Our writers reveal treasures from their patch – quieter parts of the country that are richly deserving of a visit
For millions of readers around the world, the image of the country between the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear was woven by Catherine Cookson, the region’s most prolific and popular author. Cookson’s was a landscape of collieries, shipyards, rumbling coal trains, sooty-faced kids and the instantly nostalgic tones of pithead silver bands playing Haydn. While fragments of her world remain – mainly in the doughty cheerfulness of the locals – over the past four decades, as heavy industry has receded, a more distant past has emerged. Continue reading...
