It is ten years since my previous visit to the National Memorial Arboretum. The Memorial Arboretum is still as peaceful and moving as I remembered. There are now over 400 memorials so it is impossible to see them all during one visit.

This year this the 80^th anniversary of the D-Day landings so the Arboretum is exploring the events of WWII and people that were affected by them.

We chose this as the theme for our visit whereas our previous visit in 2014 followed a First World War Centenary trail centred on WWI memorials.

When we arrived, we had lunch before visiting ‘The Year Was 1944’ exhibition. This culminates in a moving film by sand artist Kseniya Simonova. She manipulates sand to trace the journey of one man and his family from the outbreak of war through the beaches of Normandy and on to the present day.

By the end of the film, I felt quite emotional.

We then walked around the Arboretum taking in highlighted memorials relevant to the events of 1944. The route also introduced me to memorials that I hadn’t seen on my previous visit.

There is still another area that I haven’t yet explored in the outer meadow and woodland area of the Arboretum…

The gardens are situation in what once was the friary orchard. When the friary was closed in 1538, the tower and the land around it passed to the Town Council.

Part of this land was never permanently built on. Tower Gardens was laid out in 1911 as a public park to commemorate the coronation of King George V.

In 1921 it also became the site of the town’s War Memorial, following the First World War.

The War Memorial was designed by Oswald Milne and unveiled by HRH Princess Mary, daughter of King George V, on 26 February 1921. It lists 569 local men who died in the First World War and a further 19 from the Second World War.

Greyfiars Tower is the only surviving above ground remains of the medieval Franciscan friary. It is about 93 feet high. It was built in stages from the 13th to the 15th century.

It is a lantern tower, with windows to provide light to the area below.

It is also a bell tower and orginally had a single bell in the top chamber. Only two other medieval Franciscan bell towers survive in England, one in Coventry and the other at Richmond in Yorkshire.

• Information taken from signboards in Tower Gardens.

The war memorial at Seaham is located on Terrace Green, by the sea front. The memorial is a Celtic cross designed by Mr TA Lawson and unveiled 1922 in dedication to the local men who lost their lives in the First World War. It was later further dedicated to those lost in the Second World War. The monument is Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England. Also located on Terrace Green is Tommy – a statue of a First World War soldier.

We arrived at breakfast to find that we had missed the rush and as a bonus we were seated in a quiet area well away from the buffet table.

Our destination for the day was Hartlepool, but before setting off we took a stroll along the river starting from a point next to our hotel. I found that the pathway is part of the Hidden Heritage Trail which passed by the Durham Cow Sculpture to represent the legend of a roaming cow leading monks to the final resting place of St Cuthbert, Durham Cathedral. Retracing my steps back towards Durham, I was treated to lovely views of Durham landmarks.

Our first port of call at Hartlepool was the Heugh Battery Museum, the site of the only First World War Battlefield in Britain. Before visiting the museum we took a stroll to the seafront and found a plaque marking the place where the first shell from a German Battle cruiser landed in December 1914 and also commemorating the first soldier killed on British soil by enemy action during the Great War 1914-18.

The museum (although currently not fully open)  tells the story of the Bombardment of the Hartlepools, which took place on Wednesday 16th December 1914, when the guns of the battery were engaged in ship-to-shore combat with the German navy.

After our visit to the museum, we followed the Hartlepool Headland Trail from a leaflet that I had picked up at the museum. The walk was interesting and engaging but some areas along the trail are a little grim. We had hoped to visit St Hilda’s Church but our morning adventures had taken up a lot of time so we missed it out and drove to our planned major destination for the day; The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool where HMS Trincomalee is showcased within a recreated Historic Dockyard.

We had lunch, in my case Apple Shortcake, and took a tour around the Historic Dockyard before embarking on HMS Trincomalee.

Back at the hotel, after a detour through the village of Hart, we chilled out before dining in the Marco Pierre White restaurant in the hotel across the road from the one we were staying in.

After breakfast, which was was busier but less chaotic than the previous day, we drove to Raby Castle. As the weather was fair when we arrived we chose to visit the gardens and grounds. We started with the walled garden then walked around the lower lake taking in views of the castle.

