Annual Away Trip 2026
The Time Travellers Trip North.
The travellers have returned! This year we had another enjoyable visit to the north-east – specifically County Durham. Brilliant weather enhanced the experience! On our journey north we stopped at Mount Grace Priory near Northallerton. You may remember that Dr Michael Lemperer talked to us about this extraordinary place…and it didn’t disappoint. Carthusian monks lived there and there is also a manor house on site and extensive gardens. The Carthusians were a silent order and lived in quite spacious houses each with their own garden area. A quite bizarre arrangement with even their meals delivered through a stone hatch in the outer dwelling wall.
The travellers have returned! This year we had another enjoyable visit to the north-east – specifically County Durham. Brilliant weather enhanced the experience! On our journey north we stopped at Mount Grace Priory near Northallerton. You may remember that Dr Michael Lemperer talked to us about this extraordinary place…and it didn’t disappoint. Carthusian monks lived there and there is also a manor house on site and extensive gardens. The Carthusians were a silent order and lived in quite spacious houses each with their own garden area. A quite bizarre arrangement with even their meals delivered through a stone hatch in the outer dwelling wall.
Then we visited Beamish Open Air Museum which can occupy anyone for days. The 1950s town is newly opened, which resonated with our party, as we recognised our childhood. Everywhere is a photo opportunity. The staff will explain and engage with visitors, transport is via the old trams and buses, and one day is just not long enough to see everything. So. on our last day most of us returned! From steam engines, coalmining, farming to all the different ages of properties, shops, businesses and activities it is a positive sensory overload. The home of Norman Cornish, the Durham miner who painted scenes around him, has a recreation of his house. ‘Proggy mats’ (rag rugs) and Durham quilts were in the homes, especially in the pit miner’s village.
Durham City is a World Heritage site so, again, there is so much that must be seen. We all walked miles that day to be sure to see as much as possible.
Durham Cathedral houses the remains of St Cuthbert. with the legend of the original edifice being constructed where the monks carrying his body from Lindisfarne found a sign. In this case it was a dun cow (white cow) reflected in emblems representing Durham. King Oswald’s skull is purported to be the skull found in his coffin, which unbelievably can be seen in the museum on site. The Venerable Bede of Jarrow is also buried here. 37 days of sanctuary to be had if you grasped the lion’s head door knocker of the Cathedral which only ended in the 1600s.
There are iconic views of both the Castle and the Cathedral to be seen from the riverside walks, especially the view from Prebends Bridge; used on many a jigsaw puzzle.
Durham Cathedral houses the remains of St Cuthbert. with the legend of the original edifice being constructed where the monks carrying his body from Lindisfarne found a sign. In this case it was a dun cow (white cow) reflected in emblems representing Durham. King Oswald’s skull is purported to be the skull found in his coffin, which unbelievably can be seen in the museum on site. The Venerable Bede of Jarrow is also buried here. 37 days of sanctuary to be had if you grasped the lion’s head door knocker of the Cathedral which only ended in the 1600s.
There are iconic views of both the Castle and the Cathedral to be seen from the riverside walks, especially the view from Prebends Bridge; used on many a jigsaw puzzle.
The Castle at Durham is still used as accomodation for the students attending University College. Even the Guildhall within the Town Hall was fortuitiously open for us.
But maybe it’s the small facts that also define a visit. Did you know that English mustard was first commercially produced in Durham – long before Colman’s mustard. Look at the Colman’s mustard jar and the bull’s head is in fact the Durham Dun Cow. Who knew!
