Still not booked a Easter break? Come to Northumberland. England's most beautiful County has much to offer

The perfect Northumberland day would feature:
A good walk - you could go to Hadrian's Wall http://www.visithadrianswall.co.uk/
ending at a good pub like the Twice Brewed Inn, or do a stretch of the Pennine Way, or take in the gentle wildness of the St Oswalds Way.
http://www.stoswaldsway.com/st-oswalds-way-short-walks/countryside-short-walks/short_walks_heavenfileld_pilgrimage.htm

Where to stay:
If you have to have the creature comforts then Matfen Hall is a top destination but
Hexham's Beaumont Hotel http://www.bw-beaumonthotel.co.uk/
is family run and was good enough for Pippa Middleton when she came to stay a year back!
We also have all manner of brilliant pubs and Bed and Breakfasts but if you want a good alternative then the Battlesteads Hotel in Wark http://www.battlesteads.com/ consistently wins prizes; the best Bed and Breakfast in the country was recently adjudged by Les Routiers guide to be The Black Cock Inn: http://www.blackcockinn.co.uk/
Where to eat:
If you want great pub food then I am a big fan of the Barrasford Arms,http://www.barrasfordarms.co.uk/
and the pub also has great beer and a bar where you will discuss everything from sheep prices to current affairs and who won the big race of the day. Great people and a top dining pub.
The Feathers in Hedley, and La Bouchon in Hexham are both prize winning and the destinations for fine dining along with the Rat which has won recent awards.
You will need a tea shop on your travels:
My friends say I am on a mission to try every tea shop in Tynedale but the county is justifiably famous: on your Pennine Way travels do not forget to stop at the Greenhead Tea Room: http://www.heartofhadrianswall.com/tea-rooms/60-greenhead-tea-rooms
Alison makes great cakes and scones.
Corbridge has more tea shops that any other but my favourite is Tea and Tipple, where you can while away an afternoon - they do great Northumberland Scones, including the normal cheese scone but also Blue Cheese and Caramelised Onion Scones: http://teaandtipple.blogspot.co.uk/
Their web site has a special "Sconage" section...
Beer: this is obviously essential. We have lots of brilliant brewers, but I have worked a lot with the Hadrian Border Brewery, who produce the deliciously summer ale which is Tyneside Blonde. But my favourite would be a pint of Golden Plover, made locally by the Allendale Brewery, and found in most of the pubs: http://www.allendaleale.com/index.htm

What to see; the wildlife the visit alone: http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/understanding/wildlifehabitats/heathermoorland/curlews
But if you want 5 places to visit these would all make anyone's top spots:

- The Beach at Bamburgh - a great walk and a top castle
- Roman Vindolanda http://www.vindolanda.com/ = our best Roman and historical site
- Kielder Water and Forest Park: http://www.visitkielder.com/
They win awards all the time!!
http://www.visitkielder.com/news/2013/05/kielder-water-forest-park-officially-the-best-tourism-experience-in-engl-
- Alnwick Castle and its magnificent Gardens http://www.alnwickcastle.com/
But if you go to one for engineering / spring flowers then I would probably pick Cragside: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside/
-It is a stunning house with amazing engineering everywhere and beautiful gardens filled with 40 miles of walks, rare flowers and so much more. It is a special place.

What to Buy:
Whether you want to browse the independent shops of Hexham or Corbridge or purchase pottery in Bardon Mill or visit some of the amazing markets there is so much to do.

Kielder Development Trust Goes Wild

I am delighted that Kielder Development Trust have been awarded £17,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to develop a new visitor attraction, which is all part of the ‘Living Wild at Kielder Project’. 

This fantastic project aims to help people experience and learn about the area’s wildlife through the development of ‘nature hubs’, and a year-round events and activity programme. Trails will also be created from Stonehaugh, Falstone, and Greenhaugh, with wildlife ambassadors and volunteers engaging with visitors.

Such work in supporting our fantastic natural heritage in Kielder, whilst promoting engagement and learning is vital, and this latest grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund is a great step forward. 

