The County of Durham is a prominent UK tourist destination these days and stands against the backdrop of a coal and iron mining heritage. It is the only British county to have the prefix ‘county’ much like what you’d expect to find across the Irish Sea in both Northern and Southern Ireland, but this does help distinguish the county name from its beautiful county town Durham. The city of Durham is not the largest settlement in the county, that honour falls to Darlington; other well known names in the region include Chester-le-Street, Seaham and Hartlepool.

Found in the north-east of England, County Durham shares borders with Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Cumbria and the sizeable North Yorkshire. It also has a coastline which is rather grandly known as the Durham Heritage Coast while other natural features of this part of the UK include the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Durham Dales and the Vale of Durham. It is the city of Durham itself that has proven itself as the county’s frontrunner and it has brought prosperity to the local economy through tourism, not least thanks to its striking cathedral and its castle; the city also has one of the country’s top universities – the University of Durham.

Durham’s history is bound up with its bishops and cathedral, as well as its time as an industrial powerhouse. The county was originally a ‘liberty’ under the bishops of Durham and a cathedral was later built in 883 in Chester-le-Street. The area now known as County Durham lay within the boundaries of Northumberland until the 13th century from which time it became the County Palatine of Durham. In 1069 the Normans reached this part of the county and seized the city of Durham while later on, during the War of the Roses, Durham received a visitor in the form of Henry VI. More recently the mining industry grew in prominence and so there are a number of pit villages in the county. A popular annual event began in 1871 bringing miners together for the Durham Miners’ Gala.

There are plenty of top attractions in this part of England, with castles, forts, museums, churches and cathedrals all found in the region. County Durham is also home to the High Force and Low Force Waterfalls on the River Tees while there are features that show something of the area’s mining heritage such as the Killhope Wheel too.