Swerving east from rich, industrial shadows
And traffic all night north; swerving through fields...
And the widening river's slow presence
The piled gold clouds, the shining gull-marked mud
Gather to the surprise of a large town.
- Here, by Philip Larkin.
Welcome to the northeast of England. Grassy dales, open wolds, and bubbling streams. Sheep, obviously, and old men smoking pipes. Drystone walls. The northeast is Last of the summer wine country, it's rolling hills, Heartbeat, and a nice cup of tea. It's also a place of hard work, toil, and tough northern men. We go North Sea fishing, we build ships. We like a fight, too. We fought the Vikings and the Romans and then we turned our attention north and fought the Scots. We fought in the Wars, and received some of the heaviest bombings in the country. Then we had another nice cup of tea.
But the northeast isn't all drinking and fighting to a grassy backdrop. We're cultured, too. We have a huge artistic sculpture, a magnificent aquarium, and some truly impressive works of religious power, both as preserved ruins and in active use. We have futuristic conservation projects and stately homes. Great works of literature have been inspired by art and architecture in the north. If the sea, an ice cream and a bucket and spade is more your idea of a day out, the east coats is home to Hornsea, Scarborough, and Whitby, amongst others.
If you're looking for history, then take a trip up to Hadrian's Wall in the medieval kingdom Northumbria and see the Roman Empire's "aggresive statement of military might" stamped across the countryside, an ancient dividing line between us and them. And if you've travelled this far north and have fallen in love with the area and it's rough terrain, why not cross the line over into Scotland? Think of all those mountains to climb and lochs to visit...
I'm confident the northeast can provide whatever you're looking for. There's coastal resorts, rich history, museums, large city shopping, ruins and plenty of hills and downs to ramble through. And once you've done all that, you can have another nice cup of tea.
Places of interest
Regions of Northeast England
Northumbria
Tourist resources for the Northeast
- The Northeast dot com
http://www.thenortheast.com/
An excellent site covering cities and attractions in the northeast.
This node is just one part of Everything Quests: Places to visit in Ireland and the UK.
If you have any suggestions or know of something or somewhere you'd like including, please send me a /msg or get in touch with a content editor.