An angel, a cathedral and a 'castle'

An early start today as we travelled to Coneysthorpe, North Yorkshire via the city of Durham. Our first stop was to see the Angel of the North on the A1 motorway between Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne.   What a spectacular sight this huge steel sculpture is as it towers over the people at its foot!

 

Then back down the A1 to Durham where we sent several hours viewing the sights. The city had a vibrant atmosphere with lots of visiting students and their families thronging the streets as they checked out the university on an open day. We loved the old stone bridges (12th century) and the remnants of the medieval city - a vennel (a tunnel formed when an open lane had been covered by a residence on top) and a hidden courtyard where we could see a bit of a medieval wall incorporated within another wall, beside the turret from a later wall.

As we entered Durham Cathedral we were thrilled to hear the organ playing and a choir singing. The sound reverberated around the Norman building as the crowd of visitors stood in awe. After touring the cathedral, we had lunch in the Undercroft restaurant and then called in at the World Heritage Centre on the Palace Green where we watched an interesting video about the history of the cathedral and castle. Unfortunately the castle was not open for public tours today because it is part of the university campus and was open only for prospective students. We also saw the former monks' dormitory, now a campus library, with a towering ceiling of rough-hewn wooden beams.

Durham Cathedral

Back to the car for the 70 mile drive south-east of Durham to Coneysthorpe. As we neared Lime Kiln House, our B & B for the next four nights, we followed signs to Castle Howard which is just across the village green from us. What a thrill it was for a Brideshead Revisited tragic like me to see the dome of the mansion from our bedroom window! We were welcomed to her home by Gillian who led us upstairs to a very spacious bedroom and bathroom where everything has been provided including a first aid kit, a sewing kit, bath robes, chocolates, shortbread biscuits, lots of tourist leaflets, several books about Castle Howard and a shelf of novels. Can't wait for tomorrow when we will visit Castle Howard!

View of Castle Howard from our window
- through Ian's telephoto lens