6th of October, 2025 - Brancepeth

 YaY! I went to Brancepeth today!

Started the day by going in to the nearest big city (happened to be Darlington, never heard of it) and bought a WHOLE heap of warm clothes. I couldn't wear this many jumpers if I wear a new one every day - I only have 8 days left! But whatever else happens, I shall be warm from now on.

By the time I got back to the car, I was hot, so took all my jumpers off and spent the rest of the day in a T shirt. Go me.

After shopping I went on my pilgrimage and am pleased to say, I found the Holy Grail.

Brancepeth is a tiny, tiny town but it has its own village hall (which I never found but I think it was that place that looked like somebody's house), a lovely little church that was gutted by fire in 1998 and was rebuilt so is now a quite modern style of church inside a stone, medieval building, so cute! and its very own Castle. My research on Brancepeth Castle told me that it is privately owned, by some woman whose husband was a Big Wig Publisher in London and she ran out of space for books, so bought Brancepeth Castle to put them in, but I don't think that's up to date. It's much bigger than I expected (photos below) but it seems to have been turned into apartments or something because the signs say "Residents only" and several people on pushbikes went in and out the gate. It's a bit run down which is sad, but there's a sign out the front that says "Brancepeth Castle is open to the public at limited times during the year" so I'll have to find out when that is so I can come back and do a tour. It's a really sweet little town, with a quite swanky looking golf course, but there's no houses here for sale - I looked.

I know mum and dad have been here as well, so it was nice to feel that connection too. I missed them both today.



The Castle





The church

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