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Our Family Weekend in Durham

amomentwithfranca · 13 November 2016 · 38 Comments

As most of you know, we were invited by Virgin Trains to travel First Class to Durham. We had never been there so it was our first time visiting this amazing city.  It was just a weekend break, leaving London on the Friday afternoon and returning on Sunday afternoon. We had all day Saturday and then Sunday morning to explore. The weather was not generous with us that Saturday but we had much more luck the next day.

our-family-weekend-in-durham-v3

I must admit as a foreigner (well actually I’m British now but I have only been here 11 years so there is a lot still for me to learn), I was not familiar with Durham. When we made the plan to visit I did a bit of researching which got me super excited about it. It is located in the North East of the country and as I mentioned in my post about travelling to Durham, it takes about 3 hours to get there by train from London.

durham

KINGSLODGE INN

kingslodge-inn-entrance

We arrived in Durham on Friday evening and went straight to our hotel. We stayed at the  Kingslodge Inn, which we really loved. The people couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful, which is something I have heard about people in the North – especially in this part of the country, and it was very nice to experience this first hand! 😉

kingslodge-inn-room

The hotel was well located, just a 5 minute drive by taxi from Durham Station. You could probably easily walk but with 2 young children and our luggage there was never a realistic option! The kingslodge Inn is also not far from the town centre so it couldn’t be more practical. It is always great to know that you don’t need to travel much further to get to your hotel, to settle and rest, so that is what we did. We arrived at our hotel and we went to our room where we got our things organised. We bathed the girls and changed them into their pyjamas so then they were ready to go to bed after having dinner.

dinner-time-at-kingslodge

food-at-kingslodge-inn

We were also very pleased with their restaurant. We had dinner there both days and breakfast every day. My girls ate most of their food which is always a great sign. They had kids meals which were what we ordered for the girls each day and Nick and I tried different options from their menu each day too. I really loved the idea of coming back to the hotel after being out all day and having a nice meal before going back to the room to relax and got to bed.

kingslodge-inn-inside

kingslodge-inn-garden

The hotel is less than a mile from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Durham Cathedral and Castle, one of the best-loved and most recognisable landmarks in the country and close to Durham University as well as the mainline train station.

CATHEDRAL

durham-cathedral-outside

The weather on the Saturday was really bad. It rained a lot and was quite cloudy and dark. We didn’t know what to do as we really wanted to walk to the centre but because it was raining heavily we decided to take the bus instead. We walked to the bus station and took a bus direct to Durham Palace Green, which on one side has the Castle and on the other side, the Cathedral. Between these is Palace Green Library, outside of which the bus stops so from there we walked the short distance to the Cathedral as we had heard that this was not to be missed.

girls-inside-durham-cathedral

The Cathedral is really big and we found there was a new Open Treasure exhibition. This included some activities for the kids which my girls really liked. They gave Bella a backpack full of items to use to keep her entertained while going around. She got a torch, a soft toy, and some high quality binoculars amongst other things.

inside-durham-cathedral

You can opt for a guided tour or just go around on your own. There is no charge to go into the Cathedral but you will have to pay to do the Open Treasure Exhibition although its free for children under 5 years old. My girls were very interested to seeing one of the locations within the Cathedral, The Cloisters that was famously featured in some of the Harry Potter Film’s as part of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They have filmed inside this gorgeous Cathedral which is one of the UK’s finest Norman buildings.

durham-cathedral-outside-2Durham’s elegant cloisters became the snow-covered quadrangle, where Harry sets the owl flying in the first film and is also the scene where Ron vomits slugs in the Chamber of Secrets. The cathedral chapter house is the venue for Professor McGonagall’s class teaching the young wizards to turn animals into water goblets. This was very exciting to see for sure! 😉

CASTLE

We were so looking forward to visiting this castle but unfortunately, despite trying a couple of times each (Saturday and Sunday) we didn’t manage to get in.

durham-castle

On Saturday after our visit to the Cathedral, we went straight to the information centre to find out more about the Castle. There were no tours taking place that day because it was booked for a private event :-(. We tried again on the Sunday morning but the remaining tours which we could have taken were already fully booked. It felt like it was not meant for us to go and visit the Castle. We were able however, to take a couple of photos from the outside. Apparently, this Castle is now home to the students of University College, part of Durham University.

sienna-outside-durham-cathedral

The Castle was built on the orders of William the Conqueror in the 1070s, which then began life as a motte-and-bailey castle. It soon became a palace to showcase the wealth of the Prince-Bishops whose semi-regal powers made them one of the most powerful.

SCENERY

walking-through-durham

After our attempt to visit the Castle, we decided to instead walk around as the weather was finally picking up a bit. The sun was starting to shine a little and the city was starting to look more gorgeous than ever!

durham-scenery-river

durhamtawn-hall

It really is a pretty city with certainly a lot of charm. It is beautiful to see the sun shining through the sparkles of the water of the river. It is a breathtaking view. The Town Hall is really pretty also. It was very colourful with flowers everywhere.

durham-streets

They have a relatively small pedestrianised area that was very easy to walk through. There are many interesting streets full of one-off shops and cosmopolitan cafe’s catering to a wide variety of tastes.

