This month the national committee considered the accreditation application for Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham. “A model application,” exclaimed Chairman, Sam Phillips and everyone agreed.
Middleton-in-Teesdale has a population of just 1,100 but has managed to pull together a group of ten people from all areas of walking and tourism in their area including the Responsible Tourism Lead, Shane Harris at the North Pennines AONB Partnership. Shane is particularly pleased to have another Walkers are Welcome town in the North Pennines AONB.
This small charming town, almost in the middle of nowhere, provides a vast array of footpaths and walks both within the town and out into Upper Teesdale. This part of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty offers walkers a peaceful escape into a landscape of impressive waterfalls, such as High Force, green dales, heather clad moorland, traditional hay meadows and beautiful woods. For historians there are the remains of the area’s lead mining industry etched in the ground to explore. For botanists, there is the ‘Teesdale Assemblage’ – a group of twenty internationally important plants including the famous Spring Gentian. For the birdwatcher, a vast array of bird life such as the curlew, lapwing, and black grouse; and for geologists all the wonders of a UNESCO Global Geopark with its globally important Earth Heritage. The area offers something for everyone.
Middleton-in-Teesdale is already working closely with nearby Walkers are Welcome towns Alston and Barnard Castle, also not too far from Kirkby Stephen and Sedbergh. This is an area where the counties and cultures of Cumbria, Co. Durham, and North Yorkshire merge.
Pictured High Force shortlisted by BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2018 in the Landmark of the Year Catagory.