Caravan touring: Tinsel Time in Teesdale

  Touring Caravans Ultimate Guide

Take a festive caravan tour to County Durham and North Yorkshire to immerse yourself in a world of historic castles — and cheese!

Words & Photography by Felicity Martin

It’s easy to let your horizons shrink in the winter. After rushing around the shops, numbed by Christmas jingles, the inclination is to curl up on the sofa with a hot drink. But having a caravan means that sofa could be somewhere you’ve never been before. The kettle could be boiling while you gaze out on unfamiliar and enchanting scenery.

That was my theory when I booked a campsite in Teesdale in mid December. It meant taking a chance with the weather; but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Andrew and I are heading for Teesdale to explore an area new to us, after visiting friends for a couple of nights. They moved away from our village in Perthshire a year ago and have been missing Comrie’s superb delicatessen. So we have just completed a ‘mercy run’, taking them a dozen of Hansen’s Kitchen mince pies — the best I’ve ever tasted.

The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle

It’s a glorious winter’s day, with the low sun shining brilliantly, so our friends decide to have a day out with us at Barnard Castle, driving separately by car. As we approach the town, a romantic ruin is silhouetted on a bluff above the River Tees. Stone walls glow golden in the warm light, with glassless window arches framing slivers of azure sky.

Egglestone Abbey looks so inviting that we divert to have a look around. There is a small car park beside it and free entry. Although many of the buildings were demolished during the reformation, part of the abbey was used as workers’ accommodation by adjacent Rokeby Park into the 1800s.

Our destination at Barnard Castle is Bowes Museum, which holds a Christmas market. It’s not somewhere I had heard of before I researched Teesdale on the internet. I’m not prepared for the size and grandeur of the building that we see rising above the trees on the edge of town. It looks like a French château materialising on the edge of the North Pennines.

Market stalls are arranged around four sides of the formal gardens below the museum, with fairground rides and refreshment stalls on the terrace outside. We wander around, choosing chocolates, cards and fleecy slippers.

Our dog, Braan, particularly likes the cheese stalls because the owners give her morsels to taste. We buy a round of a flavoursome blue and a pack of craft beer from a neighbouring stall.

Hazel and I are desperate to have a go on the merry-go-round horses, but the men are reluctant to revert to childhood. It’s enormous fun, galloping around in circles with rousing Christmas tunes playing. Because it’s free to have as many rides as you like, I keep going back for another go.

Into the museum to warm up

As the sun goes down, the chill sets in. Even mulled wine can’t keep us warm, so Braan is tucked up under a blanket in the ‘van while we explore inside the museum.

The rooms are as big and in proportion to the exterior — much bigger than you’d expect in a house, however magnificent. The mystery is solved when we discovered Bowes was never lived in, but was built by John and Josephine Bowes to house a museum.

They had no children to leave their fortune to, so it was their legacy to county and country. Josephine was an accomplished landscape painter and had an eye for design. They purchased an amazing collection of paintings, ceramics, silverware and furniture to fill the museum.

The middle floor has an exhibition ‘Catwalking’ with outfits from top fashion houses, like Louis Vuitton and Alexander McQueen and a lifetime’s pictures by fashion photographer Chris Moore. The top floor houses the famed Silver Swan automaton, which comes alive once a day (we come in too late to see it).

There is also a gold clockwork mouse, encrusted with pearls, designed to run around and twitch its whiskers. The museum café keeps up the high standards, with ‘silver service’ and lovely food.

The Christmas market stays open until 7pm on Friday and, by the time we leave, the illuminated rides look pretty in the dark. The Geminids meteor shower peaks tonight and it is cloudless. Later, away from street lights, we gaze up at the stars. Although the moon is still bright — it’s deep yellow and lying on its back near the horizon — we spot several shooting stars streaking overhead.

Exploring the castles

We return to Barnard Castle early the next day for a look around the town, parking in the big Galgate car park behind Morrisons.

The castle doesn’t open until 10am (and is only open at weekends in the winter), so we follow the Teesdale Way down to Flatts Wood, make a loop around Percy Beck then follow the River Tees downstream under the castle walls to the old bridge. Our return route is up the attractive main street, which has many independent shops.

We are the only visitors looking around the castle, the ruins of which cover a surprisingly vast area, with outer, middle and inner wards at different levels.

A cold wind cuts through us, so we quickly circumnavigate the ramparts then cross the moat to the inner keep, where climbing a staircase built into the walls of the round tower gives us a more elevated view. The temperature remains below freezing all day and the ground is unyielding under our feet, with every worm cast as hard as a pebble.

We drive to the nearby village of Bowes to see its ruined castle. There’s only narrow street-parking, so we stopped in the village hall car park and I quickly walk up to the castle while Andrew prepares lunch. The massive square keep has no outer defences other than a dry moat, but looks impressively sturdy.

The strengthening wind is now carrying a fine, icy rain, so I beat a hasty retreat.

Returning downhill I find my feet slipping under me; the rain is freezing on contact with the ground and turning to black ice. We spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing at our campsite while a storm blows in and buffets the caravan. Rain lashes the roof, but the forecast snow never appears.

