First blog of 2023 writing about our first trip of 2023! We went to Durham for a couple of days during February half-term. We chose Durham because of its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and it was a budget-friendly tour where most of what we did was free! The few days we were there were sunny and quite warm for February. We stayed walking distance from the city centre and thankfully everything we wanted to see was walking distance so we didn't spend anything on transport except for the day trip to Newcastle (a mere 10mins on train). if you are travelling by car there's much more you could do outside of the city centre such as Beamish (my kids are now happy not to do any living museums). I would recommend going when the children are older though because of the history and there's wasn't much to do for younger kids.
We initially took a tour of the city centre, exploring the cobblestoned streets, taking in the beautiful sights along the river and just familiarising ourself with the city. This is what we did during our trip in Durham:
- Durham Cathedral - it was beautiful. I loved looking at the stained windows while the organ was playing. We can go up the tower too to see the view of Durham but there was a cost to it but otherwise it was FREE.
- On the same square, you have Durham Castle (also student accommodation of Durham University). You have to book a tour to visit the castle which was in the single digits for the 3 of us. It is a small castle but the tour guide was great at explaining the history of the castle. There's a trail activity that kids can do!
- Museum of Archeology - a small museum about things found in Durham and its sources. There was kids' dressing up area as well as arts and crafts. FREE.
- Cosin's Library - as a bookworm I love visiting libraries and this was a small, cute library with the beautiful smell of old books. I loved spying the bookshelves to see what books there were. FREE but only opened from Wednesday to Sunday
- Town Hall - only open on Saturdays for the public so we missed it. I hear it is very beautiful and FREE
As previously mentioned, we also did a day trip to Newcastle. We mostly walked everywhere so we can sightsee all the popular stuff such as the bridges and the Newcastle Castle. and this is what we've done where we walked everywhere:
- Discovery Museum - The kids really enjoyed this museum. They have so many different sections with lots of different activities to do! I wasn't expecting much but we were pleasantly surprised at how much time we spent there and how interactive it was. FREE
- Seven Stories - if you have little bookworms then this is the museum for them. There's 4 floors dedicated to stories and authors. My kids were a little old for this but they did find things they enjoyed here and there. FREE
- Will we go anywhere without seeing a waterfall? Just outside the city centre, we went to visit the Jesmond Dene waterfall. Set amongst a woodland park, it was small but such a pretty city. There were stepping stones so the kids can hop across the banks. There was an old disused watermill which bought more charm to the place.
In terms of eating out, Durham had so many choices so you don't have to worry about that!
Overall, it was a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of our daily life and great to have done another relatively free holiday!
