Culture Trip 42- Darlington

I have to be honest, I have been to Darlo a couple of times to visit family but I always forget to write about it and take photos.

So when I went in December with my family, I decided to try and take some photos. I had a little idea of where I wanted to go and see but other than that it was a pretty go with the flow day.

We arrived and a mooch around the town, I love it- it is a cross between York, Stockton and Middlesbrough. All these different shops, side streets and indoor markets. After a bit of shopping, we got hungry, I wanted to go somewhere different. We popped into Holland and Barrett and asked a member of staff for recommendations.

They recommended Hash, she said it was a cool vibe, great lunchtime food and a great price, noted down her directions off we went. We got there, checked out the menu and we liked what we saw.

There was so much to choose from, I could have had it all but I didn’t haha. You can see from the photos, I had green tea and then there was a tasty fish finger sandwich and brie and cranberry panini with fries.

We were very full after eating that so we really needed another walk around but we had already explored the town.  I knew about my favourite park in the world- South Park so we decided to go there and walk off our lunch.

South Park is a beautiful park, it has an area for the kids, a bird sanctuary, a cafe, skatepark, water feature and a bandstand.

It was a peaceful afternoon when we walked around, I would love to know how many steps  I did as we walked right around it.  The park is very well kept, it is always clean and tidy and you can tell it is looked after by the community.

It was nearing towards home time but I had one more thing on the agenda that I wanted to find, that was the Brick Train.

It was commissioned by David Mach in 1997 to celebrate the railway history.  It was difficult to find and we would have struggled if it wasn’t thanks to this website byThis Is Darlington

If you put in google maps Morrisons Morton Park and park there, there is a footpath and signs for the train you just need to keep following them and you will find the magnificent sculpture.

I would love to know how many bricks were used to build it, having the smoke behind makes it look like it is moving.