To Richmondshire and beyond
Jan. 26th, 2026 04:08 pmLast Wednesday we collected one last Christmas present. J had been at a WI meeting where there had been a speaker from Coghlans at Barningham, which she described as a farm shop and restaurant; she had been very impressed, and wanted to take us there to lunch, as our Christmas present. This sounded like a long way to go for lunch, but a fun excursion as a special treat, and we scheduled it for last Wednesday.
Barningham is in County Durham, but in Startforth Rural District, that very southerly part of County Durham which was in the North Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It was, as we anticipated, a long drive (we had to cross the Tees) but a scenic one - until the weather closed n and the clouds came down. We arrived rather flustered, having been wrong-footed by an oncoming car which gave way to us while we were still trying to work out whether that turning was in fact our way, only at the last minute deciding not to turn into the pub car park, and taking instead the first driveway when we should have waited for the second. It didn't look very like a farm shop:
Teesdale is another country; they do things differently there. This was Barningham Park, but it was indeed the right place, as the sign boards confirmed: the restaurant was in the carriage house of the hall, and the farm shop was through a side entrance (vegetables on display under the canvas shelter, where the splash of yellow just visible in the picture is![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
durham_rambler). There was a notice on the door saying that the tea shop was open today for bookings only, but having come all this way (and being by now both cold and hungry) we weren't so easily deterred. And once the staff had conceded that they could serve us lunch, they did, very pleasantly. It was the hunting season, they explained, and they had been serving large parties all week; that morning they had served lunch to (I think) thirty six beaters... You can take Barningham out of the North Riding, but you can't take the North Riding out of Barningham.
The shop was teeny tiny, and some of its shelves were dedicated to 'village shop essentials' rather than farm pproduce. Also, much of the space was full of cakes. But they had some good, very local cheeses (including a young Swaledale which reminded me of Cotherstone before they started to pasteurise it - they also had Cotherstone); and I was able to buy a haggis for last night's supper.
Would visit again, if I were anywhere near (but that's unlikely).
Barningham is in County Durham, but in Startforth Rural District, that very southerly part of County Durham which was in the North Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It was, as we anticipated, a long drive (we had to cross the Tees) but a scenic one - until the weather closed n and the clouds came down. We arrived rather flustered, having been wrong-footed by an oncoming car which gave way to us while we were still trying to work out whether that turning was in fact our way, only at the last minute deciding not to turn into the pub car park, and taking instead the first driveway when we should have waited for the second. It didn't look very like a farm shop:
Teesdale is another country; they do things differently there. This was Barningham Park, but it was indeed the right place, as the sign boards confirmed: the restaurant was in the carriage house of the hall, and the farm shop was through a side entrance (vegetables on display under the canvas shelter, where the splash of yellow just visible in the picture is
durham_rambler). There was a notice on the door saying that the tea shop was open today for bookings only, but having come all this way (and being by now both cold and hungry) we weren't so easily deterred. And once the staff had conceded that they could serve us lunch, they did, very pleasantly. It was the hunting season, they explained, and they had been serving large parties all week; that morning they had served lunch to (I think) thirty six beaters... You can take Barningham out of the North Riding, but you can't take the North Riding out of Barningham.The shop was teeny tiny, and some of its shelves were dedicated to 'village shop essentials' rather than farm pproduce. Also, much of the space was full of cakes. But they had some good, very local cheeses (including a young Swaledale which reminded me of Cotherstone before they started to pasteurise it - they also had Cotherstone); and I was able to buy a haggis for last night's supper.
Would visit again, if I were anywhere near (but that's unlikely).
