Plan your visit to Crook Hall and Gardens with North East Escapes. Explore the 13th-century manor and award-winning gardens minutes from Durham Cathedral. |
Visit Crook Hall and Gardens, Durham's Best-Kept Secret
Crook Hall and Gardens is one of Durham's most charming and underrated attractions, a medieval manor house of extraordinary age standing in a sequence of award-winning walled gardens just a short walk from Durham Cathedral. Unlike the grand state rooms and vast grounds of the county's major country houses, Crook Hall has an intimate, personal character that invites visitors to linger and explore at their own pace, discovering hidden corners, unexpected garden rooms and an atmosphere of genuine historic authenticity that is rare in any visitor attraction.
Crook Hall dates from the early thirteenth century, making it one of the oldest domestic buildings in County Durham and one of the very few medieval hall houses to have survived in anything like its original form. The great hall with its medieval timber roof is particularly remarkable. Subsequent centuries added a Jacobean wing and a Georgian townhouse to the original structure, creating a fascinatingly layered building that reads like a history of domestic architecture across 700 years. The gardens surrounding the hall were created by the Bell family, who have owned and run the property since the 1980s, and they are widely regarded as among the finest small private gardens open to the public in the North of England.
The gardens at Crook Hall are divided into a series of distinct areas including the Silver and White Garden, the Cathedral Garden (with its famous view of Durham Cathedral framed by trees), the Walled Garden with its herbaceous borders and kitchen garden, the Moat Pool area and the Shakespeare Garden. The seasonal plantings are exceptional, with something beautiful to discover in every month from spring snowdrops through to autumn colour. The medieval and Jacobean rooms of the hall provide an atmospheric interior complement to the gardens. Cream teas and refreshments are served in the garden during open season.
Crook Hall is located at Frankland Lane, Durham, DH1 5SZ, approximately half a mile north of Durham city centre and easily walkable from both the railway station and the city centre via the riverside path. The gardens are open from spring through to autumn and on selected winter days, with exact dates and hours varying seasonally. Admission is charged. The nearby city centre, the Cathedral and Durham Castle are all within easy walking distance, making Crook Hall a natural addition to any Durham city visit.
North East Escapes offers holiday homes in and around Durham city that make a perfect base for visiting Crook Hall alongside Durham Cathedral, Durham Castle, the Riverwalk and the wider county. Staying in Durham gives you access to one of England's most beautiful and compact historic cities, as well as an excellent location from which to explore Beamish, Raby Castle, the Durham Dales and the Durham Heritage Coast. Our Durham holiday homes are ideal for weekend breaks as well as longer family holidays in this wonderfully rewarding part of the North East.
