Autumn Break up North

If its going to be 'darkish and coldish', then why not go for a break that includes lights?  Our weekend break with Johnsons up to visit the Lumiere Festival in Durham hit top marks in every way.

An afternoon spent walking around York on a sunny day meant lovely views from the city walls. 

The windows were dressed beautifully and this one caught my attention.

To 'cap' it all there were long queues of happy graduates and their friends and families waiting to get into the Cathedral.  The City was in a happy mood.

We arrived at our hotel after dark, our room comfortable and warm, and the lounges had real roaring fires.  We explored a little before dinner  which was really good too!  We had the next morning free so we walked down to the nearest village, which was old and interesting.

We set off for Durham after an excellent lunch, and arrived in plenty of time to walk and around the town, before darkness.  I loved this stylish door.

We explored the Cathedral too and had our supper in the refectory...everywhere around the town people who arrived early for the show were settling down to recharge their batteries.  More people had turned up that the organisers had envisaged and a strict one way system with areas where people could be held back was in force.  We must have waited in the market place for over half an hour...but the crowd was in a good mood, and we had a giant snow dome covering the Marquess of Londonderry galloping on his charger.

I can well believe those we spoke to who said that they had been the previous night, but had come back because it was so good.  This show is on for four nights only!

The show against the Cathedral, the interior, the fire show in the cloister and College Gardens was astounding. 

In other areas of the City, artists had completely different approaches:  I loved the one in neon lights proclaiming ' the future will be confusing',  and another one 'everything will be alright'.  Viaducts and bridges were used with great effect, with water too...I can only feel that if we had the chance we would be back on other nights too.

The following day, we had a little detour to visit the Angel of the North, then spent a few hours at the Bowes Museum, where we saw the swan come to life.  When Mr S entered the costume gallery, he knew that I would there some time....the lace was excellent.