Left Morpeth & headed for Durham, so hard to find parking in these places, but managed to find a carpark close to the centre 50p for Sunday....not sure why ACC can't do this. Had a poke around Durham, the cathedral is pretty special, set high up a hill, you can see it from all over, plus they have the Venerable Bede buried there, well. Of greater interest to me, at this stage of the trip, was the antique & collectables fair going on in the cathedral area. Spent quite some time checking it out, but I was boringly sensible....nothing really grabbed me, I mean & goodness knows I gave it a good effort!
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| Durham Cathedral |
From there drove to York, about an hour or so, another town/city (200,000) dominated by the church, York Minster, all the streets lead to it & radiate out from it. Once again parking was good as I saw a sign for park & ride on the outskirts of town, free park, 2.50 return on the bus, great idea, as even with GPS, these towns can be fun. I think I must be over churches as even the famous York Minster was a bit hohum, but the old streets were a lot of fun and I took a tour of a National Trust property , called the Treasurers House, it originally was the minster's treasurers house, but not for 100's of years, but the name stuck. Anyway it was the first house with contents included to be donated to the National Trust in 1930. A chap called Frank Green had bought it in 1897 & given it the once over & filled it with furniture befitting its gravitas. Again his money came from industry, his father was the inventor of the "economiser" a system which reused the steam from a steam engine, suffice to say this kept Frank in cravats & antique french furniture . The Prince of Wales, Bertie, Edward 7th, stayed there in 1900 the year before he became king, so Frank then applied to have the name of the bedrooms changed to the reflect this, ie the King's bedchamber. He was quite a character, he gave the house to the NT in 1930 when he was sure he was going to die, then he lasted another 30 years, but lucky he did as he had about 100 conditions on the bequest, so he was around to make sure they did the right thing...from his retreat in Somerset where he went for his health.
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| York Minster, back view, couldn't really get a good front picture due to placement |
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| Treasurer's House, York |
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| Birthplace of Guy Fawkes, not a pub, York |
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| The Shambles York, overhanging timbered buildings, some dating back as far as 14th C, Butchers displayed meat on shelves - shambles |
After sending the afternoon in York, back to the park & ride car park, panic stations, could not find the car! Finally I did, the park was huge & had 3 wings, & I was in the wrong one, phew.
40 minutes to B&B in Badsforth, a lovely little village, central old part all golden stone, in the Huddersfield, Leeds area & the house newish, large, 5 beds 3 baths & 1/3 acre, all out the back with lovely view over rolling wheat fields.........if it wasn't for the power station belching out fumes 10 miles away, not sure if it's not nuclear, big round things.
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