20 Attractions to Explore Near Stanhope Castle

One of the unique venues with a range of attractions such as a tearoom offering homemade hot and cold meals, specialty coffees and teas, gift shops and speciality craft shops, gardens, visitor information, function room, and business offices. The grounds of the Centre boasts a wonderful site, also home to a wonderful sculpture, covered in lots of fossils, known as Frosterley Marble.

Weardale, one of the Durham Dales, was once the hunting ground of County Durham’s Prince Bishops. This spectacular dale has beautiful historic settlements, great attractions and exhilarating landscapes to discover. Explore this stunning area either by car, on foot, on horseback or by bicycle or motorbike – there’s actually more miles of foot and cycle paths in the county than roads, so visitors feel far away from their busy lives.

The Harehope Quarry Project is based in a former limestone quarry near the village of Frosterley in County Durham. The project aims to demonstrate a more sustainable way of living through its education and events programme and through the development and management of this Local Wildlife Site.

Waskerley Reservoir belongs to a group of three reservoirs, the others being Smiddy Shaw and Hideshope Reservoir. A popular outdoor activity is fly fishing – you can buy up to five-day tickets. Besides fishing, walking and cycling are favorite activities due to the beautiful scenery. Waskerley can be replenished by a gravity feed from Burnhope Reservoir or, if necessary, by pumping water from the Tyne-Tees Tunnel via an airshaft.

Tunstall Reservoir was a water supply storage reservoir completed in 1879 and now used solely to maintain minimum regulatory flows on the River Wear in northeast England set in beautiful countryside. There is a fishing lodge at the far end with picnic tables, resident ducks, and a portaloo.

The Waskerley Way is a 16km route running from Parkhead Station above Stanhope in Weardale to Lydgetts Junction. An entirely off road route using the National Cycle Network, suitable for mountain, hybrid or cross bikes from the heart of Newcastle along the Tyne and Derwent valleys and then the Waskerley Way right on the cusp of the Pennines.

Hamsterley Forest is a commercial forest in County Durham operated by the Forestry Commission. It is the largest forest in County Durham and covers more than 2,000 hectares. It is a fantastic day out for the whole family. From wildlife watching to stargazing, and adventure play for all the family to exhilarating mountain biking, there is something to keep everyone busy.

Derwent Reservoir is a reservoir on the River Derwent, on the border between County Durham and Northumberland, in England. It is west of Consett. It is one of the biggest inland waters in England. It also hosts a sailing club, which holds many events throughout the year, including windsurfing, sailing, running, and triathlons. The area around the reservoir hosts the annual Tour of the Reservoir cycle race.

One of the picturesque locations where you can spend some nice time from wildlife watching to stargazing, and adventure play for all the family to exhilarating mountain biking, there is something to keep everyone busy. 2000 hectares of mixed scenic woodland lying between the Wear and Tees valleys on the edge of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Pow Hill is set in moorland overlooking the Derwent Reservoir. The word Pow comes from Old English and means ‘slow-moving stream’ which refers to the waterlogged boggy area in the north of the site. Rain falling on the surrounding moors is absorbed into the peaty ground. Water then seeps downhill into basins and shallow valleys, creating bogs. Conserved for its special wildlife interest, the area is home to goldcrests, coal tits, roe deer and red squirrels.

Summerhill Force is a picturesque waterfall in a wooded glade near Bowness in Upper Teesdale. Heavily undercut, the recess behind the fall is known as "Gibson's Cave". The waterfall is called Summerhill Force, but because of the recess behind the waterfall it is more affectionately known as Gibson’s Cave.

Hall Hill Farm is a tourist attraction Set in the attractive countryside with the opportunity to see and touch animals at close quarters. Farm trailer ride, barrel train, gift shop, tearoom, picnic, and indoor and outdoor play areas. there is a wide variety of animals including both large and small, from chicks, pigs, goats, deer, sheep, donkeys, ponies to llamas and highland cattle. It covers 290 hectares, consisting of 140 hectares of grassland, 40 hectares of woodland, and the remainder for

Bowlees Visitor Centre has all you need to make your visit to the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty a memorable one. The information point stocks a range of walks leaflets, maps and books about the North Pennines and also has a café and gift shop. The centre is run by the North Pennines AONB Partnership and includes events, exhibitions, galleries, Gibson's Cave, and waterfalls.

The North Pennines is a stunning landscape of open heather moors and peatlands, attractive dales and hay meadows, tumbling upland rivers, wonderful woods, welcoming communities, intriguing imprints of a mining and industrial past, distinctive birds, animals and plants and much more. The area has previously been mined and quarried for minerals such as barytes, coal fluorspar, iron, lead, witherite and zinc.

One of the most beautiful waterfalls in the north of England, Low Force is a series of low cascades on the River Tees, about three miles upstream of Middleton-in-Teesdale. Low Force is also the site of the Wynch Bridge, completed in 1830. It is suggested that only one person at a time should cross the bridge as it may be unstable.

An iron suspension footbridge with planked walkway, over the River Tees, by the Low Force waterfalls, near Holwick and Newbiggin. The bridge was built c.1820 for the Duke of Cleveland and is Grade II* listed. It was the first chain bridge in the western world after the Tibetan and Chinese onesChain bridges had not found imitators in the West for a long time.

Teesdale is mostly an upland area within the northern Pennines. Its bleak basalt and limestone moorlands gradually descend eastward from an elevation of about 2,500 to 600 feet (760 to 185 metres) and border the Tees valley on both north and south. One of the nice trekking destination and also you can spend some nice time in the middle of nature.

Burnhope Reservoir is a reservoir above the village of Wearhead, County Durham, England. There are some wonderful woodland trails and lakeside paths to enjoy. It's a very quiet place with a series of picnic tables where you can stop to enjoy the lovely scenery of the North Pennines AONB. The reservoir supplies water to the Wear Valley treatment works at Wearhead and there is a pipeline connection to Waskerley Reservoir, which supplies Honey Hill water treatment works.

This sculpture consists of two measuring instruments; a theodolite and an engineer's level, reproduced twenty times life size, standing approximately six metres tall. Made from stainless steel and supported on animal feet, this work is visible for many miles and stands as a monument to the history of the area and a prominent mile marker for the C2C cycle route. Terris Novalis is situated on the Coast to Coast cycle path which means it has relatively easy access for cyclists or those walking the

High Force is one of the most impressive waterfalls in England. The River Tees has been plunging into this gorge for thousands of years but the rocks it reveals are far more ancient – with origins dating back over 300 million years. Very occasionally the river level will be high enough to flow over the central section of rock; the last recorded time this happened was in December 2015 after Storm Desmond. In harsh winters the falls have been known to freeze, creating cathedral-like ice formation