Wildlife and Nature

Durham Coast is a wonderful place for walkers and for those who want to enjoy the scenery from the cliff top paths.

The magnesian limestone that underlies this area has given rise to a spectacular landscape of cream-coloured cliffs intersected by steep-sided wooded valleys, or gills.

In summer the coastal grasslands are awash with rare and colourful wild flowers, which provide habitat to some very special wildlife such as the iconic Durham Brown Argus butterfly.

From Trewavas in the east to Trenow in the west the characters of each area are as different as their histories; industrial heritage sites, wild and rocky cliffs, archaeological treats, and tiny wind-harassed agricultural coastal fields.

Look through the opaque cloak of today’s apparent wilderness, to see the marks left by the farmers, miners, worshippers and fishermen who worked and walked this coast.

Enchanted wooded parkland, sweeping gardens and a house with a surprise, Dudmaston is something unexpected in the Shropshire countryside. A much loved home for over 875 years you will find the family rooms scattered with photos and perhaps an odd pair of shoes or two peeping out from under a table. The unexpected galleries create a total contrast, with their formal, crisp lines. They were designed by the last owner, Rachel, Lady Labouchere, to house her and her husband’s differing modern and traditional collections of art for the visitor to peruse.

Located halfway between Orkney and Shetland, Fair Isle is one of Britain’s most remote inhabited islands.

It may be small – only three miles long and one-and-a-half miles wide – but there is plenty to see and do. Fair Isle is a crofting community with a thriving traditional crafts industry, where you can see the island’s craftspeople at work boat-building, spinning, weaving and, of course, knitting.