The Shepherd's Lodge, Cockfield

20/09/2026

Beautiful September sky

16/09/2026

Cockfield Fell doesn't give up its secrets easily. You could walk it fifty times and still find something you'd never clocked before.

This is one of the fell's old tramways — part of a tangle of horse-drawn and mineral lines that once threaded across the moor, linking small drift mines and collieries to the main railway. Some of these routes shifted, closed, and got severed by later quarrying as the fell kept being worked, decade after decade, right through the 19th and into the 20th century. No single map tells the whole story.

Even after all my visits here, it still finds new ways to surprise me.

📍 Cockfield Fell, County Durham

16/09/2026

Evening light doing what it does best — turning old spoil heaps and trackbeds into something that looks almost sculptural.

This is Cockfield Fell, and there's nothing "almost" about its history. It's England's largest Scheduled Ancient Monument, with coal mining licences here dating to 1303 and Iron Age settlements still visible in the ground beneath the grass. Lands Viaduct sits quietly in the distance, just one more layer in a landscape that's been worked, walked, and mined for over a thousand years.

📍 Cockfield Fell, County Durham

16/09/2026

16/09/2026

Eggleston Show is a Country Show held at the Hayberries, Mickleton. With trade stands selling local produce, lots of farm animals on show not forgetting the vintage tractors and vehicles. It is a great day out for all the family.

07/09/2026

07/09/2026

🏛️ Free entry to The Bowes Museum this weekend!

Come along and celebrate Heritage Open Days, England’s largest festival of history and culture, as we explore the stories of the people and communities who shaped the past.

There’s no need to book – simply come along on Saturday 12 or Sunday 13 September and enjoy a free day at The Bowes Museum.

31/08/2026

Glorious morning after last nights thunder and lightning, the grey clouds still hanging around though

28/08/2026

24/08/2026

At the Ushaw Flower Festival, flower arrangers, flower clubs and florists, have all come together to create a fantastic array of displays.