Visit Durham Cathedral, begun in 1093 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986 with Durham Castle, and climb its tower

Stand at the shrine of St Cuthbert and Bede's tomb in the Galilee Chapel

Tour Durham Castle, the Norman castle of the 11th century that is now part of University College

Walk the River Wear beneath the cathedral, from Prebends Bridge

Durham Cathedral, begun in 1093, and the Norman castle beside it above the River Wear have been a World Heritage Site since 1986. The cathedral holds the shrine of St Cuthbert and, in the Galilee Chapel, the tomb of Bede, and its tower can be climbed; the castle is now part of University College. Prebends Bridge, on the river path below, was built for its view of the cathedral.

Durham: The Cathedral and the Castle on the Wear

Visit St Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth, founded in AD 674–5 by Benedict Biscop, one of the two churches of the double monastery that produced Bede

See the dedication stone of 23 April 685 above the chancel arch at St Paul's Church, Jarrow, the monastery's twin on the Tyne

Walk out to the seafront at Roker, north of the mouth of the Wear

Benedict Biscop founded St Peter's at Monkwearmouth in AD 674–5 and a decade later its twin, St Paul's at Jarrow, and the double monastery became a centre of learning that produced Bede. England had no masons, so Benedict brought them from Francia, and glassmakers to glaze the windows — the start of glassmaking on the Wear. St Peter's still stands near the north bank of the Wear, and at Jarrow the dedication stone of 23 April 685 is set above St Paul's chancel arch, one of the oldest church dedication stones in England.

Sunderland and Jarrow: The Twin Monastery That Made Bede

Walk the 1900s Town at Beamish, the open-air museum first opened to visitors in 1972, with its tram routes, shops and bank

Visit the 1940s Farm, a North East farm on the wartime Home Front

Ride the historic trams and buses around the museum

Beamish, founded in 1970 and open to visitors since 1972, is an open-air museum of the North East: a 1900s town with shops, a bank and trams, a 1940s farm from the wartime countryside, and historic trams and buses to get between them.

Beamish: The Living Museum of the North

Visit the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, in the converted flour mill on the Gateshead quayside, opened in 2002

Take the Victoria Tunnel tour under Newcastle, the 1842 waggonway tunnel that became a Second World War air-raid shelter

Cross the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the tilting footbridge opened in 2001

See Antony Gormley's Angel of the North, 20m tall with a 54m wingspan, beside the A1 in Gateshead

On the Gateshead quayside a converted flour mill opened in 2002 as the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, which tilts to let boats through, opened across the Tyne in 2001. Under Newcastle, the Victoria Tunnel was a waggonway of 1842 that became an air-raid shelter in the Second World War. Beside the A1 south of Gateshead stands Antony Gormley's Angel of the North, 20m tall with a 54m wingspan.

Newcastle and Gateshead: BALTIC, the Victoria Tunnel and the Angel

Visit Royal Navy Museums: Hartlepool and board HMS Trincomalee, launched in Bombay in 1817 and the oldest warship still afloat in Britain

See the Heugh Battery on the Headland, whose guns returned fire on the German warships that bombarded Hartlepool on 16 December 1914

Walk the Headland, the old town of Hartlepool

HMS Trincomalee, launched in Bombay in 1817, is the oldest warship still afloat in Britain, and is the centrepiece of Royal Navy Museums: Hartlepool, on the quayside at Jackson Dock. On 16 December 1914 German warships bombarded the town, and the guns of the Heugh Battery on the Headland fired back; the battery is now a museum in the old town.

Hartlepool: HMS Trincomalee and the Heugh Battery

See the Tees Transporter Bridge from the riverside, opened in 1911 and the longest surviving transporter bridge in the world

See the exhibitions at mima, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, opened in 2007

Visit the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in Stewart Park, Marton

The Tees Transporter Bridge, opened in 1911 and about 260m long, is the longest surviving transporter bridge in the world; its gondola has not crossed since the bridge closed for safety reasons in 2019. In the town, the Dorman Museum stands in Albert Park and mima, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, opened in 2007; at Marton, the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum stands in Stewart Park.

Middlesbrough: The Transporter Bridge and Captain Cook's Birthplace

Visit the Bowes Museum, the French château-style museum built by John and Joséphine Bowes and opened in 1892, and see its Silver Swan automaton perform at 2pm

Explore the market town of Barnard Castle and its castle above the Tees

Walk down the Tees to the ruins of Egglestone Abbey, the Premonstratensian abbey of the White Canons

Barnard Castle is a market town named after the castle Bernard de Balliol built above the Tees. On its edge stands the Bowes Museum, a French château built for John and Joséphine Bowes to hold their collection, with the Silver Swan automaton that preens and swallows a fish every day at 2pm.

Barnard Castle: The Bowes Museum and the Castle Above the Tees

Join a public stargazing event at Kielder Observatory, opened in 2008 in the Northumberland Dark Sky Park

Drive or cycle around Kielder Water, the UK's largest man-made lake by capacity, opened in 1982

Hike in the Kielder Forest, the largest working forest in England, from Kielder Castle

See Cat Cairn, James Turrell's Kielder Skyspace

Kielder Water, opened in 1982, is the largest man-made lake in the UK by capacity, and the Kielder Forest around it the largest working forest in England. They are part of the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, and on Black Fell above the water Kielder Observatory, opened on 25 April 2008, runs public stargazing nights. Near Kielder Castle is James Turrell's Kielder Skyspace, Cat Cairn.

Kielder: The Observatory and the Dark Sky Park

Tour Bamburgh Castle on its dolerite crag, besieged for nine months in 1464 by the Earl of Warwick with heavy use of artillery, and restored by the industrialist William Armstrong

Walk the sands below the castle towards Seahouses

Find Grace Darling's grave and memorial at St Aidan's church

Look out to the Farne Islands and Longstone from the dunes

Bamburgh Castle stands on a dolerite crag of the Whin Sill above a long sandy beach backed by dunes, on the site of Din Guarie, the fort that may have been the capital of the kingdom of Bernicia and was taken by King Ida in 547. The village below has the church of St Aidan and the grave of Grace Darling, and the Farne Islands lie offshore.