Feeling the Force
Vicky Lissaman explores the many delights of County Durham
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 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
300 million 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-inTeesdale 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
The B6276 across the Pennines has spectacular views and lots of sheep