Where to stay in Northern England

Well, it's a bit of a drive to squeeze in both Durham and Hadrian's Wall. If all you want to see is the cathedral in Durham, I would stop at the cathedral on the way from Whitby (there is a giant enclosed car park near the cathedral), then continue onto Haltwhistle and sleep there for both nights. From there, you can visit all the Hadrian's Wall sites. After that, head up to Scotland.

But if you want to see more of Durham, just spend the first night there, visiting as many places as possible, then the next morning head to Haltwhistle for the H Wall portion, and after that, drive on up to Edinburgh.

If you do stay in Haltwhistle, I highly recommend the B&B called the Old School House. I loved this place and it is very reasonably priced.

Hexham is at the east end of Hadrian's Wall and it looked like a pleasant town to base yourself and it is easy access to the places you are going. Haltwhistle is also a good place to stay while visiting the Wall as there are the off/on buses supporting hikers beginning there.

Since Mardee was in Haltwhistle a new place has opened for light lunches and all day refreshments from 10 am to 4pm - the old water tower (at the Railway Station). They also sell local crafts.
It was once a water tank to refuel steam engines, now beautifully converted. I was there today, apparently it opened 6 days ago.
So there's up to date information.

It was a visit due about a week after Mardee was there, repeatedly delayed. Sometimes such delays result in happy serendipity!

Hexham is a bigger town to stay in, or Corbridge- 4 miles further east.
Roman remains right in the town itself at Corbridge, straight on the A68 for the journey to Scotland through the Scottish Borders. And the Indian Restaurant there has a very high reputation.

Kathleen is right in that Hexham would also be a good choice. And actually probably better than Haltwhistle.

But I still think that if I were driving up from Whitby, I would stop in Durham first and visit it for a day, and then drive to Hexham for 2 nights, where you can visit the Wall sites, like Vindolanda and Housesteads.

Since Mardee was in Haltwhistle a new place has opened for light lunches and all day refreshments from 10 am to 4pm - the old water tower (at the Railway Station). They also sell local crafts. It was once a water tank to refuel steam engines, now beautifully converted. I was there today, apparently it opened 6 days ago.

Stuart, how interesting! It sounds really nice! Too bad I missed it. :-)

If youy base yourself in Hexham/Coirbridge/Haltwhistle area, then take the A68 to Edinburgh. This is a much more interesting route than the A1. It travels through some of the most isolated moorland scenery in Northumberland as it climbs up Redesdale to the Border at Carter Bar. Do stop here for the views - they are fantastic as Scotland suddenly opens up below you.

If you do decide on Hexham be aware that the parking restrictions are unnecessarily complex for a short town- introduced earlier this year replacing really simple rules which had stood the test of time well.

I wrote a post on here specifically detailing the three tier rules (short, medium and long stay) which I will find again for you if- I went there specifically for the details having been taken by total surprise one day. The marking of the various coloured zones is not at all clear- seemingly specifically designed to catch you out.

There is an unusually good argument to be made for staying at the Travelodge just to escape the restrictions entirely. There is nothing wrong with Travelodge (and this is a very new one)- it's just that they are at the lower end of budget hotels.

EDIT- If you stay in Haltwhistle the other 'local' tip is to have a look at the very good historical exhibition in the waiting room on the eastbound (Newcastle) platform at the railway station.
This is refreshed from time to time, but currently (September 2024) is particularly informative.
This is not as unlikely as it might sound because before the TIC moved to the Town Hall/Library it was at the station for very many years- then it was staffed and very comprehensive in it's offering. The new TIC is usually unstaffed.
I had hurt my knee on Thursday morning having set a very aggressive pace on my morning walk in remote countryside (trying to catch an every 4 hours bus) so didn't go over there but last time I did the westbound (Carlisle) waiting room had a good exhibition about the history of railways in the town. Part of that westbound waiting room is also a conference room and sometimes has very nice bathrooms left open for public use.

Hi Bill -

If you wanted to stay as near as possible to Hadrians Wall, there’s the Twice Brewed pub just set back a bit from it on the road near Steel Rigg. Be warned though, there’s almost nothing else around it in what can be best described as bleak countryside. On the plus side the pub does have its own brewery attached, so there’s that…..

Ian