For anyone who’d like to road-test life in the country, I have the perfect location.
Dreams of sheep-dotted dales and dry-stone walls are a reality on a staycation in Middleton-in-Teesdale, a picturesque market town popular with walkers in County Durham.
You can become the lead character in your very own Aga-saga if you stay at High Thearns, an immaculate, three-bedroom former cow byre, situated just a five-minute walk from the high street, which is full of independent shops and tearooms.
Listed with Sykes Cottages, the glossy magazine-style photos of Chesterfield sofas, log burner and enormous kitchen with luxury Smeg gadgets really do live up to expectations.
Spotlessly clean, cosy and so wonderfully restful, set back from the road and surrounded by hills and fields, you will be hit with that holiday feeling as soon as you arrive.
Once you’ve unpacked and soaked up the views from the patio, there is much natural beauty waiting to be explored from this gem of a base.
We started with one of the area’s most famous features – the mighty High Force waterfall in Upper Teesdale.
The River Tees has been plunging into this gorge for thousands of years – and the rocks there are even older– dating back more than
300million years.
If you like a good hike, you could actually get there on foot from High Thearns and make a day of it.
Visiting in February half-term, and with a few ominous clouds lurking ahead, we drove to Bowlees Visitor Centre car park and started our walk at Low Force, an 18ft waterfall, four miles downstream.
Crossing the Wynch Bridge, a very wobbly single lane bridge, which was Britain’s first suspension bridge of any kind, we then took the path on the left side of the peat-coloured Tees, the Durham Dales rising all around.
Crossing back over the river a bit further up, we then made our way up to the High Force Hotel, to purchase tickets from the kiosk there. The falls are then reached by a path cut into the hillside across the road.
In winter, the river is at its fiercest and most spectacular as its thundering waters drop 70ft into the pool. High Force is also a great place to see the Whin Sill, a hard layer of igneous rock, which is also visible at Hadrian’s Wall.
Staying local, we enjoyed another lovely hike up Kirkcarrion, a copse of pine trees on the hill opposite the house, said to be the burial place of a Bronze Age soldier. From the top you get sweeping views over Teesdale and Lunedale.
Guests at High Thearns also get the chance to fish a stretch of the River Tees, by arrangement with the owners. It was fun casting a few lines out into the fast-flowing waters, but no luck for us that week.
Middleton-in-Teesdale is also very handy for the town of Barnard Castle with its stunning ruined 12th-century fortress set high on a rock overlooking the Tees gorge.
It’s well worth a visit, especially so if any of your travelling companions are experiencing problems with their vision.
The town – given an added notoriety by Dominic Cummings’ famous lockdown drive there to “test his eyesight” – is known by the locals as Barney. It also has a pretty high street with several butchers, bakeries, delis, cafes and craft shops – a lovely place for a wander.
The Lake District is only around an hour’s drive from the cottage and the journey there is just as exciting as the destination. Take the B6276, an epic, ear-popping road across the North Pennines. On these desolate open moorlands you’ll spot grouse, lapwings, pheasants and a lot of sheep, and the views are spectacular.
We were bound for Keswick on Derwentwater and couldn’t resist going for a quick fish and chips lunch upstairs in the Old Keswickian in the town centre – lovely batter, very friendly and rapid service, served with a nice pot of tea.
Then it was out for a gentle stroll around part of the spectacular eight-mile lake shore looking across to the fell of Cat Bells, before doubling back via what my daughter named “goose city”. There are dozens of them honking on the banks of the lake by the boat jetties!
The posh university city of Durham is just under an hour’s drive. Parking down in the centre, we walked up the steep, twisting, cobbled streets filled with beautiful shops and restaurants to Romanesque Durham Cathedral, which is very proud of its renovated central tower. We were warned about its 325 spiral steps stretching 218ft to the roof.
It sounds like a breeze when you say it. Doing it is rather more difficult and there’s a one-way system in place as the steps at the top are eye-wateringly narrow.
Hang on to your hats when you reach the slightly pitched roof – it’s breezy up there, but on a clear day you can see all the way to the Angel of the North. Much nearer, you can peek down into the exercise area of Durham Prison.
The nearest beach, Seaham, is just 13 miles from the city on the east coast, so we rounded off the day with a bracing evening stroll by the sea.
Seaham is near the site of what was once the largest glass bottle works in Britain, The Londonderry Bottleworks.
Built in 1853 and in operation until 1921, the waste from the hand-crafted bottles, perfume bottles and household glass was dumped into the sea here. Over more than 100 years, it has been pummelled and polished into what is known as sea glass pebbles, which wash up on the beach. We set off on our own little treasure hunt for the famous coloured gems and came away with a pocketful.
We’d crammed in so much on our “taste of rural life” trip to County Durham and beyond – coast, countryside, castles and a cathedral.
Now do excuse me while I Google the property prices.
Book the holiday
A seven-night stay at High Thearns detached bungalow, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, is from £618. Sleeps six in three bedrooms. Property reference 955251, sykescottages.co.uk.
Find out more at thisisdurham.com.
