Day 1 (Friday): Depart North Wales and travel to the old university city of Durham. It’s a captivating city with winding cobbled streets, a prominent peninsula crowned with the dramatic Durham Cathedral and Castle UNESCO World Heritage Site, offering one of the most stunning city panoramas in Europe. We continue our journey to Newcastle for a 3-night stay.
Day 2 (Saturday): This morning we make the scenic journey to Lindisfarne, or Holy Island. The island is home to the ruins of Lindisfarne Priory, a unique castle with a Gertrude Jekyll garden and a colony of grey seals. We continue to the city of Newcastle where there will be free time for shopping or to visit one of the many bars in the city centre.
Should you prefer not to visit Lindisfarne and spend the entire day in Newcastle, a metro station with frequent services to the city centre is just a 5-minute walk from the hotel.
Day 3 (Sunday): A full day visit to Beamish: The Living Museum of the North. The world-famous open-air museum tells the story of the north east of England in the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods. Enjoy unlimited rides on the restored trams and replica buses and see attractions including a working farm, an authentic town street, the colliery village and, newly opened in 2011, a traditional coal fired Fish & Chip shop!
We return to our hotel during the afternoon where there will be time to relax and make use of the hotel’s leisure facilities before your meal this evening.
Day 4 (Monday): We depart Newcastle after breakfast and travel to historic York. Enjoy some time at leisure wandering the medieval web of narrow streets before we complete the journey home. We will stop en-route for a 2-course meal at the Novotel Manchester West Hotel.