We have all done it.  How many times have you been somewhere and said afterwards “I’d love to come back here again”, but then never actually got round to doing it. Or it has taken an absolute age for whatever reason to fulfil that promise.

We – Mrs Q and I – said the same about 12 months ago after a night away in Durham. That is in and round the county of Durham not Durham City as such (why I have said the county of Durham not County Durham will become apparent shortly).  To be more precise our visit last autumn was for an overnight stay and stargazing experience at the stunning High Force Waterfall.  We may not have seen much in the way of stars (of course it had to be a cloudy night of our visit), but the waterfall by both night and [the following] day is spectacular.

Fast forward to this summer and an invitation comes through – from the lovely people at Visit County Durham. To visit and explore Durham.  The premise basically being a couple of days stay visiting a number of the region’s key visitor attractions.

An invitation too good to refuse.

And especially on the back of what we said less than 12 months ago.

So a couple of email exchanges and planning of dates later and we are all set to go. And I have to say quite excited at the prospect, especially as our itinerary kindly put together by Lizzie at Visit County Durham covers a series of super places to visit; two of which I was secretly hoping would be included.

As the pre-visit prep info stated, when it comes to itineraries that entertain and inspire, Durham has it covered.  On the evidence on what was lined up for us, I cannot argue with that. We may not have got chance to visit its historic city, home to the Durham Cathedral and Castle UNESCO World Heritage Site (which was perhaps a little surprising to have been left off) but in some ways what we got to see more than made up for it.

One interesting point which I alluded to at the start was the whole County Durham terminology. Durham is how they refer to the whole county, with four sub-areas of Durham City, the Vale of Durham, Durham Dales and Durham Coast. They do not say County Durham.  So that’s that cleared up and a clear mental note made prior to our departure.

So what was lined up and where were we heading to? 

We were booked to stay at one of the county’s newest group friendly hotels, The Park Head Hotel, and were set to visit some of the region’s great new attractions, as well as old favourites where exciting developments are underway.  And they certainly are.

So first up was Raby Castle in The Durham Dales.  That was to be followed by exploring The Auckland Project and Beamish Museum on Day 2, with our visit and travels rounded off on the morning of Day 3 by looking in at Locomotion; all in the Vale of Durham.

So that sets the scene.  A review of all this and more to follow in a series of posts to follow.