Bishop Auckland

We went to Bishop Auckland on Saturday. It's the first time we've been there in almost 20 years. The thing that drew us there was The Bishop Auckland Food Festival. These food festivals are everywhere these days, particularly in market towns, but we enjoy them and they're a fairly cheap day out, if you can resist spending too much on the stalls.

Auckland Castle

It was a particularly warm and sunny day, which made the day all the more enjoyable and also a lot cheaper! The warmth meant we were unable to buy much as it would not keep well in the hot car for the rest of the day. So bang went Sticky Toffee, Lemon and Marmalade Puddings that we might otherwise have bought! We did get a couple of pieces of Chocolate Brownie from the Burtree House Farm stall (who also make those puddings that I just mentioned), possibly the finest brownie I've ever had (their puddings are delicious too).

My favourite thing, as usual, was trying out the various stands that sold hot chilli sauces. There seems to be a growing number of these, and that suits me. My mouth was well warmed up by the time I left the festival! "Best In Show" for me was Trees Can't Dance who do a number of sauces, dips and marinades of varying strengths, all of them delicious.

The event also allowed you free entry to the chapel of Auckland Castle, a beautifully decorated chamber (above).

I have to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised by Bishop Auckland. I don't really know what my memories of it were from when we visited those 20 odd years ago, but it strikes me now as a very pleasant town. It has a good array of shops, with very little on the main street (Newgate Street) that is disused or looking tatty. The buildings in the market square are all quite interesting architecturally, even though most of them have been converted into pubs and bars. The Town Hall would not look out of place in some Northern French town or village.

The main shops included a good number of "family bakers", which I always find more interesting than a whole town full of Gregg's. Some of the cakes and pies looked absolutely fabulous and I was sorely tempted - but we already had that brownie! There were also a number of what you might call "greasy spoon" cafes, but they weren't so "greasy spoon" as to be unattractive. Quite the opposite in fact and I was tempted by a number of them. I could have had an all-day veggie breakfast at one of them for £2.80, but instead opted for a different cafe that had some nice outside seating and who's veggie breakfast included Quorn sausages for £3.20. Absolutely delicious, as was wifes cheese toastie and chips and our two cappuccinos. Simple, quality food at an affordable price, just what we were looking for.

I could go back to "Bishop" again, just to have another breakfast!