What makes Durham a world class destination?

By North East Life on January 10th 2012

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Durham is on something of a winning streak. Not content with being home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having Britain’s best-loved building (as voted for by BBC viewers and listeners no less) and being chosen by foreign travellers as their favourite UK city in a poll run by esteemed publisher Conde Naste, it has now been voted the top city in England to visit by readers of The Guardian and The Observer.

Beating big-hitters like York, Bath, London, Newcastle and Liverpool, it was singled out for its historic charm. But charm can only get you so far – so does make Durham fit so snugly alongside the words ‘and the winner is’?

‘Hard work and dogged determination,’
said Melanie Sensicle, chief executive of Visit County Durham, a not-for-profit private sector company set up in 2006 to market and manage the region. ‘When we first arrived five years ago, there was no Durham attractions group or hotel association. Everyone was working hard on their own behalf but it was a very fragmented system. It was as if all the jigsaw pieces were in the box but no one had thought to fit them together.’

That piecing together of the disparate parts of the tourism sector has had a profound effect on both Durham and the wider county, where tourism is now worth £650 million, sustains 12,000 jobs and attracts 18 million visitors a year.

‘We are now the fastest growing destination in terms of volume and value in the country,’ said Melanie. ‘We’re up 13 per cent in both visitor numbers and financial benefit to the local economy.

‘We challenged local people to step up, and they have. We can promote Durham but they are the people at the coalface. It’s not me and my team greeting visitors at the hotels and attractions, it’s them. We couldn’t have achieved anything without the community’s backing.’

But it does help, of course, that the hoteliers, attraction owners, event organisers and retailers are based in a city that doesn’t take too much selling.

Durham, an historic jewel within the protective circle of the River Wear, has a breathtaking Romanesque cathedral which, along with Durham Castle, was one of the first to be granted prestigious protected status in 1987 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city is also home to a highly-prized university, voted the third best in the UK by the Sunday Times University Guide 2012. This comes after Durham recently cemented its place as a World Top 100 University with a graduate employability rate that pushed it into the top 15 globally.

Naturally enough, vice-chancellor Professor Chris Higgins welcomed the latest round of accolades with a gratifying sense of satisfaction.

‘The latest league table results recognise Durham’s commitment to education and research,’ he said. ‘This is an ancient place of scholarship
and yet is also one of the leading full-subject universities in the UK in the 21st century.

‘Our educational community, which is diverse and human in scale, produces global citizens who can make a significant contribution to tomorrow’s society and economy.’

Stewart Watkins, managing director of County Durham Development Company, established by Durham County Council in 1987 to encourage innovation and investment, is also doing his bit to help the economy.

‘We have worked closely with the county council over the years to ensure the economy stays our number one priority,’ he said. ‘As a result, there’s a lot of optimism and confidence about the place. And that optimism and confidence breeds even more success.

‘We are now reaping the rewards of many years of hard work. This kind of success doesn’t just happen overnight.’

He believes Durham’s proactive approach to business and tourism is one of the defining factors of its continued success. The county council takes a refreshingly open and, some might say, generous view when it comes to planning and business relocation, while the community throws itself into organising groundbreaking events.

‘Take our Lumiere, the dazzling four-day festival of light,’ said Stewart. ‘That clearly shows we are willing to take risks and put on a bit of a show. Two years ago it attracted 75,000 people and made £1.5 million. Now, those numbers have both doubled.

‘The spin-off benefits from events of that magnitude are tremendous. You couldn’t get a hotel room in Durham if you tried, and the bars, restaurants and shops were jammed.’

Stewart’s sense of pride in Durham’s achievements is all too obvious and, according to Melanie Sensicle, is mirrored right across the city.

‘I’m an outsider and I saw it from day one,’ she said. ‘These people love where they come from. And their loyalty to their city is matched by the loyalty shown by our visitors. Once people discover Durham, they come back again and again.’

World-renowned travel writer Bill Bryson is just one of those loyal visitors. Writing about Durham in his 1991 book Notes from a Small Island, he described it simply as ‘a perfect little city’.

‘I fell in love with it instantly in a serious way,’ he said. ‘If you have never been to Durham, go there at once. Take my car.’

Well, what are you waiting for?

Dead good

Half a dozen skeletons might not seem like the backbone of a grand day out, but they are drawing healthy crowds at Durham’s newest visitor attraction.

Gladiators: A Cemetery of Secrets, which opened in Millennium Place last month, actively describes the lives and deaths of the men whose bones are now on display.

Costumed staff bring their stories to life and argue colourfully about whether the fighters were star athletes or angels of doom.

Adult visitors are encouraged to reach their own conclusions by exploring the evidence on display, while children can take part in a fun lion trail, design a gladiator, sort through Roman finds, create mosaics and examine x-rays of broken bones.

The new exhibition is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm, with tickets from £1. For further information, call 0191 332 4041 or visit www.cemeteryofsecrets.com.

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Lighting up the city

Durham came to life after dark for four nights in November when artists, lighting designers and community groups lit up the city as part of the Lumiere Festival. The river, bridges, streets and cathedral all became a canvas for a series of 35 artworks as these pictures by readers George Ford and Derek Smith show.

Durham Photographic Society

Durham Photographic Society marks its 120th anniversary this year and their pictures on these pages show just how much talent exists among the current members.

The society meets every Thursday and holds regular competitions, presentations and workshops and members also take part in community projects and group outings.
The society was founded in 1892 and has run continuously in its present form since 1947. Its current president is Newcastle-born David Trout, who now lives in Newton Hall, and who used to work on the Northern Echo and later The Journal and The Evening Chronicle.

Members come from all walks of life and their interests cover the full range of photographic genres from landscape, cityscape and architecture to portraiture and wildlife.

For more information about the club go to www.d-p-s.org.uk.

And if you would like your photographic group to be featured in North East Life, contact the editor at paul.mackenzie@archant.co.uk.

Durham

Durham data

Getting there: The A1(M) motorway provides fast, easy access from the south. From the north, you can choose from the A1 coastal route of the A68 cross-country. There are 16 mainline train services to Durham from London, covering the journey in about three hours, as well as fast through-trains from most other parts of the UK. Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley Airports are easily accessible. And ferry services operate on nearby Tyneside.

Parking: Numerous car parks are available across the city, including multi-storeys at Prince Bishops, The Gates and Walkergate.

Where to visit: After visiting the cathedral and castle, why not try the Jacobean grandeur of Crook Hall and its lovely four-acre gardens; Durham Heritage Centre and Museum, where the city’s history is brought into vivid focus; Durham University Botanic Gardens; or the unusual Oriental Museum with its collections from Japan, China, Egypt, Korea, India, South

The print version of this article appeared in the January 2012  issue of North East Life 

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