“The North will rise again,” sang The Fall’s Mark E Smith, tongue lolling in cheek. Authors, artists and boosterists have adopted the phrase with hope or anxiety. But, in many ways, it’s already happening. The enthronement of Andy Burnham and the opening of a “Number 10 North” could – and should – lead to an injection of investment, creative energy and self-esteem.
The best bits of the North of England provide a template for improving the rest, whether we’re talking outdoor spaces, community cohesion, culture, retail or hedonism.
Here are the 10 spots that visitors should take a trip to this summer.
1. Todmorden, Lancashire
Hebden Bridge, up the road, is a tourist magnet. Happy Valley put Calderdale on the TV pilgrims’ map. But Todmorden at the eastern end of the valley has retained a down-to-earth, organic quality. With the historic Lancashire-Yorkshire border running through the town – even cutting the Town Hall in half – it’s a mix of rural and urban, Mancunian and West Riding, poshed-up and proletarian.
There’s an impressive selection of micropubs and traditional boozers, with upwards of 25 venues, from the intimate, friendly Beer Necessities to The Golden Lion, a locally venerated gig venue. Incredible Edible, a national network of urban gardening projects, was born here in 2008 and food is taken seriously.
A new Festival of Food comes to the valley from 7-20 September. Todmorden has an open-air market five days a week and a market hall is open six days. Walk up any hill and you soon hit magnificent moors – Brontë county, minus the crowds – including the bracing section of the Pennine Way that leads to Stoodley Pike. At the other end of the valley, Shibden Park hosts the new Stage at the Lake music, theatre and comedy festival from 13-16 August.
Where to stay: The charming Lindores B&B offers doubles from £99.
2. Ouseburn, Newcastle
A short walk from Newcastle city centre, this former industrial district is firmly established as a place to eat, drink, see a live band, hang out, take a walk. Despite the proximity, it feels almost villagey, with greenery bursting off bridges and on to the streets. A valley on a tributary of the Tyne, it’s full of slopes and pretty streets – though still not so pretty to attract the grim reaper of capital-wielding gentrifiers.
The Biscuit Factory, inside a former Victorian warehouse, claims to be the UK’s largest independent commercial art, craft, and design gallery. There are several small galleries and artists’ studios, a working farm and the National Centre for Children’s Books. The Ouseburn Trust runs regular guided heritage walks.
Where to stay: The Dakota Newcastle offers doubles from £115.
3. Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham
Most towns respond to declining high streets by creating new bus stations, apartments, cafés and themed quarters. Stockton-on-Tees has gone down a more radical path, investing £23m to create the Stockton Waterfront Urban Park, an area three times the size of Trafalgar Square on the site where the Castlegate Shopping Centre and the Swallow Hotel used to be.
There’s a children’s play area, an oval lawn decorated with 1,000 clay figurines designed by local schoolchildren working with artist Mackenzie Thorpe, and a viewing platform with a vista over the river Tees – far easier to see without all that retail furniture.
Where to stay: Rooms at the Hampton by Hilton start at £76 per night.
4. AND festival, Barnsley, South Yorkshire
This oft-overlooked South Yorkshire town has aspirations to become the UK’s leading town. And why not? The North tested much of the tech that drives everyday life, from railways to early computers. To this end, the itinerant Abandon Normal Devices (AND) festival will be plugging into Yorkshire for the first time, making Barnsley a temporary site to explore ambitious new ideas and platform leftfield artists.
Events range from innovative XR (Extended Reality) installations, performances and screenings, to stimulating talks from leading experts. Running from 25-27 September.
Stay: The ibis Styles offers pleasingly-priced double rooms from £42.
5. The GM Ringway, Manchester and surroundings
The 200-mile GM Ringway walking route links Roman Castlefield and the old canals of central Manchester with Sale, Oldham, Bury, Wigan, Leigh and Altrincham.
