When you think of cathedrals, you may automatically think Canterbury in Kent or Salisbury in Salisbury. You would be forgiven to forget that you have a Durham Cathedral which along with the adjacent Durham Castle, together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
You will find parking in Durham to be a complete nightmare, also driving in the middle of the city you will find yourself driving through a congestion charge zone. Only £2.00 but even still, i think this is the first city outside London to charge such a thing.
We managed to find a pay and display space, but it was still a 10-15 minute walk to get up to the cathedral itself. Upon arriving there you have the following you can do;
- The Cathedral Church
- The Cloister
- The West Undercroft
- The Chapel of the Holy Cross
- The Woodland And Riverbanks
- Durham Cathedral LEGO Build
you can get yourself a guided tour, you have 2 or 3 each day and cost £5.00 per person (£4.50 for concessions). Tours last approximately 1 hour and tickets can be purchased from the information booth.
Pictures
You will find many, many people wearing purple robes that will look at you with utter disgust if you try and take any pictures as throughout the cathedral you are presented with signs saying NO Photography! This also went for videos, but they fail to mention no videos on such a sign.
UPDATE: At the time of writing this the above applied. However, we have been told that Durham Cathedral welcomes non-flash visitor photography. You can see the new policy HERE
LOOK AT OUR WORLD TOP TIPS FOR DURHAM CATHEDRAL
- Avoid the city centre, unless you are happy to be charged £2.00 for a congestion.
- Be prepared to walk a fair distance as car access to the cathedral itself very limited.
