Bed and breakfast availability
Bellingham b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Bellingham and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Bellingham, Northumberland. People here still like to draw water from St Cuthbert's Well which is supposed to have healing powers (and which is reached by a winding path behind the churchyard towards the North Tyne). The big attraction for many visitors, however, is the curious pack-shaped tombstone in the churchyard, associated with the Legend of the Long Pack. It is told that a pedlar called one day at Lee Hall, the Georgian riverside mansion of a Col. Ridley who had made his fortune in India, and asked for a night's lodging. The colonel was not at home and the maid, Alice, refused the request. But she allowed the man to leave his heavy pack in the kitchen. Some time later she saw the pack move and called for help. A ploughboy fired a shot into the pack and blood poured out. Inside was the body of a young man. The servants realized that a raid was imminent, mustered help and then blew the silver horn found on the body. When the robbers came they were met with force, and fled. The man in the pack was buried, unidentified, in the churchyard.

Bellingham may be plain, as many a border town preferred to be in the days of marauding neighbours, but it is a friendly and accommodating spot and a gateway to the great moors and forests of this area. A special point of interest is St Cuthbert's Church which has a weighty and unique stone roof, well restored in recent years. It is barrel-vaulted with hexagonal stone ribs about a yard apart. The building had to be buttressed in the 18^th century to counteract the thrust of the roof. The stone slabs were laid after two fires had destroyed wooden roofs. The church has whitewashed walls, narrow deepsplayed windows, a chastely restored and furnished chancel and an air of fortitude. The churchyard overlooks the river and here you can rest in view of the 1835 stone bridge and in sound of the running waters.

The market place is ornamented with a dainty Boer War memorial and handily situated just behind the village hall with its wooden cupola and clock. Next to the hall is a Chinese gingall (a mounted musket) taken in 1900 and presented by Cdr E. Charlton of H.M.S. Orlando. The name recalls the towns long prominence as a haunt and target of such rival graynes or clans as the Charltons, Armstrongs, Dodds, Milburns and Robsons in the days when the frontier was in turmoil.

Nearby cities: Newcastle Upon Tyne

Nearby towns: Haltwhistle, Hawick, Haydon Bridge, Hexham, Newburn

Nearby villages: Barrasford, Birtley, Chollerford, Chollerton, Colwell, Corsenside, East Woodburn, Elsdon, Falstone, Fourstones, Great Swinburn, Greenhaugh, Gunnerton, Humshaugh, Kirkwhelpington, Newbrough, Nunwick, Otterburn, Ridsdale, Rochester, Simonburn, Stagshaw Bank, Thockrington, Wall, Wark, West Woodburn

Have you decided to visit Bellingham or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Bellingham bed and breakfast (a Bellingham B&B or Bellingham b and b)
• a Bellingham guesthouse
• a Bellingham hotel (or motel)
• a Bellingham self-catering establishment, or
• other Bellingham accommodation

Accommodation in Bellingham:

Find availability in a Bellingham bed and breakfast, also known as B&B or b and b, guesthouse, small hotel, self-catering or other accommodation.