Place:Blanchland, Northumberland, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Blanchland is a model village in Northumberland, England, right on the County Durham boundary with picturesque houses, set against a backdrop of deep woods and open moors.

Located near the Derwent Reservoir, it provides excellent facilities for sailing and fishing. This village boasts a fine array of different retail outlets including: a Post Office in Blanchland Stores, Gallery Upstairs and The White Monk Tea Rooms, and The Blanchland Deli.

Blanchland was formed out of the medieval abbey by Lord Crewe the Bishop of Durham. The Lord Crewe Arms Hotel has a vast fireplace where 'General' Tom Forster hid during the 1715 Jacobite rising. The hotel is said to be haunted by the ghost of his sister, Dorothy.

W. H. Auden stayed at the Lord Crewe Arms with Gabriel Carritt at Easter 1930, and later remarked that no place held sweeter memories. Blanchland may have been the model for the village in which was set the opening and closing scenes of Auden and Isherwood's play The Dog Beneath the Skin (1935).

Another celebrated poet Philip Larkin used to dine at the hotel when staying with Monica Jones in Haydon Bridge. In July 1969, Benjamin Britten and Sir Peter Pears stayed at the Inn.

With a population of 140, its unspoilt qualities make it a frequent setting for period films, set in the 18th century, such as those based on the novels of Catherine Cookson.

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