Media Pack 2018/19 - Visit County Durham

Media Pack
 2018/19

Welcome to Durham, a sweeping emerald canvas with breathtaking dales, a dramatic
   coastline, a vale steeped in history and a vibrant city at its heart. Durham City, the proud
    capital of the county, is looped by the River Wear which has cut deeply into sandstone
 creating a peninsula that has been exploited for its natural defensive enclosure since before
the Norman Conquest. The peninsula is now the site of Durham Cathedral, which was recently
named the UK’s top attraction by TripAdvisor users, and Durham Castle. The two Romanesque
 buildings were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, and in 2016 celebrated its
                                30-year anniversary as a WHS site.

                                                                                       Durham Cathedral

Durham City, the proud capital of the county, is looped by the River Wear which has cut deeply into
sandstone creating a peninsula that has been exploited for its natural defensive enclosure since before the
Norman Conquest. The peninsula is now the site of Durham Cathedral, which was named the UK’s top
attraction by TripAdvisor users last year, and Durham Castle. The two Romanesque buildings were
designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The city is full of other hidden gems such as Crook Hall
and Gardens, a 13th Century Medieval hall set in beautiful English gardens.

To the west of Durham City, and covering more than half the county, sit the Durham Dales made up of
Teesdale, an area hewn by glacial movements during Ice Age Britain and split by the River Tees, and
Weardale, whose history and heritage is founded on lead mining and the religious influences of preacher
Rev. John Wesley. The Dales form part of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB),
the second largest AONB in the country and also a European and UNESCO Global Geopark.

On the far east of the county is Durham Heritage Coast, a stretch of wild and beautiful coastline reclaimed
from the heavy industry of coal mining and brought to life by Turning the Tide, a £10m regeneration project
that has reinvigorated the area; it was the 2010 winner of the UK Landscape Award.

Surrounding the city is the Vale of Durham. In the 18th and 19th Centuries Northern England was a world
leader in industrial innovation and enterprise and Durham was at the forefront of these dramatic changes.
The county’s industrial development was based on coal and iron and the need to carry both to markets led
to major innovations that revolutionised transport throughout the world. The Vale of Durham became the
cradle of the railways. It was here on the 27th September, 1825 that the world’s very first public passenger
steam railway began its maiden journey in Shildon.

Did you know..?
    2018 marked 32 years of Durham Cathedral and Castle as a UNESCO World
     Heritage Site.
    Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson and former Prime Minister Tony Blair attended the
     Choristers School in Durham City at the same time.
    The 183rd Durham Regatta took place in 2016 on the River Wear in Durham City.
     Often called “the Henley of the North” it is in fact five years older than its southern
     counterpart.
    Durham Cathedral was voted UK’s No1 Landmark by TripAdvisor users in 2013.
     Together with Durham Castle, the cathedral was designated a UNESCO World
     Heritage site in 1986.
    The poet Lord Byron married Anne Isabella Milbanke at Seaham Hall in 1815. The
     marriage lasted little more than a year but the register at the nearby Church of St
     Mary the Virgin contains Byron’s signature. Seaham Hall on Durham Heritage Coast
     is now a luxury hotel.
    In 1991, Blast Beach in Seaham was used as a location for Alien 3. It was because
     the beach was so blackened by coal waste that it was chosen as the location for the
     alien planet.
    Twenty years earlier the climax of Get Carter starring Michael Caine was filmed
     further down the coast at Blackhall Rocks near Peterlee. At the time it had the last
     working coal-removal chute.
    More recently the BBC drama The Paradise was filmed in the grounds of Lambton
     Castle near Chester-le-Street in the Vale of Durham.
    In 1909 a team of amateurs from West Auckland won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy,
     known as the ‘first world cup’ beating Swiss side FC Winterthur. Two years later they
     retained the trophy by beating Juventus 6-1 in the final.

Durham: What’s new?
The Auckland Project

Auckland Castle at Bishop Auckland is undergoing a restoration process and will re-open in December
2018, as part of the wider regeneration Auckland Project.
Existing walls and floors in the castle are being peeled back or re-finished to reveal their former glories; the
medieval kitchen will be uncovered; St Peter’s Chapel will be refreshed and the extraordinary art collection
re-hung. A new striking Welcome Building at the entrance to the castle will provide information on the
castle, grounds and local area. It is due for completion in 2018.
A new extension to Auckland Castle’s Scotland Wing will create a new museum of Faith, the first museum
in England to explore the history of faith in the British Isles, from pre-history to the present day. This
purpose-built extension to Auckland Castle will create 10 specially-designed gallery spaces across two
floors. The Faith Museum will launch in 2019.
A new Mining Art Gallery opened in October 2017. The new gallery, housed in a former bank in Bishop
Auckland town centre, provides a permanent home for the renowned Gemini Collection of Mining Art, which
includes works by local artists such as Norman Cornish.
A dedicated Spanish Art Gallery will open in Bishop Auckland Market Place in 2019 along with a Walled
Garden development in the castle grounds in 2019. www.aucklandcastle.org/future-plans/
Beamish Museum

Beamish is celebrating a £10.9million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Remaking Beamish
project. The funding is a major milestone in Beamish’s history and it will help the museum create a range of
new ways for people to experience the heritage of the North East. It is the largest single investment ever
seen at Beamish.

