The day we visited Chesterfield it was their turn to show off their displays. So we tracked down their two displays, one was actually within the entrance porch of the Church with the Crooked Spire, while the Beatrix Potter one in the photo above was within the open air market attached to the water pump.

We also visited a museum in a rather grand looking, French Chateau inspired mansion house in nearby Barnard Castle. It was never a house, it was the inspiration of John and Josephine Bowes who

The backdrop of The Kynren was Auckland Castle up on the hill in Bishop Auckland, with it's St Peter's Chapel lit up at night. Although a called a castle it was never the home of kings or queens, or in fact a fortress. It is in fact the seat of England's only prince-bishop, the Bishop of Durham, a title bestowed on it by the Norman Kings who granted him exceptional powers to raise taxes in the north. A visit today you get to see some of the state rooms one of which, the Long Dining Room contains an impressive set of paintings by the Spanish master painter Francisco de Zurbaran of

Don't forget that our British Summertime ends at the end of this month. So on the 30th remember to put your clocks back 1 hour, but don't put your cameras away, there is still loads more to do during the shorter days and darker nights. Many photographic opportunities await around the corner.

We have managed to get out for a few days this month, seeing loads of new places and getting loads of photographs. Those we have visited include:

Chesterfield Well Dressing, Derbyshire. Well dressing is big in Derbyshire with many towns and villages using real flowers to decorate their wells, water fountains and springs. There were two in displays in Chesterfield, the main one in the the middle of the open air market decorating the towns water pump. The other was in the entrance of The Church with the Crooked Spire.

The Church with the Crooked Spire, Chesterfield, Derbyshire.  You can see the spire from many vantage points around the town, and it is unusual in that it is a spiral spire which tilts, hence the name crooked spire.

The Kynren, Toronto, Bishop Auckland, Durham. A 90 minute Spectacular Open Air historical performance using animals and over 1,000 volunteer actors and behind the scenes personnel from the local community. There is darkness, water, lights, horses, explosions, sheep, geese, Arthur, Vikings, medieval kings, fireworks and so much more. It truly was a magical experience and one that is difficult to describe.

Beamish, Stanley, Durham    We have visited before when my two boys were much younger. On this visit they have added so much more that we didn't manage to get around it all. But we did manage to have a fish and chip lunch made in Davy's Fish and Chip Shop with its authentic coal fired fryers. They were yummy to. It brings the local history and industrial past to life through its buildings and costumed staff and the bakery also adds authentic smells. We also took a ride on the tram to get us from the Victorian Street back to the entrance. Their tickets now last a whole year, so hopefully we'll get a chance to go back during next year to complete our visit.

The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham. From the outside it looks like a large mansion house, but it was actually built as a museum. There are 3 floors of exhibits from large art galleries, to ceramics, Fashion and textiles, musical instruments and so much more. It was all collected by the two people who had the museum built John and Josephine Bowes. The start attraction is The Silver Swan a magnificent 18th century working automaton, which is only working once a day around 2pm. There was so much to see we spent all day here.

Locomotion, National Railway Museum, Shildon, Durham. The National Railway museum has two locations in York and a much smaller site here at Shildon. The site a Shildon being smaller allows you to get up close and personal with the 70 locos on display. On the day of our visit it was not very busy so you were able to explore and take in the different loco's and carriages there, including both the replica and original Sans Pareil built by Timothy Hackworth in 1829 to take part in the Rainhill trials against Stephenson's Rocket, although more powerful it did not have the speed of the rocket.

Binchester Roman Fort, nr Bishop Auckland, Durham. This is the remains of a roman bath house with its amazing 1700 year old under floor heating system, and the remains of the Commanders House. We have seen a number of of roman bath remains when visiting Hadrian's Wall,   but this is impressive as the columns which held up the floor are nearly triple the height of what we had seen before so gives you a better insight of what the workings of the bath house was like.

Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland, Durham. Although called a castle it was not the home of kings, but the seat of England's only prince-bishop, the Bishop of Durham who was granted exceptional powers by the Norman Kings. It is considered to be one of the most important and best-preserved medieval bishops palaces in Europe. It was built as one of the primary castles and hunting lodes of the Prince Bishops. Inside you get to see some of the State Rooms and to admire its private chapel, St Peters which was created from a medieval great hall and is the resting place of five bishops. There are formal gardens to the front of the castle and a large medieval deer park featuring bridges, fish ponds, an ice house and an 18th century Deer House. The Deer House is an English Heritage property, free to enter, and sits within the large medieval deer park of Bishop Auckland Castle. It was built in 1760 to provide the deer within the park with shelter and food, there is also a small tower which originally provided rooms for visitors to enjoy the views, not accessible today.

Eden Camp, nr Malton, Yorkshire A military museum covering Britain at War, particularly the second world war 1939-1945. It is located in the grounds of an original WWII prisoner of war camp that held Italian and German prisoners. Most of the exhibits are in the huts which once housed the prisoners, with the larger military vehicles outside.