Tourism

An overwhelming majority of residents indicated support for the development of Tourism in Wolsingham.

Wolsingham is known as the “Gateway to Weardale” and as such is well placed to capitalise on current promotions and assistance schemes for tourism in Weardale.

The four most highlighted tourism assets identified by residents were :

Our extensive range of public footpaths and waymarked walks

The Recreation Field, which includes the children’s play equipment and also the space for recreational activities (football, running etc)

The countryside generally.

The Rivers (Wear, Waskerley Beck, & Thornhope Beck).

Tunstall Reservoir

Some places of interest are known to locals and not publicised such as the position of old mill races; the Chapel Walls where the silver cross was found (now residing in Durham Cathedral), stone sheltered wells, and the Duckett’s Cross at the top of Redgate Bank.

 The summer of 2004 saw the opening of two significant tourist attractions within Wolsingham:  

- The Harperley POW camp.

- The Weardale Heritage Railway

Harperley POW Camp

However, there is a lack of infrastructure to promote Wolsingham and its attractions as a whole. With the exception of the www.wolsingham.net web-site provided by the Parish Council, there are no other comprehensive sources of information about the Parish. A visitor to any single attraction is not made aware of other attractions and facilities within the Parish. There is little provision of information boards and signage generally, and there is a feeling that Wolsingham is in danger of becoming somewhere that people pass through en-route to the rest of the Dale, without taking advantages of its facilities (and therefore contributing to its economic wellbeing).

There has also been a decline in serviced accommodation over recent years, and consequently there can be a problem of visitors obtaining overnight accommodation at peak times.

Development of sympathetically designed and appropriately located accommodation should therefore be encouraged. There are limited camping facilities in the Parish.

Many walkers and cyclists prefer this type of overnight facility, and therefore the availability of such facilities could attract a wider group taking advantage of our countryside.

Wolsingham Station

The vast majority of tourist visitors for the foreseeable future will be day visitors. We have already drawn attention to the problem of car-parking in the “Traffic and Transport” section. For the successful development of tourism, appropriate car-parking must be made available.