Darlington Hotels - Smooth Hound Hotel Directory

Darlington is located in the county of Durham and has historically served as a main settlement in the area. The town is well known as also serving as the home base for the Darlington F.C. football team, also known as The Quakers. The team takes it moniker from the contributions made to the town by Joseph and Edward Pease, both of whom belonged to the Religious Society of Friends. Darlington is also home to a host of well known celebrities, including actors, poets, footballers and musicians. The town also offers a host of different cultural activities, including a popular civic theatre.

Darlington is a town that will forever be remembered throughout the annals of history as the town that gave birth to the railway industry within the UK, as not only was Darlington the site in which the railway journey ever conducted took place in 1825, but it was also became a site crucial for railway production and manufacturing. It was from Darlington that railways and railroad locomotives were shipped for usage throughout the country.

Darlington pays homage to its railway heritage in the very engaging and highly engrossing (as well as aptly named!) Darlington Railway Centre and Museum and features many relics from the railway era, featuring some of the various models used and constructed within the town.

Whilst the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum contains parts and fragments of the glory days of the town, if you want to see history as it stood, unspoilt and unaffected by the ravages of time then you should take a visit to Raby Castle. The exterior facade of Raby Castle remains untouched, and so the medieval architecture and its solid foundations remain even to this day. Whilst the interior has been somewhat upgraded and renovated, and boasts more recent historical heirlooms (18th and 19th century) the sheer elegance which borders on tasteful opulence is defiantly worth a look around as well. Many of the paintings and sculptures contained within the walls of the Castle are national treasures in their own right, and priceless beyond measure.

No visit to Raby Castle can be complete however without a visit and stroll around the grounds of the adjacent estate.