You'd usually find us heading towards Wales or the Lake District for a weekend away, so we didn't really know what to expect from a trip to County Durham.

It's a part of the country we haven't visited before and, to be completely honest, knew very little about.

We'd heard of Barnard Castle in Teesdale - who didn't hear about the Dominic Cummings eye test saga during the pandemic - and it was that area we were heading to, staying at Cobblers Barn in the village of Mickleton.

A wonderful stone-built, detached 16th century barn conversion, it's one of many properties available through Sykes Holiday Cottages and was the perfect size for our multi-generational group of 10.

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Driving through the vast Pennine hills it seemed we were driving to the back of beyond, but in fact took just over two hours to reach our rather peaceful destination, where we were welcomed with the smell of fresh bread, biscuits, cake and milk thanks to owner Karen, who proved a helpful guide to the area.

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