Land of the PRINCE BISHOPS
The American writer and Anglophile Bill Bryson first visited on a whim, getting off the train at Durham station with the intention of having a quick look at the cathedral before heading on to his destination, Newcastle. But Durham was not to release him so easily. “I fell in love with it instantly in a serious way”, he wrote. “If you have never been to Durham, go at once. Take my car. It’s wonderful.”
Many visitors overlook this enchanting city, merely glimpsing it from the train while shuttling between the tourist hotspots of York and Edinburgh. But Durham and its surrounding county boast compelling reasons to visit, not least the magnificent building that Bryson called “the best cathedral on planet earth”.
Durham Cathedral sits in a loop of the River Wear, a location chosen for the natural protection afforded by the high riverbanks on three sides and the proximity of the mighty Durham Castle. It was built to house the shrine of St Cuthbert, the Northeast’s most venerated saint, who had
