The town has a rich
history with the famous castle and the River Tees both captured by artist JMW
Turner in watercolour and Charles Dickens staying at the King’s Head pub while
researching his novel Nicholas Nickleby.
The Times describes
Barnard Castle as a ‘dignified old town’ with the Bowes Museum, a grade I
listed château, featuring an art collection which includes works by Van Dyck,
Canaletto and Goya. It also has a life-sized mechanical swan and is surrounded
by some of England’s grandest yet least-visited countryside.
Barnard Castle is
home to major employers, including GlaxoSmithKline, and the government is set
to move 750 civil servants to “Treasury North” in Darlington, just 15 miles to
the west.
The Times also
highlights the tempting mix of independent retailers such as William Peat
Butchers, Chocolate Fayre and a farmers’ market on the first Saturday of the
month as well as a Morrisons supermarket.
Other attractions cited
are the easy proximity to cities such as Newcastle and York, and the local
landscape of North Yorkshire and the south Durham Dales.
Barnard Castle
offers easy access to the A1(M) in 20 minutes and the M6 in 40 minutes. It’s a
30-minute drive to Teesside International Airport, and Darlington, 25 minutes
away, offers direct rail services to Newcastle, York, Edinburgh Waverley and
London King’s Cross.
There are good
schools locally too. including Teesdale School which is third in The
Sunday Times Parent Power League for state secondaries in the Northeast
and the independent Barnard Castle School.
Kier Living is
offering a range of four bedroom detached homes at Castle Croft priced from
£259,995. Make an appointment to find out more.