Durham City
Wharton Park · Photo: peter robinson
Start with the best free view of the cathedral and castle from a hillside park by the station, then explore the Norman cathedral with its family trail and undercroft cafe. Finish out of town at the riverside ruins of a medieval priory where Durham's monks once retreated.
Park · 09:45–10:45 (1h)
Play areas and the classic viewpoint over cathedral and castle; mini golf/car track prices unknown.
A hillside park by Durham station with three play areas, mini golf, a battery-car track for children and a heritage centre, plus one of the best free views of the cathedral and castle. A good first or last stop for families arriving by train.
Photo: peter robinson
Landmark · 11:00–13:30 (2h30m)
Free entry with a family activity leaflet and a museum; lunch in the undercroft cafe. Palace Green Library next door is unverified, so it is left out until its exhibition programme is confirmed.
A huge Norman cathedral on the peninsula above the River Wear, part of the World Heritage Site with Durham Castle. Entry is free, there's a family activity leaflet, a museum and an undercroft cafe, and older children can tackle the 325-step tower when it's open.
Photo: mattbuck (category)
Landmark · 14:00–15:45 (1h45m)
Riverside priory ruins on a bend of the Wear; free to wander.
Extensive ruins of a medieval priory on a bend of the River Wear, once a retreat for Durham's monks. Free to wander, with a riverside setting that suits a picnic and a short walk, a few miles from Durham city.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons contributor
North EastNewcastle city centre / Quayside
A walkable Newcastle day that starts under the cathedral's lantern spire, crosses the Tyne on the tilting 'blinking eye' bridge and follows the river east into the Ouseburn valley. Lunch is among the pigs and goats at a free city farm, and the afternoon goes underground on a guided tour of a Victorian coal-wagon tunnel that sheltered people in the Blitz.
Newcastle Cathedral → Gateshead Millennium Bridge → Ouseburn Farm → Victoria Tunnel
North EastBardon Mill / Haltwhistle
Climb up to the best-preserved fort on the Wall for costumes, replica objects and sweeping moorland views, warm up with lunch and a rooftop walk at the free national park discovery centre, then finish at a hands-on museum about the life of a Roman soldier.
Hadrians Wall and Fort → The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre → Roman Army Museum
North EastSouth Shields / Whitburn
Climb a red-and-white striped Victorian lighthouse, run about on open clifftop grassland, then drop down to a cove where a giant sea stack is crowded with seabirds. Finish with a fish supper on the South Shields front.
Souter Lighthouse and The Leas → Marsden Bay → Colmans Seafood Temple
