My Mum was turning 80 years old in April 2023 so it was lovely to be able to return to England to help my parents celebrate this very special occasion. My parents live in Darlington, a town in the North East, famous for being the location for the first commercial passenger train. There are many lovely towns and villages within close proximity to Darlington and some beautiful old stately homes.
As part of the celebrations for Mum’s birthday, we went to Scarborough for a couple of nights which was lovely. The centrepiece of Scarborough is the Grand Hotel, a hotel built in Queen Victoria’s reign. The hotel has not been maintained well in recent years but is still an imposing and impressive building.
I also visited towns such as Northallerton, Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, York and Leeds and thoroughly enjoyed travelling on the train to some of these towns and cities.
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| York Minster |
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| Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle |
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| The Grand Hotel, Scarborough |
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| Scarborough Bay (note the Grand Hotel on the cliff) |