Shaped like a (slightly unhealthy) heart, the route visits all 10 of Greater Manchester’s metropolitan boroughs and is designed to take in built heritage, green spaces, canals, flashes (accidental lagoons) and many towns and villages – plotted to enable would-be orbital walkers to hop on a bus, train or tram to the centre and back home.
Where to stay: The grand Midland Hotel offers doubles from £150 per night.
6. Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, West Yorkshire
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield is worth a full day. The permanent collection, which features works by Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, James Turrell, Andy Goldsworthy, Damien Hirst and many others, the pastoral setting, the play of the light on this open-air gallery, all make it special.
The recently unveiled temporary exhibition, Hold to This Earth, adds a new dimension and another good reason to visit. Showcasing 65 works by 38 Indigenous American artists from more than 35 Tribal Nations, it’s the first time Indigenous North American art has been exhibited on this scale in the UK.
The artworks address issues such as environmental injustice, the extraction of natural resources and climate change through film, sculpture, photography, ceramics and beadwork. Make sure you drop by the Hepworth Wakefield and The Art House during your visit too. “Hold to This Earth: Works by Contemporary Indigenous North American Artists from Tia Collection is at Yorkshire Sculpture Park until 18 April 2027.
Where to stay: Bagden Hall, a Victorian country house hotel, offers doubles from £74.
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7. Pub Festival, Preston, Lancashire
Did you know that Preston was the cradle of the British temperance movement? You can learn all about that at the wonderful Harris Museum, reopened at the end of last year after a £19.2m refurb. You can also toast the memory of chief teetotalitarian, Joseph Livesey, at one of Preston’s great boozers.
Earlier this year, an event called the Dark Side of Preston, celebrating milds and stouts and generally opaque ales, went down a treat. A new Preston Pub Festival, arranged by the same team, runs over the weekend of 19-20 September.
Where to stay: No. 10 Preston, a well-located aparthotel, offers rooms from £75.
8. Queen Street Mill, Burnley, Lancashire
Grade I-listed Queen Street Mill in Burnley – the UK’s only working steam-powered mill – is a remarkable place. Visit for demonstrations of its clattering looms, or explore its surroundings, with panoramic views across the Calder Valley. Film buffs will be interested to hear about its movie history: the mill has featured in films such as The King’s Speech, Peterloo and A Christmas Carol.
Until 29 August, it’s hosting an acclaimed touring exhibition of photos of Lancashire workers, from steeplejacks to weavers, by Daniel Meadows. The mill is one of the places that features in the iconic photos.
Where to stay: Rural pub-with-rooms, the Barley Mow, offers doubles from £100.
9. Whitehaven, Cumbria
Northern Rail doesn’t always get – nor deserve – a good press. But its extensive network covers some of the loveliest lines in the land. The Cumbrian Coast line between Barrow-in-Furness and Carlisle is as stirring in its way as the more famous Settle to Carlisle line. The recently designated Coast to Coast national trail – devised by Blackburn-born Alfred Wainwright – has its western terminus at St Bees.
Walks inland are a thrilling ramblers’ roller coaster of hill and dale. But the section of the England Coast Path between Braystones and the pretty port town of Whitehaven is an equally sublime walk for those who prefer to loiter along the littoral. Seek refreshments at the latter’s Howling Wolf Artisan Bakery or Raven’s Nest Cafe.
Where to stay: The Edge, right on the coast, offers doubles from £117.
10. Lune Valley, Lancashire and Cumbria
You might have heard the news about a hoard of gold coins being discovered under the altar of St Wilfrid’s in the village of Melling – left by a secret benefactor to help repair the church building and save it from closure.
It’s a special church and a perfect place to begin an exploration of the Lune Valley, an area of stone villages and the highest concentration of Norman castles outside the Welsh border.
Where to stay: The Royal Hotel in Kirkby Lonsdale offers plush rooms from £140.
Chris Moss is the author of Where Tourists Seldom Tread: Postcards from Bypassed Britain and Lancashire: Exploring the Historic County that Made the Modern World
