Questions about the Durham area

1. Consider Hexham, a little northwest of Durham and close to the wall and also to Newcastle. It has a fine church with a Saxon crypt and Roman artifacts.

2. We liked Vindolandia and Housestead's Fort along the wall. You can find more here, including info on the AD122 and other bus services in the area.

3. We missed Beamish Museum but I'm sorry we did, it sounded very interesting. My guess is you'd like it if you liked the others, but I can't help with a comparison.

4. Durham's Norman cathedral is not to be missed, nor is the tour of the college next door if you can do that, nor a boat ride on the surrounding River Wear. Newcastle has a cathedral, castle, historic house, art center, and great river views. Carlisle, well to the west, also has an interesting cathedral.

5. The buses linked above will help, and there's good rail service between Newcastle and Durham. But a car would be best for exploring the countryside and smaller towns, giving you more flexibility. Probably best to use a park-and-ride for Newcastle though.

Northumberland is the north-easternmost county of England. You would pass through it when going south from Edinburgh. Depends whether you have a hire car as to what you can do. Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle should be considered for visiting in this county.
https://www.visitengland.com/things-to-do/northumberland

1. I can't think of any 'charming' villages around Durham - the nearest are probably up in Northumberland (e.g. Hexham, Rothbury, Alnmouth), about 45mins drive away.

2. Vindolanda and Housesteads are my go-to spots on the wall. Vindolanda is best if you want a more museum-like experience, with signs up and staff about to explain things, while Housesteads is more of an open, 'unspoiled' area of the wall.

3. Yes, very much so. Great for learning the history of the region and what life was like here in the 19th Century. It's all interactive so you can talk with people and maybe get invovled yourself.

4. Newcastle is a very pretty and underrated city - the central area (Grainger Town) is great for a walk around. There's a nice walk I like to do down Grey Street, across the Millennium Bridge, along the Quayside, back over the Swing Bridge and back up Grey Street. Also, Tynemouth is a very nice little town with a ruined priory just a short Metro ride away. Up in Northumberland, there's Alnwick Castle, Alnmouth, Farne Islands, Bamburgh and Holy Island. Also, more of a wildcard but Tanfield Railway in Sunniside is a cool little heritage steam railway near where I live that I've enjoyed the few times I've ridden it.

5. If you want to go to Hadrian's Wall (and a good chunk of Northumberland in general) you'll probably need a car. Public transport in Northumberland is very patchy, and doesn't get the significant tourism that the Cotswolds does to justify regular tourist buses.

Thank you, all, for the truly helpful replies! Keep the ideas coming, please!

I had to smile at akkejakke's polite comment that the charming villages are 45 minutes away from Durham. That'll do for us! We are from the western U.S.--45 minutes is an easy jaunt for us. :) So I appreciate and will look into the villages listed.

Another question: I ran across something called "Kynren" which appears to be a massive performance highlighting all of English history (!). It takes place in the summer time near Durham and has for the last few years. Does anyone know anything about this?

If you want to hike along the most impressive part of the wall, start at Steel Rigg near the Twice Brewed pub. It's best to use a car to get around the area. The bus, AD122, runs infrequently after summer and may not be your best option. Vindolanda was the most impressive museum, but I really liked all three--Housesteads and the Roman Army museums as well.

The Kynren play sounds fascinating!

How much time do you have for this part of your trip? If attending the play in the evening, you might want to have a place to stay in Durham itself for the night, rather than rely on public transport to return to a small village at that hour. It may be scarce late at night.

Then find palace near Hadrian's Wall for that part. Since you are traveling in August, the caution above about the AD122 bus does not apply. We found the schedule quite suitable for walking a section of the wall and then returning to our village afterward.

We wanted to walk the section above toward Steel Rigg, so we chose the village of Haltwhistle as our base. This is on the train line between Carlisle and Newcastle, and also served by the AD122 bus. We walked from our B and B north to the wall (less than a mile, through scenic countryside) and then turned right toward Steel Rigg. There are some well-preserved sections of wall here, and also some hilly sections. At Steel Rigg we left the wall and walked the short distance to Twice Brewed to catch the bus back to Haltwhistle. You just need to make sure you are at the right stop for yor direction of travel!

We stayed at a very nice B and B, Ashcroft House. They have rooms in varying configurations and can suggest something suitable for your family.

http://www.ashcroftguesthouse.co.uk/

Breakfast was delicious, and the hosts are convivial and talkative when they have time. There are several good dining options in town---we chose an Indian place and it was reasonably-priced and quite good.

The following day we took the bus to Housteads and explored the Roman fort and the museum. With more time,,we could have visited Vindolanda and walked more of the wall too, but we had to catch a train back to London.