Your Summer Sorted: What´s On Close To Mellwaters Barn Cottages
Staying with us is the perfect base but what about when you fancy heading out and exploring? This Summer, there's genuinely something on every week within easy reach of the cottages.
Here's our pick of what's happening.
Right on our doorstep at Barnard Castle
The weekly market runs every Wednesday on the High Street. It's a lovely way to pick up local produce and have a mooch. It's just a short trip from Mellwaters Barn Farm.
The Witham has a brilliant Summer programme too, including a free evening of live brass music on 14 July courtesy of the Durham Brass Festival, and the Northern Crafts Fair on 4 July and 1 August for locally handmade gifts.
Fancy something a bit different? The Bowes Museum hosts Bowes Lates on 20 June — an after-hours event with gallery access, curator tours and a silent disco. The museum is currently hosting its latest Vivienne Westwood Exhibition, too.
A short drive will take you to Raby Castle
Raby Castle is having quite a summer. Castle in Bloom runs right through until the end of August, and there's outdoor cinema in July including Mamma Mia!, Jurassic Park, and Dirty Dancing - perfect for a picnic blanket evening.
If you've got car enthusiasts in the family, don't miss the Classic Car Show on 28 June or the Italian Car Show on 26 July.
The agricultural shows
If you want a proper taste of Teesdale life, the local agricultural shows are unmissable with Bowes Agricultural Show just up the road and Eggleston Agricultural Show a little further afield. Livestock, crafts, and a real sense of the rural calendar that shapes this part of the world. It's a wonderful companion to our own farm's story - we're part of that same farming heritage.
Worth the trip -Bishop Auckland
Kynren is one of those experiences people travel a long way for. An epic open-air show telling 2,000 years of English history, running every Saturday from 18 July to 12 September. If you've never seen it, this is your Summer to go.
Book your dates
Whichever direction you head out in, you've got a comfortable, peaceful cottage to come back to at the end of the day.
Whether it's Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, or Kingfisher, each one is a quiet retreat at the end of a busy day exploring.
That's the beauty of staying somewhere central to it all.
