Hexham
Hexham is a handsome old market town in Northumberland that has thankfully avoided being polished into something unrecognisable. It has solid stone buildings, a proper market place, hills just steep enough to make you notice them, and the sort of peaceful, lived-in atmosphere that makes you wonder why anyone is in such a rush to get elsewhere.
The centre is compact and pleasant to explore, with independent shops, cafés and pubs tucked among the old streets. It is the sort of place where you can wander without a plan, although you will almost certainly end up climbing a slope or two. Presumably they built towns on hills in those days simply to keep people fit, or to make sure they appreciated the view.Hexham Abbey is the centrepiece and well worth taking time over. Parts of it date back to the seventh century, though naturally it has been altered, rebuilt and repaired by generations of people who could not resist meddling. Even so, it remains a remarkable building: calm, imposing and full of old stonework, carved details and the unmistakable feeling that it has seen more than the rest of us ever will.
The Abbey grounds and nearby Sele are lovely for a quieter walk, while the town also makes an excellent base for Hadrian’s Wall and the surrounding Tyne Valley. There is history everywhere around here, and not the sort displayed on plastic boards beside a retail park—real history, in the landscape, the buildings and the roads.
Hexham is not flashy, and thank goodness for that. It is warm, characterful and properly Northumbrian: a town for taking your time, having a decent lunch, and enjoying the fact that not every place needs to shout to be memorable.
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