If you're beginning to plan your vacation and don't want to move your arms and legs abroad, why not get closer to your home and take a break? A small market town in Northumberland, Hexham is a perfect place for a luxurious stay with a population of 13,000.
You can visit the town every year and become one of only 120,000 people who enjoy the quiet country atmosphere. One of the inevitable parts of the town is Hexham Monastery. The monastery, first built at 674AD, was originally constructed using recycled materials from Roman ruins before it was rebuilt in the 13th century.
Today, Hexham Abbey looks mostly like it was 800 years ago and is a great place to smoke history.
This charming market town also has a gorgeous park perfect for spring time. The abbey gardens and adjacent Sere Park are from formal gardens with rather traditional bandstands to forest walks and open lawn spreads of Sere.
If you want even more amazing outdoors, why not explore the nearby Hadrian walls?
Construction of this incredible monument began in 122, with the walls regularly constructing forts that spanned approximately 73 miles, including the Roman-occupied England and Caledonia and the areas of Scotland beyond the river.
Ambitious visitors can take a walk through the full length of the wall, but Walltown is a short drive outside Hexham, with travel blog “Crazy Tourists” explaining it as one of the best parts.
The blog also recommended a trip to the old prison for fans of the creepy side of history.
Built in 1333, Hexham Old Gaol was used to maintain prisoners for nearly 500 years, and prisoners had to pay for their own food, drinks and clothes. Today, tourists can see what life is like in medieval prisons, visiting the collection of border libraries within the building, showing some of the cultures that have come to England through town.