When we arrived at the castle courtyard we walked around the castle perimeter to get an appreciation of it before we went inside the castle. The castle is stunning and rich with history which the knowledgeable room guides were happy to share with us as we made our way around.

We had quiche for lunch in the café before we left to visit Staindrop and the Church of St Mary where significant (historical) members of the Neville family, that once owned Raby Castle, have their tombs. There was still time to spare so we decided to visit Brancepath Church as we journeyed back to Durham. We parked just outside the driveway to the church which took us past the castle where there was a sign outside saying queue here for the 4pm tour.

I found the church amazing. It looked old from the outside and modern, light and airy from within. It had a special feel to it and I would have liked to linger longer but Mr C had his eye on the castle tour.

When we arrived at the tour joining point we found that it was for pre-booked tickets  as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme. We were lucky, two people had dropped out and we were able to join the tour that was guided by the husband of the current owner. He told us of the history of the castle and the owners. The final room that he showed us was the chapel which he advised was consecrated and used by the village when the Church had been gutted due to a fire over twenty years ago. This explains the incongruity of the Parish Church’s interior and exterior appearance.

By the time the tour had finished it was nearly 6pm and we had not been able to book an evening meal in Durham so we opted for plan B. We drove to Seaham in search of fish and chips, eventually finding them in Gills, opposite the Eleven ‘O’ One, Tommy memorial sculpture. The food was cooked to order, we dined in, eating out of a box. The Haddock that I chose melted in my mouth.

After our long day out we returned to our hotel to chill with a cup of tea in our newly acquired mugs before venturing out to the Swan for a nightcap.

The original Short S27 was equipped with a Gnome rotary engine. This replica in the Fleet Air Arm Museum is fitted with a similar Gnome Le Rhone engine and representative propeller to illustrate the appearance of the aircraft in service.*

Early aircraft wings were usually covered with a fabric such as linen. This fabric was painted with a special paint called dope to seal the fabric. If you added too many layers of dope the aircraft would be to heavy to take off!

Both sides in WW1 developed incendiary bullets that would set fire to fabric covered wings. As engines tended to leak oil and fuel and the wings are very flammable this could leave you in the hot seat if you were hit. *

Dashboard & Wicker Seat, Westgate Seaplane Station

These items came from unknown World War 1 aircraft based at the Seaplane Station in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent.

The dials have been removed, but the engravings can still be seen on the dashboard. Once removed from the aircraft the dashboard appears to have been converted for domestic use. The added sections look to have been made to hold stationery!

Seats in WW1 aircraft were made from light and weatherproof material, It is likely the pilot would have had a cushion to sit on. This would have been made of leather and padded with light material, such as horsehair and fabric.*

*information provided next to the exhibit

• More information on the Short S27 can be found here.

Burrow Mump is a hill and historic site overlooking Southlake Moor in the village of Burrowbridge within the English county of Somerset. It is a scheduled monument, with the ruined church on top of the hill a Grade II listed building.

The hill stands at a strategic location overlooking the point where the River Tone and the old course of the River Cary join the River Parrett. Although there is some evidence of Roman visitation, the first fortification of the site was the construction of a Norman motte. It has been called King Alfred’s Fort, however there is no proof of use by Alfred the Great. A medieval church was built on the hill in the 15th century. The current ruined church on top of the hill was built in 1793. The land and ruin were donated to the National Trust in 1946 as a war memorial.

Burrow Mump is also known as St Michael’s Borough or Tutteyate.^[4] Both words ‘burrow’ and ‘mump’ mean hill.^[5]

The hill is 24 metres (79 ft) high,^[1] and stands at a strategic point where the River Tone and the old course of the River Cary join the River Parrett, above the surrounding low lying land of the Somerset Levels.^[2] It is made of Triassic sandstone capped by Keuper marl ascribed to the Mercia Mudstone Group.^[2][3]

Information source – Wikipedia

The memorial commemorates the residents of Knaresborough who were killed or missing in World War I (155 names) and World War II (54 names).