Cowshill, Bishop Auckland (01388 537600; www.alstonandkillhoperidingcentre.co.uk). A working farm offering B&B, double rooms from £50.
• The Rose & Crown, Romaldkirk, Barnard Castle (01833 650213; www.rose-and-crown.co.uk). A renowned village inn with great food. B&B, double rooms from £126.

Places to eat
• Blagraves House, Barnard Castle (01833 637668; www.blagraves.com). Delicious seasonal dishes cooked to order.
• Cornforth & Cornforth, 16 Market Place, Middleton-in-Teesdale (01833 640300). Light, healthy lunches, plus tea and cake.
• Fox & Hounds, Cotherstone, Barnard Castle (01833 650241). A cosy pub with good food.
• Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland (01434 675251). Dine out on local game and fish in one of Northumberland’s oldest and most characterful hotels.


Escape essentials
Getting there
• Newcastle and Teesside airports are nearest. Durham and Newcastle are well served by trains (08457 484950). A1(M) skirts the east and there is access to A66/B6277 (Barnard Castle and Teesdale) and A689 (Stanhope and Weardale).

Maps and books
• OS Landranger Maps (1:50,000) 87, 88, 92, 93 and Explorer Map (1:25,000) OL 31.
• 50 Walks in Durham & Northumberland (AA) is available from local tourist information centres.

Tourist information
• Durham Dales Centre, Castle Gardens, Stanhope (01388 527650; www.durhamdalescentre.co.uk).
• Durham Tourism, Durham County Council (0191 383 3354; www.durham.gov.uk/tourism).

Photo: Ireshopeburn, County Durham, courtesy of Alex Telfer for North East England. Visit www.visitnortheastengland.co.uk for more information

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