Thursday 20th June 2019 The final full day of this tour starts with a coach journey to Raby Castle. We were fortunate to have a guided tour of the castle one hour before the official public opening. This is a spectacular castle, still owned by the same family who originally constructed it, in 1367. It features a hall that you could drive a coach through. Following Raby Castle, the coach took us to the town of Barnard Castle. In the town is the Bowes Museum (Bowes was the maiden name of Elizabeth the Queen mother). I was particularly taken by the Lego model of the museum. Following the museum I took a walk along the river… …before visiting the castle. Friday was the final day of the tour. This involved a coach from the hotel at 10:00 to Durham railway station and then the train home. RailDiscoveries Tour Map: Selfie of the day: Recent Posts: Related Posts:
03-19LRS02-Lumley Castle & Durham
Wednesday 19th June 2019 Day three of this tour involves a coach journey from Lumley Castle to Hexham railway station. From Hexham we caught a train, along the line of Hadrian’s Wall, to Carlisle. There is about three hours’ free time in Carlisle. This allows time to visit the cathedral. You can also visit the castle [see the feature picture at the top of this blog], and spend time in the town centre. Following the return journey on the train, we had a guided tour of Hexham Abbey. The abbey features some stunning medieval paintings in the choir. RailDiscoveries Tour Map: Selfie of the day: Recent Posts: Related Posts:
Thursday June 18th 2019 The second day of this tour is spent at Beamish. However, following discussions with Eric, the coach driver, we took a brief detour on the way to the open air museum, to stop and view the Angel of the North. The Beamish museum is an open air museum that looks to preserve examples of every day living in the North East of England from the 1920s onwards. There are three railways, old trams, a coal mine, villages etc. I went for a walk down the mine. As I was watching them shunt an old steam engine backwards and forwards it unfortunately derailed! The preserved railway station. The village high street. The fully functioning pub. The trams take the visitors around the whole museum. The museum is currently expanding by building a new 1950s area. This involves, amongst other things, demolishing a cinema in Sunderland, brick-by-brick and rebuilding it a the museum. I was fortunate enough to blag my way into the press launch of the new community centre. It reminds me of the Oliver Bird Hall in Solihull where I went to a youth club in my teens. I particularly liked the wagon way. Video of the day: RailDiscoveries Tour Map: Selfie of the day: Recent Posts: Related Posts:
Sunday 16th – Monday 17th June 2019 This tour starts with me meeting the tourees at Durham railway station at 16:00. From here our coach takes us to our hotel – Lumley Castle. Originally a manor house, in 1389 Sir Ralf Lumley received permission from the Prince Bishop of Durham to convert it into a castle. Unfortunately Sir Ralf was executed in 1400 after a failed coup to overthrow Henry IV and Lumley Castle was subsequently confiscated by the crown, but it was returned to the Lumley family in 1421. In the early 1800s the castle came under the ownership of the Bishop of Durham after he had given his home, Durham Castle, to the newly created University of Durham. Later, Lumley Castle became a hall of residence for the university. The university sold the castle in the 1960s to fund the development of new halls of residence in the city. In 1976 it was established as a hotel with great historical character. My room, reached by a typical medieval spiral staircase – [see video of the day, below] – was the window seen top right in the above picture and featuring a four poster bed, pull cord light switches and rope ties for the curtains. Monday started with a 15 minute coach journey into Durham where we picked up Jan, our local blue badge guide. Jan and Eric, our coach driver, gave us a 30 minute coach tour around the outer part of Durham where we saw the river, […]