Cold day in Richmond

By dawn, it is beautifully clear, but every surface is covered in ice. The views from the large dog walk field are magnificent, with winter trees looming out of mist-filled hollows.

Gingerly following B-roads, we drive to Richmond, which looks like a three-dimensional town; yet another castle towers above narrow lanes that plummet down to the river. From Yorke Square car park we walk up a steep, cobbled path to Castle Walk and follow it around the south side of the fortifications, high above the fast flowing River Swale.

A detour down to the Foss (or Force) gives us a close view of the river powering over a hard step of rock. Canoeists are gathering on the bank, getting ready to tackle the rapids. Just looking at them makes me feel cold.

We enter the castle beside the massive keep and first explore the walls, dropping through a gate to the Cockpit, a garden beside the great hall. It has topiary, lawns and seats with a view of the river.

Beside the keep is the cell block where conscientious objectors were imprisoned during WWI. They were eventually sent to France and those that refused to help the military effort were court martialed and sentenced to death. A reprieve arrived a day before they were executed and their sentence was commuted to ten years hard labour.

We climb stairs up the keep to enjoy a 360-degree panorama. The castle is laid out below and there is a great view over Richmond’s Market Square, which was built on the plan of what was once the castle’s outer bailey.

Before leaving, we have a look at the exhibition. It describes the building and running of the castle through clear and colourful displays and models that bring medieval times alive.

Coffee and an Abbey

Down in the square we find Mocha, a dog friendly café and squeeze into a table for two between other dog-occupied tables. As it’s a chocolate shop I choose the luxury mocha and it’s excellent, not too sweet and with two shots of coffee and real dark chocolate melted into it.

Refreshed, we drive to nearby Easby Abbey, yet another English Heritage site. We wander around the extensive ruins. Like Egglestone, it was an abbey of ‘White Canons’ – ordained priests rather than monks, founded in 1152.

These canons joined the Pilgrimage of Grace in protest against the reformation. In punishment, Henry VIII ordered their execution and destruction of the abbey.

The adjacent church of St Agatha is even older, dating from 1100. It has wonderful thirteenth century wall paintings that depict Old and New Testament stories. They were saved during the Reformation by being covered in whitewash.

Icy roads

Another clear, frosty morning is our cue to explore the more rural delights of upper Teesdale.

As we pass Eggleston, the low sun illuminates the medieval cultivation terraces etched into the hillside. This part of the valley is lush and green, with tree-lined stone walls dividing the fields.

Further up at Forest-in-Teesdale the pastures are rushy, and the flat ground ends suddenly in rocky scars that run along the foot of bleak moorland.

We are planning to brew coffee at the picnic site overlooking Cow Green Reservoir, the source of the Tees. However, as the private water board road begins to climb more steeply the whole surface becomes a sheet of white ice. The wheels are spinning and there’s no way we’ll make the last mile. Andrew ends up reversing 500 yards until he can turn at a junction.

The real Teesdale

Back down the valley we park at Bowlees. The adjacent visitor centre is closed until February, but a useful information board details walks, and we set off on one of the longer ones. We cross the Tees by a suspension bridge below Low Force, where coffee-coloured water is surging over ledges of hard rock.

Walking upstream on the Pennine Way gives us a real feel for the Teesdale landscape. Higher up we enter the Moor House-Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve with thick stands of juniper, which, we mistook for gorse.

The apex of our route is a viewpoint looking upstream to High Force. The sheer power of water surging over the 70ft high Whin Sill of solidified magma is impressive. Spray rises like steam from the boiling caldron of water in the pool at the foot.

Retracing our steps, we cross another footbridge to take a higher route back along an old trackway. The moon grows bright as the light fades on the last mile back to Bowlees.

Our final visit is to Raby Castle. The magnificent castle is closed for winter, but we enjoy coffee and mince pies in the Stables Tearoom. I planned to pay for entry to the extensive deer park, but it’s a cold and wet day. Even Braan shows no inclination for a walk. So, with a last look at the Christmas trees on sale (no, one won’t fit in Stella), we head north for home.

My winter weather gamble has paid off. We feel better for the fresh air, exercise and historic treasures we have experienced. The things we’ve seen have given us a wealth of stories to bore our stay-at-home neighbours with over the holidays!

Where to stay

Hillcrest Park, Caldwell, Richmond, North Yorkshire DL11 7UD
T 01325 733145
W hillcrestpark.co.uk
Open All year
Price £25

Pitch here and you'll be within reach of the beautiful market town of Richmond and Barnard Castle. You can pre-order locally sourced food before your arrival if you don't have time to do a shop before you leave home. The shop also sells essentials.

Top tips

Barnard Castle, Richmond Castle, Bowes Castle, Egglestone Abbey and Easby Abbey are all in the care of English Heritage. The first two are paying attractions (only open at weekends in winter), the others are free to visit and open all year

W english-heritage.org.uk

As well as the permanent collections and galleries, The Bowes Museum has a programme of top-class exhibitions that run for a few months and are supported by events such as lectures and workshops. The Silver Swan automaton plays every day at 2pm

W thebowesmuseum.org.uk