Hello!
Thank you so much for returning to my blog! This is the second one of my UK series! I am going to be writing about Durham as this is somewhere I visited only a few weeks ago!
I arrived in the city with my family and we went straight away to eat. There were some really nice shops in the main streets, including some great restaurants!
When we arrived in the city, some sculptures caught my attention immediately. They were ice sculptures, and very impressive too! The ice statues were dotted around the historical city, as a trail and beside the statues would be torches of fire. I didn't really understand that this was a festival until I went over to one of the statues and saw that it was a special day in the city. The Festival was called Fire & Ice. Hence, the ice sculptures and also the flamed torches! It was by coincidence that we happened to be in Durham on this festival date, however I really enjoyed walking around and seeing all the statues everywhere!
I would really recommend that if you are in Durham in January or February sometime next year, then you should definitely check the Festival out! The Festival runs for two days and includes fire performers, ice carving and your own ice carving classes! A lot of the fire performances are held in the Market Place on the finale evening! Here are some pictures I took of my favourite ice sculptures.
Next, after I took so many pictures of the ice statues, we went to the Cathedral. Now, the Durham Cathedral is in the heart of the city. Not too far from the Market Place, and ideally in the city centre, only a short walk away from the shops. The Durham Cathedral, is amazing and if you are in Durham, then you must visit it! The Cathedral is home of the shrine
of St Cuthbert and is 66m high! I took so many pictures outside of the Cathedral, however photos were not permitted inside! As we approached the entrance, there was a large knocker which you should take a photo of. Unfortunately I didn't, but you should certainly go, just to see this!
It is then free admission to get inside and have a look around, which I definitely recommend. The Cathedral is very colossal and spectacular inside. It has beautiful stain glass windows and is incredibly high. It was designed in Romanesque and Norman architecture
styles and is a definite "must see!!"
My family and I had intended on also visiting the colleges and the Castle! However, when we arrived at the ticket desk we found out they had all been sold. If you want to look around there (just opposite the Cathedral and not hard to miss) then I would definitely recommend you buy these in advance as they sell out really quickly!
So, we had a long time spare left in Durham, as we were intending it to be a full day trip and believed that if we could get tickets to look round the colleges and castle then we would achieve this. However, due to the fact we could not get tickets, we went back to the Cathedral and booked guided tour tickets. I would say the tour is great, and it is. It is very detailed and recalls historical important times in the Cathedral and the use of the Cathedral today. Additionally, it also includes as well many facts, however, it is quite long. Our tour was extremely detailed and in fact very impressive, however if you do not have enough time or do not want to pay for a tour around the Cathedral, then I would not recommend it. However, I thought it was a great tour and I learnt a lot about the Cathedral from it. As well, it was a great way to spend some of our afternoon when we had plenty of time to spare.
Finally, we went to a coffee shop and looked around the market place, which was very busy! And I took some more photos! I had a lovely day and enjoyed looking around the city!
Are you planning on going to Durham? I would definitely recommend it! I had a great day and enjoyed walking around the city centre! Thank you so much for reading this blog! If you enjoyed it then please like it at the bottom of this page or share it on one of the social buttons below. I would also appreciate any feedback, so please comment to the right of this page! Additionally, if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask me on my Instagram - @bethlucyblogs - or send me feedback there too. My next blog will be on Cambridge and the last of this series! For more blog updates then please follow my Instagram and also to see exclusive posts.
If you are interested about the Fire & Ice festival, there are many websites on the internet about it. Thank you once again for reading this blog!
Beth Lucy