Travel writer Gemma Hall explored Durham extensively by bicycle and on
foot to produce this brand new title in Bradt's award-winning series of
Slow travel guides to UK regions. Walkers, cyclists, wildlife lovers,
families, culture vultures and railway enthusiasts are all catered for,
with coverage of a wide range of attractions. As the only comprehensive
guidebook to Durham, it also contains all the practical information you
could need to enjoy time in this diverse yet under-explored English
county. Unexpected treats throng in a region home to rapper sword
dancing, from railway trails such as Tanfield Railway (the world's
oldest line), to fellside Methodist chapels accessed by remote footpaths
crossing silvery burns. And even well-known sites offer surprises: famed
for its cathedral, medieval streets, world-renowned university and 500
listed buildings, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Durham city is also
the birthplace of English mustard. Durham city may be fêted by up to
4.37 million tourists a year (2019 figures), yet few visitors venture
into the county's wider countryside, with its unsung wooded valleys, old
mining villages, Heritage Coast Path, and the rugged hills and valleys
of Weardale and Upper Teesdale, where national nature reserves harbour
thriving meadows filled with relict plants from the last Ice Age. Key
heritage attractions such as Castle Barnard's medieval fort and High
Force waterfall (one of England's greatest) are described in intimate
detail - but so too are many places that have never made it into a guide
on Durham: lesser-known museums, birdwatching sites and historical
buildings (including Washington Old Hall, the family home of the first
US president's ancestors, which lies just outside the county). Here too
are more remote treats that need tracking down by cycling old railway
trails, or on foot, following old packhorse trails to reach abandoned
collieries, secluded bathing pools and the display grounds of the black
grouse, a rare gamebird. Whether you are keen to experience Roman forts
or England's industrial heritage, to wander the heathery uplands of Moor
House or stride boldly along miles of coastline, discover Durham with
Bradt's unique Slow guide.