Kielder Christmas Tree back in Westminster for 14th Year running

The 40-foot Norway Spruce grown in Kielder Water and Forest Park, was shipped into Westminster this month, marking the 14th year of this great tradition. It is great to see Kielder contributing some Christmas spirit to the heart of government. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/kielder-christmas-tree-sent-london-10525713

Success after a long campaign as the rural fuel rebate goes live this Sunday in Bellingham & Kielder

As of Sunday the fuel prices in rural North West Northumberland will be coming down. This is the end of a 4 year campaign to make the case to central government and the EU that truly rural areas are hit by bigger transport and other associated costs. They have listened. I was up in Kielder and Bellingham barely 4 weeks ago and they were eagerly awaiting the change. It will make a big difference.
More details here: http://guyopperman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/great-news-on-rural-fuel-rebate-ne48.html

Easter events in Northumberland - hiking, food, gardens, the stars, a beer festival, top quiz and barrel racing

A good walk - you could go to Hadrians Wall http://www.visithadrianswall.co.uk/
But if you want 5 places to visit these would all make anyone's top spots:
- The Beach at Bamburgh - a great walk and a top castle
- Roman Vindolanda http://www.vindolanda.com/ = our best Roman and historical site
- Kielder Water and Forest Park: http://www.visitkielder.com/
They win awards all the time!!
http://www.visitkielder.com/news/2013/05/kielder-water-forest-park-officially-the-best-tourism-experience-in-engl-
- Alnwick Castle and its magnificent Gardens http://www.alnwickcastle.com/
For spring flowers then I would probably pick Cragside: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cragside/
-It is a stunning house with amazing engineering everywhere and beautiful gardens filled with 40 miles of walks, rare flowers and so much more. It is a special place.
Two gastropubs holding spcial events:
- The Battlesteads Inn has a new observatory. It is a brilliant pub and has gone to great efforts to make itself a destination in its own right. Here is the report by the Courant: http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/home/sky-s-the-limit-for-new-observatory-1.1202156
- The award winning Feathers Inn is showcasing so much this Easter that their festival runs for many days. If you have not been I urge you to go - it's won awards for its food and has a great community atmosphere: http://thefeathers.net/news/2014/12/bed-and-breakfast-special-offer/
There is a beer festival, and on sunday night Toby sets a mean quiz and it is a good night, and Monday sees the barrel racing.

And if you want to go to church then where better to go than Hexham Abbey: http://hexham-abbey.org.uk/

Great news on rural fuel rebate - NE48 region gets reduced fuel costs - my letter from Treasury

Dear Guy

RURAL FUEL REBATE SCHEME – FULL EU APPROVAL
As you are aware, the Government submitted an application to the European Commission last year for seventeen of the most rural areas on the UK mainland to receive a 5 pence per litre fuel duty rebate. I am delighted to confirm that the Council of the European Union has now given its full approval to the Government’s application.
The scheme will be implemented in the UK on 1st April this year, with retailers in NE48 in your constituency eligible for registration. Full instructions on how retailers can start claiming the rebate have been published on the HMRC website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-and-customs-brief-3-2015-rural-fuel-duty-relief-scheme/revenue-and-customs-brief-3-2015-rural-fuel-duty-relief-scheme
 
I am sure you will agree that this excellent news for motorists in remote areas of the UK who are facing particularly high pump prices. I would like to thank you for your continued support during this process.
DANNY ALEXANDER

The end of a very long campaign - my thanks to all the people who have helped make the case for better treatment and help for truly rural areas.
 

Cheaper fuel on its way for residents of Upper North Tyne

I am delighted that our campaign for NE48 residents is a further step closer to success.
Even though fuel prices are falling across the country, they are still higher in very rural areas. Places like Kielder and Bellingham are amongst the most rural areas in the UK. For people who live in these areas cars are a necessity, not a luxury. We have battled hard to reach this major milestone, and the campaign continues.
Full story here:
http://www.thejournal.co.uk/cheaper-fuel-way-motorists-remote-8456713

Kielder Christmas tree in parliament

Great work by the team from the Forestry Commission in Northumberland. Full story here:
http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/update/2014-12-02/kielder-tree-positioned-at-base-of-big-ben

A trip to Kielder school and knocking on doors

I was recently able to head up to Kielder to spend time with the School, meet the teachers, and knock on a lot of doors locally. I also popped in to the Village Store and chatted to many of the locals who were out and about, including parish councillors. We discussed many things from the County Councils failure to upgrade the local lights, as promised, to the success of the fuel station and the lack of bus services, and the opportunities of the oil buying clubs locally.

As to the school there is no doubt it is a very good school, well led and with unique local facilities. The library co-exists in the same building in a good use of shared facilities by NCC. The sadness is the Youth Hostel which is presently not being used but I am hopeful that a solution will be forthcoming soon.  

