From Romans to Victorians in one trip!

Last summer towards the end of June we took a trip to the Northeast, partly as a working trip for Sarah, as she had to deliver some training courses, and partly as a few days away to enjoy some of the sights found around the Newcastle area.

We had a couple of nights at Durham CC site so Sarah could deliver a training day, and I enjoyed the Beamish Open Air museum, and then we went back again on the Saturday so Sarah could enjoy it! Your 'passport' ticket gives you further visits free for the whole year afterwards! Well worth a visit. There are trams and sometimes they also run trolleybuses to get you around the quite extensive site.

There is also the replica 'Locomotion' steam engine that you can ride on, well, on the carriages it pulls, and then pushes back again. The only have about 400 yards of track, but it is set in a small valley that they are landscaping and farming in the same way it was done in the early 1800's. Worth a visit for the steamaholics out there!

We then moved up to Old Harley for a few nights, where I just love waking up every morning to drink my early morning cuppa and looking out to sea with the view of the lighthouse!

From here Sarah did a day's training in Newcastle and then we had a day's visit to the spectacular Vercovicium Roman Fort, and nearby is Vindolanda, a very large Roman settlement where they are still making some remarkable archaeological finds! Well worth a visit if this is of interest.