The centrepiece will be a reconstructed 1950s Town – meaning that alongside existing attractions depicting
life in the early 19th and 20th centuries, the museum will once again include a period within living memory.
Visitors will also be able to stay overnight in a recreation of a Great North Road coaching inn.
www.beamish.org.uk

Open Treasure at Durham Cathedral

Open Treasure, Durham Cathedral’s world-class exhibition space which opened in 2016, opened the doors
to previously-hidden spaces within the Cathedral Cloister, representing some of the most intact surviving
medieval monastic buildings in England and home to the best preserved monastic library in the British
Isles. www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/open-treasure

Durham Cathedral - Tudors: the Family and Faith in Durham, Open Treasure, Durham Cathedral

Discover this extraordinary royal dynasty, the key figures within it, and the changes wrought during their
reigns. From the Dissolution of the Monasteries, to the founding of the Church of England and the
Reformation, places like Durham Cathedral were shaped by their actions, and their impact continues to be
felt to the present day.

Visitors can see this extraordinary collection on permanent display in the stunning Great Kitchen with its
distinctive octagonal rib-vaulted ceiling, one of only two surviving monastic kitchens in the
UK. www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/whatson/treasures-of-st-cuthbert

Launch of augmented reality project – Durham Cathedral

Durham City is one of a number of England’s historic cities which have collaborated to develop an
innovative augmented reality (AR) product that is bringing heritage to life. The Durham Cathedral app was
launched in 2017 and has been produced by the England’s Historic Cities consortium, of which Visit County
Durham is a founding member, with funding secured from the Discover England Fund. Working in
partnership with Durham Cathedral, the ground-breaking new AR experience consists of an app and videos
that transport the user back in time to unveil the hidden lives of some of history’s most fascinating
characters.

In Durham City the AR experience brings the story of the historic cathedral to life through a set of trigger
points inside the iconic building. Through the app, visitors can discover the earliest stirrings of recorded
English history, meet the Venerable Bede and experience a rare glimpse into the enigmatic and scholarly
lives of the Benedictine monks. The ‘England’s Historic Cities’ app is available to download for free in
Google Play and on the app store or at
www.historic-cities.com/stories

Website URL: http://www.historic-cities.com/stories
App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/englands-historic-cities/id1215745809
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hexdigital.ehc

Kynren – an epic tale of England

The UK’s most spectacular open-air live show returns to Durham in 2018. This live-action extravaganza
takes the visitor on a whistle stop tour of 2,000 years of history, myth and legend. Taking place in the vast
landscaped stage at Bishop Auckland, meet many of the characters and events that have shaped the North
East – and the country as a whole – as scenes encompassing the Roman occupation to the Second World
War unfold in front of your eyes. With a nightly audience of thousands and a cast and crew of almost 1,500
alongside horses, sheep, donkeys and geese, the scale of this show must be seen to be believed. Shows
take place at dusk and run through the summer. www.elevenarches.org

Palace Green Library, Durham City - summer 2018 exhibition

The exhibition Lost Lives, New Voices: Unlocking the story of the Scottish Soldiers 1650-2018 will explore
the history, discovery, scientific analysis and reburial of this group of Scottish soldiers who were taken
prisoner by Oliver Cromwell after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 and held as Prisoners of War in Durham.
The story has received considerable media coverage as the remains of a number of these soldiers were
uncovered in November 2013 during the construction of the café at Palace Green Library in Durham City.
The excavation and subsequent analysis of the skeletons are the subject of a major research project taking
place at Durham University and the exhibition aims to broaden public engagement with this project. There
has already been significant public and media interest in this project in the UK and the USA where a group
of surviving prisoners were transported as indentured servants. By the time the exhibition takes place, the
excavated remains will have been re-interred but the exhibition will bring together items from local, national
and international collections to tell the story of the soldiers from a number of
perspectives. https://www.dur.ac.uk/palace.green/
Hotel Indigo, Durham City – NOW OPEN!

This new four-star boutique hotel, located on Old Elvet, is moments from the historic Durham City centre.
The multi-million pound redevelopment has seen the transformation of former council offices into an 83-bed
hotel. The Grade II listed Old Shire Hall was built in 1896 to house the county council and used as the
headquarters of Durham University until 2012.

Featuring a cocktail lounge, meeting rooms and a Marco Pierre White restaurant, all retaining the Victorian
heritage of the building whilst embracing contemporary culture, the design of the hotel is a nod to the city’s
ancient history and bright future.

Lumiere Durham

November 2019
The UK’s largest outdoor light festival returns in 2019 to light up Durham City over four magical evenings in
November, illuminating Durham City for the sixth time. The sensational event, which is held every other
year, returns to Durham to once again transform the city into a nocturnal art trail. Artists from around the
world will illuminate the city in delightful and unexpected ways, with a series of light installations to explore.
www.lumiere-festival.com/durham-2017/

Key Events 2018
    Bishop Auckland Food Festival – 21-22 April 2018
    Balloons InDurham – 25-27 May 2018
    Durham Regatta – 9-10 June 2018
    England V Australia ODI Durham County Cricket Club – 21 June 2018
    Kynren – An Epic Tale of England – 30 June – 15 September 2018
    Brass: Durham International Festival – 13-22 July 2018
    The Bowes Museum – The BFG in pictures 14 July-30 September 2018
    Locomotion: Autumn Steam Gala – September 2018
    Durham Book Festival – 6-14 October 2018
    Take Off Festival – 15-21 October 2018
    Durham City’s Traditional Christmas Festival – 30 November – 2 December 2018

Get in touch…

                 Sophie Hardy
Communications Executive – Visit County Durham
                T: 03000 261 223
                M: 07867 907 033
    E: sophie.hardy@visitcountydurham.org

              Customer website:
            www.thisisdurham.com

         Corporate & Media Enquiries:
         www.visitcountydurham.org

        @ThisIsDurham @VCDBusiness