Weekend in Durham - Day 2

On the Sunday of our little trip to Durham we went to Beamish! I've only been once, when I was a teenager on a school trip, and Lee hasn't been since he was a kid either. Lee's dad lives quite close to it now so we wanted to go. Lee's dad went off to see the football - a Newcastle/Sunderland derby - so I didn't actually see him, but I had some breakfast and talked to Lee's stepmam before we set off. 

We got there and met some friends of mine which was nice. We had prebooked tickets so we could get in quite quickly and because the match we a derby there weren't as many people around as there might otherwise have been on a nice Sunday in March. My friends have been a lot so they knew all the crack about it, so we followed their directions really. We got on a tram - a Sheffield tram! - and went all the way round the park to where the steam engine goes a little way up the track because my friends' little boy loves trains. I do too and it was really fun even though it doesn't go very far. 

We got back on the tram, going the other way, and went down to the 1950s town which is all I remember of the place from before. We wandered around a bit and went into the bakery where we bought goodies for later. Then we went to the fish and chip shop to get lunch, and sat on a picnic bench to eat them. They were good and thankfully the weather meant we could sit outside!

We went back across to the 1950s town and went into some of the old houses. One belongs to a local artist and that was really cool. We went into a few of the shops but didn't queue for the sweet shop as the queue was huge! I was really tired as we had walked a long way the day before - and as a reminder, I have fibromyalgia - so we could have seen more but weren't completely up for it. But we can go back for free on the tickets we bought, so we will probably do that within the year and see bits we didn't get to this time! 

We got ice creams from the stand and sat in the park to eat them before getting a bus back to the top and to the gift shop where I bought some sugar mice. We said goodbye to our friends and got back on the road as Lee's mam wasn't free because of the match. Not to worry as that meant we were home early enough to relax for the evening which was good before another week started! 

I love old advertisements so took this photo just into the park

On a Sheffield tram!

Looking at the 1950s town

And again

And a tram coming towards us!

Inside the bakery

More old adverts outside the fish and chip shop

Old bikes inside one of the shops

I LOVE old sewing machines and this Singer was a beautiful example in the artist's house

My mum still has this roasting tin and uses it often

More old adverts!

A car that looked a lot like Brum in the garage

We used to have a shop called Eagle Press in Wakefield that sold stationery and did printing, so I wondered if this one was related to it

Looking further up the street - those are the terraced houses we went in on the left

Sheffield cutlery!

Chocolate ice cream

Signs of spring in the grounds!

And here's what I was wearing. This is a Yours dress I've had forever and I love it in the summer, but I pulled it out in March and wore it with a cardigan and footless tights

Weekend in Durham - Day 1

On the 21st of March we headed off to Durham for the weekend. It's where Lee is from originally so we do go and visit his family there, but we hadn't been into the city centre for literally twenty years. Maybe longer! Then I read Cuddy by Benjamin Myers for my book club in January which is about St Cuthbert and Durham cathedral and I wanted to visit the cathedral and his shrine, so we made plans to go. 

We set off from home around 10am and easily made it up the A1 to Belmont Park and Ride. We got on the bus which only takes a few minutes into the city centre, and got off by the market place. There was an outdoor market on as well as the indoor one, so we looked at that before heading into the indoor market. I had read that there's a queer bookshop there so I obviously had to buy some books from there, and then we looked at everything else. There's a ton of cute stalls! There's a record stall and a really cool place selling upcycled jewellery - I bought some earrings. We went back outside and got an ice cream from a van in the market place. The sun was out so although it was a bit cool, it was lovely to be in the sunshine.

We walked up Saddler Street and up the very very steep bit to where the cathedral and castle are. We looked at the castle but had decided to not go in, so we just headed to the cathedral. We looked round that, which you can do for free, and which includes St Cuthbert's shrine behind the altar. That's really cool, but you can also see his treasures in the museum, which is £7.50 each which I felt was reasonable. The person who sold us the ticket told us that the cathedral was closing at 3pm for a service at 4pm so we looked round it first and then went up to the museum. 

By the time we had finished it was about 3.30 and we had walked a long way and were tired, so we decided to go for a drink in a place called Tango on Saddler Street. I had a peach melba cocktail which was nice, and Lee had a hot chocolate. 

When we had finished that we went across to Turkish Kitchen where we had decided to eat. Turkish food is always good for vegetarian so I was happy to go there. I had cheese filled filo pastry things, and then falafel with hummus, and Kir Royale. It was all so good and arrived in double quick time so we were done by about 5pm! We walked back to the bus stop and got back to the car and then went to Lee's dad's house where we were staying for the night.

Lee's dad was in but his stepmam was out, she had been in Sunderland at the theatre, so Lee's dad went to pick her up. Everyone was back by 8pm so we just sat and chatted which was nice! 

I walked bloody miles and up really steep hills too, so I was impressed with myself. Here's ten thousand photos: 

Sitting in the sunshine in the market place while Lee went to get ice creams

Lee has a sundae but I had a traditional cornet

And here we are, aren't we cute

We went into a pop up museum thing and there was an old sign, which I love

And some information about Cuthbert

And a scale model of the cathedral! 

And Durham bricks

This sign was on The People's Bookshop which was also a really cool bookshop, although I didn't buy anything in there

And then, the cathedral! Looking stunning in the sunshine

Looking towards the castle

This is a replica of the sanctuary knocker which is really old, it was cool to see this one anyway! But then the original turned out to be in the Treasures of St Cuthbert exhibit which was amazing to see

One of the shrines, I liked the sculpture

And there was info about the Venerable Bede too. His head is in St Cuthbert's shrine, because of course it is

Looking up into the tower

And I thought this embroidered hanging of the gospel writers was cool too 

The rose window, which is amazing but hard to photograph 

The shrine of St Cuthbert himself! I loved seeing this

I also loved this rainbow window, of course

And I can never resist a mining banner...

And loved this memorial to the miners, which had a book full of miners names, too 

Looking out on to the cathedral lawn 

And out over the River Wear

This is the St Cuthbert exhibit, the first part was in what had been the monks' dormitory and is now a library. It had a lot on the history of Durham which was interesting too

This is an effigy of Cuthbert himself

Love a bit of bookkeeping

We went downstairs into a special archival airlocked room which has what is left of Cuthbert's coffin, and his necklace which is a cross of gold with garnets in, which was so cool to see. But you can't take photos in there, so I didn't

This embroidery was SO cool though, made by a local artist. It was amazing in person! 

Back out now on the cathedral green

Drinks in Tango

And a Kir Royale, which was delicious

My food

And here are the books I bought in the queer bookshop!