Things to do in Northeast England
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Blake's Coffee House
There is nowhere better than this high-ceilinged cafe for a Sunday-morning cure on any day of the week. It's friendly, relaxed and serves up the biggest selection of coffees in town. Every second Thursday is Acoustic Night, which has featured big names such as Katie Tunstall as well as lesser known local strummers.
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Almshouse
Fancy imaginative and satisfying snacks served in a genuine 17th-century house right on Palace Green? It's a shame about the interior, which has been restored to look like any old museum canteen. All the artwork on the walls is for sale.
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Brown Sugar
This trendy coffee shop-cum-bar is a favourite with university students, who fold into the oversize leather couches, nibble on a ciabatta sandwich (no ordinary bread here, mate) and talk about how much study they should be doing. A perfect hang-out.
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Walking Tours
Walking Tours 1½-hour walking tours of the main sites of interest, run by and departing from the Grainger St branch of the tourist office.
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Durham Cathedral
Durham's most famous building – and the main reason for visiting unless someone you know is at university here – has earned superlative praise for so long that to add more would be redundant; how can you do better than the 19th-century novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote fawningly: 'I never saw so lovely and magnificent a scene, nor (being content with this) do I care to see better'. This may be overstating things a bit but no one can deny that as the definitive structure of the Anglo-Norman Romanesque style, Durham Cathedral is one of the world's greatest places of worship. Unesco certainly thought so when they declared it a World Heritage Site in 1986.
The cathe…
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London Bridge Experience & London Tombs
London’s latest attraction marrying history with hysteria – ‘edutainment’ as it’s (unfortunately) becoming known in these parts – is far and away its scariest. Located in the vaults beneath so-called New London Bridge (dating back to 1831), the history part takes you on a whistle-stop tour of London’s most famous span – from the Romans to the Vikings, from Peter de Colechurch’s ‘Old London Bridge’ (1209) with all the shops, to the American Robert McCulloch, who paid US$2.5 in 1967 for the privilege of transporting the dismantled bridge to Arizona. This is essentially a kids’ show so there’s much focus on such personalities as ‘the Keeper of the Heads’ whose job it was to …
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Life Science Centre
This educational centre, part of the portentously named International Centre for Life (a complex of institutes devoted to the study of genetic science), is one of the more interesting attractions in town. Through a series of several interactive displays and the latest technology, you (or your kids) can discover the incredible secrets of life.
The highlight is the Motion Ride, a motion simulator that, among other things, lets you 'feel' what it's like to score a goal at St James' Park and bungee jump from the Tyne Bridge. There's lots of thought-provoking arcade-style games, and if the information sometimes gets lost on the way, never mind, kids will love it.
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Durham Castle
Built as a standard motte-and-bailey fort in 1072, Durham Castle was the prince bishops' home until 1837, when it became the first college of the new university. It remains a university hall, and you can stay here.
The castle has been much altered over the centuries, as each successive prince bishop sought to put his particular imprint on the place, but heavy restoration and reconstruction were necessary anyway as the castle is built of soft stone on soft ground. Highlights of the 45-minute tour include the groaning 17th-century Black Staircase, the 16th-century chapel and the beautifully preserved Norman chapel (1080).
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walls
Berwick's superb walls were begun in 1558 to reinforce an earlier set built during the reign of Edward II. They represented state-of-the-art military technology of the day and were designed both to house artillery (in arrowhead-shaped bastions) and to withstand it (the walls are low and massively thick, but it's still a long way to fall).
You can walk almost the entire length of the walls, a circuit of about a mile. It's a must, with wonderful, wide-open views. Only a small fragment remains of the once mighty border castle, by the train station. The tourist office has a brochure describing the main sights.
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BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Once a huge, dirty, yellow grain store overlooking the Tyne, BALTIC is now a huge, dirty, yellow art gallery to rival London's Tate Modern. Unlike the Tate, there are no permanent exhibitions here, but the constantly rotating shows feature the work and installations of some of contemporary art's biggest show stoppers. The complex has artists in residence, a performance space, a cinema, a bar, a spectacular rooftop restaurant (you'll need to book) and a ground-floor restaurant with riverside tables. There's also a viewing box for a fine Tyne vista.
reviewed
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Tyne Bridges
The most famous view in Newcastle is the cluster of Tyne bridges, and the most famous of these is the Tyne Bridge (1925-28), built at about the same time as (and very reminiscent of) Australia's Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The quaint little Swing Bridge pivots in the middle to let ships through. Nearby, High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, was the world's first road and railway bridge (1849). The most recent addition is the multiple-award-winning Millennium Bridge (aka Blinking Bridge; 2002), which opens like an eyelid to let ships pass.
