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Last modified on Tue 9 Mar 2021 08.55 EST
Tyne and Wear
For millions of readers around the world, the image of the country between the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear was woven by Catherine Cookson, the region’s most prolific and popular author. Cookson’s was a landscape of collieries, shipyards, rumbling coal trains, sooty-faced kids and the instantly nostalgic tones of pithead silver bands playing Haydn. While fragments of her world remain – mainly in the doughty cheerfulness of the locals – over the past four decades, as heavy industry has receded, a more distant past has emerged.
Twelve centuries before Dame Catherine began her career, the north-east’s first great literary figure, the Venerable Bede, was busy writing the histories that would help forge an English identity. Saint Bede (whose story is brought to life at the excellent Jarrow Hall Anglo-Saxon Village) divided his time between the twin monasteries of Saint Paul’s in Jarrow and Saint Peter’s in Monk
Tearoom and restaurant at Barnsdale Gardens redecorated Published: 10:00, 20 December 2020
A tearoom and restaurant have been given a new look in order to encourage people to visit a hidden countryside gem.
The eatery at Barnsdale Gardens in Exton was recently redecorated to give a more modern feel and better reflect the business.
Nick Hamilton, owner of Barnsdale Gardens, said: âIt feels much more homely and a nicer environment to eat in.
The Helenium Tea Room at Barnsdale Gardens
âIt was becoming dated and it wasnât reflecting the rest of the business.
âWe worked for a while trying to find the right time financially to do it.â