Where to stay in Hexham

Hexham ( HEKS-əm) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district from 1974 to 2009.

"Hagustaldes ham" meant the sorry bit of land that a younger son had to make do with, because the firstborn son inherited the farm. The River Tyne has north and south branches which here unite to create a fertile valley trending east to Newcastle. Only a low rise at Haltwhistle separates this from the Irthing valley west to Carlisle, so Hexham grew as a market town on this coast-to-coast route and confluence of lesser valleys. The Romans built Hadrian's Wall and Chesters fort along the ridge five miles north of the Tyne-Irthing corridor.

Getting in

Trains run every 30 min from Newcastle upon Tyne, taking 40 min via Metrocentre and Prudhoe, and continuing west to Haltwhistle and Carlisle, another 50 min. Some trains start from Morpeth or from Nunthorpe near Middlesbrough. Change at Newcastle for London Kings Cross, Leeds, York and Edinburgh. Change at Carlisle for Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. The railway station is a quarter-mile northeast of town centre. It has a staffed ticket office and machines, toilets and a dog-friendly cafe-bar.

Getting around

Bus AD122 parallels Hadrian's Wall between Hexham and Haltwhistle, ideal for one-way hikes then a ride back to your vehicle or lodging. It runs two-hourly, daily mid-Apr to Oct, weekends mid-Feb to mid-Apr and Nov to mid-Dec. The main stops from Hexham are Chesters, Housesteads, The Sill, Vindolanda, Walltown, Greenhead and Haltwhistle.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.