Where to go in Durham?

[triplets]

Hi,
We are off to Durham for half term for my nieces christening and are doing a house swap. Any ideas of good places to go with my trio of 5yr olds? Also nice pubs etc.

Go to Beamish - it's about 6 miles north of Durham, and is a recreated town from about 1890. They've actually moved the old houses, so they are genuine, there's a coal mine, a steam railway, a town with shops, a farm, a little fairground, church, school room, and you get around by tram. I love it! Other than that, Metroland is ok, but quite commercial - that's in Gateshead - there are rides they can go on, and it's all in the Metro Centre, so you can go shopping once you've tired them out. But I would vote for Beamish. They've got a website at Beamish Good pubs - the Shakespeare is ok, but lots of the city centre ones can be a little rough. The Duke of Wellington and the Pot and Glass are a bit quieter, but a bit out of the centre (not far, depending on where you're staying.).

Great beaches up there too, try Marsden and South Shields.

Also (further north) Bamburgh.

And various Hadrian's Wall sites, Wallsend in Newcastle is one end of it (amazingly!), not sure where else but you could google.

Washington is where George Washington's family came from, google that too.

(Agree with musica, Beamish is brill, esp the tiny miners' houses, and there is a schoolroom where you can pretend to be a Victorian student...)

Also there is a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWF) site at Washington.

Other beaches (blue flag, from a BBC post):

Sandhaven, South Shields, Tyne and Wear

Tynemouth, Cullercoats, Tyne and Wear

Tynemouth, King Edwards Bay, Tyne and Wear

Tynemouth, Longsands South, Tyne and Wear

Whitburn North, Seaburn, Tyne and Wear

Whitburn South, Roker, Tyne and Wear

Whitley Bay south, Tyne and Wear

Seaburn is probably the closest beach to Durham. Although the sea is very cold (it being the north sea!)

Another big vote for Beamish, I bet you will all love it. Beaches are wonderful up there so hope you get warm weather!

I would agree Beamish is fantastic. Try also a trip to High Force Waterfall in the Durham Dales (there are lots of nice walks around that area). You can go up the tower at the Catherdral but it has limited opening hours. If you are into museums Newcastle (15 mins on train) has the Discovery Museum, Centre for life, Laing art gallery all of which have lots of interactive pieces. The beaches round here are fantastic and do good fish and chips. Personally I find the metro centre hell on earth but I'm not a shopper!
Musica were you a student at Durham Uni? If you were I can understand why you might think the pubs are rough but personally I don't find any of them like that. It is very easy to do a pub crawl if you are out in the evening as Durham is so tiny. It has been a while since I have been out to them what with a wee one and another on the way!!!
Enjoy Durham it is a lovely place.

my husband`s from durham and i always enjoyed the nightlife,great pubs,great people!!

No forest, I grew up there - maybe I'm remembering the pubs we used to haunt as sixth-formers on a Saturday night...I know what you mean about students finding it rough - there always seemed to be a lot of antagonism towards them.

It is a really nice place to visit - have a lovely time!

Thank you all, Beamish sounds really good so will definitely go there. The beaches I here are fantastic, so a nice bracing walk or go kite flying! We live at the sea in Deal, Kent and it can be very bracing down here! Looking forward to some northern hospitality!

Just thought I would let you know how we got on in Durham. We had a super week, fantastic weather, too much to do and not enought time! Went to my nieces christening on the Sun which was in a lovely little village called Tudhoe. We managed to visit, Metro Centre, Riverside at Chester-le-Street, Durham and cathedral,Whitworth Hall and deer park, Beamish which was wonderful, Hamsterley forest, and Hall Hill farm, that was excellent for little ones. The houseswap was a great success, and in fact I have just spoken to them tonight and they are off to Florida in Oct and so have said we are welcome to go back for half-term!

Glad you had a good time!