MORE TO SEE

We didn’t have time to do more tourism as we had to return to the hotel, to pack and make our way to the station to catch our train back home. We had heard about a few other attractions worth visiting such as Beamish Museum (The Living Museum of the North), Kynren, Auckland Castle, Locomotion (The National Railway Museum), The Bowes Museum, Hall Hill Farm and Diggerland among others.

OUR THOUGHTS

We really had a great time in Durham. We were surprised at how pretty this city was. I was really happy to have the opportunity to visit. The Cathedral is stunning and the scenery too. We really feel that we should come back again and see more (especially the Castle!) and visit some of the other attractions we didn’t have chance to do.

I would definitely recommend you to visit Durham as I’m sure that like us, you will be surprised at how pretty it is.

Have you been to Durham before? Have you visited the Cathedral or the Castle? If so, what did you think? What other places could you recommend us to visit if we were to visit again? Please leave a comment below as I would love to read what you think. 

*Disclosure: I was invited by Virgin Trains to use their trains service to Durham. We were also guests at the Kingslodge Inn for the weekend. However all opinions and thoughts are my own.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

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Filed Under: Press Trips, Family, Lifestyle, Reviews, Travel Tagged With: Durham, Durham Castle, Durham Cathedral, Durham University, Family Trip, Kingslodge Inn Hotel, Travelling with Kids, Virgin Trains

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Comments

  1. Shelley Jessup says

    21 November 2016 at

    Durham is a beautiful place I don’t live too far away from there. You must visit the surrounding areas too, maybe Richmond & the Yorkshire Dales.

    Reply
  2. Sarah @tortoisehappy.com says

    21 November 2016 at

    Well I’ve lived in the UK all my life and never been to Durham! I’m very surprised at how picturesque it is. I’ve heard of beamish and would love to go there some time 🙂

    #KCACOLS

    Reply
  3. Emma says

    21 November 2016 at

    What a fab weekend Franca 🙂 Ive never been to Durham either and your write up makes me want to go : ) I love how you did adult things like the Cathedral and castle but there were plenty of things to engage the girls too. The cathedral reminds me of Gloucester Cathedral. they did some Harry Potter filing there too I think.
    #KCACOLS

    Reply
  4. Gabriela Green says

    21 November 2016 at

    Nice pictures! I love all those colorful flowers 🙂 #KCACOLS

    Reply
  5. alana - BurniShed chaos says

    21 November 2016 at

    I love Durham and actually live pretty close (I’m within the county). I can highly recommend Beamish if you are ever up this way again, we go a couple of times a year and the kids love it. We’ll be going back there at Christmas to visit Santa and his reindeer x
    #KCACOLS

    Reply
  6. shaney (imummyblog) says

    21 November 2016 at

    Durham is not a place that i would ever think to visit, but it looks great so thanks for sharing! Good to know that Locomotion (The National Railway Museum) is there, My partner and i are both train driver so we’d probably love it! #kcacols

    Reply
  7. Lianne harris says

    22 November 2016 at

    Ooo it looks so lovely! Loved the shrubbery with Durham carved out! #KCAKOLS

    Reply
  8. The Speed Bump says

    24 November 2016 at

    Sounds lovely, I really want to visit Durham one day! #KCACOLS

    Reply
  9. ERFmama says

    24 November 2016 at

    I loooove the Cathedral! But I love everything old! hehe
    I’m one of those people who will go to old cemeteries and grave sites just because I find it amazing to touch something that was built or part of us so many hundred years ago. 🙂
    Probably why I love history museums haha.
    I would love to go to Rome one day….to touch something so old…it’s amazing. 🙂

    #KCACOLS

    Reply
  10. Becci - The UnNatural Mother says

    24 November 2016 at

    What a lovely little weekend for you . The Girls looked like they loved it and your hubby obviously enjoyed the beer #KCACOLS

    Reply
  11. Laura - dear bear and beany says

    24 November 2016 at

    Somewhere I’ve never been before. It’s looks a beautiful place to visit and what a lovely place to stay. x #KCACOLS

    Reply
  12. Cal at Family Makes says

    24 November 2016 at

    Yay the one I’ve been waiting for! So glad you enjoyed Durham, and sorry the weather wasn’t so kind to you. We’re a friendly lot up here, you must come back again soon. #KCACOLS

    Reply
  13. Amie says

    26 November 2016 at

    Sounds like you had a great tie 🙂 #KCACOLS

    Reply
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Hi, I'm Franca. Blogger for 9 yrs, exploring lifestyle, family, travel. Ex-lawyer turned full-time digital creator. Love testing and reviewing new products, services, and destinations. Read More…

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