Finally a word on the fuel station, which has been transformative since I opened it a few years back [see photo below]. With the oil price coming down I hope that the cost of fuel will drop even more, as a car in Kielder is a necessity not a luxury. As always, I was not able to speak to everyone in the village but if you need to get in contact email me or call the Hexham or Westminster offices.  

Kielder is rapidly becoming the hot spot for astro tourism - come visit soon

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/ambitious-85m-plan-build-worlds-8028742

Forestry has a future in the North

Egger in Hexham on Monday saw the brightest and best minds from forestry coming together to meet, listen and discuss the future of forestry; it is clear from the many experts present that there is great scope to expand the forestry and woodland in the north. There are realistic plans to increase the conifer capacity by
- planting in and around housing developments, enterprise and business parks
- mid hill forestry where the moorland meets the arable and low lying land or where land abuts forestry commission land
- possible new larger forests on sites to be identified and agreed by local councils and interested bodies.
No one is contemplating another Kielder Forest but a smaller forest on a scale of Slaley or Wark is not unrealistic or unattainable in my view. This may need a change in viewpoint by several people or public bodies and possible change in direction but that is what discussion and debate is about. The simple point is this - what are we prepared to do to ensure there is a forestry and timber business in the North well beyond 2030?
Fuller details here: http://www.confor.org.uk/NewsAndEvents/News.aspx?pid=23&id=2641
The event is also front page of todays Courant and reported at length in the Journal.

Our Forestry Needs are significant for our timber and biomass industries

I am an enthusiast for more forestry; this month we held a debate in the House, in which I was able to make a few short contributions. The full debate is here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2014-07-02a.259.0&s=speaker%3A24962#g264.0
The short points are these:
- where are we going to plant more forests?
- is it agreed that such a forest has to be of commercial use - ie containing timber that can used by businesses as in Kielder Forest?
- and to what extent does government need to subsidise this planting, or can the market provide?
- do any constituents object to more forestry?
For my part I would welcome further forests in Northumberland.
There is a Forestry Summit to be hel;d at Egger in Hexham, on August 4th, and I shall be there.

Amazing shots of the first man ever to swim across Keidler Water

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/swimmer-becomes-first-person-ever-7431209

Rural Fuel Duty cut for the Upper North Tyne

Really pleased that Treasury has seen sense on this issue and made the application to Brussels: we are the only region in England to qualify. This could make all the difference to motorists shopping locally or travelling down to Hexham or Newcastle, where prices can be more than 14p per litre cheaper. Although the bid covers a wide geographical area, only two local garages will benefit from the deal, if it wins approval: the garages it will help are Bellingham’s Garage Services, and the Kielder Petrol Station. More details here:
http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/news/rural-drivers-in-fuel-cut-bid-1.1114596#

Speech in cycling debate

8.14pm
Guy Opperman (Hexham, Conservative)

Who knew, ladies and gentlemen, that this debate was sponsored by the Dutch tourism board? Many of us seem to have taken a Dutch cycling holiday. I am here to stand up for cycling in Northumberland, which features everything from Hadrian’s cycleway and the coast-to-coast tour to the delights of Kielder and the castles cycle route. I congratulate wholeheartedly the cross-party group, which has done a fantastic job—this is probably one of the finest Back-Bench debates that we have ever had.

My hon. Friend Dr Huppert, Ian Austin, my hon. Friend Dr Wollaston and other members of the all-party parliamentary group have done a brilliant job and produced a fantastic report. I need to declare the fact that I cycle to work in London. I can cycle from Fulham, where I live, to King’s Cross, pretty much all on a cycleway. It is much quicker than going by car. In Northumberland, I live near Stamfordham, where we see more bicycles than cars travelling around and about. There is no question but that the Northumberland economy depends to a large degree on cycling tourism and the economic benefit that it brings. I therefore support the motion wholeheartedly, but while cities such as Newcastle have benefited from over £5 million, the benefit to some rural areas, whether Northumberland or other counties, is significantly less. We need equality of funding across all parts of the country so that we may all benefit, rather than simply the towns that have been allocated money thus far.

Duncan Hames (Chippenham, Liberal Democrat)
Like the hon. Gentleman, I welcome the report to get Britain cycling. He is right about rural areas. Does he agree that we need innovative solutions to help to provide opportunities to make it easier to cycle in rural areas, such as the two tunnels greenway in Bath, from which many of my constituents benefit, and the canal towpaths that run through my constituency? Otherwise, hedge-lined country roads between towns can be quite intimidating.

