As we made our way south along the United Kingdom we made a brief stop in the town of Teasdale to visit Barnard Castle and the Bowes Museum. Teasdale was a good stopping point between Glasgow and Manchester and it allowed for some time adventuring outside the city. We met two women on the ferry over to the Museum of Old and New Art, (MONA) in Tasmania back in February and they suggested we make a stop over to see the Bowes Museum, so we did.
We spent three nights in town at an Airbnb that was more than 200 years old. 200 years old means all the angles of the house are misaligned and the floors slope towards the middle. It was right in town and we set off from there to visit The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle and walk to the Whorlton Bridge. We also took advantage of the great outdoor garden area and spent some time enjoying the sun and reading actual books.
You can see various building materials were used during construction of the house.
Stone floors and etchings of British people doing British things decorated the house.
A wood burning stove. Neat!
The Bowes Museum had an exhibit all about shoes! It was interesting to see a collection of shoes over time varied by location, and to see how different materials, styles and social classes adorned their feet. The collection was mainly focused on luxury items that were hand made, not the mass produced shoes of today. There was also a giant section on sneakers, which I enjoyed.
A view of the museum from the beautiful grounds.
Lots of windows allow plenty of natural light inside the space.
Nice, creepy cats.
Barnard Castle is basically a park filled with rocky ruins and signs to help you reimagine the castle of years ago. The original buildings were constructed between 1095 - 1125. Over time and because of fighting over such things, castles got too expensive to maintain so Barnard Castle fell into disrepair. Eventually the castle's building materials were used to help build Raby Castle in the 1620s, an actual castle, located down the road in County Durham, that we did not visit. We spent some time wandering the grounds and admiring the views from the crumbling rock towers.
Crumbling rock towers and rolling green lawns at Barnard Castle.
Looking at the outer walls of Barnard Castle from the walking paths surrounding the area.
Later, we walked along the Teasdale River to the Whorlton Bridge and admired the English countryside. We were fortunate to have the time and cooperation from the weather to get outside and admire the river and rolling hills. While a brief stopover on our travels towards London, Barnard Castle offered some interesting sights and the chance to admire the country outside a city setting. Soon it was time for us to pack our bags and make our way to Manchester, the city of music, delicious coffee and tasty, tasty beer.
Lots of young but old, dead people in the cemetery across the street from the airbnb.
Another view of the streets in town.
A view from one of the wheat fields we wandered through.
