Pictures from the first half of April.
Ryhope pumping station
Return visit to Ryhope pumping station on a steaming car day + car rally.
Vintage cars were parked on every flat surface!
Blacksmith hard at work at his forge.
Binchester Roman fort and Bishop Auckland
The well-preserved bath house at Binchester Roman fort (Vinovia). Although within walking distance of Bishop Auckland, the site is off any tourist trails and we could have been the only visitors that day!
(L) The impressive entrance to Auckland Castle, the former residence of the bishops of Durham. (R) Bishop Auckland town hall. Astonishingly the building had fallen into such decline by the 1980s that its demolition was planned! Fortunately it was saved. [Note that the rest of Bishop isn’t that pretty!]
Cherryburn
Cherryburn (National Trust) was the birthplace of the engraver Thomas Bewick, best known for his History of British Birds.
Woods in a walk from the nearby strangely sprawling village of Stocksfield.
Coxhoe
The Coxhoe pulley wheel, a sad reminder of the coal mines that were the hearts of the many pit villages scattered around County Durham.