Guy Opperman (Hexham, Conservative)
I endorse that entirely. Indeed, when I asked my constituents for their comments, one of them, Ted Liddle, wrote on behalf of the mountain biking club:
“Other than a few parking stands, in Tynedale, there has been no cycling investment in the past 10 to 12 years."
There are exceptions, but if we do not have innovative ways forward and local cycling champions we will struggle. I endorse earlier comments about the fact that we need individual Borises or cycling champions in some shape or form who champion cycling in their counties and regions. It is easy, given that Yorkshire has the benefit of the Tour de France next year, to make the case. Everyone in the north welcomes that.

Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton, Conservative)
My hon. Friend has discussed the need for cycle routes in rural areas. We do not have the luxury of going along the embankment to create the Boris highway. We have to make sure that we have cycle routes such as old railway lines and so on that can be used successfully. We are working on precisely that on the Seaton to Colyford route. However, I very much welcome the debate so that we can have cycling in rural areas.

Guy Opperman (Hexham, Conservative)
Indeed. Not only that, but this debate is making converts. Our hon. Friend, the eminent colonel from Beckenham, has assured the House that he will get back on his bike, which I am confident is not a penny farthing.

Bob Stewart (Beckenham, Conservative)
To the best of my memory, it has pneumatic tyres and a chain.

Guy Opperman (Hexham, Conservative)
The mind boggles: to know is to fear.
Those of us who are students of the film industry will hark back to the comment, “If you build it, they will come.” That is the case in relation to cycling. It is easy for too many civil servants, Ministers of all types, local authorities, county and parish councils to think that investment in cycling is not worth the money, the effort, the criticism by drivers and pedestrians and the sheer difficulty of persuading people to get out of their beloved vehicles. However, if we build the type of facilities that we all require in our local areas, cycling improves. We need only look at the success of places such as Seville, as eloquently set out in the report, where between 2007 and 2010, cycling went up from 6,000 journeys to 60,000 journeys. We need only look at the changes in New York or Holland, sponsored as we are by the Dutch tourism board, where 27% of journeys are by bike, compared with 2% in this country. That is patently the result of investment, support and local champions.

I suggest we look at the health benefits. Many have outlined the fact that we have an obesity crisis, and a great deal more work needs to be done on that. We should look at the benefits in terms of the cost of living, and we need to consider both the climate change and the tourism and economic benefits. I emphasise the need for local champions—not just the local larger champion of a county, but individual parish and county councillors who could make a difference locally. If we can start doing that and start working with health and wellbeing boards and the like, there is great potential to turn the topic from a fringe issue that we passionately debate to a mainstream way of life and way of travelling to work.
Full debate here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2013-09-02a.66.0&s=speaker%3A24962#g103.1

Kielder and Countryfile - 7pm tonight

Update: The Iplayer of Countryfile is on - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011wh23/Countryfile_05_06_2011/

Julia was expertly shown around Kielder Forest by the Forestry Commission team, saw gosshawks, owls and tree felling on an industrial scale, and followed the Salmon with the Environment Agency, before finally trying to find some freshwater pearls in the Upper North Tyne. Well worth watching!

Stop Press!
Delighted to read that Northumberland's tourist attraction Kielder Water and the surrounding Forest are featuring on Countryfile tonight at 7pm BBC 1.
We welcome Julia Bradbury and the Countryfile team and look forward to welcoming the tourists who will follow; everyone at Kielder does and amazing job - it is a really diverse tourist attraction: but credit must go to Elizabeth and the team at the Kielder partnership, to volunteers of the Kielder Council, to the Northumbrian Water employees and all who make it such a special place. I am looking forward to returning there soon - and would particularly recommend the cycle ride around the lake = 26 miles of stunning countryside.

Kielder - the full tour and canvass

Kielder Reservoir and dam are something else:

- the largest man made lake in Northern Europe

- enough water to fill 2.2 billion baths

- the world biggest continuous cement pour = 10 days straight to create the valve tower...

and contributing nearly £10 million to the local economy.

I was lucky enough to get the full low down on the work of Northumbrian Water and the Kielder Partnership - both of whom deserve great credit for what they are doing - as well as getting the full tour. On every level Kielder is a sight to see and behold. After the meetings were over I campaigned in Kielder, Falstone and the surrounding area before holding another grilling session in the local pub; this event doubled as a joint surgery with John Riddle the local councillor. Spent the morning in Hexham and Humshaugh and home by 10 - a long day but well worth it