After the wedding, a week in the North East

Outside my little cottage in Riding Mill

Newcastle is a long way to go for a wedding – even one as special as Sarah and Alan's, so we rented a cottage in the Tyne Valley, between Newcastle and Hexham, and made a week of it.

I've really fallen in love with the North East of England. Way back in 2004 S- and I walked Hadrian's Wall and since then frequent escapades with Aunt Sarah have introduced me to more and more North Eastern splendours.

So to start with, what does a girl do, after church on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Find a steam railway, of course!

I'm developing a taste for small railways.  Big preserved lines like the North York Moors and the Severn Valley are fine, but you spend a lot of time sitting in a railway carriage, watching the scenery pass by — just as you do on a modern-day train.  But the little ones are special.  Start... stop... run around... shunt a bit... start again...  And the staff have time to stand and chat, as if the timetable were of only academic interest.

The 3 mile-long Tanfield Railway is a real  gem and claims to be the world's oldest railway, dating back to 1725.  In those days, of course, it was horse-drawn; today it's home to a wonderful collection of little engines, and of 4-wheeled coaches with wooden seats that most grown-up railways gave up on a century ago. 

O, and to cap it all, we had a lady engine driver. Beat that!

Near East Tanfield

That first coach, with its open balcony, gave me a lovely view of the engine.

Andrews House Station

Causey Arch

Causey Arch is well worth a look, even when the railway isn't running.  It was built in 1727 and for 30 years was the largest single span in Britain.  It's said that the stonemason had no idea how to set about the task, so copied what he knew of Roman bridge building. His first attempt fell down; the second was much more successful.

Finally, back to Andrews House, where our lady engine driver is seen filling the engine tank with water while her friends load a fresh supply of coal.