Walworth Castle, Co. Durham Trip

Walworth Castle Hotel near Durham. 

The first of the three weekends for which we exchanged our luxury London theatre weekend was to Walworth Castle Hotel near Durham.  More about the other two to Telford and Scotland later

We left home in foggy conditions which persisted until we were east of Harrogate.  After a leisurely stop for lunch in Richmond we arrived at Walworth Castle.  As our room was not ready we took the opportunity to drive to Barnards Castle with its tea rooms and antique shops.

Walworth Castle is a renovated 12^th Century Castle set in 18 acres of lovely countryside of the Tees Valley, though due to the mist that prevailed during our stay we saw very little of the grounds.  We were directed to our rooms which were situated in the modern wing of the hotel.  The room was a little characterless but nonetheless functional.

We had an afternoon tea booked in the lounge of the hotel. The afternoon tea consisted of finger sandwiches, scones, cake and a glass of wine each. 

In the evening we drove into Darlington which was trimmed up for the Christmas festivities, where we enjoyed a very pleasant evening meal in a small Italian bistro. Dale had a lovely pork in Marsala sauce and I had a fish stew. 

The following morning we were greeted with freezing fog, which did not get any better by the time we had enjoyed a hearty breakfast.  We pressed ahead with our plans to visit Durham, driving northward through the fog.  However, by the time we reached Durham the fog had cleared and a beautiful, crisp sunny day unfolded before us.

We started by walking through the city center up to the cathedral.  We enjoyed a leisurely look around the cathedral and even managed the climb up the highest tower.

 

Following this we made our way down to the river for a riverside walk.

Lunch was soup and sandwiches in an old café, with the afternoon taken up with a look around the city and another riverside walk.

The temperature took a downturn so we decided to make our way back to the hotel, which turned out to be another drive in the freezing fog.

In the evening we decided to try a Thai Restaurant that we had seen on the way to Barnards Castle the previous day.  A very agreeable meal was served along with a nice range of beers.  Dale had wrapped prawns to start followed by a Thai chicken curry with strips of ginger.  I had a plate of mixed starters followed by a roast duck curry which was delicious.

We left the hotel after breakfast, travelling again in the fog.  We decided to stop of in Rippon for a quick look round and then drove to Skipton for some lunch.