Blanchland is a model village in Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, right on the County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

 boundary with picturesque houses, set against a backdrop of deep woods

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 and open moor

Bog

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

s.

Located near the Derwent Reservoir

Derwent Reservoir, North East England

Derwent Reservoir is a reservoir on the River Derwent, on the border between County Durham and Northumberland, in England. It is west of Consett....

, it provides excellent facilities for sailing and fishing. This village boasts a fine array of different retail outlets including:
The Post Office, Blanchland Stores, Gallery Upstairs, The White Monk Tea Rooms, and Get Ahead Hats.

Blanchland was formed out of the medieval abbey

Blanchland Abbey

Blanchland Abbey at Blanchland, in the English county of Northumberland, was founded as a premonstratensian priory in 1165 by Walter de Bolbec II, and was a daughter house of Croxton abbey in Leicestershire. It became an abbey in the late 13th century...

 by Lord Crewe

Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew

Nathanial Crew, 3rd Baron Crew was Bishop of Oxford from 1671 to 1674, then Bishop of Durham from 1674 to 1721. As such he was one of the longest serving bishops of the Church of England....

 the Bishop of Durham. The Lord Crewe Arms Hotel has a vast fireplace where 'General' Tom Forster

Thomas Forster

Thomas Forster was a Northumbrian politician and landowner, who served as general of the Jacobite army in the 1715 Uprising.-Life:...

 hid during the 1715 Jacobite rising. The hotel is said to be haunted by the ghost of his sister, Dorothy.

W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...

 stayed at the Lord Crewe Arms with Gabriel Carritt at Easter 1930, and later remarked that no place held sweeter memories. Blanchland may have been the model for the village in which was set the opening and closing scenes of Auden and Isherwood

Christopher Isherwood

Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...

's play The Dog Beneath the Skin (1935).

Another celebrated poet Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin

Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...

 used to dine at the hotel when staying with Monica Jones

Monica Jones

Margaret Monica Beale Jones was an academic and long-term companion of the poet, Philip Larkin. Born in Llanelli, South Wales, she moved with her family to Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire when aged seven...

 in Haydon Bridge

Haydon Bridge

Haydon Bridge is a village in Northumberland, England, with a population of about 2000. Its most distinctive features are the two bridges crossing the River South Tyne; the picturesque original bridge for which the village was named and a modern bridge which used to carry the A69 road...

. In July 1969, Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

 and Sir Peter Pears

Peter Pears

Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....

 stayed at the Inn.

With a population of 140, its unspoilt qualities make it a frequent setting for period films, set in the 18th century, such as those based on the novels of Catherine Cookson

Catherine Cookson

Dame Catherine Cookson DBE was a British author. She became the United Kingdom's most widely read novelist, with sales topping 100 million, while retaining a relatively low profile in the world of celebrity writers...

.

External links

• Official Blanchland Website
• GENUKI (Accessed: 13 November, 2008)