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Trent House Soul Bar
The wall has a simple message: 'Drink Beer. Be Sincere.' This simply unique place is the best bar in town because it is all about an ethos rather than a look. Totally relaxed and utterly devoid of pretentiousness, it is an old-school boozer that out-cools every other bar because it isn't trying to. And because it has the best jukebox in all of England - you could spend years listening to the extraordinary collection of songs it contains. It is run by the same folks behind the superb World Headquarters nightclub.
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Bessie Surtee's House
The Tyne's northern bank was the hub of commercial Newcastle in the 16th century and on Sandhill a row of leaning merchant houses has survived from that era. One of them is the Bessie Surtee's House where three rooms are open to the public. The daughter of a wealthy banker, feisty Bessie annoyed Daddy by falling in love with John Scott (1751–1838), a pauper. It all ended in smiles as John went on to become Lord Chancellor.
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Newcastle United Football Club
Newcastle United Football Club is more than just a football team: it is the collective expression of Geordie hope and pride as well as the release for decades of economic, social and sporting frustration. Its fabulous ground, St James' Park (box office 261 1571) is always packed. Match tickets go on public sale about two weeks before a game or you can try the stadium on the day, but there's no chance for big matches, such as those against arch-rivals Sunderland.
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Discovery Museum
Tyneside's rich history is uncovered through a fascinating series of exhibits at this unmissable museum. The exhibitions, spread across three floors of the former Co-operative Wholesale Society building, surround the mightily impressive 30m-long Turbinia, the fastest ship in the world in 1897. There's an absorbing section dedicated to shipbuilding on the Tyne including a scale model of the river as it was in 1929, a buzzers-and-bells science maze for the kids and a 'Story of Newcastle' section giving the low-down on the city's history from Pons Aelius (Newcastle's Roman name) to Cheryl Cole.
The museum is about a 10 minute walk west of Central Station along Neville St and…
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Biscuit Factory
No prizes for guessing what this commercial art gallery used to be. What it is now, though, is the country's biggest art shop, where you can peruse and buy work by artists from near and far in a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, glassware and furniture, much of which has a northeast theme. Even if you don't buy, the art is excellent and there's a top-class restaurant too (Brasserie Black Door).
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Seven Stories
A marvellous conversion of a handsome Victorian mill has resulted in Seven Stories, a very hands-on museum dedicated to the wondrous world of children's literature. Across the seven floors you'll find original manuscripts, a growing collection of artwork from the 1930s onwards and a constantly changing programme of exhibitions, activities and events designed to encourage the AA Milnes of the new millennium.
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Durham Light Infantry Museum
The history of Durham's County Regiment and its part in various wars from 1758 to 1968 is brought to life at this museum 500m northwest of city centre; there's a small art gallery with changing exhibitions.
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Guided Walks
Walks lasting 1½ hours leave from Millennium Pl. Contact the tourist office for details.
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Laing Art Gallery
The exceptional collection at the Laing includes works by Gainsborough, Gauguin and Henry Moore, and an important collection of paintings by Northumberland-born artist John Martin (1789–1854). Free guided tours run Saturdays at 11am.
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Blackie Boy
At first glance, this darkened old boozer looks like any old traditional pub. Look closer. The overly red lighting. The single bookcase. The large leather armchair that is rarely occupied. The signage on the toilets: 'Dick' and 'Fanny'. This place could have featured in Twin Peaks, which is why it's so damn popular with everyone.
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Big Mussel
This informal diner specialises in one of Europe's oddest national dishes – mussels and chips – the favourite nosh of the Belgians, ideally washed down with a fruity Flemish ale. There are ample pasta and vegetarian options and live jazz on weekday evenings (from 7pm).
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Shakespeare
As authentic a traditional bar as you're likely to find in these parts, this is the perfect local's boozer, complete with nicotine-stained walls, cosy snugs and a small corner TV to show the racing. Needless to say, the selection of beers and spirits is terrific. Not surprisingly, students love it too.
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Pizzeria Francesca
One of the northeast's best pizza and pasta joints, this chaotic, friendly place is how all Italian restaurants should be. Excitable, happy waiters and huge portions of pizza and pasta keep them queuing at the door – get in line and wait because you can't book in advance.
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World Headquarters
Dedicated to the genius of black music in all its guises – funk, rare groove, dance-floor jazz, northern soul, genuine R&B, lush disco, proper house and reggae – this fabulous club is strictly for true believers, and judging from the numbers, there are thousands of them.
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