High Cup Nick - England's Grand Canyon
The North Pennines is one of England’s most special places and an ideal location for a cottage holiday. A stunning, upland landscape of wide-open moors, flower-rich hay meadows, intimate woods, inky-black night skies, charismatic wildlife, fascinating industrial heritage, tumbling rivers and dramatic waterfalls.
You will find a peaceful and unspoilt landscape with a rich history and vibrant natural beauty, and at almost 2,000 sq. km it is the second largest of the UK's 46 AONBs (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). It is surely one of the most peaceful and unspoilt places in England.
Spectacular views of the North Pennines from Shepherds View Barn at Dufton Barn Holidays
Beneath your feet
In recognition of its world class Earth heritage and efforts to make the most of this for tourism and education, it is also designated as a UNESCO Global Geopark. The impressive landscape of the North Pennines – from High Force Waterfall on the River Tees to the sweeping valley of High Cup Gill – are the product of millions of years of geological processes.
Rocks are the building blocks of the wonderful North Pennine landscape. The area’s fells and dales, and the rocks, minerals and fossils of which they are made, tell a fascinating story – one which stretches back hundreds of millions of years. The geological story of the North Pennines tells a story of deep oceans and violent volcanoes, colliding continents and molten rock, tropical seas and lush rainforests, hot water and minerals, desert dunes and vast ice sheets.
Over the past 500 million years the North Pennines has travelled over the surface of the globe and been shaped by many environments and processes. Volcanoes, tropical seas, rainforests, molten rock, deserts and ice sheets have all helped create today’s landscape. By exploring the fells and dales, you’ll discover the North Pennines’ remarkable journey through time, and a rich industrial heritage linked to the area’s rocks and minerals.
Explore the idyllic landscape of the North Pennines on foot
Jewel of the North
The area is famous for its distinctive landscape of high moorland, peat bog, and broad, dramatic, dales – including the upland stretches of the Tees, Wear and Tyne rivers. It shares a boundary with the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the south and extends as far as the Tyne Valley, just south of Hadrian’s Wall, in the north. Parts of the area are in the counties of Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland.
Tumbling waterfalls, sweeping moorland views, dramatic dales, stone-built villages, snaking stone walls and friendly faces – are what visitors to the North Pennines AONB and UNESCO Global Geopark can expect to find.
Visit one of the most impressive waterfalls in the North Pennines - High Force Waterfall
People and places
The character of the North Pennines landscape is inseparable from the people and places found here. The differing nature of settlements, from the distinctive red sandstone villages at the foot of the North Pennines escarpment to the white farms and barns of the Raby Estate in Teesdale, has a significant impact on landscape character.
Past times
About 12,000 people live in the North Pennines today – less than half the number who lived here 150 years ago in the heyday of the lead mining industry. The rise and fall of mining have left an indelible imprint on the landscape, not just in terms of the physical remains but also in the pattern of local settlement. The social history of the miner-farmers is also an intriguing element that contributes to the story of the North Pennines.
You can still find evidence of the past at Tottergill Holiday Cottages
Nature galore
The North Pennines is a hotspot for nature – famous for the variety and profusion of plants and animals which find a home here. Eighty percent of the area benefits from nature-friendly, traditional farming practices, which means that the AONB is a haven for wildlife.
Spot the elusive Red Squirrel as you explore the local landscape
Sparkling night skies
The North Pennines is officially the darkest mainland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Here we have some of England’s darkest night skies. The area’s inky black skies mean that jaw-dropping stargazing opportunities are aplenty, on a clear night – with the opportunity to see thousands of stars overhead compared to the handful you would see from towns and cities. See our home galaxy, the Milky Way, in all its shimmering glory, along with distant galaxies and sparkling star clusters. You will find lots of officially designated Dark Sky Discovery Sites too – so come over to the ‘dark side’ and enjoy our stunning skies.
Some fantastic places in The North Pennines have been designated as Dark Sky Discovery Sites
Alston and the Cumbrian North Pennines
The countryside around Alston, England’s highest market town, provides some of the area’s finest walking country – including the lofty Cross Fell – the highest English hill outside the Lake District. The striking North Pennines escarpment is a dramatic backdrop to the attractive, red sandstone-built, fell foot villages.
Kirkby Stephen in the south of the area is a traditional, bustling market town full of historic buildings and cobbled yards – a good launch pad for climbing Nine Standards Rigg.
On your holiday in the North Pennines, you’ll find:
- Peace, tranquillity and space to catch your breath
- England biggest waterfall – High Force in Upper Teesdale
- Almost 40% of the UK’s flower-filled upland hay meadows
- Inky-black night skies – some of the darkest in England.
- 80% of England’s black grouse
- Short-eared owls, ring ouzel, snipe and redshank
- 22,000 pairs of breeding wading birds in the spring and early summer
- Red squirrels, otters and rare arctic-alpine plants
You can explore the beautiful North Pennines AONB from a range of Premier Cottages located in Cumbria, Durham, North Yorkshire, and Northumberland.
All words by Carole and Simon Higginbottom of Shepherds View Barn and The Pennine Potting Shed at Dufton Barn Holidays, Cumbria.