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My ‘Unsung’ British Attractions

Last year, the British Museum received almost 5.5 million visitors. The Tower of London saw 2 million “punters” pass through, while Westminster Abbey logged just over 1 million. In all, according to the newest statistics from Britain’s Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), 20 major sites received at least 1 million visitors in 2007. That adds up to some serious queues for tickets. Near the end of the ALVA’s table, though, are the sites whose annual visitors number in the tens of thousands, and The Guardian’s Dixie Wills has picked her 10 favorite unsung attractions from the list.

I was glad to see that Housesteads Roman Fort made it into her top picks—I visited the ruins, the best-preserved along the whole length of Hadrian’s Wall, on a school trip when I was studying in the UK a couple of years ago. In fact, the whole region where I was living—England’s northeast region—could be described as “unsung” or, more bluntly, “ignored.”

Most visitors rush through the area on their way from London to Edinburgh, but for those who pause and step off the train for a couple of days, the rewards can include solitary tours of some amazing sites. To add to Wills’s excellent list, here are a few of my own picks for England’s unsung northeast—and I can guarantee you won’t have to wait in line.

* Alnwick and Alnmouth: North of Newcastle on the Northumberland coast, Alnmouth is one of those “quaint British coastal towns”—minus the vendors hawking watercolors along the beach and telling you just how quaint and British it is. Just inland, Alnwick has some great used bookshops and a castle that you may recognize from the Harry Potter movies. It’s geared to kids, with archery, sword fights, and the chance to hold a falcon on your wrist.

* Durham: The town where I lived for a year is well-known to the locals—1,000-year-old Durham Cathedral was recently voted Britain’s favorite building—but not many outsiders make it into town, and they are missing out. As Bill Bryson once said, “If you’ve never been to Durham, go. Go at once. Take my car.”

* Barnard Castle and Egglestone Abbey: The main attraction in the small town of Barnard Castle is not, in fact, the castle. It’s the centuries-old market, and the traditional pubs and used bookshops. Egglestone Abbey is a rarely-visited ruin, reachable by a walking path along the river.

Photo of Alnwick Castle by Eva Holland

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