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

Climb the keep of Richmond Castle above the Swale

Hear the story of the Richmond Sixteen and explore their cell-block graffiti through the castle's interactive displays

Take a tour of the Georgian Theatre Royal of 1788

Walk the falls of the Swale below the castle

Richmond Castle was begun in 1071 and its great keep added in the late 12th century, and its cell block still carries the graffiti of the Richmond Sixteen, conscientious objectors held there in 1916. The Georgian Theatre Royal in the town was built in 1788 by the actor-manager Samuel Butler and is among the oldest theatres still working in Britain, with the oldest known set of stage scenery in existence.

Richmond: The Norman Castle and the Georgian Theatre Royal

Walk from Bowlees to Low Force and cross Wynch Bridge, the 1830 suspension bridge, to join the Pennine Way on the south bank

Visit the Bowlees Visitor Centre in the North Pennines

Drive up to Cow Green Reservoir and walk the 3km to Cauldron Snout, the long cascade below the dam

Walk to High Force, where the Tees falls about 21m over the Whin Sill

The Tees drops through upper Teesdale in a series of falls: Low Force, just above the 1830 Wynch Bridge, and High Force, where the whole river falls about 21m over the Whin Sill, both beside the Pennine Way, and Cauldron Snout, the long cascade below Cow Green Reservoir.

Upper Teesdale: High Force, Low Force and Cauldron Snout

Walk between the Upper, Middle and Lower Falls at Aysgarth

Walk up from West Witton to the beacon on Penhill above the dale

The Ure drops over three broad limestone steps at Aysgarth — the Upper, Middle and Lower Falls — used in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. About three miles away across the dale to the north-east stands Bolton Castle, built between 1378 and 1399, where Mary, Queen of Scots was held for six months from July 1568 after fleeing to England.

Aysgarth and Bolton Castle: Three Falls and a Queen's Prison

Find your way through the tunnels and grottoes without a map

Tick off the checklist of oddities you are given at the entrance

In Coverdale, the Forbidden Corner is a folly garden built in the 1980s as a private pleasure garden and opened to the public in 1997: a maze of tunnels, grottoes, false doors and sculptures that the Folly Fellowship voted the best European folly of the 20th century. It is laid out as a maze, and visitors are given a checklist of oddities to hunt down.

The Forbidden Corner: The Strangest Garden in the Dales

Watch the cheesemakers from the viewing gallery at the Wensleydale Creamery (cheese isn't made every day)

Look into the Buttertubs beside the pass road

Walk to Hardraw Force, a single 100ft drop claimed as England's highest unbroken waterfall above ground

Visit the Dales Countryside Museum in the old station at Hawes

Hawes is the market town at the head of Wensleydale, where the creamery has made Wensleydale cheese since 1897 and the Dales Countryside Museum tells the story of the dale. The road north to Thwaite and Muker climbs past the Buttertubs, limestone potholes 20m deep beside the tarmac, said to be where farmers lowered butter to keep it cool on the way to market.

Hawes and the Buttertubs: Wensleydale Cheese and the Butter Holes

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

Take a boat trip from Seahouses to the Farne Islands and land on Inner Farne, where St Cuthbert lived as a hermit

Look for puffins, Arctic terns and guillemots on the islands' cliffs in the nesting season from April to July

See Longstone Lighthouse, from which Grace Darling and her father rowed out in 1838 to rescue survivors of the Forfarshire

Visit the Grace Darling Museum in Bamburgh, run by the RNLI

The Farne Islands lie off Seahouses. St Aidan came here in 651, and St Cuthbert lived as a hermit on Inner Farne, where he died in 687; the protection he gave the nesting eider ducks and seabirds in 676 is thought to be the earliest bird-protection law anywhere. Puffins, Arctic terns and guillemots nest on the islands from April to July. On the outer group stands the Longstone lighthouse, from which Grace Darling and her father rowed out in 1838 to rescue survivors of the Forfarshire; the RNLI's Grace Darling Museum is in Bamburgh.